JP4396202B2 - Broadcast receiver that can output operation logs - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation log output method for a broadcast receiver such as a television or a set top box.

  Television audience rating is an important factor for commercial acceptance for broadcasting stations, and has been investigated in the past. For example, a method of detecting a broadcast sound being watched at a remote survey destination by a survey source and identifying a broadcast situation by comparison with broadcast audio uniquely received by the survey source (see Patent Document 1), a television to be broadcast For example, there is a method of adding a specific signature to the John signal and collecting and collecting data from each home based on the signature (see Patent Document 2).

Furthermore, in order to obtain viewing information directly from the actions of viewers, the remote control signal for TV operation is received in front of each home TV and the remote control operation is analyzed while outputting the same signal to the TV. There is also an invention for sending the information to the center (see Patent Document 3).
JP-A-57-106253 JP-A 61-269596 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-288075

  With the advent of digital television, viewers can select their favorite programs from a number of channels. In addition, many networks such as satellite broadcasting, terrestrial broadcasting, cable broadcasting, and broadband broadcasting using the Internet can be used.

 In such an environment, each broadcasting station may increasingly use the audience rating as a criterion for program production. Furthermore, with digital television, advertisements can be placed on an electronic program guide or banner advertisements can be displayed on a personal computer. Naturally, information such as how many people have seen the advertisements on the electronic program guide and in what areas is a very big problem for advertisers.

 Therefore, how to examine the audience rating for many channels from a plurality of networks as described above and how to investigate the audience rating of an advertising medium that has not existed before is a big problem for broadcasters. .

  On the other hand, since these pieces of information are unlikely to be directly profitable for the viewer, it is necessary to prepare means for transmitting these pieces of information in the receiving terminal without providing special terminals.

  In addition to the operations related to the conventional channel change among the operations of the viewer, there is provided means for recording operation records for the operations related to the advertisement of the electronic program guide and the viewing of the banner advertisement. This makes it possible to record the viewing of advertisements other than so-called CMs.

  In addition, for these operation record transmission means, an external device control port is used. And a means which does not inhibit external device control is provided. As a result, the viewing record can be transmitted without imposing a heavy burden on the viewer.

It is possible to output an internal operation log that effectively uses the external output terminal of the broadcast receiver without attaching a special device or system.

