KR102493299B1 - Electronic device, control method thereof, program, medium storage and internet protocol television system - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic device is initiated. The present electronic device monitors through a communication unit that communicates with a broadcasting center and information on the status of bills unpaid by at least one customer included in a customer list stored in the broadcasting center through the communication unit, and the information on the status of bills unpaid by at least one customer is a first When the state is changed to the second state, a control command is transmitted to a device corresponding to a customer whose charge status information has been changed through the communication unit. Accordingly, user convenience and system efficiency may be improved.

Description

Electronic device, its control method, program, recording medium and IPTV system

The present invention relates to an electronic device, a control method thereof, a program, a recording medium, and an IPTV system, and more particularly, to an electronic device helping to process unpaid broadcasting fees, a control method thereof, a program, a recording medium, and an IPTV system.

[0002] With the recent rapid development of information and communication technology, the field of television has also been greatly developed.

For example, IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) has emerged, and IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) grafts two-way communication through Internet Protocol to broadcasting to obtain QoS (Quality of Service) and unlimited It has become possible to provide the nearest kind and amount of content.

When a service provider provides IPTV broadcasting services to users for a fee, unpaid charges may occur.

In the prior art, when unpaid broadcasting fees occur in IPTV, even if the unpaid fees are paid, the IPTV cannot provide IPTV services to users without recognizing the fact that the fees have been paid.

Accordingly, when unpaid broadcasting fees are settled in IPTV, a broadcast service with improved user convenience is required.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-0094783

One object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that automatically provides an IPTV service to a user when unpaid broadcasting fees are paid, and a control method thereof.

In addition, it is to provide an IPTV system considering user convenience.

The technical problems to be achieved in the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned technical problems, and other technical problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below. You will be able to.

An electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention monitors through the communication unit communication unit communicating with a broadcasting center and unpaid bill status information of at least one customer included in a customer list stored in the broadcasting center, and and a control unit that transmits a control command to a device corresponding to the customer whose bill status information has been changed through the communication unit when the information on the status of bills unpaid by the customer changes from the first state to the second state.

The above aspects of the present invention are only some of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and various embodiments in which the technical features of the present invention are reflected are detailed descriptions of the present invention to be detailed below by those skilled in the art. It can be derived and understood based on.

According to the present invention, user convenience can be improved by providing an electronic device that helps to automatically provide an IPTV service to a user when an unpaid broadcast fee is paid in the IPTV system.

The effects obtainable in the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below. will be.

The accompanying drawings are provided to aid understanding of the present invention, and provide embodiments of the present invention together with a detailed description. However, the technical features of the present invention are not limited to specific drawings, and features disclosed in each drawing may be combined with each other to form a new embodiment.
1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an IPTV broadcasting system according to an embodiment.
2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an IPTV broadcasting receiver.
3 is a diagram showing an IPTV system proposed by the present invention.
4 is a control method of an IPTV electronic device according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and various methods to which embodiments of the present invention are applied will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. The suffixes "module" and "unit" for components used in the following description are given or used together in consideration of ease of writing the specification, and do not have meanings or roles that are distinct from each other by themselves.

In the description of the embodiment, in the case where it is described as being formed on the "top (above) or bottom (bottom)" of each component, the top (top) or bottom (bottom) means that two components are in direct contact with each other or One or more other components are formed by being disposed between two components. In addition, when expressed as "up (up) or down (down)", it may include the meaning of not only the upward direction but also the downward direction based on one component.

In the description of the embodiment, for convenience of description of the wireless power transmitter, a transmitter, a transmitter, a transmitter, a transmitter, a power transmitter, and the like may be used interchangeably. In addition, as an expression for a wireless power receiving device, a receiver, a terminal, a receiving side, a receiving device, a power receiving device, and the like may be used interchangeably for convenience of description.

A wireless power transmitter according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a plurality of wireless power transmitters to wirelessly transmit power to a plurality of receivers.

A wireless power transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention is a mobile phone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcasting terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player) , navigation, MP3 player, and other small electronic devices, etc., but is not limited thereto.

General configuration of IPTV broadcasting system

1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an IPTV broadcasting system according to an embodiment.

The IPTV broadcasting system includes a program provider 1010 (program provider), a service provider 1020 (service provider), and a service consumer 1030 (consumer). At this time, the program provider 1010 includes a platform provider (not shown).

