JPH10243376A - Television receiver with interactive program service function - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] The present invention has an interactive program service function capable of promptly displaying a participation result to a user and preventing telephone calls from being concentrated in a specific time zone. And a television receiver. A synchronous separation circuit, an A / D conversion circuit,
The waveform equalization circuit 32 and the data fetch / error correction circuit 33 fetch bidirectional program data included in the baseband video signal and store it in the buffer RAM 34. CP
U35 reads the font data from the program ROM 36 and displays it on the display device 25 by the display control circuit 37. When an operation of selecting the displayed switches 28a and 28b is performed, the CPU 35 compares the winning information sent together with the interactive program data with the telephone number stored in the telephone number storage device 45, and checks the result of the comparison. After the display, it is sent to the server 13 via the public line 26.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an analog telephone line and an integrated services digital network (ISDN).
The present invention relates to an improvement of a television receiver having an interactive program service function using a public line such as twork).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in recent years, new services using television broadcasting, such as intertext and intercast, have been developed.
It has been put to practical use. The intertext, intercast, and the like correspond to the VBI (Vertical) of the television signal.
By transmitting data such as characters / still images / software using the Blanking Interval,
It aims to realize a wide variety of services.

In this type of service, since service data is multiplexed on a television signal and transmitted, a new service linked to the content of a television program can be realized. For example, if an uplink line using a telephone is set between the television receiver side and the broadcast (server) side, an interactive (two-way) program can be configured, and a wider range of services can be provided. Can be provided.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration of a television broadcasting system which realizes such an interactive program service function. That is, in FIG. 4, reference numeral 11 denotes a broadcasting station facility for transmitting television broadcasting, reference numeral 12 denotes a television receiver compatible with the interactive program service function, and reference numeral 13 denotes an upstream telephone line of the interactive program service function. Is a connection server that processes.

[0005] In the broadcasting station equipment 11, the interactive program data created by the interactive program production device 14 includes:
After being temporarily stored in the storage device 15, it is read out at a predetermined timing by the interactive program transmission device 16. Also,
The television program transmission device 17 generates a baseband video signal by processing such as imaging, inverse gamma correction, and addition of a synchronization signal, and converts this video signal into a television transmitter 18.
And the multiplexing device 19.

[0006] The multiplexing device 19 converts the interactive program data read by the interactive program transmitting device 16 into a V signal of a video signal output from the television program transmitting device 17.
The signal is multiplexed to the BI and output to the television transmitter 18. The television transmitter 18 performs a modulation process on the input video signal to convert it into a broadcast wave, and transmits the broadcast signal from the antenna 20.

On the other hand, in the television receiver 12, a broadcast wave received by the antenna 21 is supplied to a receiving circuit 22, and is subjected to processing such as channel selection, video intermediate frequency amplification, video detection, and video amplification, thereby obtaining baseband signals. The video signal is converted into a video signal and supplied to the video processing circuit 23 and the interactive program decoder 24, respectively. The video processing circuit 23 performs processes such as synchronization signal separation, separation of a luminance signal and a chrominance signal, and reproduction of a chrominance signal on the input video signal.

The interactive program decoder 24 decodes the interactive program data multiplexed on the input video signal into a video signal, and supplies the video signal to the video processing circuit 23 to convert the video signal into a luminance signal and a chrominance signal. Multiplex. The video signal output from the video processing circuit 23 is
5 to be displayed together with the interactive program data.

[0009] Further, when using an up line, the bidirectional program decoder 24 sends necessary information to the connection server 13 using the telephone line 26. Then, further necessary information is transmitted from the connection server 13 to the network 2.
7 (may be a telephone line, etc.).

[0010] The interactive program data created by the interactive program creating apparatus 14 may be supplied to the television receiver 12 via the network 27, the connection server 13 and the telephone line 26.

FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the interactive program service function in the television broadcasting system configured as described above. FIG. 5A shows a screen displayed on the display device 25 of the television receiver 12. On this screen, an interactive program 28 created by the interactive program production device 14 is displayed superimposed on a display image based on the video signal output from the television program transmission device 17.

