KR20010096924A - Digital multimedia data supply system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a supply method for supplying digital data more conveniently and at a lower cost in various services using digital data. Digital multimedia data is provided using a digital broadcasting receiver provided in each home and a channel used by a conventional digital broadcasting system, and a fee is collected using a charging device built in the receiver. Therefore, the supply system of the present invention provides the effect of supplying digital multimedia data more conveniently and at low cost.

Description

Digital multimedia data supply system and method

The present invention relates to a system and method for easily supplying and charging digital data in a digital format, and more particularly, to supplying digital data to a digital terminal using a digital broadcasting receiver having a charging system for each house, and It relates to a system and a method for billing.

With the advent of the digital age, the demand for many digital multimedia data has increased. For example, with the recent spread of digital audio, MP3, there is a need for a method of supplying a file called MP3. Due to its characteristics, digital media data is supplied mainly through a PC or the Internet in a digital bitstream format, rather than being supplied in an existing record or a specific medium.

There are two representative systems for supplying digital multimedia data.

First, as shown in Fig. 1, a server 10 storing digital multimedia data for supplying digital multimedia data, a communication line for transmitting this data, and a PC having a communication function for receiving this data ( 12), an interface for transferring the received data to the digital terminal, and a digital terminal 14 for using the digital data.

Second, as shown in FIG. 2, a supplier (remote control server 20 or a manager) for supplying digital multimedia data, a vending machine 22 selling digital data, and the data for transmitting to the digital terminal 24 Interface, and the digital terminal 24.

In the case of the supply system of FIG. 1, a person having a digital terminal 14 has a PC 12 capable of communication, accesses a site providing the corresponding digital data using a communication line, and desires his own PC 12. The data must be downloaded and transferred to a digital terminal 14 such as an MP3 player having its own interface using an interface such as a serial port.

In the case of the supply system of FIG. 2, a vending machine 22 for providing digital multimedia data is installed, and digital data must be purchased and downloaded to the digital terminal 24 of the same. In this case, the digital media data vending machine 22 should be managed by the remote control server 20 or managed by a manager.

However, the conventional system of FIG. 1 as described above must have a computer for downloading digital data once, and there is an inconvenience of having to boot a computer to receive data. In addition, there must be a communication means such as a modem that can connect to the Internet. Usually, the communication means is low speed of 56Kbps. Therefore, in addition to the data purchase cost, a separate communication cost is a significant burden on the user. There is a problem.

In addition, in the case of the supply system of FIG. 2, there are problems of the location and cost according to the installation of the vending machine, and management problems such as failure or periodic data update are also a great burden for the service provider. There is a problem that causes inconvenience due to limitations.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, the digital broadcast receiver, the digital broadcast channel, and the charging device built in the receiver to be provided in each home as the beginning of digital broadcasting, the digital multimedia data more conveniently It is to provide a system that can supply and charge at a low cost.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for supplying and downloading digital multimedia data at a lower cost by using the above-described supply system.

1 is a configuration diagram according to an embodiment of a conventional digital multimedia data supply system;

2 is a configuration diagram according to another embodiment of a conventional digital multimedia data supply system;

3 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a digital multimedia data supply system according to the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10, 30: server 12: PC

14, 24, 40: digital terminal 20: remote control server

22: digital data vending machine 32: broadcasting equipment

34: digital broadcast receiver 36: display device

38: interface

The digital multimedia data supply system of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a server for storing digital multimedia data and lists such as audio information and video information, and a broadcasting station for broadcasting digital data and lists together with broadcasts. It is equipped with broadcasting equipment. A digital broadcasting receiver and a display apparatus are provided for receiving and displaying broadcast digital data and lists. In addition, the system includes an interface and a terminal for downloading data from a receiver.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of supplying and downloading digital multimedia data, which includes a process of creating a list of digital data and broadcasting the data together, and receiving the broadcasted digital data and the list and displaying a list of the data. Include. In addition, the step of downloading the desired data to the terminal through the interface by the user's reservation setting. In addition, the method includes charging for data downloaded to the user.

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

3 is an overall configuration diagram of a digital multimedia data supply system according to the present invention.

The system of FIG. 3 includes a server 30 that stores digital multimedia data such as audio information and video information, and a broadcasting equipment 32 of a broadcasting station. The broadcasting device 32 is a device that is currently performing digital broadcasting, and is a device for modulating and transmitting a broadcasting station in a form suitable for each transmission medium.

The digital broadcasting receiver 34 is a set top box or a digital TV receiver installed in each home to watch digital broadcasting such as satellite broadcasting or cable broadcasting. It is not yet available to many families, but as digital broadcasting becomes more active, most households will have it. In addition, as commercial broadcasting develops, commercial channels such as movies may be selectively purchased and viewed by the charging device 340 built in the receiver.

The display device 36 is connected to the receiver 34 and is a device for showing a list of digital data currently stored by the server 30. Generally, the display device 36 refers to a TV. If the digital broadcast receiver 34 is a digital TV receiver, no separate display device is required.

