JPH0946685A - Scramble broadcast system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the degree of freedom of system operation by allowing a transmission means to add individual control data to a TV signal for each of plural reception terminal equipments and to send the resulting data and allowing each reception terminal equipment to conduct descramble processing based on the control data so as to conduct different effect control from each reception terminal equipment. SOLUTION: A scramble processing circuit 12 applies scramble processing to a TV signal received by an input terminal 11. Furthermore, mode data given to an input terminal 13 are given to a generating circuit 14, which generates individual effect control data for each reception terminal equipment based on the mode data and each contract information placed on each of plural reception terminal equipments processed by a processing circuit 15. The control data and the TV signal subject to scramble processing by the circuit 12 are multiplexed by an adder circuit 16 and the result is sent to each reception terminal equipment via an output terminal 17. Thus, bits of PN data commanded by the individual effect control data received with the TV signal are masked to apply selectively any descramble processing from 1/128 division mode till a 1/2 division mode to the TV signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scramble broadcasting system in which a television signal is scrambled and transmitted, and a descramble process is performed on the receiving side.
In particular, the present invention relates to a television signal that has been subjected to the same scramble processing and can be subjected to different effect control for each receiving terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in a subscriber television broadcasting system such as a CATV (Cable Television) broadcasting system which is currently carried out in Japan, a viewing contract is paid and a reception contract is made. Viewers who performed,
In other words, the television signal is scrambled before being broadcast so that only the subscriber can properly watch the program.

[0003] In this case, even for non-subscribers who have not subscribed to the reception contract, the contents of the image of the program are suggested to some extent to motivate the viewer to use it as advertising material for promoting the subscription to the broadcasting system. The so-called effect control, which controls the difficulty of understanding the image contents by adjusting the degree of agitation of the television signal in the scramble processing, is performed.

By the way, in such a conventional subscriber television broadcasting system, it is difficult to understand the image content displayed by the effect control depending on the degree of agitation applied to the broadcast television signal by scrambling. Since the degree is uniformly decided, if the broadcast signal is scrambled so that the broadcasting station performs a predetermined effect control and broadcast, all non-subscribers will be provided with the same effect-controlled image. Will be.

That is, in the conventional subscriber television broadcasting system, the subscriber is provided with a normal image in which the received television signal is subjected to the regular descrambling process, and the non-subscribers are all controlled with the same effect. There are only two situations in which an image is provided. Therefore, it is not possible to realize an operation mode in which different effect control is performed for each non-subscriber, region, etc. in the same time zone for the same program. In the above, there is a problem that there are many inflexible portions.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional subscriber television broadcasting system, the same scramble processing is applied to all non-subscribers depending on the degree of agitation applied to the broadcast television signal. Since an image whose effect is controlled is provided, there is a problem that the degree of freedom in operation is poor and it is difficult to realize a wide range of services.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and it is possible to perform different effect control for each receiving terminal with respect to a television signal which has been subjected to the same scramble processing and broadcast. , An extremely good scramble broadcasting system capable of improving the degree of freedom in system operation.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A scramble broadcasting system according to the present invention comprises a transmitting means for performing scramble processing on a television signal and transmitting the same, and a plurality of descramble processing for the television signal transmitted by the transmitting means. It is intended for those equipped with the receiving terminal and. Then, the transmitting means adds the individual effect control data corresponding to each of the plurality of receiving terminals to the television signal and transmits the data, and the receiving terminal adds the individual effect control data to the received television signal. The television signal is descrambled based on the control data.

Further, in the scramble broadcasting system according to the present invention, in the above object, the receiving terminal performs descramble processing on the television signal based on the individual effect control data set externally. There is.

According to the above configuration, the receiving terminal is
Since the television signal is descrambled on the basis of the individual effect control data added to the received television signal or the external effect control data that is externally set, the same scramble processing is performed. It is possible to perform different effect control for each receiving terminal with respect to the applied and broadcast television signal, and to improve the operational flexibility of the subscriber television broadcasting system.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Before describing the embodiments of the present invention, a brief description will be given of scrambling processing applied to a television signal on the broadcast station side and effect control operation on the receiving terminal side. I will decide. First, on the broadcast station side, scramble processing by the line rotation method is performed on the broadcast television signal.

