Broadcast receiving apparatus, and broadcast receiving and recording apparatus

The present invention relates to a broadcast reception device and a broadcast reception recording device that distributes image and audio data that are compressed, encoded, multiplexed, and broadcast to their respective decoding devices.

In recent years, with the development of communication technology and data processing technology, multimedia information such as audio information and visual information has been digitized and provided to users, and with the advent of large-capacity storage media, a large amount of data can be stored. It is possible to have a broadcasting system in which data is sent using broadcasting and communication equipment, received and stored by the terminal device on the user side, and viewed at any time.

In the above broadcasting system, it is possible to perform digital transmission after compressing the image data by an image data compression method that removes the redundancy of the moving image signal. As this image data compression method, a method that performs discrete cosine transform (DCT) such as the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Groupe) standard and motion compensation prediction coding is common. With a high compression ratio as shown by the same method, it is possible to multiplex and transmit a plurality of broadcasting programs on one transmission channel. The program here means a set of an image and related audio and / or text information.

Multiplexing of multiple programs in the MPEG standard is the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Division (ITU-T) standard (Rec.H.222.0 | ISO / IEC13818-1: 1994 Information technology-Coding of moving pictures and associated audio. -Part 1: Systems) describes that data transmission is performed in units of 188-byte fixed-length packets, which are transport stream (hereinafter abbreviated as TS) packets. Based on this standard, a receiving device (so-called set-top box) that separates TS packets supplied from broadcasting stations into image and audio data and then distributes them to a video decoder and an audio decoder to obtain image and audio output. )It has been known.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an example of a conventional receiving device called a set-top box. In the figure, the tuner 1 selects one transmission channel from the data distributed from the transmission medium such as CATV or satellite channel, and supplies the broadcast signal of the selected transmission channel to the demodulation device 2. The demodulator 2 decodes the channel data encoded in the transmission line by QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) or QPSK (four-phase phase shift keying) from the input broadcast signal, further performs error correction processing with a redundant code, and then performs error correction processing. Data is supplied to the distribution device 3. The data supplied here is the bitstream data in the TS packet format shown in FIG.

The contents of the TS packet are classified into Fig. 6 (D) or (H) according to the type of information to be transmitted. FIG. 6D shows a case where character information data such as image data, voice data, or text, which is a component (element) of the program, is transmitted. As shown in FIG. 6 (A), the TS packet transmitted in units of 188 bytes is composed of a transport stream header (abbreviated as TS header) and a payload including the element as shown in FIG. 6 (B). To. The TS header always contains a packet ID (abbreviated as PID) that represents the attributes of the TS packet, and is a program clock reference that is time information for the decoding side to restore the system clock used as the time keynote during element coding. May include (abbreviated as PCR).

The payload is part of the packaged elementary stream (PES) packet, as shown in Figure 6 (C). A PES packet is a unit of elements determined by each element and the format of the recording medium, and is a variable-length packet. As shown in Fig. 6 (D), the PES packet consists of the data of each element and the PES header. The PES header contains a stream ID that describes the contents of the element, a PES packet length, and time stamp information (PTS) that describes the time when the element should be displayed. The unit of the element indicated by PTS is called an access unit. For example, an image means one image, and an audio means one frame of audio.

On the other hand, FIG. 6 (H) shows a data format for transmitting program specific information (abbreviated as PSI), which is additional information for system control. As shown in FIG. (E), the TS packet transmitted in units of 188 bytes includes a transport stream header (abbreviated as TS header) and additional information for system control as shown in FIG. It consists of a payload. The payload of the TS packet is part of the PSI described in section units, as shown in Figure 6 (F), and the sections are section headers, PSI and errors, as shown in Figure 6 (H). It consists of a cyclic redundancy code (CRC), which is a detection means.

The section header represents the PSI attributes and section length that follow. The PSI has a hierarchical structure, and the program association table (PAT) that describes the program information (specifically, the PID of PMT described later) contained in the bitstream data transmitted as TS and within each program. Contains essential information for system control, such as a program map table (PMT) that represents the correspondence between elements and PIDs.

Returning to FIG. 5, the distribution device 3 receives the multiplexed TS packet and transfers the PSI data to the random access memory (RAM) 7 via the data bus 14 for system decoding. While supplying to 7a, image data and audio data, which are constituent elements of the program selected by the user, are distributed to the video decoder 8 and the audio decoder 10 via the packet reception buffers 5 and 6, respectively. Further, the distribution device 3 extracts the time information from the header of the TS packet including the PCR and supplies the control signal to the clock generator 4 to restore the system clock.

