JP2002290356A - Method for transmitting broadcast channel list, the broadcast channel list and method for transmitting broadcast program, and mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a system that can provide information that can be selected by a user over a comparatively small area. SOLUTION: When a mobile phone transmits a request signal of a list of channels that is broadcast to its area, the system detects the current position of the mobile phone, retrieves an area including the position and transmits the broadcast channel list which is broadcast to the area to the mobile phone.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of implementing a broadcasting (information distribution) station in a limited area by introducing the concept of a channel into a mobile phone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is almost no area-specific information distribution service to a mobile phone or the like, and only a form in which single information such as a mailing list or a gigacode on the Internet is distributed to many terminals at once. Was. In such a method, an information distribution service limited to a place or time cannot be performed, and it is impossible to provide information particularly in a small area.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a method and system capable of providing information that can be selected by a user only in a relatively small area. The purpose is to provide.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a step of transmitting a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel being broadcast to a region from a mobile phone; Detecting the current location of the mobile phone, searching for an area that includes the location, and transmitting a broadcast channel list broadcast in that area to the mobile phone. Provide a transmission method.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a step of transmitting a request signal for a broadcast channel list of a channel being broadcast to the area together with the position information from the portable telephone, and a step of transmitting the request signal from the position information transmitted in this step. Confirming whether the mobile phone is in a predetermined area, and transmitting a list of channels broadcast in this area to the mobile phone when the mobile phone is in a predetermined area by this step; A method for transmitting a broadcast channel list is provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a step of transmitting a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcast to the area from the portable telephone, detecting the current position of the portable telephone and including the position. Searching for an area to be broadcasted and transmitting a broadcast channel list broadcast in the area to the mobile phone; displaying the broadcast channel list transmitted in this step on the mobile phone; and displaying the broadcast channel list displayed in this step. Transmitting a channel information selected from a broadcast channel list; and broadcasting the selected channel broadcast to the mobile phone.
A broadcast channel list and a broadcast transmission method are provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a means for transmitting a request signal for a broadcast channel list of a channel being broadcast to a region from a portable telephone, and detecting the current position of the portable telephone and including the position. Means for searching for an area to be broadcasted and transmitting a broadcast channel list broadcast in the area to the mobile phone.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided means for transmitting a request signal for a broadcast channel list of a channel being broadcast to a region together with location information from a portable telephone, and Means for confirming whether the mobile phone is in a predetermined area, and means for transmitting, when the mobile phone is in a predetermined area, a list of channels broadcast in this area to the mobile phone by this means. And a broadcast channel list transmission system.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a means for transmitting a request signal for a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcast to a region from a portable telephone, and detecting the current position of the portable telephone and including the position. Means for searching for an area to be broadcasted and transmitting a list of broadcast channels broadcasted in the area to the mobile phone, means for displaying the broadcast channel list transmitted by this means on the mobile phone, A broadcast channel list and broadcast transmission system, comprising: means for transmitting channel information selected from a broadcast channel list; and means for transmitting the broadcast of the selected channel to the mobile phone. provide.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable telephone capable of displaying at least characters, and a request signal for a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcasted in an area including a current position of the portable telephone. Means for transmitting
Means for detecting the current position of the mobile phone, searching for an area including the position, receiving a list of broadcast channels broadcasted in the area, and displaying the broadcast channel list received by the means. A mobile phone is provided.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable telephone capable of displaying at least characters, and a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcasted in an area including a current position of the portable telephone. Means for transmitting
Means for detecting the current position, searching for an area in which the position is included, receiving a list of broadcast channels broadcasted in the area, means for displaying the broadcast channel list received by this means, and means for displaying the list of broadcast channels received by this means. And a means for transmitting channel information selected from the selected broadcast channel list and a means for receiving the broadcast of the selected channel.

[0012]

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

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. The limited-area broadcasting station system relays information of the broadcasting station server 101 as an Internet Web site having one or more distribution target (broadcasting) areas, information of the broadcasting station server 101, and constantly stores location information of each mobile phone. A base station 102 monitors and notifies a broadcast station server 101, a distribution target area (local area) 103 formed by one or more base stations 102, and a mobile phone 104 as an Internet terminal for receiving broadcasts Is done.

