JP4333397B2 - Transmission device, transmission method, and transmission / reception system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a transmitting apparatus capable of transmitting information and the like necessary for local residents so that the information and the like can be displayed on a television receiver compatible with digital broadcasting.

  Currently, as an information service for local residents, it is transmitted to television receivers marketed in the same manner as terrestrial analog broadcasting. There is also an advantage that the viewer can easily select the transmission channel by using a terrestrial broadcast channel. For example, in the Kanto area, NHK general broadcasting channels 1 to 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 5 channels that are not broadcast terrestrial analog broadcasting, such as community channels of cable TV stations called independent broadcasting on 9 channels It provides services and information services to local residents.

  In recent years, digitalization has progressed in the broadcasting field such as BS digital broadcasting and terrestrial digital broadcasting, and television receivers that are compatible with digital broadcasting have been sold. The current terrestrial analog broadcasting is scheduled to end in July 2011, and only digital broadcasting will be provided. It is presumed that commercially available television receivers cannot receive terrestrial analog broadcasts at that time.

  Under such circumstances, there is a risk that information services to local residents or services such as community channels of cable television stations that are currently being transmitted to television receivers marketed in the same manner as terrestrial analog broadcasting may not be possible. There is.

  Also, in BS digital broadcasting, it is possible to effectively use radio waves that can be transmitted by a plurality of broadcasters to one transponder. However, since a desired broadcaster cannot be selected simply by selecting a transponder, for example, “Patent Document 1” As in "Digital broadcast receiver remote control device and digital broadcast receiver", viewers can directly select the program of the business that they want, and instantly recognize the program currently broadcast to the viewer Thus, it has been solved to provide a digital broadcast receiver remote control device and a digital broadcast receiver capable of program zapping.

  In addition, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-260867 discloses a “terrestrial digital broadcast transmission / reception system and terrestrial digital” in which a network ID is uniquely assigned to each of the transmission masters throughout Japan in digital terrestrial broadcasting including audio. Proposed in "Broadcast Receiving Device". Patent Document 2 discloses that a receiver called PSI (Program Specific Information) / SI (Service Information) transmitted in parallel with program information in terrestrial digital broadcasting or the like selects a program, or "Supplementary information for acquiring information is defined by the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) and needs to be transmitted."

  The operation of digital terrestrial television broadcasting is described in the technical document TR-B14 “Regulation for Operation of Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting” (Non-Patent Document 1) of the Radio Industries Association (ARIB). There is a function of assigning each operator by default to the buttons (1) to (12) equipped on the remote control of the broadcast receiver, and each operator is assigned to the corresponding button with the number described in one remote_control_Key_ID. It has become.

  As described above, when a remote_control_Key_ID to which a digital terrestrial broadcasting business operator should be assigned is sent to the buttons (1) to (12) equipped on the remote controller of the receiver and set by default, the community of the cable television station When services such as channels and information services for local residents are performed on empty channels as they are now, it is not possible to set buttons for remote channels (1) to (12).

JP 2000-244762 A

JP 2002-57640 A "Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Operation Technical Data" TR-B14 1.5 Edition, Radio Industries Association (ARIB), October 16, 2003

  The problem to be solved is the availability of remote control vacant channels for terrestrial digital television broadcast receivers such as cable channel community channels and information services for local residents on the current terrestrial analog broadcast channels. The point is that the buttons (1) to (12) of the channel cannot be set.

  The present invention examines information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting a terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button from the terrestrial digital television broadcast being retransmitted, and is not used for a service such as a community channel of a cable television station or an information service for local residents. Setting the information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting different terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push buttons is the main feature.

  The cable television transmission facility of the present invention examines information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting a digital terrestrial broadcast remote control push button from the terrestrial digital television broadcast being retransmitted, and provides information such as community channel services for cable television stations and information to local residents. Since the service can set different information (remote_control_Key_ID) for terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting, there is an advantage that it can be set to buttons (1) to (12) of the vacant channels of the remote control.

  User convenience is improved.

  The purpose of being able to display services such as community channels of cable TV stations and information services for local residents on television receivers that support digital broadcasting was realized by setting information for digital terrestrial broadcast remote control push button settings. .