The PSI data sent to the system decoding buffer 7a inside RAM7 is the data in a format that can be used by the software program that controls the system by decoding the contents of the PSI data connected to RAM7 via the data bus 14. It is stored inside as shown in 7b. Further, the CPU 12 supplies the PID for extracting the TS packet of the program using the above data to the distribution device 3 according to the instruction from the user input via the user interface device 13 and the data bus 14, and also supplies the tuner. A control signal for channel selection is supplied to 1.

The video decoder 8 and the audio decoder 10 output images and sounds using the video decode buffer 9 and the audio decode buffer 11 for decoding and display, respectively. Here, the data transmission rate in the transmission line is different from the bit rate when each element is encoded due to the multiplexing of the program. Therefore, if the transmission speed is directly supplied to the video decoder 8 and the audio decoder 10, the video decode buffer 9 and the audio decode buffer 11 may locally overflow or underflow, resulting in an image and audio output. Invite turbulence.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, packet reception buffers 5 and 6 are provided in the path between the distribution device 3 and the decoders 8 and 10, and speed conversion is performed based on the buffer capacities of the decoders 8 and 10, and then the video decoder. It is necessary to supply element data to 8 and the audio decoder 10. In the MPEG standard, multiplexing is performed on the assumption that a packet reception buffer having a capacity of 512 bytes is provided for each element.

By the way, digital broadcasting uses the same 6MHz frequency band as analog broadcasting as of 1999, and plans to broadcast 1 channel of high-quality HDTV or 3 channels of SDTV, which is a digital TV broadcasting with the same number of scanning lines as the current NTSC system. There is. Now, consider the broadcasting form shown in Fig. 7 for terrestrial, BS, CS, and CATV digital broadcasting. In pattern 0 shown in Fig. 7 (A), three advertisements (commercial: CM) between HDTV programs are broadcast. In pattern 1 shown in Fig. 7 (B), the high-definition HDTV program has changed from HDTV to SDTV, and two commercials have been broadcast instead. In pattern 2 shown in FIG. 7 (C), a high-definition SDTV or a low-definition HDTV is broadcast together with one CM during the HDTV program. Furthermore, pattern 3 shown in FIG. 7 (D) is the simplest broadcast, in which one HDTV commercial is broadcast between HDTV programs.

When digital broadcasting is performed in such a pattern, the viewer can consider a wide variety of viewing as shown in Table 1 below corresponding to each of the above patterns.

<tables num="1"><img file="JP2005295576A_D0001.tif" /></tables> However, as described above, in the conventional device, only the TS packet of the selected PID is extracted, so either the specified CM which is the case 0 of the pattern 0 in Table 1 is seen, or the simple case 0 of the pattern 3 is seen. I can only see the commercials. Therefore, the advertiser cannot show the CM of patterns 0 to 2 in FIG. 7 to the viewer. In this way, the only way to show the advertiser's commercial to the viewer is the broadcasting method of pattern 3 in Fig. 7. That is, in this conventional system, it is not possible to provide an advertisement according to a viewer's taste by broadcasting one program.

Further, in Patent Document 1, while the attribute of the viewer is registered on the receiving side, the broadcasting business operator specifies the attribute as a condition of the group of viewers who want to send the program and broadcasts the program. However, a broadcasting system capable of determining whether or not to capture program data by checking attributes on the receiving side and a device related thereto are disclosed.

This conventional broadcasting system can replace the CM video accumulated in advance with the CM of the main broadcasting and display it, and is premised on the broadcasting system shown in FIG. In the figure, at the same time as the normal broadcast 51 of the video channel, the service additional information 53 is broadcast as the data broadcast 52 from the center. The service additional information 53 is information that describes the features of these services, the relationships between the services, and the like as attribute information for the content data of the services of various programs composed of video information, audio information, or text information. For example, the content 54 is broadcast prior to the broadcast and is stored in the storage means 55. The content 54 is information corresponding to the content of the program itself, the content of the CM attached to the program, and the content data of various other information.

