KR20090068405A - Accounting methtod for iptv and system threrof - Google Patents

Abstract

A charging method for an IPTV and a system are provided to perform a differentiated charging service for charged TV contents depending on the selective watching of a user. When billing discount setup information is received from a client terminal unit(108), a contents providing server(102) inserts advertisement contents into one of data streams of charged contents. The contents providing server configures charged contents for the billing discount, and a client terminal downloads the charged contents from the contents providing server. A database(106) stores client information, and the client information includes the usage information and for the charged contents and the setup information for billing discount.

Description

Charging method and system for IPTV {ACCOUNTING METHTOD FOR IPTV AND SYSTEM THREROF}

The present invention relates to IPTV, and more particularly, to a charging method and system for IPTV for performing differential charging for paid content according to the user's selective advertisement viewing.

With the rapid development of broadcasting technology, the broadcasting environment is diversifying.

Recently, Internet-based Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) technology has been developed and commercialized.

The IPTV technology provides an interactive television broadcasting service through high-speed Internet, and connects a television broadcasting receiver and a content providing server through a set-top box that interfaces with the Internet and a television broadcasting award period, and the content providing server connects the set-top box. It is implemented to provide an information content service, a video content providing service, a broadcasting content providing service, etc. to a client through a television broadcasting receiver connected to the terminal.

In accordance with the development of the IPTV technology, IPTV service providers provide a paid service for some contents in order to provide high-quality content to customers, and use various types of billing methods to minimize the burden on customers. have.

Referring to FIG. 1, which shows a general charging method of an IPTV service, the IPTV service provider operates a program-based purchase method (a), a series batch purchase method (b), and a monthly purchase method (c). The billing method appropriate to the service usage type of the service is selectively provided.

Despite the efforts of the IPTV service providers, the customers still felt burdened with billing. This is because, according to the conventional billing system, the billing price for a specific purchasing method was uniform.

Accordingly, in order to provide high-quality contents, charging is indispensable for the provision of high-quality contents according to the customer's selective advertisement viewing. Therefore, it is urgently required to develop a technology capable of minimizing the customer's billing burden.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a charging method and system for IPTV that performs differential charging for paid content according to a user's selective advertisement viewing.

Billing service method for the IPTV of the present invention for achieving the above object, the step of receiving charge discount setting information through the set-top box (110); Inserting one or more advertisement contents into one or more points of the data stream of the paid contents requested through the set-top box (110) to construct the paid contents for the billing discount; Providing paid contents for the charge discount to the set top box (100); And storing the paid content usage information and the billing discount setting information as billing information.

In addition, the charging service method for the IPTV of the present invention according to another embodiment, the step of receiving charging discount setting information through the set-top box 100; Constructing paid content for charging a discount by adding location information of at least one point of the data stream of the paid content requested through the set-top box and at least one advertisement content to the paid content; Providing paid contents for the charge discount to the set top box (100); And storing the paid content usage information and the billing discount setting information as billing information.

In particular, when the set-top box 110 downloads and plays the paid content for the charge discount, the advertisement content is displayed whenever the data stream corresponding to the location information is completed during the play of the data stream of the paid content. And play back the data stream at the next location when playback of the advertisement content is completed.

In addition, the billing discount setting may be implemented when a purchase request for paid content, a series purchase request, or a monthly purchase request.

On the other hand, the present invention discloses an IPTV system that provides a differentiated billing service for paid content, the system according to the present invention includes a set-top box (110); The server is configured to insert one or more advertisement contents into one or more points of the data stream of the paid content requested through the set-top box 110 upon receiving the charge discount setting information through the set-top box 110. By configuring the paid content for the billing discount, to provide the pay content for the billing discount to the set-top box 110, and stores the pay content usage information and billing discount setting information as billing information.

In addition, according to another embodiment of the system, when the server receives the billing discount setting information through the set-top box 110, at least one point of the data stream of the paid content requested through the set-top box 110 Add paid location information and at least one advertisement content to the pay content to configure pay content for billing discount, provide pay content for billing discount to the set-top box 110, and use the pay content information And storing the charging discount setting information as the charging information.

