JPS63135081A - Television broadcast system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remarkably enhance the use of convenience to a subscriber by allowing a center station to send an original transmission broadcast station display data corresponding the channel with other broadcast station and obtaining other broadcast station corresponding to the channel during selection at the original transmission broadcast station display mode at a terminal equipment and displaying it on a display device. CONSTITUTION:A CATV system 1 is constituted by connecting the center station 2 and subscriber terminal equipments 3a, 3b,... by a cable 4. An original transmission broadcast station display data BIS corresponding the other station with the channel is sent from the center station 2 to the terminal equipment 3 and the other broadcast station information corresponding to the channel during channel selection is displayed at the terminal equipment at the original transmission broadcast station display mode. As a result, a troublesome operation such as turning over pages of a catalog of television program list is not required and the original transmission broadcast station information is acquired easily as to the selected channel.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a television broadcasting system, and in particular, to a television broadcasting system.
It is suitable for application to an r'V (cable television) system.

[Prior art] Some CATV systems receive not only television programs independently produced by a center station, but also television programs from existing television broadcasting stations (referred to as original transmitting broadcasting stations) using the air. Some systems receive the signal at an antenna and retransmit it to the subscriber terminal via a cable.

In this case, the center station retransmits the program on any channel in the C ATV system, regardless of the channel assigned to the original transmitting broadcast station.

For example, a program from the original transmitting broadcast station AAA assigned to the first channel may be retransmitted by the fifth channel of the system, and even if the program is from the same broadcast station AAA, the system may 7th of
It may be retransmitted depending on the channel.

In such a case, the subscriber can find the desired program by switching channels on the system while looking at the displayed image.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, some subscribers want to know from which television broadcasting station the program they are currently watching is transmitted. In such cases, conventionally, subscribers learned the original broadcasting station of a program by flipping through a catalog such as a television program guide distributed in advance each time.

Therefore, in conventional CATV systems, when a subscriber wants to know the original broadcasting station of a program, he or she has to go through the troublesome operation of flipping through catalogs such as television program guides one by one, and the system is still not easy to use for subscribers. It can be said that it is insufficient.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and provides an easy-to-use television broadcasting system that allows subscribers to easily obtain information regarding the original transmitting station of a television program through simple operations. This is what I am trying to do.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve this problem, in the present invention, the center station 2 receives television programs transmitted from other broadcasting stations and broadcasts them to the terminal using a predetermined channel. In the television broadcasting system 1 that retransmits data to the center station 2
transmits the original transmission station display data DIS that associates channels with other broadcast stations to the terminal 3, and the terminal 3 selects the channel being selected based on the original transmission station display data DIS in the original transmission station display mode. Information on other broadcast stations corresponding to the channel is obtained and displayed on a display device.

"Operation" The center station 2 transmits the original transmission broadcast station display data DIS that associates channels with other broadcast stations to the terminal 3, and the terminal 3 corresponds to the channel being selected in the original transmission broadcast station display mode. Other broadcast station information is now displayed.

As a result, the system subscriber can easily obtain the original transmitting station information for the selected channel without having to perform the complicated operation of flipping through catalogs such as television program guides.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a bidirectional CATV system will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, 1 indicates the CA T'V system as a whole, and this CATV system 1 is constructed by connecting a center station 2 and subscriber terminals 3a, 3b, . . . via cables 4. .

The center station 2 has a receiving antenna 5, receives television broadcasts from the original transmitting broadcast station, and provides the received television broadcasts to the head end 6.
The head end 6 converts the frequency of the broadcast so that it can be transmitted according to the channels CHI to CHN (see Figure 3) of the system 1, and outputs the converted television TV to the cable 4 via the mixer/brancher 7. . In addition, the head end 6 is a television signal TV of independently produced programs.
It is also transmitted by a predetermined channel. Note that the head end 6 transmits the television signal TV after performing scrambling processing as necessary for pay broadcast channels.

The center station 2 also has a communication center 8.
As shown in FIG. 3, the transmission data DAT of each company from the center station 2 to the terminals 3a, 3b, . It outputs to cable 4 via.

Each terminal 3a, 3b... is a television receiver i9a, 9
b... and home terminals 10a, 10b... whose detailed configuration is shown in FIG. 1, and a television receiver 9a.
, 9b... are fixed to predetermined channels according to the system 1 that are not assigned to existing television broadcasting stations, and the home terminals 10a, 10b... are fixed to the television of the channel selected by the subscriber. Converts the signal to a television receiver 9
a, 9b... to display the desired program.

Home terminal 10 (10a, 10b-) is the first
The mixed signal (
TV, DAT) is divided into the television signal TV of each channel and the transmission data DAT in the mixer/brancher 11, and the television signal TV is given to the tuner 12, and the transmission data DAT is sent via the modem 13. It is applied to the data processing circuit 14.

