JPH10200874A - Charged television broadcasting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To actualize charged television broadcasting by making good use of unidirectional common receiving facilities. SOLUTION: The unidirectional common receiving facilities 4 are used to send a charged television broadcast signal from a head end 2 to receivers 12 of respective terminals. A card issuing/settling machine 2 provided at the front desk of a hotel issues a magnetic card 16 on which use permission data on the issue date and time, etc., are stored. When the magnetic card 16 is inserted into a terminal device 10 provided on each terminal side and a charged television broadcast is received, data corresponding to the reception time is written on the magnetic card 16 by the terminal device 10. When a guest carries the magnetic card 16 to the front desk, the card issuing/settling machine 2 settles the use charge of the charged television broadcast according to the data written on the magnetic card 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pay television broadcasting apparatus, and more particularly to charging in a pay television broadcasting apparatus using a unidirectional joint receiving facility.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are, for example, the following structures in pay television broadcasting apparatuses. Using the two-way joint receiving facility, the center transmits a pay television broadcast signal to each terminal. The center uses the joint receiving facility to call each terminal sequentially. When the called terminal receives the pay television broadcast, the address of the terminal and the fact that the terminal is being received are transmitted from the terminal to the center using the joint receiving facility. If the called terminal has not received the pay television broadcast signal, the called terminal transmits the address of the terminal to the center using the joint receiving facility. The center to which the address has been transmitted calls the next terminal. The center determines, for each terminal, the time spent watching pay television based on the period during which the data indicating that reception is being performed was sent,
Charge viewers.

[0003]

However, in the pay television broadcasting apparatus as described above, the joint receiving facility can transmit from the center to the terminal and also can transmit from the terminal to the center. It is assumed that a so-called two-way joint receiving facility is used. Therefore, when using a unidirectional joint receiving facility that allows only transmission from the center side to each terminal side, when trying to carry out pay television broadcasting, the joint receiving facility must be changed to a bidirectional one. However, there is a problem that the cost increases.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a pay television broadcasting apparatus that can be implemented even in a unidirectional joint receiving facility.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 uses a unidirectional joint reception facility to transmit a pay television broadcast signal from a plurality of terminals from a center side. Transmit to receiver. Each of the terminals is provided with terminal-side writing means. The terminal-side writing means writes data corresponding to the reception time of the pay television broadcast signal into a readable and writable recording medium. A fee determining means is provided on the center side. The fee determining means determines a fee for using the pay television broadcast based on the data written on the recording medium.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the pay television broadcast is received on the terminal side, the data corresponding to the pay television broadcast reception time is written to the recording medium by the terminal write means. . This data may be the reception time itself,
It is also possible to use the reception time divided by the unit time serving as a basis for charging. The viewer brings this recording medium to the center side, reads the data of the recording medium by the fee determining means, and determines the usage fee based on the read data. Therefore, even when a unidirectional joint receiving facility is used, a pay television broadcasting device can be realized by using a recording medium.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the pay television broadcasting apparatus according to the first aspect, a center side writing means is provided on the center side. The center-side writing means writes the use permission data to the recording medium. The use permission data is, for example, at least one of the address of the terminal and data corresponding to the expiration date of the recording medium. An urging means is provided on each of the terminals. When the use permission data written on the recording medium satisfies the usable condition, the urging means sets the receiver of the terminal to a state in which the pay television broadcast signal can be received.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the recording medium is passed to the viewer on the center side, the use permission data is written to the recording medium by the center side writing means. When a viewer holding this recording medium tries to watch pay television broadcasting on a terminal, the urging means writes that the use permission data written on the recording medium is correct, for example, the specified A check is made to see if the terminal is trying to view or if the recording medium is within the expiration date. Only when the use condition is satisfied, a pay television broadcast can be received.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the recording medium among the terminals is stored in response to writing the use permission data on the recording medium by the center-side writing means. In what you use,
Means is provided for transmitting a command to enable the receiver to receive the pay broadcast in the initial state through the joint receiving facility.

