JP2003009124A - Broadcast data transmitter, method for reproducing broadcast data and broadcast data reproduction control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To view and listen a commercial such as a theme, a type or the like which is interested by a person at each viewer. SOLUTION: A broadcast data transmitter transmits broadcast data regarding a program to a viewer's receiver. The transmitter comprises the broadcast data having program text data for constituting a program text, a plurality of commercial data sorted at each of a plurality of themes, and a control program for controlling the viewer's receiver to reproduce the program text data and the commercial data. The control program controls the viewer's receiver as a theme providing means for providing the plurality of the themes to the viewer, a selecting means for receiving one selected theme of the plurality of the themes by the viewer to store as the theme selecting information in the memory provided in the receiver, and a reproducing means for reproducing the commercial data belonging to the viewer's selected theme.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the technical field of television broadcasting, and more particularly to a playback control method for commercial (CM) broadcasting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In conventional terrestrial television broadcasting, CMs are broadcast during the main program. In this case, the CM is predetermined for the main program and is transmitted from the broadcast station in a form in which the CM data is inserted in the broadcast data of the main program. Viewers viewing the same program will view the same CM at the same time.

On the other hand, there is a movement to provide different CMs for each viewer by using the data broadcasting technology in recent digital broadcasting.

[0004]

The viewers of TV broadcasting have various ages, sexes, tastes, etc., and the theme of CM showing interest is naturally different for each viewer. From the advertiser's perspective,
For each viewer, it is desired to show CMs of products and services that the person is interested in.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to make it possible for each viewer to watch CMs such as a theme and a genre that the viewer is interested in. .

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a broadcast data transmitting apparatus for transmitting broadcast data related to a program to a receiving apparatus of a viewer, the broadcast data constitutes a main program. And a control program for controlling the receiver of the viewer to reproduce the program main data and the CM data. Is a theme presenting unit that presents the plurality of themes to a viewer, receives a selection of one theme from the plurality of themes by the viewer, and stores it as theme selection information in a storage unit provided in the receiving device. The receiving device of the viewer is controlled as a selection unit for reproducing the CM data belonging to the theme selected by the viewer.

According to the broadcast data transmitting apparatus configured as described above, the main program data constituting the main program, the plurality of CM data classified into a plurality of themes, and the receiving apparatus of the viewer are controlled. And the main program data and CM
Broadcast data including a control program for reproducing data is transmitted to the receiving device of the viewer. A plurality of themes are presented to the viewer by executing the control program on the receiver of the viewer. When the viewer selects one theme, the selection is stored in the storage unit in the receiving device as theme selection information. Then, along with the main program data, the CM data belonging to the theme selected by the viewer is reproduced.

[0008] In one aspect of the broadcast data transmitting device, the theme presenting means presents the plurality of theme names to a viewer. In another aspect of the broadcast data transmission device, the theme presenting means presents the plurality of themes to a viewer by reproducing CM data belonging to each of the plurality of themes. Therefore, the viewer can select the theme of his / her interest by looking at the theme name itself or the CM data belonging to each theme.

[0009] In still another aspect of the broadcast data transmitting apparatus, the theme presenting means presents each theme to the viewer in association with the color of the input section provided on the operating means of the viewer's receiving apparatus. To do. Therefore, the viewer can easily select a theme of interest.

In still another aspect of the broadcast data transmitting device, the control program further comprises means for asking a viewer whether or not to provide the theme selection information, and
When the viewer agrees, the receiver of the viewer is controlled as a unit for reading the theme selection information from the storage unit and transmitting it to an external device. As a result, the theme selection information by the viewer is transmitted to the external device and used with the consent of the viewer.

In still another aspect of the broadcast data transmitting device, the broadcast data is classified into each of the plurality of themes, and includes description data related to CM classified into the theme, and the control program Refers to the storage unit and reproduces the description data corresponding to the theme selected by the viewer. As a result, the CM belonging to the theme selected by the viewer is broadcast and the description data related to the CM is reproduced.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in a broadcast data reproducing method for transmitting broadcast data related to a program to a receiving device of a viewer and reproducing it, main program data constituting a main program and a plurality of themes. A step of transmitting broadcast data to the receiving device of the viewer, the broadcast data including a plurality of CM data classified into the above, and a control program for controlling the receiving device of the viewer to reproduce the main program data and the CM data. A step of presenting the plurality of themes to the viewer by executing a control program on the receiver of the viewer, and receiving the selection of one theme from the plurality of themes by the viewer, and selecting the theme As a result, the step of storing in a storage unit provided in the receiving device and the step of reproducing the CM data belonging to the theme selected by the viewer are executed.