In this case, when the set-top box 110 downloads and plays the pay content for the charge discount, the advertisement content is completed whenever the play of the data stream corresponding to the location information is completed during the play of the pay stream of the pay content. Play the data stream when the reproduction of the advertisement content is completed.

On the other hand, in the system according to the present invention, the charging discount setting may be configured to be implemented when a purchase request for paid content, a series purchase request, and a monthly purchase request.

According to the present invention, by applying differential charging indispensable for providing high-quality contents according to a customer's selective advertisement viewing, there is an effect of minimizing the charging burden of customers using high-quality paid contents.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Configuration of IPTV System>

2 illustrates an IPTV system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The IPTV system can be broadly divided into a server unit 100 and a customer terminal unit 108. The server unit 100 includes a content providing server 102, an EPG providing server 104, and a database 106. Here, the server unit 100 is an example that is configured independently for each function for the convenience of description, but the function may be integrated into one server.

The content providing server 102 provides an information content, a video content, a broadcast content, an advertisement content, etc. to a customer terminal 108 through a web network as a web server. In particular, the information content, video content, and broadcast content include paid content. The advertisement contents include advertisement contents to be inserted and reproduced during the reproduction of the paid contents at the time of setting the charging discount according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In addition, the advertisement content to be inserted into the pay content may be set differently according to the individual pay content.

The content providing server 102 determines whether or not to insert the advertisement content for the paid content according to whether the customer has set the charge discount for the paid content through the customer terminal 108 (the paid content that is not inserted into the advertisement content). General paid content 'and' discount paid content ', which is paid content in which the advertisement content is inserted, is determined.

That is, when charging discount setting information is not received from the customer terminal unit 108, the content providing server 102 does not insert the advertisement content into the data stream of the paid content (so-called 'general paid content') as the customer. It can be downloaded to the terminal unit 108. In this case, the customer terminal 108 downloads the paid content without the inserted advertising content and plays the content as it is, thereby preventing the advertising content from being played during the playing of the paid content to the customer who has not requested the billing discount.

On the contrary, when charging discount setting information is provided from the customer terminal unit 108, the content providing server 102 inserts the advertising content into at least one point of the data stream of the paying content so that the paying content for the billing discount (so-called 'Discount paid content') may be downloaded to the customer terminal 108. In this case, the client terminal 108 plays the downloaded paid content, so that the advertisement content can be played during the playback of the paid content to the customer who requested the charge discount.

Meanwhile, the method of inserting the advertisement content into the paid content may provide the customer terminal 108 with the advertisement content already inserted in the paid content in the content providing server 102 as described above. The advertisement content and the paid content may be separately provided to the customer terminal 108 without being inserted in the content, and then the advertisement content may be inserted and provided at the appropriate data stream point of the pay content in the customer terminal 108.

As such, when the advertisement content is provided to the customer terminal unit 108 without being inserted into the pay content, the customer terminal unit 108 also includes location information indicating one or more points where the advertisement content is played in the data stream of the pay content. Should be provided.

Also, in this case, the customer terminal unit 108 plays the additionally transmitted advertisement content whenever the playback is performed up to the one or more location information during the playback of the downloaded paid content, and then the data stream of the next location is played. Play it. This allows the advertisement content to be played during the playback of the paid content to the customer who requested the discount.

In this case, the advertisement content insertion position may be set as a start point, an intermediate point, an end point of the paid content, or a point requested by an advertiser.

By such a configuration, the customer can view the desired price of the specific paid content by the general price or the discounted price by not requesting a charge discount for the specific paid content to the content providing server 102. That is, the charging system of the paid content may be differently selected depending on whether the interstitial advertisement is viewed.

In other words, when the customer wants to watch the paid content at a normal price, the customer is provided with the paid content in a manner that is continuously played without inserting the intermediate advertising content ('general paid content'). On the other hand, the customer who wants to watch the paid content at a discount price transmits the charge discount information to the content providing server 102 of the server unit 100, and as a result, the content providing server 102 is located at the insertion position of the paid content. Paid content is provided with advertisement content inserted ('discount paid content').