The service additional information 53 stored in the storage means 55 can display a CM image which is a built-in content of the service additional information 53 instead of the CM image of the main broadcast. For example, the same CM of the main broadcast can be displayed. Although the video is displayed, the CM information can be replaced according to the viewer.<patcit num="1"><text>Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-75219</text></patcit><nplcit num="1"><text>International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Standards Rec.H.222.0</text></nplcit>

<p> However, in the conventional broadcasting system described with FIGS. 5 to 7, as described above, it is not possible to provide an advertisement according to the taste of the viewer by broadcasting one program. With this, only commercials with HDTV image quality can be broadcast, so it is necessary to convert conventional SDTV level commercials for HDTV and broadcast them, or create commercials for HDTV.</p><p> This would cost a lot of money to produce commercials, and broadcasters would lose profits from advertising fees. Furthermore, in order to make up for this, what has been provided to viewers for free in the past will be partially charged and will be burdened by the viewers. In addition, it is not possible to automatically switch to a plurality of low transfer rate commercials with viewer information in the middle of a high transfer rate program.</p><p> On the other hand, in the conventional broadcasting system shown in FIG. 8, the CM image is reproduced from the storage means 55 by the attribute information of the viewer, but the capacity of the image data is still considerable even now that the digital compression technology has advanced, and CS. Recording a digital broadcast on a compact disc (CD) can only fit for about 10 minutes. In HDTV broadcasting such as high-definition broadcasting, the recording time is about 2 minutes.</p><p>Also, in popular programs (hit movies, Olympic opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies, etc.), the attributes of people who watch the video channel are various, and it is a heavy burden for advertisers to handle with one commercial. The advertising effect will be small, and the advertising effect on the advertising cost will be small.</p><p> The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a broadcast receiving device and a broadcasting reception recording device used in a broadcasting system capable of dividing the advertising time to be inserted into a program and selling it to an advertiser. The purpose.</p><p> Another object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiving device and a broadcasting reception recording device used in a broadcasting system capable of advertising with a large effect with less burden on the advertiser.</p><p> Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiving device and a broadcasting reception recording device used in a broadcasting system that enables a viewer to perform low-priced viewing by providing a broadcasting business owner with his / her own simple information. To provide.</p>

<p> The present invention comprises the following means 1) or 2) in order to solve the above problems. That is,</p><p>1) A plurality of commercials according to the attributes of a plurality of viewers for one program, and a broadcast transmitted by packetizing the start time and end time of the plurality of commercials are received, and the viewing is performed from the plurality of commercials. A broadcast receiving device that selects one CM according to the attributes of a person and receives it together with the one program, a storage means in which the attribute information of the viewer is stored in advance, a start time of the plurality of CMs, and A detection means for detecting the end time, one CM corresponding to the attribute information of the viewer stored in advance in the storage means, and the start time and end time of the one CM are selected from the plurality of CMs. Attribute information of the viewer between the start time and end time of the other CM, the start time and end time of the other CM, and the start time and end time of one CM selected by the selective discard means. A broadcast receiving device characterized by having a viewing / displaying means for viewing a commercial according to the above and viewing the one program.</p><p>2) A plurality of commercials according to the attributes of a plurality of viewers for one program, and a broadcast transmitted by packetizing the start time and end time of the plurality of commercials are received, and the viewing is performed from the plurality of commercials. A broadcast reception / recording device that selects one CM according to the attributes of a person and records it together with the one program. A storage means in which the attribute information of the viewer is stored in advance, and a start time of the plurality of CMs. And the detection means for detecting the end time, one CM corresponding to the attribute information of the viewer stored in advance in the storage means from the plurality of CMs, and the start time and end time of the one CM are selected. , Other CMs, selective discard means for discarding the start time and end time of the other CMs, and receiving a plurality of CMs between the start time and end time of one CM selected by the selective discard means A broadcast reception recording device, further comprising a program recording means for selecting one commercial according to the attribute information of the viewer from the plurality of commercials and recording the commercial together with the one program.</p>

<p> According to the present invention, advertisement information corresponding to a plurality of attribute information is broadcast, and only the advertisement information corresponding to the attribute information indicated by the classification code determined by the attribute information of the viewer is displayed or reproduced. Since different advertisement information can be broadcast corresponding to multiple attribute information, the broadcaster can divide the advertisement time to be inserted into a valid program such as the Olympic Games and Soccer World Cup and sell it to the advertiser. The advertiser can also show his / her own advertisement to the most suitable viewer for the content of the advertisement information, and thus can perform effective advertisement.</p><p> Further, according to the present invention, the CM image is stored in the storage means, and instead of displaying the CM image read from the storage means in place of the CM image of the present broadcast according to the attribute information, the broadcast signal is not displayed. Since the CM image corresponding to the attribute information indicated by the classification code is extracted and displayed from the inside, a large-capacity storage means is not required in the device, and a small-capacity memory for storing the viewer's classification code is sufficient. Therefore, it can be viewed with a low-priced device.</p>

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of a receiving device according to a broadcasting receiving device and a broadcasting receiving recording device according to the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 1, the set-top box 21 which is the receiving device has the viewer classification code 23c stored in the RAM 23 as compared with the conventional device of FIG. 5, and also communicates with the broadcaster 26 via the communication circuit 24. Communication between them is possible. This embodiment is characterized in that the viewer attribute information 27 is sent to the broadcaster 26 in advance and the information for setting the CM that the broadcaster 26 wants to show is provided through the network.