According to still another aspect of the present invention,
A broadcast data reproduction control program transmitted to a receiving device of a viewer together with broadcast data related to a program, wherein the broadcast data includes main program data constituting a main program, and a plurality of programs classified into a plurality of themes. CM data,
A control program for controlling the receiving device of the viewer to reproduce the main program data and the CM data,
The control program receives theme selection means for presenting the plurality of themes to a viewer, selection of one theme from the plurality of themes by the viewer, and stores the theme selection information in a storage unit provided in the receiving device. The receiving device of the viewer is controlled as a storing means and a reproducing means for reproducing the CM data belonging to the theme selected by the viewer.

According to the broadcast data reproduction method and the broadcast data reproduction control program configured as described above, the main program data constituting the main program, a plurality of CM data classified into a plurality of themes, and the viewing Broadcast data including a control program for controlling the receiver of the viewer to reproduce the main program data and the CM data is transmitted to the receiver of the viewer. A plurality of themes are presented to the viewer by executing the control program on the receiver of the viewer. When the viewer selects one theme, the selection is stored in the storage unit in the receiving device as theme selection information. Then, along with the main program data, the CM data belonging to the theme selected by the viewer is reproduced.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [1] First Embodiment In this embodiment, data broadcasting is used to transmit a plurality of CMs to be broadcast in the same CM time zone to a home. A plurality of CMs are prepared based on a certain theme, genre, attribute, etc. (hereinafter simply referred to as "theme"), and by presenting some of them to the viewer and letting the viewer select, Research certain themes. afterwards,
Broadcast CMs that belong to the theme selected by the viewer.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a broadcasting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the broadcasting station 1
The broadcast wave from is received by an antenna 5 installed at home and is sent to a set top box 7 for receiving television (TV) broadcast through a cable 6. In the case of satellite broadcasting, the broadcast wave is received by the antenna 5 via the satellite. TV on set-top box 7
The receiver 8 is connected.

The home set top box 7 is connected to a server 41 in the information collecting center 40 through a telephone line 45. The information collection center 40 receives the data such as the viewing history of the viewer and stores it in the database 42. The server 41 of the information collecting center 40 is connected to the terminal device 50 of the sales center or the advertiser as necessary, and the collected information is transmitted to the terminal device 50 to statistically indicate the user's preference or the like to the sales center or the advertiser. Information can be provided.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the set top box 7. It should be noted that this example assumes the case of digital broadcasting. In FIG. 2, the set top box 7 includes a tuner 20, a data separation unit 21, a video / audio reproduction section 22, a controller 23, and a viewing information memory 2.
4 and.

The tuner 20 performs necessary processing such as demodulation, tuning and decoding on the received signal supplied from the antenna 5 to take out the broadcast data of the channel selected by the viewer and send it to the data separation unit 21. . The data separation unit 21 separates the audio data file, the video data file and the data broadcast file from the broadcast data, and outputs the audio data and the video data to the video / audio reproduction unit 22.
And the data broadcast file to the controller 23. The video / audio reproduction unit 22 reproduces the audio data and the video data and supplies them to the television receiver 8 as an audio signal and a video signal.

The viewing information memory 24 stores viewing information when the viewer watches a TV program. The viewing information includes information indicating which channel the viewer has watched, information indicating which program the viewer has watched, and which theme the viewer selects from the CM data transmitted for three themes. The theme selection information indicating whether or not it is stored is also stored. Note that this selection will be described later.

The controller 23 is configured to include a CPU, an MPU, etc., controls each component in the set top box 7 by executing a control program included in broadcast data, and reproduces TV programs and CMs. I do. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the controller 23 is connected to the information collecting center 40 through a telephone line 45.