The EPG providing server 104 generates electronic programming guide (EPG) information for various types of contents provided by the content providing server 102 and provides the generated EPG information to the client terminal 108.

The database 106 stores customer information, and the customer information includes information on usage of paid content and charge discount setting information of the customer.

The customer terminal 108 is composed of a set-top box 110 and a television broadcast receiver 112.

The set-top box 110 is connected to the server unit 100 through the Internet, requests the content providing server 102 to provide the content selected by the user, and the TV broadcast receiver 112 to download the content downloaded in response to the request. )

Particularly, the set-top box 110 reproduces the downloaded content as it is for the paid content to which the advertisement content is inserted and downloaded, and plays the paid content to the position of the advertisement content insertion point for the paid content to which the advertisement content is added and downloaded. The paid content is played after the added advertisement content is played.

In addition, the set-top box 110 receives the EPG information from the EPG providing server 104 to guide the user through the television broadcast receiver 112.

The television broadcast receiver 112 outputs an AV signal received from the set top box 110.

<Configuration of Set Top Box>

The configuration of the set-top box 110 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3.

The set top box 110 includes a control module 200, a memory unit 202, a data processing unit 204, a network interface unit 206, an output unit 208, a wireless signal receiver 210, a remote controller 212. It consists of.

The control module 200 controls the set top box 110 as a whole, and guides the billing discount setting menu when a pay service download request is made according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and through the billing discount setting menu. When the user requests the billing discount setting, the billing discount setting information is transmitted to the content providing server 102 through the network interface unit 206.

After that, when the paid content is downloaded from the content providing server 102 with the inserted advertising content, the control module 200 reproduces the paid content as it is and the television broadcast receiver 112 through the output unit 208. ) On the other hand, when the paid content is downloaded from the content providing server 102 without inserting the advertisement content, the paid content is played to the position of the advertisement content insertion point, and when the advertisement content insertion point is reached, the added advertisement content is played. Afterwards, the pay content is reproduced and output to the television broadcast receiver 112 through the output unit 208.

The memory unit 202 stores various information including the control program of the control module 200 and stores the downloaded content.

The data processor 204 is responsible for coding or encoding information transmitted and received through the network interface 206.

The network interface unit 206 is responsible for communication with the server unit 100 via the Internet.

The output unit 208 converts the AV data according to the control of the control module 200 into an AV signal which is an output signal format of the television broadcast receiver 110 and provides the AV signal to the television broadcast receiver 112.

The wireless signal receiver 210 receives a wireless signal from the remote controller 212 and provides it to the control module 200.

The remote controller 212 generates a radio signal according to a user operation and transmits the radio signal to the radio signal receiver 210.

<Process of charging method for IPTV>

The charging method for IPTV according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The control unit 200 of the set-top box 108 checks whether the user requests to use the paid content by operating the remote controller 212. When the use of the paid content is requested, the controller 200 generates output data for displaying a charging discount setting menu, converts the output data into an AV signal, and provides the converted data to the television broadcast receiver 112 (steps 300, 304, and 306). . As a result, the customer displays the charging discount setting menu through the television broadcast receiver 110.

As shown in FIG. 5, the billing discount setting menu is for viewing paid content for paid content and receiving a discount service. (Paid content without paid content and paid content with inserted advertising content. It may be configured to select which of the content 'discount paid content' to be provided).

With reference to the above menu, the customer determines whether to view the advertisement content and receive the discount service while viewing the paid content, and inputs the determination result through the remote controller 212.

When the user selects the discounted discount, the controller 200 transmits the customer authentication information, the paid content identification information, and the charged discount setting information for the corresponding customer to the content providing server 102 (steps 308 and 312). The content providing server 102 inserts or adds one or more advertisement contents to the paid contents corresponding to the paid contents identification information to configure paid contents (so-called 'discount paid contents') for the charge discount (step 314).

Of course, if the user does not select the billing discount, the control unit 200 transmits the customer authentication information, paid content identification information, billing discount setting information for the customer to the content providing server 102 (steps 308 and 312). ), The content providing server 102 configures paid content (so-called 'general paid content') in which advertisement content is not inserted into paid content corresponding to the paid content identification information.