The scramble processing by this line rotation method is described in "Journal of the Television Society of Japan" vol.46 No.4.
As described in pp.387-391 (1992), during the effective image period in each horizontal line of the television signal,
By setting m (for example, 186 places) switching candidate points respectively and randomly designating a switching position (cut point) for each horizontal line, the random cut point is effective for each horizontal line. It is realized by replacing the data of the image period before and after.

In this case, the cut point is designated by 8-bit PN data generated for each horizontal line from a PN (pseudo random number) generating circuit (not shown).
Here, this PN data is, as shown by the diagonal lines in FIG.
By masking all 8 bits, it is possible to set a mode in which a cut point is not designated, that is, a scramble process is not performed.

Further, this PN data has the upper 7 bits b
By masking 7 to b1, the cut point is specified only by the LSB (least significant bit) b0, 1
The shift mode can be set. In this 1-shift mode, the data is exchanged at the switching position designated only by the LSB data PN of the PN data, so that the scrambling process with the least degree of agitation of the television signal can be performed.

Further, the upper 6 bits b7 to PN of the PN data.
By masking b2, its lower 2 bits b1,
It is possible to set a 3-shift mode in which the cut point is designated by b0. In this 3-shift mode, since the data is exchanged at the switching position designated by the lower 2 bits b1 and b0 of the PN data, the scrambling process in which the degree of agitation of the television signal is slightly larger than that in the 1-shift mode is performed. You can

Thereafter, in the same manner, the MSB of PN data
By masking (the most significant bit) b7, it is possible to set the 127 shift mode in which the cut point is designated by the lower 7 bits b6 to b0. In the 127 shift mode, since the data is exchanged at the switching position designated by the lower 7 bits b6 to b0 of the PN data, it is possible to perform the scrambling process in which the degree of agitation of the television signal is considerably large.

All bits b7 to b0 of the PN data
By not masking, the full shift mode in which the cut point is designated by all the bits b7 to b0 can be set. In this full shift mode, PN
Since the data is exchanged at the switching position designated by all the bits b7 to b0 of the data, it is possible to realize the scrambling process in which the degree of agitation of the television signal is maximum.

On the other hand, the receiving terminal side is provided with a PN generation circuit (not shown) for outputting the same PN data as the broadcasting station side in the same order, and for each horizontal line of the received television signal. At the position designated by the PN data output from the PN generation circuit, the data of the horizontal line is exchanged to realize the descrambling process and restore the original television signal.
In this case, the PN generated for descramble processing
It is needless to say that the upper bits of the data are masked and used in accordance with the scramble processing mode applied to the received television signal.

Here, if the received television signal is displayed as it is on the receiving terminal side without being descrambled, the contents of the image can be understood considerably depending on the scrambling mode applied to the television signal. Eight-step effect control is performed from the shift mode to the full shift mode in which the image contents cannot be understood at all.

Further, even when a television signal scrambled in the full shift mode is broadcast from the broadcasting station side, the PN generated at the receiving terminal side is broadcast.
The effect can be controlled by appropriately masking the bits of the data. That is, as shown by hatching in FIG. 6, by masking only the LSBb0 of the PN data, it is possible to set the 128 division mode in which the data is exchanged at the position designated by the higher 7 bits b7 to b1. .

In the 128-division mode, the television signal scrambled in the full shift mode is replaced at the position designated by the high-order 7 bits b7 to b1 of the PN data. It is possible to realize the descramble processing with the highest restoration rate of the John signal.

The lower 2 bits b1 and b of the PN data
By masking 0, the upper 6 bits b7 ...
It is possible to set a 64-division mode in which data is exchanged at the position designated by b2. This 64
In the split mode, since the television signal scrambled in the full shift mode is replaced at the position designated by the upper 6 bits b7 to b2 of the PN data, the television signal is restored. It is possible to realize the descrambling process whose rate is lower than that of the 128 division mode.

