KR19990026838A - How to Set Parental Control for Satellite Broadcast Receivers - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of setting a parental level for a satellite broadcast receiver to which a parental level is separately set for each user by using each user ID registered in the satellite broadcast receiver, and the parental level of the satellite broadcast receiver. A first step of displaying a menu screen for inputting an administrator password when a setting key signal is input; a second step of comparing an administrator password previously stored in the memory means when the administrator password is input; and as a result of the comparison, the input If the registered administrator password matches the previously registered administrator information, a menu screen for setting the parental level is displayed. If the entered administrator password does not match the previously registered administrator information, input of the administrator password is performed. The third step of turning off the menu screen for the user, enters the user ID to be restricted A fourth step of selecting the input user ID among the plurality of registered user IDs; and when the parental control information for the selected user ID is input, a fifth step of storing the input user ID and parental control information. And a sixth step of turning off the displayed menu screen when a completion key signal for the parental level setting is input.

Description

How to Set Parental Control for Satellite Broadcast Receivers

The present invention relates to a satellite broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a method for setting a parental control of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for setting a separate parental control function according to each user of the satellite broadcast receiver.

As is well known, satellite broadcasting is a broadcasting satellite that receives a broadcast signal from a ground station (broadcasting earth station) using a broadcasting satellite floating in a stationary orbit of 36,000 km over the equator, and can receive it directly from a satellite receiving antenna in each home. This system is a broadcasting method in which the information selection range is greatly expanded compared with the existing broadcasting system.

The satellite broadcast receiver used for such a satellite broadcast is a device that receives a bitstream provided from a satellite, processes a broadcast signal of a selected channel, and then displays it on a display device.

In this case, the bit stream provided from the satellite includes various information such as broadcast signals (video data and audio data), event information table (EIT), and time data table (TDT) for each channel.

In addition, a general satellite broadcasting receiver that receives such a satellite broadcasting signal includes a program viewing restriction function for restricting viewing of a program. Such a kind of viewing restriction includes a rating limit for limiting viewing according to a program rating. The method may include a limiting method of limiting viewing depending on whether a paid program is purchased, a limiting method of limiting viewing of a specific channel, and the like.

However, in the conventional parental control method, when a parental level, a limited channel, or a time limit is set for a specific user (for example, a minor or adolescent), satellite broadcasting as well as a specific user who wants to restrict the viewing are required. Since a parental control function is also performed for all users who use the receiver, there is a problem that a great inconvenience occurs in viewing a broadcast program.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, by using a separate ID registered in the satellite broadcasting receiver to set a separate parental control function to a plurality of users, each of which can be applied separately It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for setting a parental level of a broadcast receiver.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a satellite broadcasting receiver in which a plurality of user IDs and a manager ID for managing each user ID are registered in advance to restrict viewing of a broadcast program to a user having a specific ID among the plurality of user IDs. In the setting method, a first step of displaying a menu screen for inputting an administrator password when the parental control setting key signal of the satellite broadcasting receiver is input, and an administrator password previously stored in the memory means when the administrator password is input. In a second step of comparing, if the comparison result, the input administrator password and the pre-registered administrator information, the menu screen for setting the parental level is displayed, and the input administrator password and the pre-registered If the administrator information does not match, the menu screen for inputting the administrator password is turned off. Step 3, if a user ID to be restricted for viewing is input, a fourth step of selecting the input user ID among the plurality of registered user IDs, and when viewing restriction information for the selected user ID is input, A fifth step of storing the input user ID and parental control information; and a sixth step of turning off the displayed menu screen when a completion key signal for the parental control setting is input. To provide.

1 is a block diagram of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a method for setting a parental control of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a view for explaining a parental level setting method of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart showing a parental level setting process according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

10: key input unit 20: tuner and demodulation unit

30: MPEG decoder 40: Microcomputer

50, 55: first and second memory sections 60: OSD section

The above and other objects and various advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the preferred embodiments of the present invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a satellite broadcast receiver suitable for applying a method for setting a parental control of a satellite broadcast receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The key input unit 10, the tuner and demodulator 20, and the microcomputer 30 ), The MPEG decoder 40, the first and second memory units 50 and 55, and the OSD unit 60.

The key input unit 10 is composed of key metrics on a remote controller or its own panel to generate a corresponding key signal by a user's operation and provide the same to the microcomputer 30. It consists of a key.