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a cable television transmission facility for retransmitting a digital terrestrial broadcast and transmitting a self-produced program according to one embodiment of the present invention, where 1 is a cable television transmission facility and 2 is a television. Receiver 3, transmission path 10, digital terrestrial broadcast receiving antenna 11, digital terrestrial television broadcast re-transmission device 12, self-program push button information setting device 13, self-program transmission device 14 synthesizer 121 is a channel selection demodulator, 122 is a digital terrestrial broadcasting remote control push button setting information search device, 123 is an independent program remote control push button setting information transmission device, 131 is an independent program generation device, 132 is an information multiplexing device, and 133 is It is a modulation device.

In cable television delivery system 1, the signal of terrestrial digital television broadcasting obtained by terrestrial digital broadcasting receiving antenna 10, independent programs from digital terrestrial television broadcasting retransmission apparatus 11, synthesizer 1 4 by voluntary program transmission apparatus 13 It is frequency-multiplexed with the broadcast signal and transmitted to the transmission line 3, and the terrestrial digital television broadcast and the independent program broadcast are viewed on the television receiver 2 connected to the transmission line 3.

  The independent program push button information setting device 12 demodulates various information of the terrestrial digital television broadcast retransmitted by the cable television transmission facility 1 in the channel selection demodulator 121 from the signal of the terrestrial digital television broadcast, The information for setting the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button of the terrestrial digital television broadcast being retransmitted by the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information searching device 122 is checked. In the independent program remote control push button setting information transmission device 123, the information is transmitted from the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting of the terrestrial digital television broadcast being retransmitted, which is found by the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information search device 122. The remote control push button setting information that is different from the remote control push button setting information for the independent program broadcast is transmitted.

  In the independent program transmission device 13, the information multiplexing device 132 multiplexes information necessary for reception in the digital broadcast with the video and audio of the independent broadcast program from the independent program generation device 131, and the modulation device 133 modulates the digital television broadcast. Sent as a signal. The information multiplexer 132 multiplexes auxiliary information PSI (Program Specific Information) / SI (Service Information Information) for selecting a program by the receiver or acquiring program information. Independent program broadcast remote control push button setting information from the independent program remote control push button setting information sending device 123 of the push button information setting device 12 (from (1) to (12) equipped on the remote control of the receiver) The remote_control_Key_ID) to which a digital terrestrial broadcasting business operator should be assigned is also multiplexed.

As described above, the information for setting the remote control push button for the independent program broadcast from the independent program remote control push button setting information sending device 123 (the terrestrial digital signals on the buttons (1) to (12) equipped on the remote control of the receiver) information remote_control_Key_ID should be assigned the business of broadcasting) is different from the digital terrestrial television broadcasting re-transmission device 11 by the information for the button setting press terrestrial digital broadcasting remote control from the ground on a digital television broadcasting you are re-transmitted (remote_control_Key_ID) Therefore, it is possible to set an empty channel different from the terrestrial digital television broadcast being retransmitted among the buttons from the remote controllers (1) to (12). In this way, in a cable television facility where digital terrestrial television broadcasting is being retransmitted, the independent program is automatically set to an empty channel that is not retransmitted among the buttons from the remote controllers (1) to (12). Even if it becomes digital broadcasting, the operator can receive the service of the community channel of the cable television station and the information service for the local residents just by operating the remote controller of the receiver as in the case of the current analog broadcasting.

  2 and 3 show a specific example of the independent program generating device 131. FIG. 2 shows an example of an independent program using video and audio. FIG. 3 shows the combination of data broadcasting with video and audio. This is an example of an independent program. Reference numeral 1311 denotes a video / audio independent program, 1312 denotes a video / audio encoder, 1313 data independent program, 1314 denotes a data broadcast encoder, and 1315 denotes a multiplexing device.

  In FIG. 2, the video / audio independent program 1311 is video and audio data compressed by the video / audio encoder 1312 in the same data format as the digitally compressed digital terrestrial television broadcast video and MPEG2.

  In FIG. 3, the data broadcast material transmitted by the independent broadcast from the data independent program 1313 is converted into the data broadcast format of digital terrestrial television broadcast called BML by the data broadcast encoder 1314, and the video is multiplexed by the multiplexing device 1315. The compressed video and audio data from the audio encoder 1312 is time-division multiplexed and output as data in the same data format as the video, audio and data broadcast of the terrestrial digital television broadcast.

  FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show a specific embodiment of the terrestrial digital television broadcast retransmitting apparatus 11, and the signal systems of the terrestrial digital television broadcast to be retransmitted are different. 111 is a distribution device, 112a and 112n are terrestrial digital broadcast signal processors, and 113 is a synthesis device. 114a and 114n are modulation scheme conversion retransmission devices, 1141a and 1141n are channel selection / demodulation devices, 1142a and 1142n are information SI conversion devices, and 1143a and 1143n are remodulation devices.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of retransmitting an OFDM signal in the form of a radio wave of terrestrial digital television broadcasting, which is an example of a signal of cable television broadcasting by a standard digital television broadcasting system. The terrestrial digital broadcast signal processors 112a to 112n are distributed to the terrestrial digital broadcast signal processors 112a to 112n by the distribution device 111 in the John broadcast retransmission apparatus 11, and the terrestrial digital broadcast signal processors 112a to 112n suppress unnecessary signals outside the band of each terrestrial digital television broadcast signal. Then, the signal level is adjusted and frequency-multiplexed by the synthesizer 113 and output.

  In FIG. 5, an OFDM signal, which is a radio wave format of digital terrestrial television broadcasting, is demodulated once and retransmitted by modulation method conversion by 64QAM, and an example of a signal of cable television broadcasting by the digital cable television broadcasting method is shown. It is. The terrestrial digital television broadcast distributed by the distribution device 111 in the terrestrial digital television broadcast retransmission device 11 is demodulated by the channel selection demodulation devices 1141a to 1141n in the modulation system conversion retransmission devices 114a to 114n. Then, the information SI converters 1142a to 1142n convert to SI required for modulation system conversion, the remodulators 1143a to 1143n convert the modulation system to 64QAM, and the frequency is multiplexed by the synthesizer 113 and output.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a cable television transmission facility for retransmitting the terrestrial digital broadcast and transmitting the self-produced program according to one embodiment of the present invention. Voluntary program remote control push button setting information storage / transmission device 151 is a digital terrestrial broadcast remote control push button setting information retrieval / setting device.

The difference from FIG. 1 is that information for setting a remote control push button for independent program broadcasting (remote_control_Key_ID to which a terrestrial digital broadcast operator should be assigned to the buttons (1) to (12) equipped on the remote controller of the receiver) the Association of radio industries and Businesses of standards and technical documentation, or other materials from digital terrestrial television broadcasting re-transmission device 11 by the information for the button setting press terrestrial digital broadcasting remote control from the ground on a digital television broadcasting it is re-transmitted ( Information different from remote_control_Key_ID) is retrieved, and information different from the information is set by the digital terrestrial broadcast remote control push button setting information retrieval / setting device 151 built in the independent program transmission device control device 15. The set information is stored and transmitted from the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information searching / setting device 151 to the information multiplexing device 132 in the independent program remote control push button setting information storage / transmission device 134. .

  Also in the embodiment of FIG. 6, the information different from the information for setting the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button (remote_control_Key_ID) from the retransmitted terrestrial digital television broadcast being retransmitted by the terrestrial digital television broadcast retransmitting device 11. Can be set by the independent program transmission device control device 15, so that it can be set to an empty channel different from the terrestrial digital television broadcast being retransmitted among the buttons from the remote controllers (1) to (12). In this way, in a cable television facility where digital terrestrial television broadcasting is being retransmitted, the independent program is automatically set to an empty channel that is not retransmitted among the buttons from the remote controllers (1) to (12). Even if it becomes digital broadcasting, the operator can receive the service of the community channel of the cable television station and the information service for the local residents just by operating the remote controller of the receiver as in the case of the current analog broadcasting.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a cable television transmission facility for retransmitting a digital terrestrial broadcast and transmitting a self-produced program according to one embodiment of the present invention. An Internet connection network, 16 is an Internet connection device, and 17 is an Internet connection server.

  The difference from FIG. 1 is that when the self-produced program is received by the Internet-compatible television receiver 4, the Internet connection device 16 is connected via the Internet connection network 5 according to the signal from the self-program transmission device 13. The other purpose is to obtain other services from the Internet connection server 17. The self-program transmission device 13 in this case is suitably an example of a self-program in which data broadcasting is combined with the video and audio shown in FIG. 3, and the address of the Internet connection device 15 is broadcast to the data broadcast of the self-produced program. This can be done by connecting to the address with the Internet-compatible television receiver 4.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 7, it is also possible to acquire information stored in the Internet connection server 17 of the station that sends the self-produced program from the Internet-compatible television receiver 4 using the data broadcast of the self-produced program. . As a result, viewers can obtain various services such as cable TV station community channel services and information services for local residents in addition to information services for local residents just by operating the remote control of the receiver from digital broadcasting data broadcasting. There are also possible effects.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of a cable television transmission facility for retransmitting a digital terrestrial broadcast and transmitting a self-produced program according to one embodiment of the present invention, and 6 is an internet-compatible television receiver with a built-in cable modem. , 18 is a cable modem compatible headend facility.