IPTV allows users to view terrestrial, satellite, or cable broadcasting through the Internet. Services provided through IPTV include various additional services, such as providing movies, music, e-commerce, and e-mail services desired by users by using the interactive nature of IPTV, in addition to the above broadcasting services.

A program provider is defined as a group that provides content such as broadcast programs and additional services. TV station, radio station, VoD (video on demand)/AoD (audio on demand) service, MoD (music on demand) service, PF server, EPG (electronic program guide) server, An electronic content guide (ECG) server, a portal server, and the like may be examples of program providers.

A TV broadcasting station is a place that produces broadcast programs, including existing terrestrial broadcasting stations or cable broadcasting stations, and produces program contents that users can watch, converts them into digital images, and transmits them to users.

A radio station is a place that produces and transmits audio signals, and generally does not transmit video signals, but transmits simple video signals.

A VoD/AoD service, unlike a TV station or a radio station, transmits specific movies and music according to a user's request, and allows the user to store and reproduce data about them for use. That is, a user using the VoD/AoD service can consume a desired amount of content at a desired time through the transmitted data.

The MoD service is a service for downloading music desired by a user. MoD is similar to AoD, but has the feature that record labels or record distributors can directly expand service targets.

The PF server can be serviced by a company that manages broadcast information and location information provided by the program provider 1010 . These companies provide various additional information services for users, such as broadcasting time and location information necessary for broadcasting, through a PF server. Such a PF server is an element that must be provided for the convenience of a user's content selection in an IPTV environment that provides various contents. In the service provided through the PF server, the service consumer 1030 processes information and displays it on the screen.

The EPG server serves EPG (Electronic Program Guide). The EPG searches for broadcast programs or includes information about broadcast programs provided by each channel. The EPG server may enable a program for providing an EPG to be automatically installed and executed in the service consumer 1030 .

The EPG server provides information on real-time broadcasting programs and channels of all broadcasting stations to the service consumer 1030 at once, unlike the PF server providing only information on broadcasting programs provided by a specific broadcasting station. For example, the service consumer 1030 receives the EPG provided by the above EPG server, and can reserve-record news of a CNN channel or reserve-view an animation of a Disney channel.

In particular, the EPG provided by the EPG server includes detailed information about each program. For example, it provides information on the plot, category, and viewer rating of the drama, and may even include information on characters or background locations.

The ECG server provides an electronic content guide (ECG). The ECG includes information on content that can be provided by the program provider 1010 and information about the location and access authority of an access server that can receive content. That is, ECG integrates and provides information like EPG to services such as VoD/AoD and MoD. Accordingly, the user can relieve the burden of accessing each server in order to view specific content.

The ECG provided by the ECG server is . Unlike EPG, rather than providing information on real-time broadcasting channels, information on broadcasting channels stored in the server is provided to the user so that the user can download and view the information at any time and place desired. For example, a user had to obtain information about each content by accessing a server having a complicated address or a PF server. However, the user can apply for the ECG service by simply inputting a key for calling ECG information on the remote control, and can be provided with information on all contents provided by each server through a program automatically installed for the ECG service. Through this information, the user can conveniently select a desired specific content among various contents at once.

The portal server provides a web service operated by a broadcasting station. A program list provided by program providers 1010 such as broadcasting stations may be searched through a web service.

The portal server is equipped with functions such as user authentication or license agreement, and allows users to access programs they want. In addition, unlike EPG and ECG, since information on content provided by a specific program provider 1010 is provided, a more detailed search for the corresponding content is possible.

The above-described program providers 1010 are building networks through the Internet to transmit content including programs and broadcasting information to the service consumers 1030 in real time.

In addition, the program provider 1010 uses Internet (real-time) protocols such as RTP (real-time transport protocol), RTSP (real-time streaming protocol), RSVP (resource reservation protocol) or MPLS (multi protocol label switching) It is necessary to have a system capable of transmitting multimedia data without errors by being networked with the service provider 1020 .

For example, in an IPTV environment, the program provider 1010 uses a specific server to transmit multimedia based on MPEG-2 (moving picture experts group-2) and/or AC-3 (audio coding-3) in real time. After transcoding according to the IPTV environment, the service provider 1020 provides the RTP/UDP (user datagram protocol) protocol containing time information so that captions or lip sync can be matched. The system can be configured to traverse any IP network that

The service provider 1020 is responsible for stably transmitting multimedia and/or data received from the program provider 1010 to the service consumer 1030.