The interface 38 provides a means for transmitting data from the digital broadcast receiver 34 to the terminal 40.

The terminal 40 is a digital terminal such as an MP3-player, and is a device for reproducing digital data downloaded from the receiver 34.

The operation of supplying and charging digital multimedia data of the system of FIG. 3 having such a configuration will be described in detail.

The provider of the digital multimedia data prepares a data list stored in the server 30, stores the data list in the server 30, and repeatedly broadcasts the list of data stored in the server 30 and the digital data. Broadcast through. At this time, the broadcast equipment 32 modulates the data in digital format into a form suitable for each transmission medium such as airwaves, satellite waves, or cables and transmits the data through each broadcast channel.

On the other hand, the digital multimedia data stored in the server 30 may be selectively transmitted with the broadcast of the broadcast station. For example, the data of the server 30 may be distributed in the same manner as the broadcast by occupying the same channel in the time zone in which the broadcast is broadcast, or use the existing broadcast channel over the late-night time zone when the broadcast ends. Can be distributed. In the latter case, there is an economical advantage that it is not necessary to secure a channel for data distribution.

The user receives the digital data and the list transmitted by the broadcasting equipment 32 through each broadcasting channel through the digital broadcasting receiver 34 installed in each home. The digital broadcast receiver 34 has an interface controller 342 that allows a user to select and receive data.

When the user turns on the digital broadcasting receiver 34 and executes the interface controller 342 through the selection key, the interface controller 342 extracts the data list from the received digital data and the list and outputs the data list to the display device 36. do. Subsequently, when a user reserves one of the lists shown on the display device 36 to download, the interface controller 342 of the receiver 34 selects data corresponding to the reserved list from the data transmitted from the server 30. It selects and transmits the data to the user's terminal 40 through the receiver-terminal interface 38. The interface 38 may download data from the receiver 34 to the terminal 40. For example, the interface 38 may use various means such as a serial port, a parallel port, a universal serial bus (USB), and a 1394. Can be.

In addition, the interface controller 342 controls the charging device 340 embedded in the digital broadcasting receiver 34 to collect a fee for the corresponding data to be downloaded. For example, a conditional access system (CAS) using a smart card used in commercial satellite broadcasting is a representative example. Such toll collection system may be operated in the same manner as the existing pay broadcasting billing system.

For reference, the charging system of pay broadcasting is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-95296 and Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 3-147490.

As described above, the digital multimedia data supply and charging system of the present invention has the following effects.

First, by using a digital broadcast receiver that most homes will have in the future, there is no need for a separate computer or vending machine to download digital data.

Second, by using the existing broadcasting system, there is no need for a separate communication means and communication lines, and the disadvantages of paying not only the data usage fee but also the communication fee are eliminated, and the fast data transmission is guaranteed.

Third, by using the already proven pay-TV billing system, there is no need to build a billing system separately, and the security problem is solved accordingly.

Fourth, by using the existing broadcasting system services, the cost of establishing a supply service is low.

Claims (7)

In a system for supplying multimedia data in digital format, A server storing digital multimedia data and a data list; A broadcast device for transmitting data and a list of the server through a broadcast channel; A digital broadcasting receiver having a built-in charging device and configured to receive data transmitted from the broadcasting equipment; A display device connected to the digital broadcasting receiver and showing a data list stored in the server; A terminal for downloading and using data from the digital broadcasting receiver; And And an interface for transmitting data from the digital broadcasting receiver to the terminal. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital broadcast receiver And an interface controller for displaying the received data list on the display device and transmitting the data selected by the user's selection to the terminal. The method of claim 2, wherein the interface control unit And controlling a billing device embedded in the digital broadcasting receiver to collect a charge for data transmitted to the terminal. In the method for supplying multimedia data in digital format, (1) preparing a list of digital multimedia data stored in the server and storing the list in the server; (2) repeatedly broadcasting the stored data list and the stored digital data through the broadcasting device and the broadcasting channel in step (1); And (3) charging for data downloaded to the user among the digital data broadcast in step (2). The method of claim 4, wherein step (2) A method of supplying digital multimedia data, characterized by occupying an equivalent channel in a broadcast time zone and being distributed in the same manner as a broadcast product through the same broadcast equipment and a broadcast channel. The method of claim 4, wherein step (2) Digital multimedia data supply method characterized in that the distribution using the existing broadcast channel in the late-night time zone when the broadcast ends. In the method of downloading digital multimedia data, (1) receiving digital multimedia data and a data list transmitted through a broadcast channel; (2) extracting a data list from the data received in step (1) and displaying the data list for viewing by a user; (3) reservation setting of data to be downloaded by the user's selection among the data list displayed in step (2); (4) if the digital data reserved in step (3) is received through the broadcast channel, downloading the digital multimedia data to the user's terminal through an interface.