The tuner and demodulator 20 receives a satellite broadcast signal received through a satellite antenna (not shown), tunes a bitstream of a channel corresponding to the tuning control signal of the microcomputer 30, and then demodulates it to MPEG. The decoder 40 is provided.

The MPEG decoder 40 separates and decodes a broadcast signal provided from the tuner and the demodulator 20 into an audio signal, a video signal, and various program information, and then provides the signal to a signal processing unit, not shown, to display on a monitor. Data for various menu screens provided from the OSD unit 60 are also provided to the signal processing unit after a predetermined signal processing process.

In addition, the microcomputer 30 controls a control signal for tuning a broadcast channel, a control signal for tuning a broadcast channel, and a control for driving the OSD unit 60 based on a key signal from the key input unit 10. A signal is generated and various program information and menu screen information separated from the MPEG decoder 40 are stored in the first memory unit 50.

Further, the parental control information set by the personal ID information and the administrator ID for each user is stored in the second memory unit 55, and the restriction information set based on the key signal provided from the key input unit 10 is read out. Accordingly, the operation of the satellite broadcasting receiver is controlled.

The OSD unit 60 configures a control signal and various data provided from the microcomputer 30 as a menu screen of a predetermined type and provides the same to the MPEG decoder 40 described above, thereby displaying on a monitor not shown.

In the satellite broadcasting receiver configured as described above, ID information of each user is stored in the second memory unit 55, and the channel selected by the user is displayed on a monitor (not shown) through a predetermined signal processing process. Alternatively, in the standby mode, when the user operates the key input unit 10 to set a viewing restriction of another specific user and inputs a corresponding key signal, the microcomputer 30 may view the current user based on the key signal. In order to check whether the administrator ID user can set the restriction function, a certain type of guidance message (eg, enter an administrator password) is displayed through the OSD unit 60.

Then, the user operates the key input unit 10 according to the guide message to input the password. If the input password matches the administrator password set in the second memory unit 55, the corresponding guide message ( For example, the password is incorrect. Please enter it again.).

When the password inputted through the key input unit 10 matches the administrator password stored in the memory unit 50 through the above-described process, the microcomputer 30 displays the menu screen information stored in the first memory unit 50. After reading, the parental level setting menu screen as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed via the OSD unit 60.

Therefore, the user first selects a parental restriction target by using each user's ID, referring to the menu screen shown in the drawing, and then selects a type of parental restriction for the selected ID, that is, a rating, a viewing time, a viewing channel, etc. To set a parental level for a particular user.

When the parental level is set for a specific user through the above-described process, the microcomputer 30 stores the input parental level information together with the corresponding ID information of the second memory unit 55.

If the satellite broadcasting receiver is turned on by any user after the parental control is set through the above-described process, the microcomputer 30 displays a guide message of a predetermined type for inputting a user ID. In this case, when a specific ID is input, the microcomputer 30 reads the corresponding ID information stored in the second memory unit 55.

In this case, when the parental level is set for the corresponding ID, the parental level function is performed. If the user ID is not input in the initial stage of turning on the satellite broadcasting receiver, It automatically connects to the family ID which is the joint viewing ID, and when connected to the family ID, all the parental control functions set in the second memory unit 55 are controlled by the microcomputer 30 regardless of the corresponding ID. Will perform.

As a result, when each user views the satellite broadcast using his or her ID with the administrator ID set by the administrator ID in the satellite broadcast receiver, only the viewing restrictions set for the user are applied. When watching a satellite broadcast using a family ID, which is a viewing ID, all viewing restrictions set for each user are restricted.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a parental control setting process of a satellite broadcasting receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The above-described process will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

When the operation of the satellite broadcasting receiver is performed in the normal viewing mode or the standby state (step 301), when a key signal for setting the parental level for a specific user is input through the key input unit 10 (step 303), the microcomputer 30 Control) displays a corresponding connection menu screen, i.e., a predetermined guidance message (e.g., enter an administrator password) for inputting an administrator password (step 305).

When the user inputs an administrator password through the key input unit 10 based on the displayed message (step 307), the microcomputer 30 compares the input password with the administrator password set in the second memory unit 55. (Step 309), if matched with each other, as shown in Fig. 2, the parental control menu screen including each user ID and parental control type is displayed through the OSD unit 60 (operation 313).