The broadcast station server 101 and the mobile phone 10
4 is performed using the Internet mail service function.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the mobile phone 104. That is, the mobile phone 200 includes a receiving unit 201 that receives information from the broadcast station server 101, a transmitting unit 202 that transmits a request for distribution of various information, a processing unit 203 that performs various processes, and a It comprises an operation unit 204 for allowing the user to make selection and designation, an audio output unit 205 for outputting channel distribution information by voice synthesis, and a display unit 206 for displaying a channel list and channel distribution information.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the broadcast station server 101. The broadcast station server 300 receives the channel list transmission request from the mobile phone 104 and the position information of the mobile phone 104 from the base station 102, the location of the mobile phone 104, and the local area 103.
Mobile phone position monitoring unit 302 that monitors whether the mobile phone is within the range of
A mobile phone information management unit 303 that manages information of the mobile phone 104; a mobile phone information file 304 that stores information of the mobile phone 104; a delivery management unit 305 that manages overall information delivery; The transmission unit 306 includes a transmission unit 306 that transmits information and the like, a distribution information acquisition unit 307 that reads distribution information from a file, and a distribution information file 308 that stores distribution information.

Next, the processing procedure in one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

First, for example, the process is started by pressing a reception button 703 of the mobile phone 700 shown in FIG. In step S401, a channel list transmission request is transmitted to the base station 102 for transmission to the broadcast station server 300 using the transmission unit 202. This channel list transmission request is information having identification information of the mobile phone 200 (phone number and mail address).

At the base station 102, the mobile phone 2
The location information “00” is added and transferred to the broadcast station server 300.

In the broadcast station server 300, step S5
01, the receiving unit 301 receives the above-described channel list transmission request. In step S502, the mobile phone 200 that has made the channel list transmission request is in the local area to which the distribution is to be performed. Investigate using.

If it is within the range of any distribution target local area, the process proceeds to step S503, and if it is outside the range, the process ends without responding to the channel list transmission request. In step S503, if the mobile phone 200 that has made the channel list transmission request is in the local area, the mobile phone information management unit 3 stores the identification information and the current location information of the mobile phone.
03, and is stored in the mobile phone information file 304 as “information is being distributed”.

This information is used in the process of information distribution at the time of channel selection, distribution statistics, and the like. In step S504, the distribution management unit 305 transmits the channel list information to the distribution information file 3 by the distribution information acquisition unit 307.
08, and transmits it to the corresponding base station 102 from the transmission unit 306 to transmit it to the mobile phone 200.

The base station 102 transfers the channel list information to the portable terminal system 200.

In the mobile phone 200, step S402
Then, the information of the channel list is received by the receiving unit 201 and is displayed by the display unit 206 as shown in, for example, a channel list display example 701 in FIG. The information of the channel list includes a date and a reception state, a channel number as a regional broadcasting station channel list, an outline of information distributed by the channel, and the like. In this example, special sale information, a bargain product, an introduction of a new service, and the like of a certain supermarket are distributed (broadcast).

When there are many distributed channel lists, they are selectively displayed using a simple script or the like for selecting desired information from among them. This simple script is downloaded from a predetermined Web site in advance, and the user's preferences and the like are input prior to reception.

In step S 403, the user selects a desired channel, and specifies the desired channel on the operation unit 204.
This selection / designation is performed by inputting a channel number or by selecting a row of a corresponding channel by holding a cursor or the like.

In step S404, the processing unit 203 transmits a desired channel distribution request using the transmission unit 203. The request for distributing desired channel information is information including identification information of the mobile phone 200, a channel number, and the like.

At the base station 102, the mobile phone 2
00 to the broadcast station server 300
Transfer to

In the broadcast station server 300, step S6
In step 01, the receiving unit 301 receives a distribution request of a desired channel of the mobile phone 200. In step S602, the mobile phone information management unit 303 checks whether or not the mobile phone 200 that has requested channel information distribution is registered. If the mobile phone is registered (information is being delivered), the process proceeds to step S603; otherwise, the process ends. In step S603, the mobile phone position monitoring unit 302 checks whether the registered mobile phone 200 is within the local area where the channel list distribution request was issued.

If it is within the local area range, the process proceeds to step S604, and if it is outside the local area range, the process proceeds to step S605. In step S604, the distribution management unit 305 reads out the distribution information of the specified channel from the distribution information file 308 by the distribution information acquisition unit 307, and starts transmission by the transmission unit 306 to start broadcasting.

The information distribution of the designated channel is repeatedly performed. In addition, the history of distribution information to the mobile phone 200 is recorded in the mobile phone information file 304 by using the mobile phone information management unit 303. This history information is used later as data for analysis and statistical processing such as the operation status of the present system and the user's preference. In step S605, the distribution information acquisition unit 307 stores the distribution information
The information distribution stop of the mobile phone 200 is recorded, and the transmission unit 3
06, the mobile phone 200 is notified that distribution is not possible because the area is outside the distribution target area.

At the base station 102, the distribution information is
The transfer starts at 00.

In the mobile phone 200, step S405
To receive the broadcast information (broadcast) of the desired channel,
The process starts with the receiving unit 201. In step S406, the received distribution information is displayed on the display unit 206, or is output as voice by voice synthesis using the voice output unit 205 (the speaker 702 in FIG. 7). In step S407, the following exceptional interrupt processing is accepted during the processing from step S401 to step S406, and the processing is performed. (1)
The base station 102 acquires the position information of the mobile phone 104 at regular time intervals, and transmits it to the broadcast station server 101. The mobile phone position monitoring unit 302 of the broadcasting station server 300 monitoring this is configured to transmit a predetermined local area 1
When the mobile phone 104 moves outside the area 03, the distribution information acquisition unit 307 records the information distribution stoppage of the mobile phone 104 in the distribution information file 308 and terminates the information distribution. The termination is detected by the reception unit 201, and an interruption process of “reception interruption” is performed. (2) When the user desires another channel from the operation unit 204 while displaying the distribution information or outputting the audio, an interruption process is performed as “switching to another channel”. (3) If the user gives an end instruction from the operation unit 204 during the processing of all the steps, an interruption process is performed as a “end request”.

These interrupt processes are performed in step S40.
7 and is performed by branching to the corresponding branch destination. That is, in the case of (1) “reception interrupted”, the process proceeds to step S401, where the process is executed again from the transmission process of the channel list distribution request, and another local area is searched.

In this case, the display example 701 in FIG. 7 displays that the broadcast has been discontinued, and notifies the user that another local area is being searched. In the case of “switching to another channel” in (2), step S
Proceeding to 403, the channel list is displayed again on the display unit 206, and the desired channel is selected on the operation unit 204. The “end request” of (3) ends all the processes and turns off the power.

Mobile phone 104 according to the embodiment of the present invention
Uses the PHS location information service of a PHS mobile phone to acquire the location information, but may be a mobile terminal incorporating a GPS positioning system. That is, this method is a method of acquiring high-accuracy position information using the GPS positioning system, sending the acquired position information to the broadcast station server 101, and receiving information distribution. In this case, information exchange between the portable terminal and the broadcasting station server 101 is also performed by means such as an Internet mail service using a telephone line network.

In the embodiment using the GPS positioning system, when the information distribution area is limited to an extremely small area (such as a shopping street or a large store), the base station 102 in FIG. 1 uses a Bluetooth communication function or the like. From the broadcast station server 101 to the base station 10
A system may be used in which up to 2 are connected to the Internet of a telephone line network and small-scale wireless communication such as Bluetooth communication is performed from the base station 102 to the portable terminal. in this case,
The mobile terminal has a Bluetooth communication function, and performs communication by this function.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the position information is transmitted from the mobile phone. However, the position of the mobile phone is detected by the broadcast station, and the broadcast channel list broadcast in the area including the position is detected. You may make it transmit to a mobile telephone.

In the present invention, the prior application (Japanese Patent Application No.
By using a script agent as described in US Pat. No. 2,800,91) and downloading a small program from a server in advance, a list of only favorite channels can be displayed on the portable terminal at hand.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to acquire positional information of a mobile phone and to perform detailed information distribution of regional information for a limited time and place. According to the present invention, since a specific broadcast area is obtained from the position of the mobile phone, there is an advantage that not only a physically determined area but also a broadcast area can be artificially determined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a broadcast station server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view for explaining an operation procedure in the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view for explaining an operation procedure in the broadcast station server according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary view for explaining an operation procedure in the broadcast station server according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a mobile phone according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 300: Broadcast server, 102: Base station, 103: Local area, 104, 200,
700: mobile phone, 201, 301: receiving unit,
202, 306: transmission unit, 203: processing unit, 2
04: operation unit, 205: voice output unit, 206
..Display unit, 302... Mobile phone position monitoring unit, 303
··· Mobile phone information management unit, 304 ··· Mobile phone information file, 305 ··· Distribution management unit, 307 ··· Distribution information acquisition unit, 308 ··· Distribution information file,
..Information display section, 702... Speaker, 703.
-Receive button, 704 ... operation keys.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Akihiko Osuga 1-term, Komukai Toshiba-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa F-term in the Toshiba R & D Center (reference) 5K067 AA21 BB04 BB21 CC14 DD51 EE02 EE10 FF02 FF23 FF25 JJ51

Claims (8)

[Claims] Transmitting a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcast to the area from a mobile phone; detecting a current position of the mobile phone, searching for an area including the position, and searching for the area. Transmitting a broadcast channel list being broadcast to the mobile phone. 2. A step of transmitting a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcast to the area together with the location information from the mobile phone, and the step of transmitting the mobile phone to a predetermined area from the location information transmitted in this step. Confirming whether there is, and, when the mobile phone is in a predetermined area by this step, transmitting a list of channels broadcast in this area to the mobile phone, Transmission method of broadcast channel list. Transmitting a request signal for a broadcast channel list of channels broadcast to the area from the mobile phone; detecting a current location of the mobile phone, searching for an area including the location, and searching for the area. Transmitting a broadcast channel list being broadcast to the mobile phone; displaying the broadcast channel list transmitted in this step on the mobile phone; and a channel selected from the broadcast channel list displayed in this step. A method for transmitting a broadcast channel list and a broadcast, comprising: transmitting information; and broadcasting the broadcast of the selected channel to the mobile phone. 4. A means for transmitting a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcast to the area from a mobile phone, detecting a current position of the mobile phone, searching for an area including the position, and searching for the area. Means for transmitting a broadcast channel list being broadcast to the mobile phone. 5. A means for transmitting a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcast to the area together with the location information from the mobile phone, and the mobile phone moves to a predetermined area from the location information transmitted by this means. Means for confirming whether or not there is, when the mobile phone is in a predetermined area by this means,
Means for transmitting a list of channels broadcasted in this area to the mobile phone. 6. A means for transmitting a request signal of a broadcast channel list of a channel broadcast to an area from a mobile phone, detecting a current position of the mobile phone, searching for an area including the position, and searching for the area. Means for transmitting a broadcast channel list being broadcast to the mobile phone; means for displaying the broadcast channel list transmitted by the means on the mobile phone; and a channel selected from the broadcast channel list displayed by the means. A broadcast channel list and broadcast transmission system, comprising: means for transmitting information; and means for streaming the broadcast of the selected channel to the mobile phone. 7. A mobile phone capable of displaying at least characters, wherein the mobile phone transmits a request signal for a broadcast channel list of channels broadcast to an area including a current location of the mobile phone; Means for detecting the current position of the telephone, searching for an area including the position, receiving a list of broadcast channels broadcasted in the area, and displaying the broadcast channel list received by the means. A mobile phone, comprising: 8. A mobile phone capable of displaying at least text, means for transmitting a request signal for a broadcast channel list of channels broadcast to an area including the current location of the mobile phone; Means for detecting an area where the position is included, receiving a list of broadcast channels broadcasted in the area, displaying the broadcast channel list received by the means, and displaying the broadcast displayed by the means. A mobile phone comprising: means for transmitting channel information selected from a channel list; and means for receiving broadcast of the selected channel.