Similarly, by masking the lower 7 bits b6 to b0 of the PN data, the MSB of the PN data is masked.
It is possible to set a two-division mode in which data is exchanged at a position designated only by b7. This 2
In the division mode, M of PN data is applied to the television signal scrambled in the full shift mode.
Since the data is exchanged at the position designated only by SBb7, it is possible to realize the descramble processing with the lowest restoration rate of the television signal.

Based on the scramble processing and the effect control operation as described above, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
An embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration on the broadcast station side. The television signal supplied to the input terminal 11 is supplied to the scramble processing circuit 12 and is subjected to the line rotation scramble processing described above. In this case, the scramble processing circuit 12 determines the scramble processing mode to be applied to the input television signal based on the mode data supplied to the input terminal 13.

The mode data supplied to the input terminal 13 is also supplied to the individual effect control data generating circuit 14. The individual effect control data generation circuit 14 is based on the input mode data and the individual contract information exchanged for each of a plurality of receiving terminals (not shown) processed by the individual information processing circuit 15 and each receiving terminal. Individual effect control data is generated for each. Then, the individual effect control data generated by the individual effect control data generation circuit 14 and the television signal scrambled by the scramble processing circuit 12 are multiplexed by the adder circuit 16 and output via the output terminal 17. And is used for transmission to each receiving terminal.

Therefore, each receiving terminal masks the bits of the PN data indicated by the individual effect control data received together with the television signal, so that the 128 division mode described above is applied to the television signal. It becomes possible to selectively perform one of the descrambling processes up to the two-division mode, and the reception signal is different for each receiving terminal with respect to the television signal broadcast with the same scrambling process. The effect can be controlled.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, showing the configuration of the receiving terminal side. That is, the received signal supplied to the input terminal 18 is supplied to the separation circuit 19 and separated into a television signal and mode data indicating a scrambling mode applied to the television signal. Of these, the television signal is supplied to the descramble processing circuit 20, and the mode data is supplied to the effect control data generation circuit 21.

Then, the effect control data generating circuit 21
Is the input mode data and the individual information processing circuit 22.
The descrambling effect control data is generated based on the contract information obtained from the descrambling processing circuit 2.
0 is output. Here, contract information is set in the individual information processing circuit 22, for example, by mounting an IC (integrated circuit) card distributed in advance from the program provider side.

Therefore, the descramble processing circuit 2
0 masks the bits of the PN data designated by the effect control data for descrambling output from the effect control data generation circuit 21 so that the television signal is divided from the 128 division mode to the 2 division mode described above. Any of the above descramble processing can be selectively performed and can be derived from the output terminal 23. In other words, different effect control can be performed for each receiving terminal according to the contract information set in the individual information processing circuit 22.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the contract information obtained from the individual information processing circuits 15 and 22 includes, for example, the free viewing period (preview) of the program.
It is also possible to include the number of times of use information, the time of use information, and the like so that the mode of the descrambling process can be selected based on these information.

Next, in the subscriber television broadcasting system, as one of the operations, when one screen is divided into a plurality of image areas and different images are simultaneously displayed in the respective areas, so-called multi-screen display is performed. There is. Such a multi-screen display is used as a program guide for a service, for example, by simultaneously displaying the program contents of each channel being broadcast so that the viewer can easily select the program he or she wants to watch. Done.

However, when the program guide is performed by the multi-screen display, some viewers can understand the content of the program not subscribed to, though it is a small screen display. In this case, depending on the nature of the information held by the program, it may be possible to provide sufficient value even with the small screen display provided by the program guide. Therefore, this is not the case with viewers who have a legitimate subscription to the program. Differentiation from the viewer cannot be achieved, and serious problems will occur in system operation.

On the other hand, in the line rotation type scramble processing, since data is exchanged in units of horizontal lines, the entire image display area of one screen is displayed in the vertical direction by the scrambled horizontal lines. An area to be displayed and an area to be displayed by a horizontal line which is not scrambled can be selectively divided.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the entire image display area of one screen is divided into three image areas in the horizontal direction and three image areas in the vertical direction for a total of nine images. Considering the case of performing multi-screen display in which different programs are simultaneously displayed as images in a region, the entire image display region of one screen is divided into three regions A, B, C in the vertical direction.

