KR20000031421A - Method for restricting watching of charged channel in television - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for restricting the watching of a charged channel in a television is to restrict the watching of a pay-per-view channel of the charged channels, thereby decreasing a user's economical load. CONSTITUTION: A watching restriction method comprises the steps of: accumulating a watching charge of a corresponding program whenever watching a broadcasting program of a pay-per-view channel at a first memory; determining whether a total watching charge accumulated at the first memory exceeds a predesignated watching restriction charge; and outputting an alarming message when it is determined that the total watching charge exceeds the predesignated watching restriction charge. The method further comprises a step of stopping displaying of the corresponding program when it is determined that the total watching charge exceeds the predesignated watching restriction charge.

Description

Restriction on TV paid channel viewing

The present invention relates to TV, and more particularly, to a paid channel viewing restriction method of TV.

The TV broadcasting method has been introduced by satellites from the existing analog terrestrial waves. The satellite broadcasting system has been providing basic A / V service, but considering the development of multimedia, The key to success is how diverse and quality services can be provided.

Currently, most satellite broadcasting systems follow the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) standard, and MPEG-2, the MPEG standard for broadcasting, is specified in the international standards ISO / IEC 13818-1 to 3, which are respectively ISO / IEC 13818-. 1 (system standard), ISO / IEC 13818-2 (video standard), ISO / IEC 13818-3 (audio standard).

Looking at the configuration of such a satellite broadcasting system, as shown in Figure 1, the resource and subscriber management system (RSMS: Resource & Subscriber Management System) (hereinafter referred to as RSMS) for managing the legality of the user's pay-TV program, viewing time, amount and smart card (2), transmitting station (3), satellite (4), TV (5), the built-in smart card (8) stores the user's broadcast viewing details, etc. and communicates with the RSMS (2) It consists of a limited reception system 6 which receives only broadcast information desired by a user and PSTN / PSDN 7 which is a public communication network.

The broadcast signal transmission / reception operation of the satellite broadcasting system configured as described above is as follows.

First, the program and the program related data are transmitted to the TV 5 via the transmitting station 3 and the satellite 4.

The TV 5 then signals the transmitted digital information and displays video, audio and additional information data on the screen.

The limited reception system 6 and the RSMS 2 communicate with each other through the modem and the PSTN / PSDN 7.

Accordingly, the TV 5 checks whether the viewer views the paid program through the screen according to the data communication between the limited reception system 6 and the RSMS 2, and the RSMS 2 receives the limited reception if the user wishes to watch. From the smart card 8 embedded in the system 6, the pay program viewing information of the viewer is read and the viewing permission is determined according to the viewable amount.

In this case, the TV 5 must include a satellite broadcasting receiver according to MPEG-2 in order to receive satellite broadcasting. The satellite broadcasting receiver includes an antenna 11 and a low noise block (LNB), as shown in FIG. 12, microcomputer 13, tuner 14, A / D converter 15, link 16, microcomputer interface 17, MPEG A / V decoder 18, NTSC encoder 19, D / A converter 20, SDRAM 21, DRAM 22 and flash memory 23.

The operation of the satellite broadcasting receiver configured as described above will be briefly described as follows.

First, the satellite broadcasting signal of the 11 to 12 kHz frequency band received by the antenna 11 is frequency-converted to the local oscillation frequency of the LNB 12 and converted into the 950 to 2150 MHz frequency band signal.

The microcomputer 13 transmits repeater tuning values having different values for each repeater to a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) (not shown) inside the tuner 14 so that the repeater corresponding to the channel to be tuned by the user is an intermediate frequency. To 497.5 MHz.

Subsequently, the tuner 14 outputs an in-phase signal I and a quadrature phase signal Q of a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signal, and the A / D converter 15 and the link 16 provide the QPSK signal. Demodulate and correct the error to output the transport stream.

In this case, the microcomputer 13, the flash memory 23, the DRAM 22, and the microcomputer interface 17 control the entire satellite broadcasting reception system, and the microcomputer 13 is a central processing unit (CPU) and I / I. O device has built-in Demux and communication port.