[0010] When a pay television broadcast signal is received, a pay state is not immediately set. In an initial state, during a time for selecting a channel desired to be received among pay broadcasts,
The reception is free. If a certain viewer is using the terminal and another viewer tries to use the terminal, the user is not in the initial state, and will be charged immediately upon receiving a pay television broadcast signal. Become. In order to prevent this, according to the third aspect of the invention, when the use permission data is written on the recording medium, that is, when the recording medium is passed to another viewer, the terminal used by the viewer is initialized. No charge is made until the viewer determines a channel to be received among pay broadcasts.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to a pay television broadcasting apparatus for carrying out pay television broadcasting in accommodation facilities such as hotels and inns. As shown in FIG. 1, this pay television broadcasting apparatus has a head end 2 on the center side, and transmits a free general television broadcast signal or a pay television broadcast signal to a joint receiving facility 4 from here. doing. The joint receiving facility 4 transmits each television broadcast signal from the head end 2 to a plurality of terminals in one direction. The joint receiving facility 4 includes a transmission line, for example, a coaxial cable 6,
The coaxial cable 6 includes a distribution amplifier, a branch amplifier, a distributor, a branch device, and the like (FIG. 1).
In order to simplify the drawing, only the distributor 8 is shown as a representative example of these devices.)

Each terminal is installed in each room of a hotel, for example. Each room has a terminal device 1
0 is provided. These terminal devices 10 are connected to the terminals of the joint receiving facility 4 and receive signals from the head end 2, and supply free general television broadcast signals to the television receivers 12 corresponding to the respective terminal devices 10 as they are. An instruction to receive the pay television broadcast signal is transmitted from the viewer to the terminal device 1.
When given to 0, it supplies to the television receiver 12. In the case of receiving a pay television broadcast, the pay television broadcast signal has different contents broadcast in a plurality of channels, so that a service time for determining which channel to select,
After the paid confirmation button key instructing to view the determined channel is operated on the terminal device 10,
A cooling-off time, which is a time until the start of charging, is provided, and charging is started after the lapse of these times.

On the center side, a center device 14 is also provided. The center device 14 is arranged, for example, at the front of a hotel. This center device 14
For example, it can be constituted by a personal computer. A card issuing / paying machine 16 is connected to the center device 14. This card issuance / payment machine 16
Is for collecting a fee for viewing a pay television broadcast using a recording medium, for example, a magnetic card 18.

The charge collection is performed as follows. When a customer checks in the hotel, a hotel employee issues a magnetic card 18 by the card issuing / paying machine 16. When the customer inserts the card 18 into the terminal device 10 in the room in which the customer has checked in and watches the pay television broadcast signal, the usage frequency is written on the magnetic card 18 in relation to the usage time. When the customer checks out, bring this magnetic card 18 to the front desk,
An employee inserts the card into the card issuing / paying machine 16. The card issuing / paying machine 16 calculates a fee based on the number of usages recorded on the magnetic card 18. The employee bills the customer for this fee. Further, the calculated fee is sent to the center device 14, where work such as tabulation is performed. By using a recording medium such as the magnetic card 18 as described above, it is possible to realize a pay television broadcasting apparatus that can smoothly collect charges even in a situation where the unidirectional joint receiving facility 4 is installed. .

In order to collect such fees, specifically, addresses having different values are set in the respective terminal devices 10. In addition to this address, data indicating the channel number, the service time and the cooling-off time, the number of uses, and the use limit are transmitted from the center device 14 to each terminal device 10 using the common reception facility 4. This transmission is performed when each terminal device 10 is installed in each room. These data are stored in the non-volatile memory of each terminal device 10.

Note that the channel number indicates the channel number on which pay television broadcasting is being performed, the usage frequency indicates the time corresponding to one usage frequency of pay television broadcasting, and the usage limit is one magnetic field. It shows the upper limit of the number of usages in which the pay television broadcast can be viewed on the card 16.

The center device 14 has a high-frequency modem 20 for transmitting these data. The modem 20 uses, for example, a 71.1 MHz FSK signal.
The data described above is transmitted via the mixer 22 in a format as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2A,
The command indicates what is to be set. For example, when a reception channel of pay television broadcasting is set, it indicates that the channel is to be set. The address indicates the address of the terminal device 10 that sends the command. For example, in the case of setting a receiving channel of pay television broadcasting, the data indicates a channel on which pay television broadcasting is performed. STX indicates the start of transmission of a command, address, and data, ETX indicates the end of transmission, and FCC is for checking whether data has been transmitted normally.