Therefore, the broadcasting station side scrambles and broadcasts the television signals corresponding to the image display in each of the areas A, B, and C, selectively and in a required mode, and then the receiving terminal side. Therefore, if different effect control is performed for each of the areas A, B, and C according to the contract conditions of each subscriber, even if the program guide by the multi-screen display is performed, the non-contracted program can be viewed. It becomes possible to prevent it from happening as much as possible.

Specifically, in FIG. 3, for example, for the television signal corresponding to the image display in the area A, the broadcasting station side broadcasts the signal without scrambling, The television signal corresponding to the image display at C is scrambled in the full-screen shift mode and broadcast. Then, first, all the viewers can normally view the program displayed in the image in the area A regardless of the contract conditions.

Further, for each individual viewer, in consideration of the contract conditions, for example, the descramble processing of the 128 division mode is performed on the television signal corresponding to the image display in the area B, and the television signal in the area C is obtained. Different effect control data is given to each viewer such that the television signal corresponding to the image display is descrambled in the two-division mode. Effect control can be performed.

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the present invention in which different effect control is performed for each of the areas divided in the vertical direction of the screen as described above. The configuration is shown. That is, the television signal supplied to the input terminal 24 is sent to the scramble processing circuit 25.
And is subjected to the above-described scramble processing in the full shift mode. In this case, the scramble processing circuit 25
Is selected on the basis of the scramble position data supplied to the input terminal 26, a horizontal line to be scrambled in the input television signal.

The scramble position data supplied to the input terminal 26 is supplied to the control information sending circuit 27. The control information transmission circuit 27 receives the input scramble position data, the display position data supplied to the input terminal 28, which indicates the display position of each small screen constituting the multi-screen, and the small position supplied to the input terminal 29. The individual control data for each receiving terminal is generated based on the screen channel data. Then, the individual control data generated by the control information transmission circuit 27 and the television signal scrambled by the scramble processing circuit 25 are multiplexed by the adder circuit 30 and received by the output terminal 31. It is used for transmission to the terminal.

Therefore, in each receiving terminal, on the specified horizontal line of the television signal, based on the instruction of the individual control data received together with the television signal,
It becomes possible to selectively perform descramble processing of the specified mode, and here, for each receiving terminal unit,
Different effect control can be performed for each image display area.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention in which different effect control is performed for each of the areas divided in the vertical direction of the screen as described above. The configuration on the terminal side is shown. That is, the input terminal 32
The received signal supplied to is supplied to the separation circuit 33,
It is separated into a television signal, display position data indicating the display position of each small screen forming the multi-screen, and small screen channel data. Of these, the television signal is
The descramble processing circuit 34 supplies the display position data and the small screen channel data to the descramble data generation circuit 35.

The descrambling data generation circuit 35 controls the effect for partial descrambling based on the input display position data and small screen channel data and the contract information supplied via the input terminal 36. The data is generated and output to the descramble processing circuit 34. Here, the contract information is set in the input terminal 36, for example, by mounting an IC card distributed in advance from the program provider side.

Therefore, the descramble processing circuit 3
Reference numeral 4 selectively performs descramble processing of a designated mode on a designated horizontal line of the television signal based on an instruction of the effect control data for partial descramble output from the descramble data generation circuit 35. Giving,
It can be derived from the output terminal 37. That is, it is possible to perform different effect control for each image display area for each receiving terminal according to the contract information of each subscriber.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the line rotation type scramble processing is specifically described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to other scramble methods. For example, in a scramble system in which a television signal is loaded into a large-scale image memory and rearranged in pixel units, the effect control for partial scramble can be performed more finely, and the effect control in the multi-screen described above can be performed horizontally. It is also possible to perform in small screen units instead of line units. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0045]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
A very good scrambled broadcasting system that can improve the degree of freedom in system operation by enabling different effect control for each receiving terminal for television signals that have been broadcast with the same scramble processing. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a scramble broadcasting system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining effect control in multi-screen display.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a line rotation type scramble process and an effect control process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 ... Input terminal, 12 ... Scramble processing circuit, 13 ... Input terminal, 14 ... Individual effect control data generation circuit, 15 ... Individual information processing circuit, 16 ... Addition circuit, 17 ... Output terminal, 18 ... Input terminal, 19 ... Separation Circuit, 20 ... Descramble processing circuit, 21 ... Effect control data generation circuit, 22 ... Individual information processing circuit, 23 ... Output terminal, 24 ... Input terminal, 25 ... Scramble processing circuit, 26 ... Input terminal, 27 ... Control information transmission Circuits, 28, 29 ... Input terminals, 30 ... Addition circuits, 31 ... Output terminals, 32 ... Input terminals, 33 ... Separation circuits, 34 ... Descramble processing circuits, 35 ... Descramble data generation circuits, 36 ... Input terminals, 37 … Output terminal.