That is, in this embodiment, when the broadcaster 26 broadcasts a data packet (TS packet) of various programs composed of image information, audio information, or text information, CM start information and CM are included in the TS packet. Prepare a CM start information packet with PID information of, embed the CM start information packet when switching from a normal program to a CM, and use this to convey the information that the CM will start, so that the set top can be set in advance. Make sure that the CM PID is selected from the viewer classification code embedded in Box 21. In addition, it is incorporated in the CM end information packet that has the CM end information in the TS packet, and the PID immediately before the CM start information packet is selected. As a result, after the commercial ends, the normal programs that have been watched until then are distributed again.

Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described together with FIG. 1. Tuner 1 selects one transmission channel from data distributed from a transmission medium such as a network, CATV, or satellite channel, and receives signals of the selected transmission channel. Is supplied to the demodulator 2. The demodulation device 2 decodes the channel data encoded in the transmission line by QAM, QPSK, or the like, further performs error correction processing with a redundant code, and then supplies the multiplexed TS packet obtained by decoding to the distribution device 3. To do.

The distribution device 3 receives the multiplexed TS packet, supplies PSI data to the system decoding buffer 23a allocated inside the RAM 23 via the data bus 14, stores it, and is selected by the viewer (user). Image data and audio data, which are constituent elements of the program to be executed, are distributed and supplied to the video decoder 8 and the audio decoder 10 through the packet reception buffer 5 and the packet reception buffer 6, respectively. Further, the distribution device 3 restores the system clock by extracting time information from the header of the TS packet including PCR and supplying a control signal to the clock generator 4.

The PSI data stored in the system decoding buffer 23a inside the RAM 23 is supplied to the CPU 22 via the data bus 14, and the contents are decoded by the CPU 22, and the decoding result is in a format that can be used by a software program that controls the system. It is stored as data inside RAM23 as shown in 23b. The CPU 22 supplies a PID for extracting a TS packet of the program to the distribution device 3 using the above data according to an instruction from a viewer (user) input via the user interface device 13 and the data bus 14. , Supply the control signal for channel selection to the tuner 1.

The above operation is the same as the conventional operation, but next, an operation based on a viewer selection operation different from the conventional operation will be described more specifically. As shown in Fig. 2, when the TS packet of the selected transmission channel is broadcast in the order of section T1 to section T5, if the viewer selects PID = 10, the section T1 in Fig. 2 has PID = 10. Therefore, the distribution device 3 sends data to the packet reception buffers 5 and 6 for the video decoder 8 and the audio decoder 9.

When the CM start information is received by the distribution device 3 in the subsequent section T2, this CM start information is sent to the RAM 23 via the data bus 14, stored in the system decoding buffer 23a, and then read out and the contents are read by the CPU 22. Decode, set the PID of the CM to be selected, and supply it to the distribution device 3.

As shown in Table 2, the CM start information describes the number of CMs sent by broadcasting, the relationship between the CM PID and the viewer classification code, and the like.

<tables num="2"><img file="JP2005295576A_D0002.tif" /></tables> At least one of the viewer attribute information (affiliation, age attribute, gender attribute, preference attribute, occupation attribute, lifestyle attribute, etc.) notified to the broadcaster 26 in advance at the time of the contract between the broadcaster 26 and the viewer. Determine the viewer classification code from one attribute) 27. This classification code is sent from the broadcast distribution server of the broadcaster 26 to the viewer's set-top box 21 via a network such as a telephone line or CATV, and is sent to the viewer classification code portion 23c in RAM 23 through the communication circuit 24 and the data bus 14. It will be remembered. Set the PID of the CM to be selected from this stored classification code.

For example, when the viewer is user # 2 in FIG. 3, PID = 11 is set with the classification code B in Table 2, and CM (PID = 11) is supplied to the distribution device 3 in the section T3. When the section T3 ends, the set-top box 21 receives the CM end information (PID = 11) in the section T4 and returns it to the PID (PID = 10) of the program (section T1) before the section T3. In section T5, the TS packet of the program (PID = 10) will be received again.

The TS packet input to the distribution device 3 is speed-converted by the packet reception buffers 5 and 6 of FIG. 1 based on the buffer capacities of the video decoder 8 and the audio decoder 10, as in the conventional example, and then the video decoder 8 and the audio decoder are used. Element data is supplied to 10. The video decoder 8 and the audio decoder 10 output image data and audio data using the video decode buffer 9 and the audio decode buffer 11 for decoding and display, respectively.