The service provider 1020 may provide an IPTV service using an existing cable network. In this case, the service providers 1020 need to change the equipment of the transmission network. That is, the service providers 1020 must have network equipment capable of transmitting data in real time, but must ensure that transmission takes into consideration service bandwidth.

Service providers 1020 will have to reduce bandwidth by processing a large amount of multimedia data using a multicast service, which is a basic network service of IPTV. If the service providers 1020 do not secure sufficient bandwidth, the multimedia data and/or broadcasting data received from the optical cable network configuration or the program provider 1010 are transcoded so as to be compatible with MPEG-4 or MPEG-7. It can also be transformed into the same form and transmitted.

The service provider 1020 may include a network management system manager (NMS manager), a dynamic host control protocol (DHCP) server, and a content delivery network (CDN) server.

The NMS manager manages a transmission network through which the service provider 1020 can transmit data to each service consumer 1030 and an IPTV broadcasting receiver of the service consumer 1030. For example, the service provider 1020 can recognize through the NMS manager that the service consumer 1030 cannot receive normal broadcasting due to a problem in the transmission network. In this case, emergency measures to deal with the problem should be equipped with

The aforementioned NMS manager is widely used as a standardized means for smoothly controlling and managing remote transport layer machines. That is, the service provider 1020 can use the NMS manager to check how much traffic is generated for a certain broadcast and in which region the bandwidth is insufficient.

In addition, the service provider 1020 can provide the NMS manager service to the program provider 1010 so that groups can be created and managed during multicasting. This is because the program provider 1010 should be able to create more multicast groups in a specific case.

The DHCP server automatically allocates an IP to the IPTV broadcasting receiver of the service consumer 1030 and informs the address of the CDN server. A DHCP server is used as a means of allocating an IP to a PC in a general network. That is, the service provider 1020 transmits an accessable address to an IPTV broadcasting receiver permitted to use through a DHCP server so that a user can perform a registration procedure when first accessing. The service provider 1020 may generally provide internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) to an IPTV broadcasting receiver in an IPTV environment, but may also provide internet protocol version 6 (IPv6). Therefore, it does not mean that an IPTV receiver that provides IPv4 cannot be used.

The CDN server provides CDN information along with IP when the IPTV broadcasting receiver is initially powered on and operated. The CDN information includes user registration or authentication of an IPTV broadcasting operator and the aforementioned PF information. Therefore, if the IPTV broadcast receiver fails to receive CDN information from the service provider 1020, broadcast reception will be limited.

The service consumer 1030 includes various types of IPTV broadcasting receivers. If the user has a regular TV, he or she can rent an IPTV STB (settop box) and enjoy IPTV broadcasting service at a low price. In addition, he can pay additional service fees to the service provider (1020) at a low price and also use an IP phone. Can be used upon application.

Configuration of IPTV broadcasting receiver

2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an IPTV broadcasting receiver.

The IPTV broadcasting receiver of FIG. 2 includes a network interface unit 2010, an IP manager 2020, a conditional access system (CAS)/digital rights management (DRM) unit 2030, and a service delivery manager ( service delivery manager 2040, demultiplexer 2050, audio/video decoder 2060, display apparatus 2070, application controller 2080 ), channel manager 2090, service information decoder 2100, service discovery manager 2110, service control manager 2120, system manager (system manager) 2130, storage unit (storing apparatus) 2140, storage medium control unit 2150, storage medium 2160, broadcast signal receiver 2170, authentication processing unit 2180 and conversion unit 2190 include

The network interface unit 2010 serves to connect a receiver to an Internet network for broadcasting service, and can receive or transmit packets through the connected network.

The IP manager 2020 is involved in packet delivery from a source to a destination for a packet received or transmitted through a connected network. That is, the IP manager 2020 may classify the corresponding packet to correspond to an appropriate protocol. Also, the IP manager 2020 may request transmission of an application using at least one of an IP address and a port number.