The demux of the microcomputer 13 receives the time multiplexed transport stream and performs demultiplexing.

In this case, demultiplexing refers to identifying a PID number and dividing it into a video signal sequence, an audio signal sequence, and an additional information signal sequence.

The demultiplexed video signal sequence and audio signal sequence are then input to the MPEG A / V decoder 18 and returned to the pre-compression signal via the SDRAM 21, and the additional information signal sequence is passed through a filter by a GUI, or a graphical user interface. It is a database of information to be displayed.

The output of the MPEG A / V decoder 18 is input to an NTSC encoder 19, encoded as an NTSC signal, and output as a luminance signal (Y) and a color signal (C) for display by a TV (5) or a monitor. The D / A converter 21 converts the extended digital audio signal into an analog audio signal and outputs it.

A signal stream multiplexed with video, audio, and additional information to be transmitted in the above-described satellite broadcasting system is called a transport stream (TS), and specific information multiplexed by the TS is shown in FIG. 3. The basic stream is divided into elementary stream and resource & subscriber management system (RSMS) stream, and the basic stream includes video information, audio information, and data added from digital broadcast. It is for sending elementary stream and RSMS stream is additional information.

At this time, the RSMS stream is divided into service information (SI) and RSMS message, and the RSMS message is transmitted only when the limited reception function is used, and the SI is program designation information for enabling the receiver to demultiplex the TS. PSI (Program Specific Information) and program guide information PMM (Program Guide Message) is divided into.

In addition, PMM, program guide information, is subdivided into NIT, SDT, EIT, and TDT. Among them, the event information table (EIT), which is information about the events of satellite broadcasting channels, shows the broadcasting time, title, plot information, and channel type of each channel program (Paid / free) is provided.

In this way, programs transmitted through the satellite broadcasting system may be classified into a free channel, a subscription (or pay-per) channel, and a pay-per-view channel (hereinafter referred to as a PPV channel) according to a fee system.

In this case, the free channel is a free channel, the pay-per channel (hereinafter referred to as a PP channel) and the PPV channel are paid channels. The PP channel is a channel that charges a certain fee per channel, and the PPV channel is a channel that charges a fee per program.

In the related art, a method for restricting excessive viewing of a PPV channel among paid channels has not been proposed, and thus there is a problem of increasing the economic burden due to a decrease in user awareness of the PPV channel.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for restricting pay channel viewing of a TV, which can reduce the user's economic burden by limiting viewing of a PPV channel. .

1 is a view showing the configuration of a general satellite broadcasting receiving system

2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the satellite broadcasting receiver of FIG.

4 is a diagram illustrating a data format of an EIT.

5 is a diagram illustrating a data format of the descriptor of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data format of the access descriptor of FIG. 5. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating each code value of the access type of FIG. 6. FIG.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for restricting pay channel viewing of a TV according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen configuration of the viewing price limit mode of FIG.

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

2: Resource and Subscriber Management System (RSMS) 3: Sending Station

4: satellite 5: TV

6: Restricted Receiver System 7: PSTN / PSDN

8: smart card 11: antenna

12: LNB 13: Micom

14: Tuner 15: A / D converter

16: link 17: microcomputer interface

18: MPEG A / V Decoder 19: NTSC Encoder

20: D / A Converter 21: SRAM

22: DRAM 23: flash memory

The present invention comprises the steps of accumulating the viewing fee of the program in the first memory whenever the broadcast program of the Pay-Per-View channel is watched, and whether the total viewing amount accumulated up to now in the first memory is greater than or equal to the preset viewing limit amount. Determining, and outputting a warning message if the total viewing amount is more than the viewing limit amount.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a preferred embodiment of the pay channel viewing restriction method of the TV according to the present invention.

4 shows the data format of the EIT, FIG. 5 shows the data format of the descriptor of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 shows the data format of the access descriptor of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 shows each of the access types of FIG. 6. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for restricting pay channel viewing of a TV according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen configuration of the viewing price limit mode of FIG. 8.