In this interactive program 28, it is assumed that two types of switches 28a and 28b are displayed, and two commodities A and B are selected. Then, the user performs an operation of selecting one of the switches 28a and 28b using a remote controller (not shown) or the like, whereby
You can participate in the lottery. The results of the application for the lottery are sent to the connection server 13 via the telephone line 26 and counted, and the counted results are transmitted to the broadcasting station equipment 11 via the network 27.

[0013] The totaling result input to the broadcasting station equipment 11 is transmitted as a television program from the interactive program producing device 14 or the television program transmitting device 17, so that the display device of the television receiver 12 is displayed. 2
5 is displayed as shown in FIG. 5B or FIG. That is, the result of the user applying while watching the screen is the broadcast station equipment 11, the connection server 13, and the lines 26 and 2.
Only the delay required for the processing at 7 or the like is reflected on the screen.

FIG. 6 shows a configuration of a conventional interactive program decoder 24 installed in the television receiver 12.
7 and 8 show the operation. That is, the baseband video signal output from the receiving circuit 22 is input to the video input terminal 29. The video signal supplied to the video input terminal 29 is supplied to a sync separation circuit 30 for separating the vertical sync signal, and an A / D (Analog / Digit).
al) Conversion circuit 31, waveform equalization circuit 32 and data acquisition /
The multiplexed bidirectional program data is extracted by the error correction circuit 33 and the like, and is stored in a buffer RAM (Random Acc.
ess Memory) 34.

On the other hand, a CPU (Central Processing Unit)
) 35 reads predetermined data from the buffer RAM 34 via the data fetch / error correction circuit 33 (S1).
1) Store the necessary font data in the program ROM
(Read Only Memory) 36 to operate (S12). Thereafter, the CPU 35 sets the buffer RAM 3
4 and the program ROM 36
The display data is generated by combining with the font data read from.

The display data corresponds to the interactive program 28 shown in FIG. 5A, and is written into the display memory 38 via the display control circuit 37 (S13). The display data written in the display memory 38 is supplied to the video processing circuit 23 via a color map memory 39 and a D / A (Digital / Analogue) conversion circuit 40, and is multiplexed with a luminance signal and a color signal, respectively. Provided for image display.

Next, the operation when the user applies for a lottery will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined whether or not a button for displaying data other than the interactive program 28 displayed on the screen has been selected as a result of the user operating the remote controller (S14). In the case of YES, the CPU 35 controls to display data corresponding to the button (S15), and ends.

In the case of NO, the CPU 35 determines whether or not the operation information of the selected button corresponds to the function of making a telephone call (S16). In the case of NO, the CPU 35 executes other processing such as outputting sound, for example (S1).
7), is terminated. In the case of YES, the CPU 35
Transmits the operation information of the selected button by telephone using the modem 41 (S18). In this case, after waiting for the modem 41 to establish communication with the connection server 13 (S19), the CPU 35 sends an application command to the connection server 13 (S20), and ends.

The operation information from the remote controller is transmitted to the C via an input I / F (interface) 42.
It is taken into the PU35. In addition, the CPU 35
The above-described operation is realized using an AM (Random Access Memory) 43, an application RAM 44, and the like.

However, in the conventional interactive program service function as described above, when a user applies, the application command is sent to the connection server 13 via the telephone line 26 once.
Is collected and counted. After that, since the aggregation result compiled by the connection server 13 is transmitted to the broadcasting station equipment 11 via the network 27 and broadcasted, it takes a long time until the lottery result is determined.

In addition, since an unspecified number of users apply, a considerable amount of telephone calls are concentrated at a specific time, and the telephone line 26 and the connection server 13 become congested.
Inconveniences such as a busy state and a processing delay may also occur. Such a problem is a peculiar phenomenon caused by using television broadcasting which is a service for an unspecified number of recipients, and does not occur in an interactive service such as the Internet.

[0022]

As described above, in the conventional interactive program service function using a normal television broadcast and a telephone line, when a user participates in an interactive program, the participation result is determined by the user. It takes a long time until the information is reflected on the telephone, and there is a problem that telephone calls are concentrated in a specific time zone.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to immediately display the participation result to the user and to prevent telephone calls from being concentrated in a specific time zone. It is an object of the present invention to provide a television receiver having a good interactive program service function.