If the result of the comparison in step 309 does not match, the user may re-enter the administrator password by repeating the above-described step (307). For example, if it is repeated for three times (step 311), that is, if the administrator password inputted by the user is wrong a predetermined number of times, the microcomputer 30 sends a corresponding guidance message (for example, through the OSD unit 60). After confirming the password, use again.) For a predetermined time (for example, 3 seconds) (step 312), the OSD unit 60 is turned off again to turn off the currently displayed menu screen, and The operation is switched to the normal viewing mode or the standby state of the initial step 301 (step 325).

On the other hand, while the password entered by the user in the above-described step 309 matches the administrator password set in the second memory unit 55 and the parental control menu screen is displayed accordingly (step 313), the user is restricted from viewing. If the user for the target is selected using the respective viewer ID (step 315) and the corresponding parental level is set by selecting one of the parental control menus again (step 317), the user input by the control of the microcomputer 30 ID information and parental control information are stored in the second memory unit 55 (step 321).

When the parental level setting end key signal is input again through the key input unit 10 or a predetermined time elapses (step 323), the menu screen currently displayed under the control of the microcomputer 30 is turned off and the satellite The operation of the broadcast receiver is switched to the normal viewing mode or the standby state of the initial step 301 (step 325).

On the other hand, when the administrator password is not input or a key signal for selecting a parental control user does not occur for a predetermined time set in each of the above-described steps 307, 315, and 317, or the parental control setting is described. If not input (step 319), the menu screen currently displayed is similarly turned off by the control of the microcomputer 30, and the operation of the satellite broadcasting receiver is switched to the normal viewing mode or the standby state of the initial step 301 ( Step 325).

As a result, it is possible to set independent viewing restrictions for each user by using each user ID registered in the satellite broadcasting receiver, and apply them individually.

As described above, according to the present invention, by setting individual viewing restrictions to a plurality of users using respective user IDs registered in the satellite broadcasting receiver, an adaptive viewing restriction function can be performed.

Claims (8)

A method of setting a viewing restriction of a broadcast program for a user having a specific ID among the plurality of user IDs in a satellite broadcasting receiver in which a plurality of user IDs and an administrator ID for managing each user ID are pre-registered, A first step of displaying a menu screen for inputting an administrator password when a parental control setting key signal of the satellite broadcasting receiver is input; A second step of comparing the administrator password previously stored in the memory means when the administrator password is input; As a result of the comparison, if the input administrator password and the registered administrator information match, the menu screen for setting the parental level is displayed, and if the input administrator password and the registered administrator information do not match, Turning off a menu screen for inputting the administrator password; A fourth step of selecting the input user ID from the plurality of registered user IDs when a user ID to be restricted for viewing is input; A fifth step of storing the input user ID and the parental control information when the parental control information for the selected user ID is input; And a sixth step of turning off the displayed menu screen when a completion key signal for the parental level setting is input. 2. The satellite of claim 1, wherein the parental level setting menu screen is displayed including information about each user ID pre-registered in the satellite broadcasting receiver and all kinds of parental level provided by the satellite broadcasting receiver. How to set parental level on broadcast receiver. The method of claim 1, wherein the second step further comprises: automatically turning off a menu screen for inputting the administrator password if the administrator password is not input within a predetermined time period. How to set up. The method of claim 1, wherein in the third step, if the input administrator password and the previously stored administrator information do not match, the second step is repeated by a predetermined number of times, and the administrator password is input again. How to set the parental level of the satellite broadcast receiver. The method of claim 4, wherein the third step comprises: if the administrator password inputted within the predetermined number of times does not match the registered administrator information at least once, displaying the parental level setting guide message for a preset predetermined time period; How to set the parental level of the satellite broadcast receiver further comprising a process. The method of claim 1, wherein the fourth step further comprises automatically turning off the parental level setting menu screen if the user ID is not input within a predetermined time period. The method of claim 1, wherein the fifth step further comprises automatically turning off the parental level setting menu screen if the parental level information is not input within a predetermined time period. . The satellite broadcasting receiver of claim 1, wherein the sixth step further comprises automatically turning off the parental level setting menu screen when a completion key signal for the parental level setting is not input within a predetermined time period. How to set parental controls for.