KR20010038883A - Method for limiting tv audition using set top box - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for restricting television viewing using an indoor receiving device is provided to selectively limit the viewing for a particular channel of channels broadcasted through a TV receiver and limit the viewing for total channels in a particular date. CONSTITUTION: First, at least one view restricting information of view restricting channel, view restricting time band, view restricting date is input to set a view restricting function for corresponding view restricting information. Then, if a channel input after the view restricting function is set is corresponding to the view restricting information, the broadcasting program service receive through the input channel is inhibited. A password may be input together with the view restricting information when the view restricting function is set.

Description

Restriction on watching TV using indoor receivers {METHOD FOR LIMITING TV AUDITION USING SET TOP BOX}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for restricting viewing for a particular channel by using an indoor receiver, and more particularly, to a method for limiting viewing of a television using an indoor receiver, which enables the viewing of a channel that is difficult for a minor to watch. .

With the spread of TV in the home, TV is now being distributed in each room of the home and installed in the parent's room, living room, children's room, etc., so that they can watch the broadcast of their desired channels. On the other hand, in a broadcast that can be listened to through TV, that is, a TV broadcast, a cable broadcasting in each region, a cable TV broadcast, and the like, there may be a program that is difficult to watch by a certain layer in some cases. For example, programs that are not accessible to minors, such as violent content or adult programs, display ratings on the screen and are generally categorized according to their criteria for viewing by adults and programs that must be viewed by minors. Until now, if there is a program that is difficult for minors to watch, parents have been admonished and restricted in words so that parents cannot see children who are minors. However, when parents are absent, minors cannot take measures to restrict viewing of difficult-to-view programs, which causes parents to be overwhelmed. Conventional methods for solving this problem are Korean Patent Application No. 1997-48190 filed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Patent Application No. 1996-25353 (Received Channel Restriction System for Wireline Broadcasting, hereinafter referred to as' 25353 '), the broadcast program viewing lock and method disclosed in the' 48190 is to watch the specific broadcast program on the television receiver The present invention relates to a method of determining the display of a video signal when comparing a broadcasting broadcast system (KBPS) signal for transmitting a restriction signal with a viewing restriction channel and a time zone. The system can be used if the subscriber does not want to receive or want to restrict reception. The present invention relates to a method of making a pre-broadcast channel selectively incapable of reception by a user program, and both applications allow a selective reception of a specific channel. However, the '48190' has a disadvantage in that viewing is limited to a specific channel only when the KBPS broadcasting system supports the KBPS signal, and the '25353' is limited in viewing only for a cable for broadcasting.

On the other hand, the indoor receiving device can input a channel by pressing a channel up / down key or directly pressing a channel number by using a remote controller or a button input unit to select a channel to be watched. The apparatus transmits a selected channel number to a head-end device, receives a program broadcast on the corresponding channel, and sends the channel number to a TV.

In the minor viewing impossibility program, a specific channel such as a special channel that broadcasts it professionally or a late night time zone is intensively broadcasted in a specific time zone. Therefore, in order to prevent young children from watching a program that cannot be viewed by minors, parents should use a method of restricting the viewing of a specific channel or restricting the viewing of a specific channel during the night time broadcast. No limiting method is provided. In addition, in some cases it is necessary to restrict TV viewing for all channels throughout the day.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for limiting television viewing using an indoor receiving apparatus, which enables the selective reception of a specific channel among channels broadcasted through a TV receiver using an indoor receiving apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a TV viewing restriction method using an indoor receiving apparatus that can limit watching TV for all channels for a specific date.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a TV viewing restriction method using an indoor receiving apparatus, wherein the viewing restriction information is received by receiving at least one or more viewing restriction information from a viewing restriction channel, a viewing restriction time zone, and viewing restriction information of a viewing restriction date. And setting a parental control function with respect to the control unit, and if a channel input after the parental control function is set corresponds to the parental control information, prohibiting the reception of a broadcast program service for the input channel. .

1 is a block diagram of a typical indoor receiving apparatus

2 is a control flow diagram for setting / changing / clearing the parental control function according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a control flowchart for limiting viewing of an input channel according to a parental control function according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First of all, in adding reference numerals to the components of each drawing, it should be noted that the same components have the same reference numerals as much as possible even if they are displayed on different drawings. In addition, in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention, such as specific processing flows. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that are determined to unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram of a general indoor receiving apparatus,

The controller 10 controls the overall operation of the set-top box. When the viewer inputs a channel for watching TV after the parental control function is set according to the present invention, the controller 10 controls the number of the restricted channel number and the number of the restricted channel stored in the memory. If it matches with the time zone, it controls to not watch the channel.

The access network unit 20 performs signaling with the switch via a wired network, a wireless network, or a satellite, and transmits a channel to be watched to the head-end device 110 to receive a broadcast program.

The remote controller interface unit 60 transfers the beaten data input through the remote controller 130 to the controller 10.

The button input unit 50 inputs buttons such as channel up / down.

The TV interface unit 30 broadcasts broadcast MPEG data to the TV 120 and displays a graphic screen on the TV 120 when using an EPG (Electronic Programming Guide).

The memory 40 stores various programs and data necessary for driving the indoor receiver, and stores various parental control information such as a parental control channel number and a time limit registered using the EPG.

2 is a control flowchart for setting / changing / releasing a parental control function according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a control flowchart for limiting viewing of an input channel according to the parental control function according to an embodiment of the present invention. to be.

