JPH0353693A - Two-way catv network subscriber terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the communication processing quantity of a CATV center by storing a charging data of the paid service to a subscriber terminal equipment and transferring the stored charging data automatically upon the charge transfer request from the CATV center at the end of broadcast. CONSTITUTION:A subscriber terminal equipment sums and stores paid service view times for a prescribed period such as a day's period and stores changing data collated and generated with paid service management information down- loaded periodically from a CATV center. When the broadcast for a day is finished, a charging data transfer request signal is sent from the CATV center and charging data information stored in a charging data storage section 9 is delivered to the CATV center altogether via a control section 5, a MODEM section 3, a distributer 2 and an input terminal 1. Thus, huge charging centralized processing in the CATV center is reduced.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a two-way CATV network subscriber terminal device, and in particular, generates and stores billing data according to viewing time and collects it all at once.
Concerning subscriber terminal equipment that transfers data to an ATV center. [Prior Art] Two-way CATV system services include free services and paid services, and the subscriber terminal equipment installed at the subscriber's home has a means for selecting a paid service from a large number of TV channels transmitted from a CATV center. have. The pay service is scrambled and transmitted from the CATV center, and at the start of the program broadcast, a pay service viewing permission signal is sent from the CATV center to the subscriber terminal device that has requested viewing. Paid services are monthly,
Charges are based on various contract methods such as channel by channel, program by program, and hour by hour. In the case of contracts other than hourly contracts, the contents of the contract are known in advance, and based on the contract, the CATV center sends out a pay service viewing permission signal and descrambles the subscriber's terminal device. In the case of a unit contract, the viewing time is not known in advance, so subscribe. It is necessary to constantly monitor users' viewing requests. Therefore, the CATV center constantly and cyclically monitors subscriber terminal devices at high speed, and immediately sends out a paid service viewing permission signal to descramble the subscriber terminal device if requested by the subscriber.

In either contract, billing information is communicated between the CATV center and the subscriber terminal device, so that the computer at the CATV center performs billing processing for each subscriber.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional billing system for paid services, especially in the case of a viewing time contract, mutual communication is required between the CATV center and the subscriber terminal in order to monitor whether there is a viewing request from the subscriber terminal. Information must be exchanged, and this mutual communication requires high-speed communication processing in order to promptly respond to viewing requests from subscriber terminal devices, and the amount of communication processing is large. Furthermore, the amount of data related to billing for each subscriber terminal device stored at the CATV center is large, and as the number of subscriber terminal devices increases, the amount of data and the amount of communication processing increase, and the load on the CATV center song increases.

An object of the present invention is to accumulate billing data for paid services in a subscriber terminal device, and to automatically transfer the accumulated billing data in response to a billing transfer request from the CATV center at the end of broadcasting, thereby increasing the communication processing capacity of the CATV center. It is an object of the present invention to provide a CATV network subscriber terminal device that can reduce the amount of noise.

[Means to solve the problem]

The two-way CATVtI4 subscriber terminal device of the present invention includes an operation unit through which a subscriber specifies viewing information, a timer unit that counts viewing time when the operation unit specifies a paid service, and a timer unit that counts viewing time. a viewing time storage unit that stores the viewing time that has been used; a charging information detection unit that detects charging information sent from the CATV center; a charging information storage unit that stores the charging information detected by the charging information detection unit; The viewing charge data is stored in the charge information storage unit and the viewing time storage unit. It is composed of a charging data storage section that stores the charging data, and a control section that transfers the designation information of the operation section and the charging data from the charging data storage section to the CATV center. [Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. C
Service information sent from the ATV center is input terminal 1.
The signal arrives at the station, is separated into a data signal and a TV signal by the distributor 2, and the data signal is demodulated by the modem 3 and output to the control unit 5 via the billing information detection unit 4. The control unit 5 is the operation unit 1
It receives a designation signal such as a viewing channel from 0, generates a pay service viewing permission application signal, sends it to the CATV center, and outputs a channel selection control signal to the channel selection section 11.

