JP5219640B2 - Digital broadcasting system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital broadcasting system, and more particularly to a technology for identifying content provided by a communication terminal from a broadcasting station or a content provider.

  As a conventional system for receiving digital broadcasting, for example, there is one described in Patent Document 1. An example of a system for receiving this digital broadcast is shown in FIG. This system is roughly composed of a communication terminal 10, a broadcast station 20 that performs digital broadcasting via a broadcast line, and a content server 31 that performs information communication via a computer network connected via the communication line. The content server 31 usually has a function of providing the same content as a program broadcast on the broadcast station 20 via the Internet connected via a communication line such as a mobile phone line.

  When the broadcast reception management unit 110 determines that the broadcast reception is interrupted, the control unit 103 of the communication terminal 10 switches the reception mode from the broadcast station 20 to the broadcast reception mode using the communication line. Execute the process. In response to the notification from the control unit 103, the communication transmitting / receiving unit 104 connects to the content server 31 via a communication line and receives the same content as when receiving the broadcast.

  At this time, the content server 31 is viewed on the communication terminal 10 by recognizing the selected channel number, viewing time zone, G code of the viewing program, and the like based on the program information received from the communication terminal 10. Identify the program. Then, the content server 31 searches the storage unit storing the content for the content corresponding to the program, and transmits it to the communication terminal 10 via the communication line.

JP 2004-40380 A

  Since the conventional digital broadcasting system is configured as described above, only the program information in the content is used when the program being viewed on the communication terminal 10 is specified. Therefore, the current ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and In the EIT (Event Information Table) on the Businesses) standard, for example, in the case of rebroadcasting of the same program, it can be determined that the same content is the same in the main broadcast and the rebroadcast. However, the content server has a problem that EIT, which is program information for identifying content, can be managed in duplicate for the main broadcast and the rebroadcast, or only the content currently being broadcast can be handled.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcasting system that can uniquely determine content without changing EIT information. It is another object of the present invention to provide a digital broadcasting system that does not need to handle a plurality of program information for identifying contents even when a plurality of content providers provide contents distributed by digital broadcasting.

The digital broadcast system according to the present invention has a content identification management server that manages association between program information indicating identification of a broadcast program, broadcast content of the program, and content identification information that can uniquely identify the broadcast content. A broadcasting station that performs digital broadcasting via a broadcasting line; a content server that stores and provides broadcasting content; a broadcast receiving means that receives digital broadcasting via a broadcasting line from the broadcasting station; and a digital broadcast program received by the broadcasting receiving means Acquisition means for acquiring information, communication transmission / reception means for communicating with content identification management server and content server via communication line, and content identification management server via communication transmission / reception means using program information acquired by acquisition means and a communication terminal and a control means for acquiring content identification information from, The communication terminal reserves the rebroadcast program A ′ based on the received program information, and provides a service identification and event necessary for identifying the content of the program information to the content identification management server of the URL information corresponding to the program information. The identification and program start time are output, and the content identification management server searches for the content linked to the input service identification, event identification, and program start time, and determines the content identification of the content A ′ as a search result. And the control means of the communication terminal refers to the content identification of the input content A ′ and determines whether or not the content A ′ is already stored in the storage unit. .

  According to the present invention, there is provided a content identification management server that manages association between program information indicating identification of a broadcast program, broadcast content of the program, and content identification information capable of uniquely identifying the broadcast content, and a broadcast line A broadcast station that performs digital broadcasts, a content server that stores and provides broadcast content, broadcast reception means that receives digital broadcasts from the broadcast station, and digital broadcast program information received by the broadcast reception means Content identification management server and communication transmission / reception means for communicating with the content server via a communication line, and content identification from the content identification management server via the communication transmission / reception means using the program information acquired by the acquisition means. Since it is configured to include a communication terminal having a control means for acquiring information, Without changing the EIT information of the row of the ARIB standard, also it can uniquely determine the content in the content server, without managing multiple program information for the same content. In addition, contents other than those currently being broadcast can be handled.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the digital broadcast system according to the first embodiment. In this digital broadcasting system, in addition to a communication function using a normal communication line, digital information such as video, audio, data, and the like by a digital broadcasting such as a communication terminal 10 having a digital broadcast receiving function via a broadcast line and terrestrial digital broadcasting. And a plurality of content providers 30 that provide content provided from the broadcast station 20 to the communication terminal 10 via the Internet connected via the communication line. Is done.

  The communication terminal 10 includes a broadcast receiving antenna 100, a broadcast receiving unit (broadcast receiving unit) 101, a viewing program acquiring unit (acquiring unit) 102, a control unit (control unit) 103, a communication transmitting / receiving unit (communication transmitting / receiving unit) 104, and a decoding unit. 105, a speaker 106, a display 107, a reception information storage unit 108, and a storage unit 109. The broadcast receiving antenna 100 receives a digital broadcast signal from the broadcast station 20. The broadcast receiving unit 101 demodulates the digital broadcast signal received by the broadcast receiving antenna 100 and extracts a packet signal related to the program selected by the user from the demodulated broadcast signal.