The content providing server 102 updates the customer information by providing the customer authentication information, paid content identification information, and charging discount setting information to the database 106 (steps 316 and 318). Paid content identification information and billing discount setting information registered in the database 106 are used as billing information when the IPTV service fee is charged.

In addition, the content providing server 102 downloads the paid content for the charge discount to the set-top box 108 (step 320).

The control unit 200 of the set-top box 108, which has downloaded the pay content, stores the pay content (step 322), and plays it according to a user's request (steps 324 to 332).

As such, according to the present invention, the customer can view the desired price of the specific paid content by using the content providing server 102 with or without the charge discount request for the specific paid content. That is, the charging system of the paid content may be differently selected depending on whether the interstitial advertisement is viewed.

Meanwhile, in the example of FIG. 4, only the process of performing a charging discount for a purchase request for one paid content is illustrated. However, the above-described method may also be applied to a person skilled in the art according to the present invention. Self-explanatory

That is, the spirit and scope of the present invention are not limited to these specific embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Those who have it will understand.

Therefore, since the embodiments described above are provided to completely inform the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, it should be understood that they are exemplary in all respects and not limited. The invention is only defined by the scope of the claims.

1 is a diagram showing a menu output example for an IPTV service according to the prior art;

2 is a block diagram of an IPTV system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram of a set-top box according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart of a user interface method for an IPTV according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of Major Reference Marks in Drawings>

100: server unit 102: content providing server

104: EPG server 106: database

108: customer terminal 110: set-top box

112: television broadcast receiver 200: control module

202: memory unit 204: data processing unit

206: network interface unit 208: output unit

210: wireless signal processing unit 212: remote controller

Claims (8)

In the charging service method for IPTV, Receiving charging discount setting information through the set-top box 110; Inserting one or more advertisement contents into one or more points of the data stream of the paid contents requested through the set-top box (110) to construct the paid contents for the billing discount; Providing paid contents for the charge discount to the set top box (100); Storing the paid content usage information and billing discount setting information as billing information; Charging service method for IPTV comprising a. In the charging service method for IPTV, Receiving charging discount setting information through the set-top box 100; Constructing paid content for charging a discount by adding location information of at least one point of the data stream of the paid content requested through the set-top box and at least one advertisement content to the paid content; Providing paid contents for the charge discount to the set top box (100); Storing the paid content usage information and billing discount setting information as billing information; Charging service method for IPTV comprising a. The method of claim 2, When the set-top box 110 downloads and plays the paid content for the discount rate, the advertisement content is played whenever the data stream corresponding to the location information is completed during the play of the data stream of the paid content. And reproducing the data stream of a next location when the reproduction of the advertisement content is completed. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The charging discount setting method is performed when the purchase request of the paid content, the series purchase request, the monthly purchase request, characterized in that the charging service method for IPTV. In an IPTV system, Set-top box 110; Upon receiving the charging discount setting information through the set-top box 110, one or more advertisement contents are inserted into one or more points of the data stream of the pay-content requested through the set-top box 110 to provide the paid contents for the charging discount. Make up, Providing the paid content for the billing discount to the set-top box 110, A server for storing the paid content usage information and billing discount setting information as billing information IPTV system comprising a. In an IPTV system, Set-top box 110; Upon receiving the charging discount setting information through the set-top box 110, location information about one or more points of the data stream of the paid content requested through the set-top box 110 and one or more advertisement contents are added to the paid content. To configure paid content for billing discounts, Providing the paid content for the billing discount to the set-top box 110, A server for storing the paid content usage information and billing discount setting information as billing information IPTV system comprising a. The method of claim 6, When the set-top box 110 downloads and plays the paid content for the discount rate, the advertisement content is played whenever the data stream corresponding to the location information is completed during the play of the data stream of the paid content. And playing the data stream of the next location when the reproduction of the advertisement content is completed. The method according to claim 5 or 6, The charging discount setting is performed when the purchase request of the paid content, the series purchase request, the monthly purchase request is implemented.

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