  7 differs from FIG. 7 in that a self-produced program is received by the Internet-compatible television receiver 6 with a built-in cable modem, via the transmission path 3 in accordance with the signal from the self-program transmitting device 13, etc. The purpose is to obtain other services from the server 16 for Internet connection via the headend facility 18.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 8 as well, it is possible to acquire information stored in the Internet connection server 17 of the station that is sending the self-produced program from the Internet-compatible television receiver 6 with a built-in cable modem using the data broadcast of the self-produced program. , Viewers can obtain various services such as cable TV station community channel services and information services for local residents in addition to information services for local residents just by operating the remote control of the receiver from digital broadcasting data broadcasting There is also an effect.

  FIG. 9 is an example of a flowchart for explaining the operation of the independent program push button information setting device 12, wherein 901 is an operation example of the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information search device 122, and 902 is an independent program remote control push. It is an operation example of the button setting information transmission device 123.

  In the operation example 901 of the digital terrestrial broadcast remote control push button setting information search device 122, information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button of all terrestrial digital television broadcasts being retransmitted is checked. As a result, in the operation example 902 of the independent program remote control push button setting information sending device 123, it is different from all the information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button of the retransmitted terrestrial digital television broadcast found by the investigation. This is set as remote control push button setting information (remote_control_Key_ID) for the independent program. The example shown in FIG. 1 can be realized by sending the set information to the information multiplexer 132 as information for setting a remote control push button for independent program broadcasting.

  FIG. 10 is also an example of a flowchart for explaining the operation of the push button information setting device 12 for an independent program, in which 903 is an operation example of the digital terrestrial broadcasting remote control push button setting information search device 122 and 904 to 908 are independent programs. It is an operation example of the remote control push button setting information transmission device 123.

  In the operation example 903 of the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information search device 122, information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting the terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button of all terrestrial digital television broadcasts being retransmitted is checked. The result is recorded at 904 in the storage medium 1 (not shown in FIG. 1). The information value (ID value) obtained by adding 1 to the information value (ID value) of the information (remote_control_Key_ID) stored in the storage medium 1 in 905 is the value of information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting the remote control push button of the temporary independent program As a result, a temporary independence program information value is obtained. In 906, it is determined whether or not the provisional independent program information value (ID value) set temporarily matches the information value (ID value) stored in the storage medium 1, and if “Yes”, 905, 1 is added to the temporary independent program information value, and the determination is made again at 906 until the result is “No”. In the case of “No”, since the temporary independent program information value (ID value) does not match the information value (ID value) stored in the storage medium 1, the information value (ID value) is checked in 903. Since the information value (ID value) is different from all the information (remote_control_Key_ID) for setting the terrestrial digital broadcasting remote control push button for the retransmitted terrestrial digital television broadcast, the information for setting the remote control push button for the independent program (ID value) remote_control_Key_ID). The example shown in FIG. 1 can be realized by sending the set information to the information multiplexer 132 as information for setting a remote control push button for independent program broadcasting.