In addition, a remote controller 25 for remotely operating the set top box 7 and the TV receiver 8 is prepared at home. The remote controller 25 is provided with, for example, four or more color buttons, and is used when the viewer makes a selection.

Next, the broadcast data 30 broadcast from the broadcast station 1 to the home will be described. FIG. 3 schematically shows an example of the data structure of broadcast data. Broadcast data 30
Is basically created for each TV program and includes a video data file 32, an audio data file 34, and a data broadcast file 36.

The video data file 32 includes video data for broadcasting a TV program, and specifically includes main program video data and commercial video data. here,
The CM video data includes video data of CMs (CM1 to CM3) for a plurality of themes to be simultaneously broadcast. In addition,
In this example, CMs for three themes to be broadcast at the same time are prepared, but CMs for two themes or four or more themes can be broadcast depending on the band of the data broadcast.

Similarly, the audio data file 34 is a TV
It includes audio data for broadcasting the program, and specifically includes audio data for the main part of the program and audio data for CM.
Here, the CM audio data includes audio data of CMs (CM1 to CM3) for a plurality of themes to be simultaneously broadcast.

As the theme of a plurality of CMs, for example, when the sponsor of the TV program is a general electric manufacturer, three theme CMs of "home electric appliances", "personal computer (PC)", and "camera" are included. You can In that case, the CM video data and the CM audio data include a plurality of CMs for each theme. For example,
The commercials belonging to the theme “home appliances” may include commercials such as refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners. Also,
CMs that belong to the theme "PC" include desktop PCs, notebook PCs, and personal digital assistants (PDs).
CMs such as A) may be included.

The data broadcast file 36 is a file containing data such as characters and figures displayed on the TV receiver 8 as a so-called data broadcast. Particularly in the present invention, the data broadcast file 36 includes a control program 37 and CM related data 38.

The control program 37 is a program for operating the set top box 7 by being executed on the set top box 7 at home, and in the present invention, particularly CM reproduction control described later is performed.

The CM-related data 38 is so-called data broadcasting data including characters and figures. The CM-related data 38 corresponds to the three CM themes included in the video data file 32 and the audio data file 34.
Includes CM related data for 3 themes. That is, if CMs such as the above-mentioned refrigerator, washing machine, and air conditioner are prepared for the theme “home appliances”, CM-related data 38
Contains data describing their prices, nearest dealer information, inventory information, etc.

A CM reproduction procedure for each theme is schematically shown in FIG. In Figure 4, CM of the theme "Home appliances"
Are prepared as CM1-1, CM1-2, CM1-3, ..., And a plurality of CMs are prepared for other themes “personal computer” and “camera”. These C
M is included in the video data file 32 and the audio data file 34 shown in FIG. 3 and transmitted from the broadcasting station 1 to the set top box 7 at home.

Next, the reproduction processing according to the present invention will be schematically described. In the present invention, the CM of which theme the viewer is
Investigate whether you are interested in. Now, as described above, it is assumed that the sponsor of a TV program is a general electric manufacturer and CMs of the above three themes are prepared. At the start of viewing the TV program, the viewer is informed that the commercials of the three themes are prepared, and the question of the commercial of the theme to be watched is asked. For example, three theme names of "home electric appliances", "personal computer" and "camera" can be displayed on the TV receiver 8 to ask which theme of CM to watch. Also, as another method, CMs for home electric appliances (for example, refrigerators) and Cs for personal computers can be displayed on the TV screen.
It is also possible to adopt a method in which the CMs of the M and the camera are reproduced as small windows, respectively, and the viewer selects the CM to be viewed. The three themes can be displayed to the viewer while being associated with the color buttons provided on the remote controller 25 for each theme. For example, the above-mentioned theme name or the frame of the window can be displayed on the TV screen by matching with each color of the color button. The viewer selects a favorite theme by pressing a color button of a color corresponding to the theme of interest.

When a viewer selects a CM theme or a CM itself to be viewed, identification information of the theme selected by the viewer is stored in the viewing information memory 24 of the set-top box 7 (for example, the viewer selects the theme "household appliances"). If you select "C
M1 ").