When the broadcaster provides a program such as sports in the section T1 of FIGS. 2 and 3, the CM start information is used as the program identification information in the section T2 before the CM starts in the section T3 of FIGS. 2 and 3. send. After that, in section T3, three commercials (programs) are sent as shown in Fig. 2. At this time, the transfer rate of each CM is 1/3 of that of the program in the section T1. When the classification codes of users # 1 and # 3 are A and C in Table 2, PID = 10 and PID = 12 are set from Table 2, so in each set-top box 21, section T3 is shown in Fig. 3. CM (PID = 10) and CM (PID = 12) are supplied to the distribution device 3, and even if the same program (PID = 10) has been watched until then, different CMs can be watched in the section T3. The same applies to user # 2.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the broadcaster 26 divides and provides the section T3 (advertising time) of the CM to be inserted into the program (PID = 0), the CM (PID =) is provided to the advertiser. 0) ~ CM (PID = 2) can be sold separately, and those CMs are provided according to the classification code determined based on the viewer attribute information 27 at the time of contract between the broadcaster 26 and the viewer. Therefore, the advertiser can show his / her own advertisement only to a valid viewer, such as for men or women according to the classification code, and thus effective promotion can be performed. For example, it is not necessary to show men a product targeting women, such as cosmetics for women, and the advertising effect can be sufficiently obtained.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of the broadcast receiving device and the broadcast receiving recording device according to the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. In this embodiment, the set-top box 31 is equipped with a disk recorder, and the set-top box 21 in FIG. 1 is configured with an HDD (hard disk drive) 33, a disk circuit 34, a packet reception buffer 36, and an accompanying decoder. It is characterized by the addition of 37.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the transport stream is recorded in the HDD 33 from the demodulation device 2 via the data bus 14 and the disk circuit 34. When viewing a program, the viewer responds to the viewer by performing the same operation as in the first embodiment from the HDD 33 via the disk circuit 34, the data bus 14, and the distribution device 3, as in the case of broadcasting. CM can be provided.

At this time, if there is a packet containing data such as characters other than video and audio in the TS (transport stream), the packet is decoded by the accompanying data decoder 37 from the distribution device 3 via the packet reception buffer 36. To. The viewer synthesizes the accompanying data such as the decoded characters with the video signal for viewing. Also, unnecessary packets in the TS are discarded as shown in Packet Discard 35.

On the other hand, when the TS sent from the demodulation device 2 to the distribution device 3 is recorded on the HDD 33, it is also possible to record the necessary TS packets from the distribution device 3 on the HDD 33 via the data bus 14 and the disk circuit 34. In this case, it is not necessary to discard the packet at the time of reproduction. When viewing the recorded program, it is the same as in the first embodiment. In a program sent by such a broadcasting system, not only the advertiser but also the viewer side will reduce the amount of data recorded in the HDD 33.

The present invention is not limited to the above two embodiments, and for example, the packet reception buffer 36 and the accompanying data decoder 37 may be added to the first embodiment.

It can be applied to a broadcast receiving device and a broadcasting receiving recording device that distributes image and audio data that are compressed, encoded, multiplexed, and broadcast to their respective decoding devices.

<figref num="1">It is a block diagram of one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="2">It is an embodiment of the broadcast data of the present invention.</figref><figref num="3">It is a figure which shows the viewing mode of each user.</figref><figref num="4">It is a block diagram of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="5">It is a block diagram of an example of a conventional set-top box.</figref><figref num="6">It is a figure which shows the format of a TS packet.</figref><figref num="7">It is a figure which shows each example of the broadcasting program pattern of terrestrial broadcasting, BS, CS, and CATV digital broadcasting.</figref><figref num="8">It is explanatory drawing of an example of a conventional broadcasting system.</figref>

Code description

1 Tuner 2 Demodulator 3 Distributor 4 Clock Generator 5, 6, 36 Packet Receive Buffer 7, 23 RAM 7a, 23a System Decode Buffer 7b, 23b System Control Program + Data 8 Video Decoder 9 Video Decode Buffer 10 Audio Decoder 11 Audio decoding buffer 12, 32 CPU13 User interface device 14 Data bus 23c Viewer classification code 24 Communication circuit 26 Broadcaster 27 Viewer attribute information 28 Network 31 Set top box with disk recorder 33 HDD34 Disk circuit 35 Packet 37 Attached data decoder