When the customer checks in, the card issuance / payment machine 16 as shown in FIG.
8 is issued (step S2). The card 18 includes the address number of the terminal device 10 in the room where the customer checks in, the date and time of card issuance, the card validity period, and the pay TV usage frequency as shown in FIG.
Has been written. That is, step S2 functions as a center-side writing unit. In the card validity period, a viewable time calculated from the estimated number of staying days of the customer is written. 0 is written as the number of uses.

Next, the card issuing date and time, service time clear and cooling off time clear commands are sent to the terminal device 10 in the room where the customer checks in, and the center device 14 sends the modem 20, the mixer 22, the coaxial cable 6 (Step S
4). The reason why the service time and the cooling-off time are cleared, that is, the reception of the pay television broadcast in the terminal device 10 is set to the initial state is as follows.
One room may be occupied by one person and then another person. In this case, if a person was watching pay television broadcasts, the service time and cooling off time have already been used by this person. Therefore, when another person stays in the room and receives a pay television broadcast, the service time and the cooling off time cannot be used. Therefore, when a magnetic card is issued to another person, the terminal device 10 in the room where the other person stays is provided.
Is set to the initial state, step S4 is executed. Step S4 corresponds to a transmission unit of the initial state command.

The terminal device 10 has a duplexer 24 connected to the common receiving facility 4 as shown in FIG. The splitter 24 splits a pay television broadcast signal or a general television broadcast signal from a signal from the modem 20. Each television broadcast signal is transmitted to tuner 2
6. The signal from the modem 20 is supplied to a receiver 28, where it is demodulated and supplied to a microcomputer 30. This microcomputer 30
Is connected to a reader / writer 32 of a magnetic card. In addition, the microcomputer 30 includes a display unit 3
4. The key input device 36 is connected.

When the guest who checks in the room inserts the magnetic card 18 into the card reader / writer 32 of the terminal device 10, the microcomputer 30 reads the address stored in the magnetic card 18, and this reads the address. It is determined whether the address matches the address set in the device 10 (step S6). If they do not match, that is, if the answer to step S6 is NO, the card is ejected from the card reader / writer 32 and returned to the customer (step S8).

If the answer to step S6 is yes, that is, if both addresses match, the issue date and time of the card stored in the magnetic card 18 is read out, and this is issued to the terminal device 10 at the time of check-in. The microcomputer 30 determines whether the date and time match (step S10). If the answer to step S10 is NO, step S8 is executed and the card is returned.

If the answer to step S10 is yes, the usage of the card 18 is read and the
It is determined whether the usage limit set when 0 is set is exceeded (step S12). If the answer to this step S12 is YES, that is, if the usage of the magnetic card 18 exceeds the usage limit, step S8 is executed and the card is returned.

If the answer to step S12 is NO, that is, if the usage of the magnetic card 18 does not exceed the usage limit, the power of the terminal device 10 is turned on and the viewer can receive the pay television broadcast. (Step S14). As described above, the address of the magnetic card 18, the date and time of issuance of the magnetic card 18 and the usage limit are checked, that is, only those which satisfy the use permission condition can use pay television broadcasting. Theft of the signal can be prevented. Step S
6, S10, S12, and S14 function as urging means.

After step S14, the pay television channel is set to the key input device 3 of the terminal device 10.
It is determined whether the channel of pay television broadcast is selected by the operation of step 6 (step S16). If not, it is determined in step S18 whether an instruction to remove the magnetic card 18 from the card reader / writer 32 has been given from the key input device 36. If the answer to this judgment is yes, step S8 is executed and the card 16 is returned. If the answer to the determination in step S18 is NO, the process returns to step S16. When selecting the pay television broadcast, the service time and the cooling off time are used.

When the pay television broadcast is selected, the microcomputer 30 measures the time from the end of the pay-off television cooling-off time, and calculates the time corresponding to the previously stored one use frequency. Is calculated on the basis of (step S20). Then, it is determined whether or not an instruction to remove the magnetic card 18 from the card reader / writer 32 has been given from the key input device 36 (step S22). If the answer to this determination is no, then step S22 is performed until the answer to the determination in step S22 is yes.
20 and S22 are repeated.