After that, when the broadcasting of the TV program is started, all the CMs inserted in the program become CMs of the theme selected by the viewer. That is, when the viewer first selects the theme "home appliances", CM1-1, CM1-2, ... (see Fig. 4) belonging to the theme "home appliances" are sequentially broadcast. This allows the viewer to see only the CM of the theme that he is interested in.

The above processing is performed by the controller 23 in the home set top box 7 executing the control program 37 shown in FIG. That is, in the control program 37, a process of showing three predetermined themes or CMs for each theme to the viewer, receiving the viewer's selection input by operating the remote controller, and storing the selection in the viewing information memory 24. including.

Next, a method of reproducing programs and commercials according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the broadcasting station 1 starts broadcasting the program when the broadcast time of the program comes (step S1), and transmits the broadcast data 30 to each home (step S2). Broadcast data 30, as shown in FIG.
Video and audio data file 3 of the main program and CM
2, 34 and a data broadcast file 36 are included.

The home set top box 7 extracts the control program 37 from the data broadcast file 36 in the received broadcast data 30 and the controller 23 executes it to perform the following processing. That is, three predetermined CM themes are displayed and the viewer's selection is received (step S3). The three CM themes are displayed on the TV screen as described above, and the viewer selects a favorite CM theme by using the color buttons of the remote controller 25 or the like.

When the viewer's selection is received, the controller 23 stores the identification information of the selected CM theme (for example, "CM1" when the theme "household appliances" is selected) in the viewing information memory 24 (step). S4).

Next, the controller 23 sends the broadcast data 30.
Inside video data file 32 and audio data file 3
4 is extracted and displayed on the TV receiver 8. Here, the main program is reproduced from the program video data and the program audio data. Further, the CM refers to the viewing information stored in the viewing information memory 24 among the CM video data and the CM audio data, and reproduces the CM data corresponding to the theme selected by the viewer (step S5). .

In this way, the main program and CM until the end of the program
Is played repeatedly. CMs belonging to the theme selected by the viewer in step S3 are reproduced. For example, when the viewer selects the theme "household appliances" in step S3, only CMs related to household appliances such as a refrigerator and a washing machine are played during the program. Therefore, the viewer can see only the CM of the theme of interest.

Next, a method of using the viewing information will be described. The viewing information memory 24 in the set top box 7 stores information on the CM theme selected by the viewer.
This information can be used to determine the information provided by the data broadcast. As shown in FIG. 3, the data broadcast file 36 includes CM-related data 38 for three themes. These are commercials that belong to that theme
Descriptive data such as characters related to, such as the price of the product,
It is data in which related information such as sales stores is described in characters, and is prepared for each of the three themes. Therefore, when the viewer selects the theme in step S3 of FIG. 5, the CM related data 38 corresponding to the theme can be provided thereafter by data broadcasting. As a result, the contents of the data broadcast are also decided according to the viewer's selection of the theme, and the viewer can acquire the information of his / her interest by the data broadcast.

Further, as another usage of the viewing information, when the viewing information memory 24 stores the viewing information that a certain viewer has selected a certain theme in the past, the theme other than that theme is presented to the viewer. You can also select it. In this way, the viewer does not repeatedly see the same CM, and various CMs can be shown to the viewer.

Further, another usage of the viewing method will be described. This viewing information is transmitted to the information collection center 40 by a viewer's operation as needed. For example, at the end of the program, the controller 24 may display a screen asking if the viewer's choice of theme selection information may be provided to the information collection center 40. Then, when the viewer agrees to provide the information to the information collecting center 40, it is possible to promote the collection of information by advertising to the viewer that a specific present or service is available.

When the viewer agrees to the information provision, the controller 23 reads the viewing information from the viewing information memory 24 and sends it to the server 41 of the information collecting center 40 via the telephone line 45. The server 41 stores the received viewing information in the database 42. In this way, information on the theme selected by many viewers can be stored in the database. Further, this information is transmitted to the sales center or the terminal device 50 of the advertiser as needed, and is referred to for marketing or the like.

[2] Modified Example In the broadcasting system shown in FIGS.
Although the V receiver is configured to reproduce the broadcast wave via the set top box, a TV receiver configured to include the function of the set top box can be used instead.

