JP2000341670A - Interactive television system and program content management method in the system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To enable the holding of downloaded programs even when the power to interactive television is cut off, to enable high-speed access to the programs, and to automatically update the held programs. And improve usability. A non-volatile memory (1) is provided in an interactive television (100).
40 is provided so that program content can be stored.
The program content is provided with expiration date information, and the timer unit 120 performs timekeeping management of the program content in the nonvolatile memory 140. In the online service when the interactive television 100 is powered on, high-speed access to programs stored in the nonvolatile memory 140 is realized, and the programs stored in the nonvolatile memory 140 are checked for their expiration dates. The contents are downloaded from the memory 200 and stored again in the nonvolatile memory 140, and the contents are automatically updated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for managing distributed program contents between an interactive television and a response server system, and more particularly to an interactive television system and an interactive television system relating to expiration date management of distributed program contents. The present invention relates to a program content management method in a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, a television receiver (interactive television) 3 adopting an interactive system.
1, an interactive television 31 and a communication line (public network) 32
A server computer system (response server system) 33 for connecting various TV program programs and the like (contents) through an online service and connecting the
There is provided an interactive television system including a broadcasting station 35 that distributes a program by a broadcast wave 34. The interactive program in this interactive television system is transmitted from the broadcast station 35 to the interactive television 31 in the same manner as a general program broadcast. In this case, the broadcast wave VBI (Vert
A split program (an interactive application created by an authoring tool for creating an interactive program) is transmitted using the "ical Blanking Interval". Then, the interactive television 31 executes the received script program by decoding it to display an interactive screen on the television screen. The viewer (user) can select various information from the display screen by operating the remote controller. Was able to respond. The response information was transmitted to the response server system 33 via the telephone network 32.

[0003] In order to distribute a program in an interactive television system, in addition to the above-described method using broadcast waves, the interactive television 31 requests a program from a response server system 33 and sends the program to the response server system 33. From public network 3
A so-called online service for downloading a split program to the interactive television 31 via the Internet 2 is also possible. Thus, the interactive service can be realized only between the interactive television 31 and the response server system 33 without depending on the broadcast wave.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional interactive television system, the program contents once downloaded by the online service are stored in the volatile memory of the interactive television 31, and the power is turned on. During the period, that is, when the power is continuously supplied, the program can be accessed at high speed. However, when the interactive television 31 is turned off, the power is cut off and the volatile memory is turned off. Was lost. Therefore, it was necessary to download the program contents again. In particular, frequently accessed programs have to be downloaded each time, which is extremely inferior in operability and access.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to be able to retain downloaded program contents even when the power supply to the interactive television is cut off. To provide an interactive television system that enables high-speed access to the program content and enables automatic updating of a held program, thereby improving usability, and a program content management method in the interactive television system. With the goal.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a non-volatile memory is mounted on an interactive television so that downloaded program contents can be stored, and once the power is turned off and the power supply is cut off. Even so, high-speed access to downloaded program contents was made possible. The interactive television is provided with a timer function, and the program content itself is provided with expiration date information, so that the program content stored in the nonvolatile memory can be automatically updated.

[0007] In addition to the above configuration, the present invention is configured such that the expiration date information of the program content can be selected from "designation of date and time limit after program creation" or "designation of expiration time after download". The expiration date information can be set not only at the time of program production by the authoring tool but also by the program information editing tool after registration in the response server system. Furthermore, the contents of the non-volatile memory can be periodically updated by the program operator based on the timer function and the expiration date information of the program contents.

[0010] According to the above configuration, a program within the expiration date can be accessed at high speed from the non-volatile memory, and a program whose expiration date has expired can be automatically downloaded from the response server system and stored again in the non-volatile memory. it can.

Further, in addition to the above configuration, the present invention is configured such that a program for which expiration date information is not set is not stored in a nonvolatile memory, and a program in the nonvolatile memory is controlled in priority by an access frequency. It is configured as follows.

[0010]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an interactive television system according to the present embodiment, particularly a system mainly for an online service. This system comprises a plurality of interactive televisions 100, 100,. The server system 200 is connected via a public network 300.

Each interactive television 100 has a tuner function and a simple information processing / programming function.
A function as a normal television receiver for receiving a broadcast wave from a broadcast station and outputting an image, and a response server system 2
It has an interactive television function of outputting the program contents transmitted from 00 as video. In addition, the interactive television 100 includes a control unit 110, a timer unit 120, a volatile memory 130, a nonvolatile memory 140, and an interface 150. The control unit 110 controls the information processing function / programming function.
The timer unit 120 has a timekeeping function, and particularly relates to timekeeping such as an expiration date of the program content stored in the nonvolatile memory 140. Volatile memory 130
Is a storage device for storing program contents to which no expiration date information is attached. The non-volatile memory 140 is a storage device for storing program contents to which expiration date information is added. The interface 150 is the interactive television 100
It controls the interface function between inside and outside.