(Embodiment 1)
A first embodiment of a broadcast receiver capable of outputting an operation log proposed in the present invention will be described below.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an entire log collection system including a television with a television operation log output proposed in the present invention.
A TV operation that sends a log of TV operation by a user's operation or a log of operation voluntarily performed by the TV (hereinafter referred to as an operation log) to a home 301 (hereinafter referred to as a cooperating family) that has agreed to cooperate in log collection. A television 101 (hereinafter referred to as an operation log output television) 101 having a log output system and a log receiving device 305 for receiving logs are installed. The operation log collected by the log receiving device 305 is transmitted to the data aggregation center 303 through the network line 302 immediately or periodically. Data transmitted from a plurality of cooperating households is aggregated and analyzed by a data aggregation device 304 installed in the center 303.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the operation log output television 101 and the log receiving device 305 are installed in a certain cooperative home 301.
The operation log output television 101 placed in the cooperating household 301 has an IR port 102 as an external terminal. The IR port 102 outputs an IR light emission terminal (hereinafter referred to as a log output IR terminal). 103 is connected. The operation log is transmitted as an IR signal from the log output IR terminal 103 and received by the log receiving device 305. On the other hand, the IR port 102 is connected with an external device control IR light emitting terminal (hereinafter, device operation IR terminal) 104 different from the log output IR terminal for the purpose of controlling the external device by the IR signal. From this device operation IR terminal 104, for example, a recording time information and a recording channel information signal for setting timer recording reservation for an external device 401 such as a video deck or a DVD recorder, and a broadcast start / end time of a TV program. An external device control signal, which is a signal for starting and ending recording in conjunction with the television, is sent out.
The log information received by the log receiving device 305 is normally accumulated for a certain period and transmitted at a specific time at a time, but may be transmitted every time information from the IR light emitting terminal 103 is received. .
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a broadcast receiver capable of outputting an operation log.
The operation log output television 101 is provided with an IR port 102 for outputting an operation log output or device operation as an IR signal output as one of output terminals. The IR port 102 includes an IR terminal 103 for log output. A device operation IR terminal 104 is connected. As one of the input terminals, a remote control light receiving unit 106 that receives a user operation from the remote control 105 is provided.
Further, the operation log output television 101 includes a system control unit 110 that controls the entire system as an internal processing system. The system control unit 110 receives a television operation signal Rm such as channel selection or reservation setting from the remote control light receiving unit 106, and responds to Rm with an operation log output request signal RQa for the purpose of outputting an operation log, and external device control. The target external device control output request signal RQb and the IR port control signal SGc for controlling the IR controller 113 are output. These RQa, RQb, and SGc output signals are output when a user operation such as a channel selection operation or reservation setting, or when a spontaneous operation is performed by the system control unit 110 such as reservation execution or automatic reception of broadcast content, or electronic It is sent when a screen such as an advertisement attached to a program guide or a banner advertisement is displayed.
The operation log output request signal RQa is a signal sent from the system control unit 110 to the operation log output control unit 111 in order to output an operation log output. When RQa is transmitted, the operation log output control unit 111 creates operation log data Da indicating the content of the operation according to the reception specification of the log receiving device, and uses the IR controller control signal SGa to generate the log data Da to the IR controller 113. Send. That is, the IR controller 113 indicates that this signal is the signal from the operation log output control unit 111 and the content is Da by Da following the control signal SGa.
The external device control signal transmission request RQb is a signal sent from the system control unit 110 to the external device operation output control unit 112 in order to output an external device control signal. When RQb is transmitted, the external device operation output control unit 112 creates the external device operation signal Db according to the reception specification of the external device 401, and transmits the external device operation signal Db to the IR controller 113 using the IR controller control signal SGb. To do.
The IR port control signal SGc is a signal sent from the system control unit 110 to the IR controller 113, and performs a switching operation for the IR controller 113 to output either the IR controller control signal SGa or the IR controller control signal SGb. Signal.
The IR controller 113 receives the operation log output request signal RQa from the operation log output control unit 111 and the operation log output request signal RQb from the external device operation output control unit 112, and outputs an IR output signal IRd to the IR port. . At this time, whether to accept output requests from both RQa and RQb or only one of the requests is set by the IR port control signal SGc.
Upon receipt of the IR output signal IRd, the IR port 102 applies an operating voltage to the log output IR terminal 103 and the device operation IR terminal 104 and transmits IR signals from both IR terminals.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation log output method in a broadcast receiver capable of outputting the operation log as described above.

In the broadcast receiver proposed in the present invention, when an operation (S200) occurs due to a user operation or a spontaneous operation of the system, whether or not the generated operation is an operation of controlling an external device through the IR port. Is determined by the system control unit 110 (S202). The system control unit 110 has a table of external device control commands, and determines whether or not the television operation signal Rm sent from the remote control light receiving unit 106 matches the command of the table.
If the result is NO, that is, it is determined that the external device is not controlled through the IR port, the system control unit 110 sends an operation log output request signal RQa to the operation log output control unit in order to output an operation log. Make a call (S204). As a result, an operation log is output from the log output IR terminal 103 and the device operation IR terminal 104. A more detailed description of S204 will be given later.

 On the other hand, if the determination result in S202 is YES, that is, if the generated operation 200 is an external device control operation through the IR port, the system controller 110 controls the IR controller to control the external device accurately and at appropriate timing. The control signal SGc is transmitted and the setting is changed so that the IR controller can process only the IR control signal SGb for controlling the external device (S210). In this state, the system control unit 110 outputs an external device control signal transmission request RQb to the external device operation output control unit 112 (S212). As a result of the transmission of RQb, an external device control signal is output from the log output IR terminal 103 and the device operation IR terminal 104. After the transmission of the external device control signal is completed, the system control unit 110 transmits SGc again to release the occupied state of the IR controller and returns the IR controller to the original state (S214). That is, the operation log output signal is not accepted from S210 to S214.

Next, the contents of S204 will be described in more detail. FIG. 5 shows a detailed flow of S204. S202 is a branch when the operation of the television is not an external device operation. Therefore, the operation of the television is an operation by the viewer or a spontaneous operation. Therefore, it is determined whether or not there is attached information for the operation (S230).
For example, in the case of only changing the channel, it is only necessary to indicate the changed channel number, so there is no attached information. However, as shown in FIG. 6, when an advertisement is attached to the electronic program guide or a banner advertisement is attached to the screen, these pieces of information are also transmitted to indicate that these advertisements have been viewed.
The determination method in S230 has a screen on which the attached information as described above is displayed in advance as information, and if it is that screen, the identification information of the currently displayed advertisement or banner advertisement is used as the attached information. That's fine.
Accordingly, if there is attached information, the attached information is added to the operation information to obtain transmission information (S232). The form of RQa that is actually transmitted varies depending on the protocol. For example, in the case of FIG. 6, the operation may be “display program guide” and the adjunct information may be “advertisement A1, A2” + “banner advertisement Ba1, Ba2, Ba3”.
Also, in the case of an operation such as automatic acquisition of a back program, attachment of attached information is necessary. For example, “back program reception” is considered as an operation, and “channel 6” is considered as attached information. In this case, the viewer is actually viewing channels other than “Channel 6”.
If there is no attached information, the content of the television operation signal Rm may be sent as it is as RQa (S234). In both cases of S232 and S234, the time information is preferably added to all information in order to clarify the viewing time and time.
For the above case, the operation log output request signal RQa is shown in FIG.

 By outputting the operation log using the procedure as described above, it is possible to output the operation log by effectively using the output terminal for controlling the external device of the broadcast receiver. The original function of the output terminal is not disturbed.

 In this embodiment, the operation log is normally output for all TV operations such as power on / off, channel selection, program reservation execution, advertisement display on the screen, etc. An operation log that is output only for a specific operation may be used.

 Further, the output from the IR port may be changed in frequency to be used between the output of the operation log and the output of the external device operation. By changing the frequency (or data transfer rate) of the operation log output, it is possible to avoid an erroneous operation instruction to an external device.

 In the present embodiment, an example in which the operation log is output from the IR port is shown. However, the IR port may output the operation log using an external output terminal such as IEEE1394 or a video terminal. Even when an IR port is used, a connection method in which an operation log is transmitted by directly connecting a signal line to a log receiving device without using an IR light emitting terminal may be used.

 In this embodiment, two IR light emitting terminals are shown. However, depending on the place where the log receiver is installed, one IR light emitting terminal may be used. Conversely, when there are a plurality of external devices. There may be three or more IR light emitting terminals. In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which signals are always output from all of the IR light emitting terminals connected to a plurality of IR ports. However, by using a hardware controller, a plurality of IR light emitting terminals can be used according to the purpose. An IR output port that outputs a signal limited to any one of the terminals may be used.

  By making it possible to output the operation log inside the broadcast receiver from the broadcast receiver, you can investigate the usage status of the broadcast receiver during the cooperation process, develop more attractive broadcast receivers, and provide more attractive content. Is possible.

The figure which shows the broadcast receiver which can output the operation log Flow chart showing operation log output method Diagram showing the entire TV operation log collection system The figure which shows the system installation method in the home of the television operation log collection system The figure explaining S202 of the flow of FIG. 2 in detail A figure showing an example when an advertisement is posted on the display screen The figure which illustrated the contents of signal RQa sent to an operation log output control part

Explanation of symbols

101 Operation log output TV 102 IR port 103 IR terminal 104 for log output 104 IR terminal 104 for device operation
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 105 Remote control 106 Remote control light-receiving part 110 System control part 111 Operation log output control part 112 External apparatus operation output control part 113 IR controller 301 The home which agreed to cooperate with log collection 302 Network line 303 Data totaling center 304 Data totaling apparatus 304
305 Log receiving device 401 External device

Claims (3)

  Operation log output means for outputting its own operation record, external device operation signal output means for outputting a signal for operating the external device from the receiver, and switching means for switching between the operation log output means and the external device operation signal output means A broadcast receiver comprising:   The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the switching means has a plurality of output terminals. 2. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the operation record includes operation information of the broadcast receiver and information attached thereto.

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