The CAS/DRM unit 2030 is in charge of functions related to reception restriction of broadcasting services and digital rights management. That is, the CAS/DRM unit 2030 receives through the IP manager 2020 packets received in relation to broadcasting services from the network connected through the network interface unit 2010 so that the corresponding packets are restricted from being received or related to digital rights management. If there are any restrictions in relation to them, they can be lifted. That is, the CAS/DRM unit 2030 is responsible for control through access or redistribution of received packets.

Service delivery manager 2040 is responsible for handling real-time streaming data. At this time, RTP/RTCP may be used for MPEG-2 transport stream. That is, MPEG-2 packets can be encapsulated in RTP. Accordingly, the service delivery manager 2040 parses the RTP packets and transmits an MPEG-2 packet encapsulated as a result of the parsing to the demultiplexer 2050. Alternatively, the service delivery manager 2040 may transmit feedback on the quality of network reception using RTCP. At this time, MPEG-2 transport packets can be delivered directly to UDP without RTP.

The demultiplexer 2050 demultiplexes audio, video, and service information data from received transport stream packets. As an embodiment, the demultiplexer 2050 demultiplexes Program Specific Information (PSI) tables under the control of the service information decoder 2100 and reverses audio/video transport packets under the control of the channel manager 2090. will multiplex. Also, the demultiplexer 2050 creates sections of the demultiplexed PSI tables and transmits them to the service information decoder 2100.

The audio/video decoder 2060 receives and processes the demultiplexed audio/video packets from the demultiplexer 2050.

The display unit 2070 receives and displays the audio/video signal processed by the audio/video decoder 2060.

The application control unit 2080 supports a graphical user interface (GUI) on the display unit for the user, receives a user's input through an external input device such as a remote control or a front panel, and receives the user's input if In the case of channel selection, the input is transferred to the channel manager 2090. In addition, the application control unit 2080 may control key states of the entire receiver system or store setting data in the storage unit 2140 .

The channel manager 2090 creates a channel map or controls the service discovery manager 2110 . Also, the channel manager 2090 requests channel information from the service information decoder 2100 or resets the service information decoder 2100 for channel information. The channel manager 2090 sets a corresponding PID (packet identifier) in the demultiplexer 2050 to receive audio/video packets.

The service information decoder 2100 is a module that controls service information such as PSI/PSIP/DVB-SI, and performs a slave operation under the control of the channel manager 2090. The service information decoder 2100 sets a corresponding PID in the demultiplexer 2050 to demultiplex service information such as the PSI/PSIP/DVB-SI. The service information decoder 2100 receives and processes sections for each service information generated by the demultiplexer according to the above settings. Also, the service information decoder 2100 receives service information from the service delivery manager 2040 and creates a service information database for broadcast services.

The service discovery manager 2110 searches for and enables IPTV services through an IPTV network capable of interactive services. And the service discovery manager 2110 provides all information for the selected service.

The service control manager 2120 is responsible for selecting and controlling services. For example, the service control manager 2120 selects a live broadcasting service using an internet group management protocol (IGMP) or RTSP protocol, or selects VOD content using an RTSP protocol. At this time, the RTSP protocol is used when controlling the delivery of television and audio that is directly delivered or broadcast. In addition, the RTSP protocol is used for continuous transmission control procedure (TCP) connection or to allow trick mode control for real-time broadcasting media streaming.

The system manager 2130 controls a boot flow according to power on/off of the receiver system, and writes or stores a ROM image including a downloaded software image in the storage 2140.

The storage unit 2140 stores setup data for the system and the like. Nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) or flash memory may be used as the storage unit.

The storage medium 2160 has a function of temporarily storing a signal transmitted from the demultiplexer 2050 or the audio/video decoder 2060 and transmitting it to the demultiplexer 2050 or the audio/video decoder 2060 again. do. At this time, the storage medium 2160 writes data from the received signal under the control of the storage medium controller 2150, stores the signal, and provides it to the demultiplexer 2050.

The broadcast signal receiver 2170 tunes a channel to receive a broadcast signal, demodulates the received broadcast signal, and outputs the demodulated broadcast signal to the demultiplexer 2050. The broadcast signal receiver 2170 may further include a tuner and a demodulator according to embodiments. Also, the broadcast signal receiving unit 2170 may be included in the network interface unit 2010. In the present invention, the network interface unit 2010 transmits and receives IPTV packets using an IP address or port number, and the broadcast signal receiving unit 2170 is a broadcast signal containing broadcast data other than the IPTV packet type. Receiving is an embodiment. In an embodiment of the present invention, a broadcast signal of the ACAP standard may be received through the broadcast signal receiving unit 2170.