[0024]

According to the present invention, there is provided a television receiver having an interactive program service function, wherein winning information included in interactive program data transmitted together with a television signal is set in advance. Against the eigenvalue
After displaying the result of the comparison, there is provided an interactive program control means for transmitting the result of the comparison to the server via the public line.

According to the above arrangement, the winning is determined on the television receiver side based on the winning information sent together with the television signal.
Unlike the related art, there is no need to wait for tallying by the connection server, and the lottery result is promptly displayed to the user. Further, since it is not necessary to hurry to make a telephone call of the lottery result from the television receiver to the connection server, it is possible to prevent concentration in a specific time zone.

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, the same parts as those in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals. That is, the configuration is different from the conventional configuration in that the CPU 35 is connected to the telephone number storage device 45 storing the telephone number of the user.

First, a brief description will be given.
In 1, when a lottery program is broadcast, the interactive program data created by the interactive program production device 14 includes:
The telephone number of the winning user is included in the winning information in advance, and the interactive program data is stored in the VBI of the original video signal.
To be multiplexed and transmitted.

In the television receiver 12, when the user operates the remote controller and participates in the lottery, the telephone number included in the received interactive program data and the user's own telephone number stored in the telephone number storage device 45 are displayed. The phone number is compared with the phone number, and when the two match, the screen of the display device 25 indicates that the winning has been achieved. In this way, after the lottery result is displayed to the user, the television receiver 12
The result of the lottery is sent to the connection server 13.

For this reason, the lottery result is promptly displayed to the user without waiting for the tallying by the connection server 13. From the television receiver 12 to the connection server 1
Since there is no need to rush to make a telephone call to 3, it is possible to prevent the user from concentrating on a specific time zone.

Next, a detailed operation will be described with reference to FIGS. First, a baseband video signal output from the receiving circuit 22 is input to the video input terminal 29. The video signal supplied to the video input terminal 29 is supplied to a sync separation circuit 3 for separating the vertical sync signal.
The multiplexed bidirectional program data is extracted by the A / D conversion circuit 31, the waveform equalization circuit 32, the data acquisition / error correction circuit 33, and the like, and stored in the buffer RAM.

On the other hand, the CPU 35 operates to read predetermined data from the buffer RAM 34 via the data fetch / error correction circuit 33 (S21), and read necessary font data from the program ROM 36 (S22). Thereafter, the CPU 35 sets the buffer RAM 34
The display data is generated by combining the predetermined data read from the ROM with the font data read from the program ROM.

This display data corresponds to the interactive program 28 shown in FIG. 5A, and is written into the display memory 38 via the display control circuit 37 (S23). The display data written in the display memory 38 is supplied to the video processing circuit 23 via a color map memory 39 and a D / A conversion circuit 40, and is multiplexed with a luminance signal and a color signal, respectively, to be used for image display. You.

Next, the operation when the user applies for a lottery will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined whether or not a button for displaying data other than the interactive program 28 displayed on the screen has been selected as a result of the user operating the remote controller (S24). In the case of YES, the CPU 35 controls to display data corresponding to the button (S25), and ends.

In the case of NO, the CPU 35 determines whether or not the operation information of the selected button corresponds to the function of making a telephone call (S26). In the case of NO, the CPU 35 executes other processing such as outputting a sound (S2).
7), is terminated. In the case of YES, the CPU 35
Determines whether the selected button corresponds to the winning information (S28).

In the case of NO, the CPU 35 transmits the operation information of the selected button by telephone using the modem 41 (S
34). In this case, the CPU 35 waits for the modem 41 to establish communication with the connection server 13 (S35), sends a command to the connection server 13 (S36), and ends.

If the determination in S28 is YES, the CPU
35 reads the winning information (S29). Here, it is assumed that the winning information is a telephone number. Next, C
The PU 35 reads the telephone number from the telephone number storage device 45 (S30). The telephone number storage device 45 stores the telephone number of the purchaser in advance, for example, when the television receiver 12 is purchased.