An interactive television 100 having such a configuration.
Then, the control unit 110 checks the expiration date information of the program content stored in the non-volatile memory 140 with reference to the timer unit 120, and executes the program from the non-volatile memory 110 if the program content is within the expiration date. It is. On the other hand, if the program is not stored in the non-volatile memory 140 or the expiration date is exceeded even if the program is stored in the non-volatile memory 140, the program content is downloaded from the response server system 200 and the non-volatile memory 1 is downloaded.
40. However, if the expiration date information is not set in the program content downloaded from the response server system 200, the control unit 1
10 stores the program content in the volatile memory 130 without storing it in the nonvolatile memory 140.
The program contents stored in the non-volatile memory 140 are controlled in priority according to the access frequency from the user of the interactive television 100. That is, the control unit 110
If it is determined that the program is frequently accessed, the program is resident in the nonvolatile memory 140 so that it can be accessed immediately at any time. Further, the nonvolatile memory 140
When a new program content is registered due to a decrease in the available memory space of the program, the control unit 110 is configured to delete and register the program content having the lowest priority among the currently registered programs. The non-priority information such as the access frequency is stored in the nonvolatile memory 140.

The response server system 200 has a server computer function and a function of distributing program content, for example, on-line. The response server system 200 includes a control unit 210, a storage device 220, a program information editing tool 230, and an interface 240. It connects to the broadcasting station 400. The control unit 210 has a function of controlling various control processes by referring to information stored in the storage device 220. The storage device 220 stores program contents transmitted (meaning provided / distributed via a network) from the broadcast station 400 and the like, and also stores program information for various control processes. The program information editing tool 230 has a function of registering / deleting program contents, a function of displaying a list of expiration date information of registered program contents, and a function of updating expiration date information of program contents. The interface 240 controls an interface function between the inside and the outside of the response server system 200.

The broadcasting station 400 has a function of transmitting various program contents, and creates program contents by using an internal authoring tool for program production. Here, the expiration date information can be set in the program content. In addition, the expiration date information enables designation of an expiration date and time expiration date after program creation and an expiration time period after downloading. Further, the broadcast station in the present embodiment mainly means a program content production section. Therefore, the place where the program content is created may be a broadcasting station or a company of a response server system.

In this embodiment, the authoring tool is provided in the broadcasting station 400.
It may be provided in the response server system 200.

Response server system 20 having such a configuration
The creation of the program content with expiration date information at 0 and the broadcast station 400 is as follows.

That is, first, a program is created on the broadcast station 400 side. Here, for example, expiration date information is set for the program content expected to be registered in the nonvolatile memory 140. In this case, it is possible to set either the specification of a valid date and time limit or the specification of a valid time after downloading depending on the application. If you specify a valid time limit,
The program registered in the nonvolatile memory 140 can be executed until the designated date and time regardless of the downloaded date and time. On the other hand, in the case of specifying the effective time after downloading, the program registered in the nonvolatile memory 140 can be executed only for the specified effective time from the time of downloading. This form is highly likely to be used in paid information providing services and the like.

The program contents created in this way are registered in the response server system 200 using the program information editing tool 230. The program information editing tool 230 can display a list of expiration date information of registered programs. Also, when the expiration date information of a program is changed, it can be updated on the response server system 200 without using a dedicated authoring tool, which is extremely convenient for the operator.

The operation and operation of the above configuration / function will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the interactive television 100 executes a program request (step S202), the non-volatile memory 140 is first accessed to check whether the program is stored (step S204). If the requested program is stored (step S204 YES), the expiration date information is checked (step S206).

If the requested program is within the expiration date (YES in step S206), the program is executed from the information stored in the nonvolatile memory 140 (step S20).
8).

On the other hand, if the requested program is stored in the non-volatile memory 140 but is not valid (NO in step S206), the response server system 2
00 and accesses the corresponding program content again (step S210). At this time, the program content to be downloaded is checked for the existence of an expiration date setting (step S21).
2). If there is an expiration date setting (YES in step S212), the program content is stored in the nonvolatile memory 140 and the program is executed (step S214). On the other hand, when there is no expiration date setting (N in step S212)
O) The program content is stored in the volatile memory 130 and the program is executed (step S216).

If it is determined in step S204 that the requested program is not stored in the non-volatile memory 140 (NO in step S204), the program content is downloaded from the response server system 200, and the above-described steps S212 to S212 are performed. The same processing as in step S216 is performed.