First, the present invention is to limit the viewing of the paid channel, that is, PPV channel, in particular, because of the nature of the PPV channel uses a method of limiting the viewing fee rather than blocking the viewer itself, for this purpose EIT information related to the viewing fee Let's use.

The data format of the EIT information is as shown in FIG. 4, and the information on the viewing fee is defined as a descriptor as shown in FIG. 5, and an access descriptor is defined as shown in FIG. 6.

The access descriptor includes access type and price character information. The access type defines a type of channel, that is, the above-described free channel, PP channel, and PPV channel as shown in FIG. For example, if an access type code value is 0x01, a free channel is defined. If an access type code value is 0x02, a PPV channel is defined. Price characters are defined by the ASCII code of up to 10 digits of the program.

Therefore, the viewing of the PPV channel can be grasped according to the access type information described above, and the viewing fee of each program can be grasped according to the price character information.

The detailed operation of the present invention using this principle will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the user selects a channel to be watched (S21), the satellite broadcast receiver displays the video and audio of the corresponding channel through the TV through the above-described signal processing process (S22).

Subsequently, the microcomputer 13 of the satellite broadcasting receiver determines whether the corresponding channel is the PPV channel according to the access type information among the demultiplexed EIT information through signal processing (S23).

The determination result (S23), if the corresponding channel is a PPV channel, the viewing amount is accumulated in the 'SUM' of the flash memory 23 according to the price character information (S24), and whether the current viewing amount restriction mode is set. It is determined (S25).

In this case, when the user wants to limit the viewing price of the PPV channel, if the user selects the viewing price limit mode in the user setting menu, the screen shown in FIG. 9 is displayed on the TV 5 monitor. Therefore, when a user inputs a desired parental control amount into a parental control amount input window through a remote control or a key panel of a TV main body and selects a setting, the corresponding amount is stored in 'LIMIT' of the flash memory 23.

Subsequently, when the viewing result limit mode is set, the determination result (S25), it is determined whether the total viewing amount so far stored in the 'SUM' is greater than or equal to the viewing limit amount stored in the 'LIMIT' (S26).

Since the amount of the limit has been exceeded, please reset the amount if you want to watch more "(S27), and within a certain period of time, it is determined whether the amount of the restriction is raised or the amount of the restriction is released (S28). ).

Subsequently, the determination result (S28), if the parental level is not raised or the amount limit mode is not released, the display of the program is stopped (S29).

On the other hand, the determination result (S28), when the parental level is adjusted upward or the amount of money limit mode is released, the video / audio of the program continues to be displayed.

TV's pay channel viewing restriction method according to the present invention allows the user to set the desired viewing limit amount, and if the total viewing amount exceeds the viewing limit amount to output a warning message to inform the user of exceeding the viewing limit amount so that the user himself By controlling excessive viewing, it is possible to comfortably watch paid channels without any financial burden.

Claims (4)

Accumulating the viewing fee of the corresponding program in the first memory whenever the broadcast program of the Pay-Per-View channel is watched; Determining whether the total viewing amount accumulated up to now in the first memory is equal to or larger than a preset viewing limit amount; If the total viewing amount is more than the viewing limit amount of the TV, pay channel viewing restriction method comprising the step of outputting a warning message. The method of claim 1, And stopping the display of the program if the total viewing amount is more than the viewing limit amount. The method of claim 1, Determining whether or not the total viewing amount accumulated up to now in the first memory is equal to or greater than a preset viewing limit amount Determining whether the parental level limit mode is set; And if the viewing price limit mode is set, determining whether the total viewing amount accumulated up to now in the first memory is greater than or equal to the predetermined viewing limit amount. Restriction Method. Accumulating the viewing price of the corresponding program in the first memory every time the broadcast program of the Pay-Per-View channel is watched and displaying it on the screen for setting the viewing restriction amount; Determining whether the total viewing amount accumulated up to now in the first memory is equal to or larger than the viewing limit amount set by the user with reference to the total viewing amount; If the total viewing amount is more than the viewing limit amount of the TV, pay channel viewing restriction method comprising the step of outputting a warning message.