  In FIG. 10, an example in which one value is added at 905 and 907 has been described, but it is also possible to set by subtracting one.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to set terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information (remote_control_Key_ID), so the buttons from (1) to (12) of the vacant channels of the remote control are set to buttons that are easy to press by the movement of the viewer's hand It can be applied as well.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits digital terrestrial broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example used as the independent program by the image | video and audio | voice installed in the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits digital terrestrial broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example used as the independent program which combined data broadcasting with the image | video and audio | voice provided in the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits terrestrial digital broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the terrestrial digital television broadcast re-transmission apparatus installed in the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits terrestrial digital broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the terrestrial digital television broadcast re-transmission apparatus installed in the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits terrestrial digital broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits digital terrestrial broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits digital terrestrial broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the cable television transmission equipment which retransmits digital terrestrial broadcasting and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the operation example of the information transmission apparatus for independent program remote control pushbutton setting installed in the example of the cable television transmission installation which transmits a terrestrial digital broadcast and transmits an independently produced program. It is explanatory drawing which showed the operation example of the information transmission apparatus for independent program remote control pushbutton setting installed in the example of the cable television transmission installation which transmits a terrestrial digital broadcast and transmits an independently produced program.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cable TV transmission equipment 2 Television receiver 3 Transmission path 4 Internet compatible television receiver 5 Internet connection network 6 Internet compatible television receiver with built-in cable modem 10 Terrestrial digital broadcast receiving antenna 11 Terrestrial digital television broadcast retransmitter 12 Voluntary program push button information setting device 13 Voluntary program transmitting device 14 Combining device 15 Voluntary program transmitting device control device 16 Internet connection device 17 Internet connection server 18 Cable modem compatible headend equipment 111 Distribution device 112 Terrestrial digital broadcasting signal processor 113 Compositing Device 114 Modulation system conversion re-transmission device 121 Channel selection demodulator 122 Terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information retrieval device 123 Independent program remote control push button setting Regular information sending device 131 Voluntary program generating device 132 Information multiplexing device 133 Modulating device
134 Voluntary program remote control push button setting information storage / transmission device 151 Terrestrial digital broadcast remote control push button setting information search / setting device 1311 Video / audio voluntary program 1312 Video / audio encoder 1313 Data voluntary program 1314 Data broadcast encoder 1315 Multiplexer 1141 Channel selection demodulator 1142 Information SI converter 1143 Remodulator

Claims (9)

The digital broadcast including the first setting information used for assigning the digital broadcast program to a push button of a remote control used in the receiver of the digital broadcast is received, and the received digital broadcast is retransmitted and other A transmission device for transmitting a program,
Information search means for detecting the first setting information from the received digital broadcast;
The information different from the first setting information detected by the information search means, and the digital broadcast receiver should be assigned the digital broadcast program according to the first setting information. Multiplexing means for multiplexing second setting information for assigning the other program to a push button other than a push button of a remote control, on a transmission signal as the other program;
A transmission device comprising:   2. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other program is a self-produced program by video or audio.   2. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other program is a self-produced program that combines video and audio data broadcasting. 2. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other program is a self-produced program that combines video and audio data broadcasting with a link to an address of a self-internet site of a cable television station.   The other program is a self-produced program that combines video and audio data broadcasting with a link to a cable TV station site address, and is a self-produced program that can be accessed by a cable modem. The transmission device according to claim 1.   2. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission signal of the other program is a cable television broadcast signal by a digital cable television broadcast system.   2. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission signal of the other program is a cable television broadcast signal by a standard digital television broadcast system. A receiving step of receiving the digital broadcast including first setting information used for assigning the digital broadcast program to a push button of a remote control used in a digital broadcast receiver;
A detection step of detecting the first setting information from the received digital broadcast;
The remote controller , which is information different from the first setting information detected by the detecting step, and to which the digital broadcasting program should be assigned by the first setting information by the digital broadcasting receiver. An extraction step of extracting second setting information for assigning another program to a push button other than the push button;
A multiplexing step of multiplexing the second setting information extracted in the extraction step with the other program in transmitting the other program different from the digital broadcast;
A transmission step of transmitting the received digital broadcast and the multiplexed other program;
A transmission method comprising: The digital broadcast including the first setting information used for assigning the digital broadcast program to a push button of a remote control used in the receiver of the digital broadcast is received, and the received digital broadcast is retransmitted and other a transmitting apparatus for transmitting program information retrieval means for detecting the first setting information from the digital broadcast received, a first setting information different from information detected by said information retrieval means , the receiver of the digital broadcasting, by said first setting information, wherein to allocation of the digital broadcast program is made, the remote control push button other pushbutton said for assigning another program second to the A multiplexing device that multiplexes setting information into a transmission signal as the other program;
A transmission path for transmitting a signal transmitted from the transmission device;
A transmission / reception system comprising a remote controller for program tuning, and a receiver for receiving a signal transmitted through the transmission path,
In the receiver, the digital broadcast program is assigned to a push button of a remote controller according to the received first setting information, and the digital broadcast program is assigned according to the received second setting information. A transmission / reception system , wherein the other program is assigned to a push button other than the push button of the remote control .

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