  The viewing program acquisition unit 102 extracts program information that is identification information of a program that the user is currently viewing from the broadcast signal received by the broadcast program reception unit 101, and outputs this program information to the control unit 103. Here, the program information includes the program name (event_name), the network identification (network_id) of the channel being viewed, the transport stream identification (transport_stream_id), the original network identification (original_network_id), the service identification (service_id), and the event identification (event_id). , And information such as a program start time (start_time) and a program length (duration).

  The event identification is specifically the ID of each program. The network identification, transport stream identification, service identification, event identification, program start time, and program length can be extracted from EIT (Event Information Table). The program information includes URL information of the content identification management server 21 and the like. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the URL information of the content identification management server 21 is described in a BIT (Broadcaster Information Table).

  The control unit 103 outputs a content identification acquisition instruction corresponding to the program information extracted by the viewing program acquisition unit 102 to the communication transmission / reception unit 104. The communication transmitting / receiving unit 104 is connected to a computer network communication line represented by the Internet or the like, and transmits / receives information such as content to / from the broadcast station 20 and the content provider 30.

  The decoding unit 105 decodes the packet signal extracted by the broadcast receiving unit 101 input via the control unit 103 into an audio signal or a video signal, outputs the decoded audio signal to the speaker 106, and displays the video signal. It outputs to 107. The reception information storage unit 108 stores program information of a program that is currently being viewed by the user acquired by the viewing program acquisition unit 102, URL information of the content identification management server 21 of the broadcast station 20, and the like. The storage unit 109 stores the content purchased from the content provider 30 and the content identification corresponding to the content.

  The broadcast station 20 provides content to the content provider 30. The content identification management server 21 in the broadcasting station 20 holds content and program information broadcast by the local station and link information between the content and content identification provided to the content provider 30. Further, the content identification management server 21 receives a content identification acquisition request input from the communication terminal 10 and outputs the content identification of the content corresponding to the program information of the content identification acquisition request to the communication terminal 10. The content identification processing of the content identification management server 21 may be performed at each broadcasting station, or may be configured to collectively perform broadcasting contents for all broadcasting stations.

  The content provider 30 includes a content server 31 that identifies a program being viewed on the communication terminal 10. The content server 31 recognizes the channel number, the viewing time zone, the G code of the viewing program, and the like that are selected based on the program information received from the communication terminal 10, so that the program viewed on the communication terminal 10 can be viewed. Identify. Further, the content server 31 retrieves broadcast information corresponding to the program from a storage unit (not shown) that stores the broadcast program, and outputs the broadcast information to the communication terminal 10 via the communication line. The content provider 30 receives broadcast information from the broadcasting station 20, and also receives content identification when providing the broadcast information.

  Next, identification of program information using EIT will be described. In digital broadcasting, video and audio signals and data are multiplexed and transmitted by fixed-length packets called TS (Transport Stream) packets. The program information is described in program arrangement information (Service Information: hereinafter referred to as SI) in the TS packet. In addition to this program information, SI manages information such as broadcast station names.

  In the TS packet, there is program specific information (hereinafter referred to as PSI) in addition to SI, and this PSI is used for selection of video and audio signals and tuning of services such as organized channels. . The PSI is composed of four tables: PAT (Program Association Table), CAT (Conditional Access Table), PMT (Program Map Table), and NIT (Network Information Table). , SDT (Service Description Table), and EIT (Event Information Table).

  The program name, event identification, program start time, program length, etc., which are program information, are described in the EIT. Of these, the event identification is prohibited from being reused until a certain time has elapsed after the end of the broadcast. Furthermore, since the event identification is unique within the service, and the service is unique within the digital terrestrial broadcasting, a service ID, an event identification, and a program start time are required for program identification within a certain time range. In EIT, event identification basically sends program information for eight days ahead from the current day, and can be used for program reservation.

  FIG. 2 shows a specific example of EIT and BIT of the digital broadcast system according to the first embodiment. 2A and 2C show the EIT, FIG. 2B shows the BIT corresponding to FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2D shows the BIT corresponding to FIG. 2C. In the EIT, network identification, TS identification, original network identification, service identification, event identification, program start time, program length, and program name are described in order from the top.

  EIT200 in FIG. 2 (a) shows the EIT of program A (NNN feature) for the day of March 26, 2008, and EIT201 in FIG. 2 (b) is March 30, 2008 on March 28, 2008. The EIT of the rebroadcast program A ′ of the program A (NNN special feature) is shown. 2A and 2C, the event identification and the program start time are different. On the other hand, in the BIT 300, since the same contents are broadcast during the broadcast period of the program A and the rebroadcast program A ′, the same URL information is described.

  Next, the operation of the digital broadcast system according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the digital broadcast system according to the first embodiment. The broadcast program of the broadcast station will be described using the specific example shown in FIG. The broadcast station 20 broadcasts the program A “NNN feature” to the communication terminal 10 and outputs program information A of the program A (step ST1). The program information A output in step ST1 is the EIT 200 of FIG. 2A, network identification: 0x7FFF, TS identification: 0x7FFF, service identification: 0x0500, event identification: 0x0001, program start time: 2008/03/26, Each information of program length: 1:00:00, program name: NNN special feature is described.

  When the broadcast station 20 ends the broadcast of the program A, the broadcast station 20 provides the content provider 30 with the content A of the program A and content identification (hereinafter referred to as CRID (Content Reference IDentifier): A) (step ST2). The content server 31 of the content provider 30 stores the content A and content identification CRID: A of the program A input in step ST2 (step ST3). The user purchases the content A from the content provider 30 using the communication terminal 10, and stores the content A together with the content identification CRID: A of the content A in the storage unit 109 (step ST4).

  Subsequently, the broadcast station 20 plans to broadcast a rebroadcast program A ′ (NNN feature) on March 30, 2008 as a rebroadcast of the program A on March 28, 2008, two days after the broadcast of the program A. The program information is output to the communication terminal 10 in accordance with this schedule (step ST5). The program information output in step ST5 is the EIT 201 in FIG. 2C, and the network identification, TS identification, original network identification, service identification, program length, and program name, which are information indicating the broadcast contents, are the same as the information in the EIT 200. Although it is the contents, the event identification: 0x0100 and the program start time: 2008/03/30, which are information indicating the program contents, describe different information from the EIT200. However, since it cannot be determined from these EIT information whether EIT 200 and EIT 201 are contents of the same content, the process proceeds to the following process.

  The communication terminal 10 that has received the program information (EIT 201) output in step ST5 reserves the rebroadcast program A ′ based on this program information (step ST6). Further, the service identification and event necessary for identifying the content of the program information (EIT201) are stored in the content identification management server 21 of the URL information described in the BIT300 (FIG. 2 (d)) corresponding to the program information (EIT201). Identification and program start time are output (step ST7). The content identification management server 21 searches the content linked to the service identification, event identification, and program start time input in step ST7, and outputs the content identification of the content A ′ as a search result to the communication terminal 10 (step ST8). ).

  The control unit 103 of the communication terminal 10 to which the content identification of the content A ′ is input in step ST8 refers to the content identification of the content A ′, and whether or not the content A ′ has already been accumulated in the accumulation unit 109. Is determined (step ST9). In the example of this embodiment, since the content A ′ is a rebroadcast of the content A and is the same content, the content identification of the content A ′ is input to the communication terminal 10 as CRID: A in step ST8 described above. Yes. Therefore, the control unit 103 determines that the content identifications of the content A ′ and the content A are the same, and the content A ′ is the content already stored in the storage unit 109, and cancels the program reservation (step ST10).

  On the other hand, referring to the content A ′ content identification input in step ST8, if it is determined that the content A ′ is not the content already stored in the storage unit 109, the program reservation is continued (step ST11). Exit.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the content identification management server 21 searches for content linked to the program information input from the communication terminal 10, and outputs the content identification of the content to the communication terminal 10. Since the communication terminal 10 is configured to determine whether or not the same content is stored with reference to the content identification, the content of the content server is uniquely determined without changing the EIT information of the current ARIB standard. can do. Furthermore, the content server can uniquely determine the content of the content server without managing a plurality of pieces of program information for the same content.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital broadcast system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing program information of the digital broadcast system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the digital broadcast system according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the conventional digital broadcasting system.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Communication terminal, 20 Broadcast station, 21 Content identification management server, 30 Content provider, 31 Content server, 40 Network, 100 Broadcast receiving antenna, 101 Broadcast receiving part, 102 Viewing program acquisition part, 103 Control part, 104 Communication transmission / reception part, 105 decoding unit, 106 speaker, 107 display, 108 reception information storage unit, 109 storage unit, 110 broadcast reception management unit, 111 reception history storage unit, 112 antenna for wireless communication.

Claims (3)

A content identification management server for managing association between program information indicating identification of a broadcast program, broadcast content of the program, and content identification information capable of uniquely identifying the broadcast content; Broadcasting station to perform,
A content server for storing and providing the broadcast content;
Broadcast receiving means for receiving digital broadcasts from the broadcasting station, acquisition means for acquiring digital broadcast program information received by the broadcast receiving means, the content identification management server and the content server via a communication line A communication terminal comprising: communication transmitting / receiving means for performing communication; and control means for acquiring content identification information from the content identification management server via the communication transmitting / receiving means using the program information acquired by the acquiring means. The communication terminal reserves the rebroadcast program A ′ based on the received program information, and services necessary for identifying the content of the program information to the content identification management server of the URL information corresponding to the program information. Output identification, event identification, program start time,
The content identification management server searches for the content linked to the input service identification, event identification, and program start time, and outputs the content identification of the content A ′ as a search result to the communication terminal,
The control means of the communication terminal refers to the content identification of the input content A ′ and determines whether or not the content A ′ is already stored in the storage unit. . The program information holds the address information of the content identification management server,
The acquisition means extracts the address information from the program information,
2. The digital broadcasting system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is connected to the content identification management server using the address information extracted by the acquisition unit.   3. The digital broadcasting system according to claim 2, wherein the address information of the content identification management server is described in a BIT (Broadcaster Information Table) of program information.

Images