For example, the data processing circuit 14 receives a channel selection signal SEL from the remote control unit 15 and transmits a tuning signal TUN instructing the channel to the tuning circuit 16.
to cause the tuner 12 to select the channel. In this manner, the selected reception signal REC is demodulated in the demodulation circuit 17 and provided to the descrambling circuit 18.

Here, if the incoming channel selection signal SEL indicates a pay broadcasting channel, the data processing circuit 14 determines the channel that the terminal 3 is permitted to receive based on the transmission data DAT from the center station 2. The determination is made, and if the permission is granted, a permission signal AL is sent to the descrambling circuit 18.

The descrambling circuit 18 performs a descrambling operation only when the permission signal AL is given, and in other cases, it passes the incoming demodulated signal DEM as it is and sends the demodulated signal DEM to the RF modulator 20 via one on-screen circuit. give.

The RF modulator 20 modulates the demodulated signal DEM into an RF signal of a fixed channel in the television receiver 3 (3a, 3b, . . . ) and provides the RF signal to the television receiver a3.

In addition to the above configuration, this embodiment has a configuration that can display the original transmitting broadcast station of the program being displayed.

That is, the communication center 8 of the center station 2 transmits the transmission data D.
Channels CH1 to CHN as shown in Figure 4 and the original transmitting broadcast station (for channels that transmit programs independently produced by the center station 2, the center station 2) AAA
- ZZZ and the original transmission station display data DIS that can be associated with each other are sent to the terminal 3. On the other hand, terminal 3
The remote control unit 15 is provided with a mode selection switch 21, for example, a button-shaped switch, which selects the original transmission station display mode. When the selection switch 21 is turned on by the subscriber, the remote control unit 15 A mode selection signal MOD is given to the data processing circuit 14, and the data processing circuit 14 determines the original transmission station of the currently selected channel based on the original transmission station display data DIS, and turns on the original transmission station signal ORI. Feeds one screen circuit. One on-screen circuit has a built-in character generator, which superimposes a character indicating the original transmitting broadcast station on the incoming demodulated signal DEM and sends it to the RF modulator 20.
give to

Note that the original transmitting broadcast station display data DIS includes the terminal number NO as shown in FIG. This is center station 2
This takes into account the fact that the channels contracted with the mobile terminal differ depending on the terminal.

Further, predetermined data can be transmitted from the terminal 3 to the center station 2 using the frequency band UP shown in FIG.

In the CATV system having the above configuration, if a subscriber desires to know the original transmitting station for a program currently being broadcast, he or she may turn on the selection switch 21. At this time, the original transmission broadcasting station signal ORI is given from the data processing circuit 14 to the on-screen circuit 19, and a character indicating the original transmission broadcasting station is superimposed on the demodulated signal DEM, and the signal is sent to the television receiver 3 via the RF modulator 20. Given. Therefore, a character indicating the original transmitting broadcast station is displayed on the screen of the television receiver 3 together with the television image. In this way, the subscriber can learn the original transmitting station of the program.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the subscriber can easily transmit the original transmission by turning on the selection switch 21 without having to search for the original transmission station using a catalog such as a television program guide. You can learn about broadcast stations,
The usability of the system can be further improved. Furthermore, by looking at the displayed content, it is possible to know that the program is independently produced by the center station, further satisfying the subscriber's demands for information.

Note that in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to two-way CA.
Although the present invention is shown as being applied to a TV system, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can also be applied to a unidirectional CA'T'V system.

Further, in the above embodiment, the original transmitting broadcast station is displayed when the selection switch 21 is pressed, but it may be displayed for a predetermined period of time when switching channels.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the original transmission broadcast station display data is transmitted using the already allocated frequency band, but a frequency band dedicated to the transmission of the original transmission broadcast station display data is set up and transmitted. You may also do this.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the original transmitting broadcast station is displayed on the screen of the television receiver, but a dedicated display means may be provided for display.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily obtain a television broadcasting system in which the original transmitting station of a broadcast program can be displayed with a simple operation, and the usability for subscribers is further improved. be able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a home terminal in an embodiment of the television broadcasting system according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the embodiment;
The figure is a route map showing the allocation of frequency bands for signals transmitted and received between the center station and terminals, and FIG. 4 is a route map showing an example of the format of original transmitting broadcast station display data. 2...Center station, 3.3a, 3b...Terminal, 6...
・Head end, 8...Communication center, 9a, 9b...
・Television receiver, 10.10a, 10b...Home terminal, 14...Data processing circuit, one...
- On-screen circuit, DIS...Original transmitting broadcast station display data.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A television broadcasting system in which a center station receives television programs transmitted from other broadcasting stations and retransmits them to terminals using a predetermined channel, The original transmission station display data associated with other broadcast stations is sent to the above terminal, and the terminal corresponds to the channel being selected based on the original transmission station display data in the original transmission station display mode. A television broadcasting system characterized in that the other broadcasting station information is obtained and displayed on a display device.