The authentication processing unit 2180 performs an overall procedure of authenticating a portable device to be provided with content in the IPTV broadcasting receiver. In response to the authentication request of the portable device, the address from which security software can be downloaded is transmitted to the portable device. In this case, the above address may be provided by the service provider when the IPTV receives a request from the portable device and delivers it to the service provider, or may be an address determined to download security software for a specific IPTV. When the portable device transmits an authentication key decrypted using security software, the authentication processing unit 2180 compares the authentication key transmitted from the service provider to determine whether authentication is possible.

The authentication processing unit 2180 can always perform authentication before transmitting a packet from IPTV to a portable device. Alternatively, authentication may be repeatedly performed at regular time intervals. At this time, whenever authentication is performed, the service provider requests transmission of a new authentication key, and the service provider transmits the authentication key to the portable device and IPTV, respectively, in response to this request, and repeats the operation of performing authentication by comparing them. can do. These operations may vary depending on the degree of security to be maintained.

The conversion unit 2190 is responsible for converting the content requested by the portable device into a format playable by the portable device before transmission after authentication is successful. For example, it recompresses video/audio compression method that can be decoded by a portable device, adjusts the screen according to the resolution of the portable device, and adjusts the audio quality according to the audio environment of the portable device. At this time, the portable device's capacity is transmitted from the portable device when the portable device's authentication request is received, or if the portable device provides its identification information to the service provider to download security software, it is included in the identification information. and can be delivered to IPTV.

In another embodiment, the conversion unit 2190 inserts information related to authentication while performing conversion to transmit the content, so that when data is mistakenly transmitted to another device or intercepted during the transmission process, Processing may be performed to prevent use of the corresponding content on an unauthorized device. For example, it is possible to reproduce content transmitted only by a device corresponding to identification information of a portable device provided from a service provider.

That is, the authentication processing unit 2180 and the conversion unit 2190 enable stable and efficient content reproduction in a portable device.

IPTV system proposed by the present invention

3 is a diagram showing an IPTV system to which the present invention is applied. Although most of the components shown in FIG. 1 are not shown in FIG. 3 , the IPTV system to which the present invention is applied may include all of the components shown in FIG. 1 .

According to FIG. 3 , the IPTV system may include a broadcasting center 1010, an electronic device 100, a bank server 330, a set-top box 340, and an IPTV 350.

The broadcasting center 1010 may provide broadcasting content to the service provider 1020 or the IPTV terminals 340 and 350 as an example of the content provider 1010 shown in FIG. 1 .

The broadcasting center 1010 may include a DB including customer information as well as providing content. The broadcasting center 1010 may include a customer resource unit 320 and an integrated DB 310, and the integrated DB 310 may include customer information and non-payment information of the corresponding customer.

The electronic device 100 may include a communication unit 110 and a control unit 120.

The communication unit 110 may communicate with the broadcasting center 1010 under the control of the control unit 120 . The communication unit 110 may communicate with the broadcasting center 1010 wired/wireless.

The controller 120 may control overall operations of the electronic device 100 .

The control unit 120 monitors, through the communication unit 110 , information about unpaid fees of at least one customer included in the customer list stored in the broadcasting center 1010 .

The controller 120 may make inquiries to the broadcasting center 1010 about information on the state of unpaid bills of at least one customer through the communication unit 110 at a predetermined time period.

Specifically, the control unit 120 may generate a query statement at regular intervals, request customer unpaid information stored in the broadcasting center 1010, and receive the customer unpaid information, thereby monitoring the status of unpaid bills.

For example, the control unit 120 may query the broadcasting center 1010 for unpaid information at every time period by means of CRON.

The unpaid bill status information may include various states such as full payment, non-payment, and partial non-payment.

Meanwhile, the customer list stored in the broadcasting center 1010 may include a customer resource unit 320 and an integrated DB 310 included in the broadcasting center 1010 .

As described above, since the electronic device is provided in the IPTV system, it is possible to automatically monitor unpaid broadcasting fees for each customer. Accordingly, system efficiency may be improved.

The controller 120 may transmit a control command to a device corresponding to the customer when the information on the state of unpaid bills of at least one customer is changed from an unpaid state to a fully paid state.