The CPU 35 compares the telephone number sent as the winning information with the telephone number read from the telephone number storage device 45, and determines whether or not the winning has been achieved (S3).
1). In the case of NO, the CPU 35 performs a process such as outputting an image or a sound indicating that the lottery has been lost (S3
2), is terminated. In the case of YES, the CPU 35 performs processing such as outputting an image or a sound indicating that the winning has been achieved (S33), and ends.

Next, the CPU 35 makes a telephone call using the modem 41 to notify the connection server 13 of the winning (S34). In this case, the CPU 35 waits for the modem 41 to establish communication with the connection server 13 (S35), sends a winning notification command to the connection server 13 (S36), and ends.

According to the above-described embodiment, the broadcast station equipment 11 transmits the bidirectional program data including the winning information, and the television receiver 12 determines the winning. In addition, since it is not necessary to wait for the tallying by the connection server 13, the lottery result is promptly displayed to the user. In addition, the television receiver 12
It is not necessary to hurry to make a call to the connection server 13 with the lottery result, so that it is possible to prevent the user from being concentrated in a specific time zone.

In the above-described embodiment, the user's telephone number is used as the winning information. However, the winning information is not limited to the telephone number. For example, the user's registration number, the manufacturing number of the television receiver 12, and the like may be used. The same effect can be obtained by using any value as long as it is a unique value that can identify the television receiver 12.

Further, in the above description, the bidirectional program data transmitted from the broadcasting station by radio waves has been described as being multiplexed and transmitted to the VBI of an analog television signal. It is also applicable to the case. In this case, the broadcast station may transmit the interactive program data as related information of the program being viewed in the form of a packet, and the receiving side may obtain the interactive program data transmitted in the form of a packet. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0042]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a television receiver having an extremely good interactive program service function capable of promptly displaying a participation result to a user and preventing telephone calls from being concentrated in a specific time zone. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a television receiver having an interactive program service function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary block configuration diagram for explaining a television broadcasting system that realizes an interactive program service function.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view showing a specific example of an interactive program service in the television broadcasting system.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary block diagram showing details of an interactive program decoder of the television receiver in the television broadcasting system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart shown to explain the operation of the interactive program decoder;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart shown to explain the operation of the interactive program decoder.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... broadcast station equipment, 12 ... television receiver, 13 ...
Connection server, 14: interactive program production device, 15: storage device, 16: interactive program transmission device, 17: television program transmission device, 18: television transmitter, 19: multiplexing device, 20, 21: antenna , 22 ... receiving circuit, 23 ...
Video processing circuit, 24 bidirectional program decoder, 25 display device, 26 telephone line, 27 network, 28 bidirectional program, 29 video input terminal, 30 synchronization separation circuit,
31 A / D conversion circuit, 32 Waveform equalization circuit, 33 Data acquisition / error correction circuit, 34 Buffer RAM, 35
... CPU, 36 ... Program ROM, 37 ... Display control circuit, 38 ... Display memory, 39 ... Color map memory, 4
0: D / A conversion circuit, 41: Modem, 42: Input I /
F, 43: work RAM, 44: application RA
M, 45: telephone number storage device.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Seijiro Yasu, 8 Shinsugita-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside of Toshiba Multimedia Technology Research Laboratories Co., Ltd. No. 8 Inside Toshiba Multimedia Engineering Laboratory Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tetsuya Kaise 3-3-9 Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside Toshiba AV EE Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Matching between winning information included in interactive program data sent together with a television signal and a preset unique value, displaying the matching result, and displaying the matching result on a public line. A television receiver having an interactive program service function, characterized by comprising an interactive program control means for transmitting the interactive program to a server. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the unique value is one of a telephone number of the television receiver user, a registration number of the television receiver user, and a serial number of the television receiver. A television receiver having the interactive program service function according to claim 1. 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said interactive program control means compares said winning number with a unique value in a state where an operation of participating in an interactive program based on said interactive program data is performed. Item 7. A television receiver having the interactive program service function according to Item 1.