When the answer to the determination in step S22 is YES, the utilization number is written in the magnetic card 18, and the magnetic card 18 is taken out. Steps S20, S22,
S24 corresponds to a terminal-side writing unit.

Each time the magnetic card 18 is inserted, the pay television is viewed, and the magnetic card 18 is removed,
As described above, the utilization number is written on the magnetic card 16. Then, step S26 is executed, and the terminal power is turned off.

When the guest brings the magnetic card 18 to the front desk at the time of check-out, the card issuing / payment machine 16 reads the number of usages written on the magnetic card 18, and based on this, The fee to be paid by the guest is determined and the guest is charged by the employee. That is, the card issuance / payment machine 16 corresponds to a charge determining means. In addition, the determined fee and usage frequency are sent to the center device 14 and used for managing the usage status of pay television broadcasting.

In the above-described embodiment, the pay TV is set only when all of the address of the card, the date and time of issuance of the card, and the usage limit stored in the card satisfy the use permission condition corresponding to each of them. You can now watch John Broadcasting. However, if at least one of the above-mentioned conditions satisfies the corresponding license condition, the pay television broadcast can be viewed.

[0031]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the pay television broadcast is received on the terminal side, the data corresponding to the pay television broadcast reception time is received by the terminal side writing means. Is written on the recording medium, and the viewer brings the recording medium to the center side,
The data on the recording medium is read by the fee determining means,
The usage fee is determined based on the read data. Therefore, even when a unidirectional joint receiving facility is used, a pay television broadcasting device can be realized by using a recording medium, and it is not necessary to introduce a bidirectional joint receiving facility, and costs are reduced. Can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the recording medium is passed to the viewer on the center side, the use permission data is written to the recording medium by the center side writing means. When a viewer holding this recording medium tries to watch pay television broadcasting on a terminal, the urging means writes that the use permission data written on the recording medium is correct, for example, the specified A check is made to see if the terminal is trying to view, the recording medium is within the expiration date, or the recording medium does not exceed the usage limit. Only if the terms of use are met,
It becomes possible to receive the pay television broadcast, and it is possible to prevent plagiarism of the pay television broadcast.

When a pay television broadcast signal is received, the pay state is not immediately set. In an initial state where the pay television is started to be received, the pay television is selected for a time period during which a desired channel is to be received. Reception is free. When a certain viewer has finished using the terminal,
When another viewer tries to use the terminal, the terminal is not in the above initial state, so that when the pay television broadcast signal is received, the user is immediately charged. In order to prevent this, according to the third aspect of the invention, when the use permission data is written on the recording medium, that is, when the recording medium is passed to another viewer, the terminal used by the viewer is initialized. No charge is made until the viewer determines a channel to be received among pay broadcasts.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a pay television broadcasting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a recording format in a magnetic card and a transmission format in a terminal device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of issuing a card according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a terminal device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of charging in the terminal device according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 Joint receiving facility 10 Terminal device (terminal side writing means, biasing means) 14 Center device (initial state command transmission means) 16 Card issuing / payment machine (charge determining means, center side writing means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pay television broadcasting apparatus for transmitting a pay television broadcast signal from a center side to receivers of a plurality of terminals by using a unidirectional joint receiving facility. Terminal-side writing means for writing data corresponding to the reception time of the pay television broadcast signal on a possible recording medium; and the pay television broadcast provided on the center side based on the data written on the recording medium. Pay television broadcasting device, comprising: a fee determining means for determining a usage fee of the television. 2. The pay television broadcasting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: a center-side writing means provided on the center side for writing use permission data thereof on the recording medium; When the use permission data written on the recording medium satisfies the usable condition, the receiving means of the terminal sets the receiver to a state in which the pay television broadcast signal can be received. Pay television broadcasting equipment. 3. The pay television broadcasting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the center-side writing means uses the recording medium among the terminals according to the writing of the use permission data to the recording medium. A pay television broadcasting apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, via the joint receiving facility, an instruction to enable the receiver to receive the pay broadcast in an initial state.