The controller 120 may receive information about a customer whose bill status information is changed from unpaid to fully paid to the broadcasting center 1010 . The controller 120 may receive an address of a device corresponding to a customer whose charge status information has been changed from the broadcasting center 1010 .

For example, the controller 120 may receive, from the broadcasting center 1010, an IP address, a MAC address, and the like of a device corresponding to a customer whose charge status information has been changed.

In this specification, it has been described that the control unit 120 receives the location, address, etc. of a device corresponding to a customer from the broadcasting center 1010 to the broadcasting center 1010, but this is not limited thereto.

Here, the broadcasting center 1010 interworks with the bank server 330 to receive customer bill payment information, thereby providing both customer information and unpaid bill information.

Although the control unit 120 has described the case where the customer's unpaid bill status information is changed from the unpaid state to the full payment state, this is not limited thereto.

The controller 120 may transmit a reset control command to the set-top box 340 when the charge status information is changed from the unpaid state to the fully paid state.

The controller 120 may transmit an SNMP Managed Reset command to the set-top box 340 .

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application layer standard protocol defined for the purpose of managing and monitoring network equipment, and is a protocol that helps network administrators manage network performance and find and correct network problems. An administrator can query a server that supports SNMP to receive data, and conversely, a certain value can be requested to be set.

When receiving the SNMP Managed Reset command from the electronic device 100, the set-top box 340 may perform the reset command.

In general, the set-top box 340 performs a reset command when it is in a non-delivery error pop-up display state, a sleep mode state, and an all-channel unsubscribing state.

The non-payment error pop-up display state refers to a state in which the broadcast fee is not paid and a fee non-payment error pop-up is displayed on the IPTV 350 . The all-channel unsubscribing state means a state in which the set-top box is not subscribed to any channel.

The set-top box 340 may receive a reset command from the electronic device and reset the set-top box 340 when the set-top box is in the above-described non-delivery error pop-up display state.

In this case, the set-top box 340 is automatically reset, so that the IPTV service can be provided from the broadcasting center 1010. Accordingly, even if the fee is paid in full, it is possible to solve the problem of the prior art in which the IPTV service can be provided only by manually resetting the IPTV set-top box.

In the implementation stage, the set-top box 340 can set and update internal information of the set-top box 340 by loading an SNMP Agent. Internal information of the set-top box 340 may be a Management Information Base (MIB) item.

Network devices can be managed through specific values, and MIB items can correspond to items for which these specific values can be set. Network resources (eg, MIB items) can be managed through application programs (eg, SNMP Agent).

In this specification, only the reset command has been described as an example, but the control command is not necessarily limited thereto.

Meanwhile, the controller 120 may receive a feedback command from the device 340 that has transmitted the control command, and perform an operation corresponding to the feedback command.

For example, when receiving a reset refusal command from the set-top box 340, the controller 120 may transmit a resettable control command to the set-top box 340 again.

Also, the controller 120 may receive device information corresponding to a customer from the broadcasting center 1010, but may directly receive and store device information corresponding to a customer.

Meanwhile, a device corresponding to a customer may be an IPTV in addition to the set-top box 340, and may include a laptop, PC, mobile PC, etc., but is not limited thereto.

In addition, in the present specification, it has been described that the set-top box 340 receives a control command from the control unit 120 and determines whether to reset according to the state of the set-top box 340, but this is only one embodiment, and the control unit ( 120 may forcibly reset the set-top box 340 .

Meanwhile, hereinafter, a control method of an electronic device in an IPTV system will be described.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of an electronic device according to an embodiment. It will be described with reference to FIG. 3 .

Referring to FIG. 4 , the electronic device 100 monitors information about unpaid charges of at least one customer included in the customer list stored in the broadcasting center (S410).

The object monitored by the electronic device 100 need not be limited to the broadcasting center 1010, and any object including customer information and non-payment information may be employed.

The broadcasting center 1010 may receive broadcasting fee payment information of customers from the bank server 330 .

Next, when the information on the state of unpaid bills of the at least one customer changes from the first state to the second state, the electronic device 100 transmits a control command to a device corresponding to the customer whose bill state information has changed. (S420).

The first state indicates a non-payment state, but is not limited thereto. The second state indicates a full payment state, but is not limited thereto either.