The channel selection section 11 receives the TV signal from the distributor 2,
A predetermined channel is selected according to a channel designation signal from the control section 5 and outputted to the descramble section 12. The descrambler 12 receives descrambling control from the controller 5 and outputs a normal TV signal to an image receiving device (not shown) via an output terminal 13. The timer section 6 is started by a start signal from the control section 5, and the count time is stored in the viewing time storage section 7. The billing information detection section 4 detects billing information from the data signal demodulated by the modulation/demodulation section 3 and stores it in the billing information storage section 8 . The billing data storage section 9 collects and stores billing data based on the outputs of the viewing time storage section 7 and the billing information storage section 8, and outputs C A T 'v' via the control section 5, the variable f3E tuning section 3, and the distributor 2. Transfer to the center. When the transfer of the accumulated billing data is completed, the control unit 5 sends the timer unit 6. Viewing time storage unit 7. A clear signal is output to the billing information storage section 8.

Next, the operation will be explained.

When viewing a paid service, the descrambling unit 12 of the subscriber terminal device is activated in response to a paid service viewing permission signal from the CATV center, allowing the subscriber to view the paid service in the same way as the free service.

That is, when a subscriber specifies viewing information such as a pay service channel using the operation unit 10, a pay service viewing permission request signal is sent from the control unit 5 to the CATV center via the modulation/demodulation unit 3, the distributor 2, and the input terminal 1. At the same time, the channel selection section 11 is driven to select a designated channel. The CATV center that has received the pay service viewing permission application signal sends a pay service viewing permission signal to the subscriber terminal device. A pay service viewing permission signal from the CATV center received at the input terminal l is detected by the billing information detection unit 4 via the distributor 2 and the modulation/demodulation unit 3, and drives the descrambling unit 12 via the control unit 5. . The descrambled TV signal is outputted as a normal signal to a separately prepared image receiving device (not shown) via the output panel 13, and the timer section 6 is activated to start counting the viewing time.Meanwhile, the CAT
Paid service management information, which is periodically downloaded from the V center at the time of starting or ending broadcasting, is detected by the billing information detection section 4 via the input terminal 1, the distributor 2, and the modulation/demodulation section 3. The detected billing information is stored in the billing information storage section 8. When the specified paid service ends, the billing data storage section 9 collates and generates the viewing time counted by the timer section 6 stored in the viewing time storage section 7 and the billing information stored in the billing information storage section 8 and charges the bill. Accumulate as data. On the other hand, when the broadcast for the day ends, a billing data transfer request signal is sent from the CATV center, and the billing data information stored in the billing data storage section 9 is transferred to the control section 5, the modulation/demodulation section 3,
The signals are collectively transferred to the CATV center via the distributor 2 and the input terminal 1.

When the transfer of billing data information to the CATV center is completed, all data related to billing in the timer section 6, viewing time storage section 7, and billing data storage section 9 are cleared by a control signal from the control section 5, returning to the initial state. Note that it is desirable that this subscriber terminal device has a backup function in the event of a power outage and a structure that prevents billing data from being tampered with.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention allows paid service viewing time for a certain period of time, such as one day's worth, to be added and stored in a subscriber terminal device, and paid service management information that is periodically downloaded from a CATV center. In order to store billing data that is collated and generated and periodically transfer it all at once to the CATV center, such as at the end of a broadcast, some billing data generation functions at the CATV center are separated to subscriber terminal devices. This has the effect of reducing the enormous amount of intensive billing processing at the CATV center.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1...Input terminal, 2...Distributor, 3.
...Modulation/demodulation section, 4...Charging information detection section,
5...Control section, 6...Timer section, 7...
... Viewing time storage unit, 8... Billing information storage unit, 9... Billing data storage unit, 10...
・Operation section, 11...Channel selection section, 12.
... Scramble canceling section, 13 ... Output terminal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a two-way CATV network subscriber terminal device that monitors and charges for viewing time in which a subscriber selects a paid service among various service information transmitted from a CATV center including a mixture of paid services, the subscriber receives viewing information. an operating section for specifying a paid service; a timer section for counting the viewing time when the operating section specifies a paid service; and a viewing time storage section for storing the viewing time counted by the timer section;
A billing information detection section that detects billing information sent from the CATV center, a billing information storage section that stores the billing information detected by the billing information detection section, and storage of the billing information storage section and the viewing time storage section. A charging data storage section that generates and stores viewing charging data from information, and charging data from the specified information of the operation section and the charging data storage section.
A two-way CATV network subscriber terminal device, comprising: a control unit for transmitting data to an ATV center.