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A scramble broadcasting system comprising: a transmitting means for performing scramble processing on a television signal for transmission; and a plurality of receiving terminals for performing descramble processing on the television signal transmitted by the transmitting means. The transmitting means adds individual effect control data corresponding to each of the plurality of receiving terminals to the television signal and transmits the data, and the receiving terminal receives the individual effect control data individually added to the received television signal. A scramble broadcasting system, characterized in that the television signal is descrambled based on effect control data. 2. The individual effect control data includes control information for designating and controlling an arbitrary portion in a drawing portion of a television signal received by the receiving terminal which is descrambled. The scrambled broadcasting system according to claim 1, wherein the scrambled broadcasting system is a scrambled broadcasting system. 3. The scramble means for scrambling an input television signal based on pseudo-random number data generated for each horizontal line, and the television scrambled by the scramble means. And a signal for effect control data adding means for generating and adding individual effect control data corresponding to each of the plurality of receiving terminals to the signal, wherein the receiving terminal includes a horizontal line of the received television signal. Descrambling means for performing descramble processing based on pseudo random number data generated for each and pseudo random number data used for descramble processing by this descramble means are added to the received television signal. And a control means for controlling based on the individual effect control data. Scrambled broadcasting system of claim 1 wherein. 4. The control means, based on the individual effect control data added to the received television signal, generates pseudo-random number data used for descramble processing by the descramble means. 4. The scrambled broadcasting system according to claim 3, wherein the bitwise masking is performed. 5. The scramble means performs a line rotation scramble process for replacing the television signal for each horizontal line at a position designated by the pseudo random number data.
The scrambled broadcasting system described. 6. The individual effect control data is in units of horizontal lines of a television signal received by the receiving terminal, with respect to pseudo random number data used for descramble processing by the descramble means. The scramble broadcasting system according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the scramble broadcasting system includes control information for specifying and controlling. 7. A scramble broadcasting system comprising: a transmitting means for performing scramble processing on a television signal and transmitting the scrambled signal; and a plurality of receiving terminals for performing descramble processing on the television signal transmitted by the transmitting means. The scramble broadcasting system, wherein the receiving terminal performs descramble processing on the received television signal based on externally set individual effect control data. 8. The individual effect control data includes control information for designating and controlling an arbitrary portion in a drawing portion of a television signal received by the receiving terminal which is descrambled. The scrambled broadcasting system according to claim 7, which is characterized in that. 9. The transmitting means comprises scrambling means for performing scrambling processing on an input television signal based on pseudo-random number data generated for each horizontal line thereof, and the receiving terminal receives the received television signal. The descramble means for performing descramble processing on the John signal based on the pseudo random number data generated for each horizontal line, and the pseudo random number data used for the descramble processing by this descramble means are externally set. 8. The scramble broadcasting system according to claim 7, further comprising: control means for controlling based on the selected individual effect control data. 10. The control means masks, on a bit-by-bit basis, the pseudo random number data used for descrambling processing by the descrambling means, based on the externally set individual effect control data. The scramble broadcasting system according to claim 9. 11. The transmission means performs a line rotation scramble process for replacing the television signal for each horizontal line at a position designated by the pseudo random number data. Scramble broadcasting system. 12. The individual effect control data is in units of horizontal lines of a television signal received by the receiving terminal, with respect to pseudo random number data used for descramble processing by the descramble means. The scramble broadcasting system according to any one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that the scramble broadcasting system includes control information for specifying and controlling.