The configuration of the set top box shown in FIG. 2 is merely an example, and in a home TV image receiving system, a unit for reproducing a TV program including CM and a plurality of themes included in a data broadcast file. It may have any configuration as long as it has a unit for presenting the selection of the theme to the viewer and a unit for storing the viewing history and the theme selection by the viewer.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By preparing CMs for multiple themes in advance and allowing the viewer to select, CMs for which the viewers are interested
Can only show you.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a broadcasting system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the set top box shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 schematically shows a data structure of broadcast data broadcast from a broadcast station.

FIG. 4 schematically shows a flow of TV program reproduction according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a TV program reproduction process according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 broadcasting station 5 antennas 6 cables 7 set-top boxes 23 Controller 24 Viewing information memory 40 Information collection center 41 servers 42 database 50 terminal equipment

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 7/08 H04N 17/00 M 7/081 Z 17/00 7/08 Z (72) Inventor Tsuyoshi Katayama 1-10-3 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo B-SEA Co., Ltd. Asahi F-term (reference) 5C025 AA01 BA25 BA27 BA30 DA01 DA05 DA10 5C061 BB03 CC05 5C063 AB03 AB05 CA23 DA01 5C064 BA07 BB05 BB10 BC18 BC20 BC23 BD01 BD03 BD07 BD08

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A broadcast data transmitting apparatus for transmitting broadcast data related to a program to a viewer's receiving apparatus, wherein the broadcast data includes main program data constituting a main program, and a plurality of programs classified by a plurality of themes. CM data, and a control program for controlling the receiving device of the viewer to reproduce the main program data and the CM data,
The control program is a theme presenting unit that presents the plurality of themes to a viewer, receives a selection of one theme from the plurality of themes by the viewer, and stores the theme selection information in the receiving device as theme selection information. A broadcasting data transmitting device, characterized in that the receiving device of the viewer is controlled as a reproducing device for reproducing CM data belonging to a theme selected by the viewer. 2. The broadcast data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the theme presenting means presents the plurality of theme names to a viewer. 3. The broadcast data transmission according to claim 1, wherein the theme presenting means presents the plurality of themes to a viewer by reproducing CM data belonging to each of the plurality of themes. apparatus. 4. The theme presenting means presents each theme to a viewer in association with a color of an input unit provided on an operating means of the receiving device of the viewer. The broadcast data transmission device according to any one of 1. 5. The control program further includes means for asking the viewer whether to provide the theme selection information, and reading the theme selection information from the storage unit when the viewer agrees. The broadcast data transmitting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the receiving apparatus of the viewer is controlled as means for transmitting the receiving apparatus to an external apparatus. 6. The broadcast data is classified for each of the plurality of themes, and includes description data related to a CM classified into the theme, and the control program refers to the storage unit to perform the viewing. The broadcast data transmitting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the description data corresponding to the theme selected by the person is reproduced. 7. A broadcast data reproducing method for transmitting broadcast data related to a program to a receiving device of a viewer and reproducing the program main program data, which constitutes a program main part, and a plurality of CM data classified into a plurality of themes. And a control program for controlling the receiver of the viewer to reproduce the main program data and the CM data, and transmitting the broadcast data to the receiver of the viewer. A step of presenting the plurality of themes to a viewer by executing a control program according to, and receiving a selection of one theme from the plurality of themes by the viewer, and providing the theme selection information in the receiving device. Broadcast data reproduction characterized by executing the step of storing in a storage unit and the step of reproducing CM data belonging to the theme selected by the viewer. Law. 8. A broadcast data reproduction control program transmitted to a receiving device of a viewer together with broadcast data related to a program, wherein the broadcast data comprises main program data constituting a main program and a plurality of themes for each theme. A plurality of classified CM data; and a control program for controlling the receiving device of the viewer to reproduce the main program data and the CM data,
The control program is a theme presenting unit that presents the plurality of themes to a viewer, receives a selection of one theme from the plurality of themes by the viewer, and stores the theme selection information in a storage unit provided in the receiving device. A broadcasting data reproduction control program for controlling the receiving device of the viewer as a reproducing means for reproducing CM data belonging to a theme selected by the viewer.