The electronic device 100 may receive information on the state of unpaid bills of the at least one customer at a predetermined time period. The electronic device 100 may request corresponding information from the broadcasting center 1010 .

The method according to the above-described embodiment may be stored as a program.

In addition, the method according to the above-described embodiment may be produced as a program to be executed on a computer and stored in a computer-readable recording medium. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, There are magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, and the like, and also include those implemented in the form of carrier waves (for example, transmission through the Internet).

The computer-readable recording medium is distributed to computer systems connected through a network, so that computer-readable codes can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the above-described method can be easily inferred by programmers in the technical field to which the embodiment belongs.

It is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the present invention.

Accordingly, the above detailed description should not be construed as limiting in all respects and should be considered illustrative. The scope of the present invention should be determined by reasonable interpretation of the appended claims, and all changes within the equivalent scope of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

100: electronic device broadcasting center: 1010

Claims (18)

In the control method of the electronic device,
monitoring, by the electronic device, information on unpaid fees of at least one customer included in a customer list stored in the broadcasting center through communication with the broadcasting center; and
When the billing status information of the at least one customer is changed from the unpaid state to the fully paid state, the electronic device receives the address of the device corresponding to the at least one customer from the broadcasting center, and sends the device to the device. Including the step of transmitting a control command, which is a command to control to reboot,
and rebooting the device according to the control command when the device is in a pop-up display state of non-payment due to non-payment of charges. According to claim 1,
The monitoring step is
A control method of an electronic device for making inquiries to the broadcasting center for information on the state of unpaid bills of the at least one customer at a predetermined time period. According to claim 1,
Transmitting the control command,
A control method of an electronic device that transmits a SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) Managed Reset command to the device to reboot the device. According to claim 1,
Receiving a feedback command from each device that has transmitted the control command; And
The method of controlling an electronic device further comprising performing an operation corresponding to the feedback command. According to claim 1,
The method of controlling an electronic device further comprising: searching for a device corresponding to a customer whose charge status information has been changed. According to claim 5,
The step of searching for the device is,
and searching for the device by receiving device information corresponding to a customer whose rate status information has been changed from the broadcasting center. According to claim 1,
The method of controlling an electronic device further comprising registering a device corresponding to the at least one customer. According to claim 1,
The method of controlling an electronic device, characterized in that the device is a set-top box or IPTV. In electronic devices,
a communication unit that communicates with the broadcasting center; and
When at least one customer included in the customer list stored in the broadcasting center monitors information on the unpaid bill status through the communication unit, and the bill status information of the at least one customer is changed from the unpaid bill status to the full bill paid status, the The electronic device includes a control unit for receiving an address of a device corresponding to the at least one customer from the broadcasting center and transmitting a control command, which is a command for controlling the device to reboot, to the device through the communication unit;
The electronic device, wherein the device reboots the device according to the control command when a non-payment error due to non-payment is displayed in a pop-up state. According to claim 9,
The control unit,
An electronic device that makes inquiries to the broadcasting center for information about unpaid bills of the at least one customer at a predetermined time period through the communication unit. According to claim 9,
The control command is
An electronic device, containing a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Managed Reset command. According to claim 9,
The control unit,
An electronic device that receives a feedback command from each device that has transmitted the control command through the communication unit, and performs an operation corresponding to the feedback command. According to claim 9,
The control unit,
An electronic device registering a device corresponding to the at least one customer. According to claim 9,
The electronic device, characterized in that the device is a set-top box or IPTV. In the IPTV system,
a broadcasting center containing a list of customers;
At least one customer included in the customer list monitors information on the state of unpaid bills, and when the information on the state of bills of the at least one customer is changed from unpaid state to fully paid state, the broadcasting center sends information to the at least one customer. An electronic device that receives an address of a corresponding device and transmits a control command, which is a command for controlling rebooting of the device, to the device; and
and the device rebooting according to the control command when a non-payment error due to non-payment is displayed in a pop-up state. According to claim 15,
The electronic device,
The IPTV system for making inquiries to the broadcasting center for information on the state of unpaid bills of the at least one customer at a predetermined time period. According to claim 15,
The device,
The IPTV system for receiving the rebooting control command and rebooting the device when it is determined that the device needs to be rebooted. A computer readable recording medium recording a program for executing the control method of an electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 through being executed by a processor.

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