1 to 3 will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

First, a method of setting a parental control function in the indoor receiving device 100, and a method of changing and releasing it will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step 201, if there is a menu screen selection key signal from the user through the remote controller 130 or the button input unit 50, the control unit 10 of the TV 120 connected to the TV interface unit 30 using the EPG. Display the menu screen on the screen. Then, in step 203, the controller 10 proceeds to step 205 when the parental control setting menu is selected from the menu screen displayed on the TV screen through the remote controller 130 or the button input unit 50; Proceed to step 213 when the parental control change menu is selected, otherwise proceed to step 221; otherwise, go to step 221, if the parental control release menu is selected, proceed to step 223; otherwise, go to step 231. Perform the function.

When the parental control setting menu is selected, the control unit 10 inputs a password through the remote controller 130 or the button input unit 50 in step 205 and sets a channel number and time limit for viewing restriction from the user in step 207. Receive input. In this case, only the parental control channel number may be input, or the time limit for the parental control may be input together with the parental control channel number. In step 209, the controller 10 sets a parental control function and stores the parental control information received from the user in the memory 40.

On the other hand, when the parental level change menu is selected in step 211, the parental control function is already set in the indoor receiving apparatus 100. The control unit 10, which proceeds to step 213, receives a password from the user. Thereafter, in step 215, when the parental control function is set, the user checks whether the password stored in the memory 40 and the password input by the user match and proceed to step 217. In step 217, the controller 10 selects the channel number and time zone to be deleted, deletes the channel number and time zone to be deleted and stores or changes the channel number and time zone to be stored in the corresponding area of the memory 40. Get input. In step 219, the controller 10 sets a parental control function with the changed / added parental control information, and stores the altered or added parental control information in the memory 40.

In addition, in the case where the parental control release menu is selected in step 221, the parental control function is already set in the indoor receiver 100, and the control unit 10 proceeds to step 223 to input a password from the user. In step 225, if the parental control function is input, the user checks whether the password stored in the memory 40 and the password input by the user match and proceed to step 227. In step 227, the controller 10 releases the parental control function set in the indoor receiver 100 and deletes the parental control information stored in the memory 40.

In addition, although not shown in FIG. 2, when setting the parental level control function, the user can set the parental level function only on a corresponding date by receiving a date (year, month, date, minute) to limit viewing. In addition, when the parental control is released, the parental control function may be temporarily, for example, released only once, for example, once the parental control function is released, such as steps 221 to 227. Save it.

The channel number to select the parental level means the channels of all broadcast programs that can be transmitted to the head-end device (110).

After the parental control function is set in the indoor receiving apparatus 100 in the same manner as described above, a method of restricting the viewing of the input channel according to the parental control function setting will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3.

After the power of the TV 120 is turned on, if the signal corresponding to the channel number is input through the remote controller 130 or the button input unit 50 in step 301, the controller 10 proceeds to step 303. Check if this is set. As a result of the inspection, the controller 10 proceeds to step 305 if the parental control function is set, and proceeds to step 311 if the parental control function is not set.

In step 305, the controller 10 reads the parental control information stored in the memory 40, and then proceeds to step 307. The parental control information may be a parental control channel and a parental control time zone or parental control date information as described in the description of FIG. 2.

In step 307, the controller 10 checks whether the input channel corresponds to the viewing restriction channel and the time limit, and if the input channel corresponds to the current viewing restriction channel and the time limit or the viewing restriction date, proceeds to step 309. After ignoring the input channel number, the process returns to step 301. In this case, the control unit 10 does not transmit the channel number input to the head-end device 110, and at this time, a display indicating that the viewing restriction channel may be displayed on the TV screen. If the channel input in step 307 does not correspond to the viewing restriction channel and the time limit, the flow proceeds to step 311. If the viewing restriction information is one viewing restriction date, it is possible to prohibit the reception of broadcast programs of all channels on the corresponding date.

On the other hand, if the input channel corresponds to the viewing restriction channel and the limited time zone or the limited date in step 307, if a matched password is input through the password verification process to perform steps 311 and 313 below You can also add.

In step 311, the control unit 10 transmits the channel number inputted to the head-end device 110 through the access network unit 20. After the broadcast program is normally received and broadcast on the TV screen, the process returns to step 301.

The flow as shown in FIG. 3 is always performed when the indoor receiver and the TV are turned on.

On the other hand, the detailed description of the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, of course, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

As described above, the present invention can perform viewing restrictions on a specific channel and time zone or a specific date of a television through an indoor reception device, so that a viewer can selectively watch a channel in an age of multi-channel digital broadcasting service, and especially a minor It is effective to limit viewing in advance for broadcasts that are not suitable for children.

Claims (6)

In the method of restricting watching TV using an indoor receiver, Setting a parental control function for the parental control information by receiving at least one or more parental control information of the parental control channel, the parental control time zone, and the parental control information on the parental control date; And limiting the reception of a broadcast program service for the input channel if the channel input after the parental control function is set corresponds to the parental control information. The method of claim 1, And receiving a password together with the viewing restriction information when setting the viewing restriction function. The method of claim 2, If the channel that is input after the parental control is set corresponds to the parental control information, a password matching step inputs a broadcast program service for the input channel when the password corresponding to the password entered when the parental control is set is set. A method for restricting TV viewing using an indoor receiver, further comprising the step of receiving normally. The method of claim 3, wherein And setting a parental control function for the changed parental control information by arbitrarily deleting, changing, and adding the parental control information when the matching password is confirmed after the parental control change is selected after setting the parental control function. TV viewing restriction method using an indoor receiving device. The method of claim 3, wherein And releasing the parental control function after setting the parental control function, and if the matched password is confirmed, canceling the parental control function. The method of claim 1, And when the viewing restriction information is the one of the viewing restriction dates, on the corresponding date, prohibiting the reception of the broadcasting program service of all channels.