The priority of the program contents in the non-volatile memory 140 is controlled by the frequency of access from the user. Programs with a high access frequency are resident in the non-volatile memory 140 and can be accessed at high speed at any time.
If there is no more free memory space in the non-volatile memory 140 when registering a new program, the program content with the lowest priority (low access frequency) among the currently registered program contents is assigned. Delete and register.

By the way, in the embodiment of the present invention described above,
This is effective for a system like the following example. For example, in an information transmission system of a local government or the like, there is a homepage called first, and there is no frequent screen update until a screen of the next hierarchy called from this homepage. Therefore, by downloading the application of this part to the nonvolatile memory of the interactive television in advance as in the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to immediately access the interactive television after the power is turned on, thereby improving the convenience. It is. Furthermore, even if the program is registered in the nonvolatile memory, the content needs to be updated every certain period, so the program's expiration date information is set and the program registered in the nonvolatile memory is periodically updated. it can. Further, the contents of the program intended or conscious by the operator can be updated.

Similarly, even when applied to a shopping system, it is very important from the viewpoint of convenience that programs and the like on a shopping screen can be immediately called up, so that it can be realized by operating the same system as described above. It is.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the non-volatile memory means and the timer function are added to the interactive television, and the expiration date information is added to the program contents. It enables high-speed access to program contents without being affected by the status, and automatically updates / stores the stored program contents using expiration date information.
Downloading is possible, and an extremely convenient interactive television system can be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, the program contents for which the expiration date information is not set can be updated intentionally by the operator.

Further, according to the present invention, a frequently accessed program is resident in the non-volatile memory means and can be accessed immediately. Since the program contents with low priority / access frequency are deleted and registered, the program desired to be used can be used immediately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an interactive television system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flowchart showing a flow of a request for a program content from the interactive television and a corresponding process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a conventional interactive television system.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 100 interactive television, 120 timer section, 130 volatile memory, 140 nonvolatile memory, 200 response server system, 230 program information editing tool, 300
Public network, 400 ... broadcasting station.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An interactive television for transmitting program request information, downloading program content corresponding to the request information and outputting an image, and an interactive television connected to the interactive television via a communication network based on the program request information. In a two-way television system comprising a response server system for distributing corresponding program contents, an expiration date setting means capable of arbitrarily setting expiration date information in the program contents is provided. When downloading the program content to which the information is added, a non-volatile memory means for storing the program content and a time management means for timely managing the expiration date information of the program content stored in the non-volatile memory means are provided. Interactive television system characterized by the following. 2. When the timekeeping management means determines that the program content has expired, the means for downloading the program content corresponding to the program content and stored in the response server system is transmitted to the interactive server. The interactive television system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive television system is provided on a television. 3. A control means for updating said program content stored in said nonvolatile memory means with reference to said time management means and said expiration date information of said program content. Item 2. The interactive television system according to Item 1. 4. The program content stored in the non-volatile memory means is provided with means for controlling storage retention / erase depending on the frequency of access to the program content. TV system. 5. The expiration date setting means can selectively set whether to specify an expiration date based on the time of creating / updating the program content or to specify an expiration date when executing the download to the interactive television. 2. The interactive television system according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit. 6. An interactive television that sends request instruction information for program content distribution, downloads program contents corresponding to the request information, and outputs an image, and an interactive television connected to the interactive television via a communication network. In a two-way television system including a response server system that distributes a corresponding program content based on content distribution request instruction information, expiration date information is arbitrarily set to the program content, and the expiration date information is added to the program content. When downloading the program content, the program content is stored in a non-volatile memory provided in the interactive television, and the expiration date information of the program content stored in the non-volatile memory is timed and managed. A method for managing program contents in an interactive television system. 7. When the program content is determined to be expired by the timing management, the program content corresponding to the program content and stored in the response server system is downloaded. The program content management method in the interactive television system according to claim 6, wherein 8. The program content according to claim 6, wherein said program content stored in said non-volatile memory can be updated by referring to a result of said timekeeping management and expiration date information of said program content. A program content management method in an interactive television system. 9. The interactive television system according to claim 6, wherein the program contents stored in said non-volatile memory are stored and retained or deleted according to the frequency of access to said program contents. Program content management method. 10. The expiration date information is set by specifying an expiration date based on the time of creating / updating the program content or by specifying an expiration date based on execution of downloading to the interactive television. 7. The program content management method in the interactive television system according to claim 6, wherein the program content is selectively set. 11. When the interactive television executes a desired program content, the interactive television searches whether or not the program content is stored in the nonvolatile memory, and the program content is stored in the nonvolatile memory. If the program content is stored, the corresponding program content is executed. If the program content is not stored in the non-volatile memory, the corresponding program content is downloaded from the response server system and executed. 7. The program content management method according to claim 6, wherein said interactive television system comprises: