JP2795196B2 - TV shopping system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television shopping system using a communication line, and more particularly to a technique for transmitting video, audio, related data, and the like of a product displayed at a store and sold to a plurality of homes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional television shopping system, products set for television shopping by a product sales company are broadcasted by video, audio, or the like.
A video and a sound prepared in advance are stored in a storage means, and are introduced to the consumer by being reproduced in response to a request from the consumer. Consumers have the option of purchasing a product from a product sales company by telephone or postcard if they find something they like or want from the products introduced. It is a passive shopping system for consumers, in which consumers select and purchase desired products from limited products provided for shopping.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional television shopping system, only the products set in advance for television shopping by the product sales company are provided to the consumers, so that the shopping realism and the better products can be provided. There was a problem that it was lacking in the fun of finding out. Further, since the types of products to be provided are limited, there is a limit in searching for products of the quality and price required by consumers.

[0004] Therefore, measures such as reducing the price of a product, increasing the definition of an image, and accumulating a large amount of information to facilitate searching are implemented. Was not enough.

[0005] On the other hand, if the user actually visits and goes shopping, the above-mentioned problems can be solved, but it takes much time for shopping and moving between stores, and shopping at several stores a day. Is the limit. Therefore, the original purpose of television shopping, in which shopping is performed in a short time without moving, cannot be achieved.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the conventional technology, and a consumer actually goes to a store at home and looks at a product display fence in the store. It is an object of the present invention to provide a television shopping system capable of shopping in the same situation as described above.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a first terminal provided in a plurality of stores where products are displayed, and a plurality of the first terminals provided in a plurality of homes. A second terminal that transmits and receives information to and from a first terminal; and a central control device that performs an operation of exchanging information between the plurality of first terminals and the second terminal, A television shopping system that performs communication using a plurality of cells separated for each piece of information,
Each of the plurality of cells has an information field portion in which information from each of the stores is stored, and a header in which identifiers indicating destinations and attributes of information for distributing information from each of the stores to each of the homes are stored. Unit, a store code unit that stores a store code indicating the name of each of the stores, and a product code unit that stores a product code that represents the type of the product, each of the plurality of first terminals Is one or more
And television camera of the above, the above single based on information sent from said second terminal via said central control unit
It controls the operation of the television camera, the single than
A control unit for storing information collected by the above television camera in the cell and transmitting the information to the central control device, wherein each of the plurality of second terminals is connected to the one of the first terminals . An ATM terminal device that receives control commands for more than one television camera and selects and receives necessary information from information sent from the central control device, and displays information received by the ATM terminal device. And a television receiver.

[0008] The one or more television cameras may be
Each is provided with a microphone.

[0009]

According to the present invention having the above-described structure, since information on the merchandise which is normally sold is sent from the store to the home, it takes no time to move between stores during shopping, and the actual You can get the same information as when you go shopping. For this reason, it is possible to observe not only the stores in the same city but also the display fences of stores in distant large cities at the same time on a home television receiver in a short time. Becomes possible.

[0010] In addition, in-store control relating to merchandise information is performed according to a command from the home.

[0011]

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

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a television shopping system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the television shopping system according to the present embodiment has terminals 100a to 100n as first terminal devices provided in a plurality of stores.
And ATMs 300A to 300N, which are second terminal devices respectively provided in a plurality of homes, are central control devices.
It is configured to be connected to the ATM network 400 via the exchange 200.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the terminal device in each store shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, only the configuration of the terminal device 100a shown in FIG. 1 is described, but the same applies to the configurations of the other terminal devices 100b to 100n.

In the store, a plurality of products 110a-1 to 110a-n provided to consumers are displayed on a display fence 150a, and as a means for collecting information of the products 110a-1 to 110a-n, Television cameras 120a-1 to 120a-n for photographing 110a-1 to 110a-n
Is installed. Further, the television camera 120a-1
A / D converter 130a for converting analog video signals from .about.120a-n to digital signals and cells (see FIG. 4) for distributing information to terminal devices 300A to 300N in each home, Control unit 1 that controls the operation of television cameras 120a-1 to 120a-n based on information from terminal devices 300A to 300N in
40a is provided.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the terminal device in each home shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, only the configuration of the home 300A shown in FIG. 1 is described, but the same applies to the configurations of the other terminal devices 300B to 300N.

In the home, terminal devices 100a to 100n (see FIG. 1) via an ATM switch 200 (see FIG. 1).
An ATM terminal device 310A for transmitting / receiving information to / from the
A television receiver 330A for displaying information received via the data line 320A is provided.

FIG. 4 is a signal configuration diagram of an information cell used for transferring information from each store to each home in the television shopping system shown in FIG.

In the information cell in this embodiment, an information field 510 in which a digitized video signal is stored.
And a header section 540 in which an identifier indicating an address or an attribute of information is stored, a store code section 530 in which a store code indicating a name of a shop where the product is sold is stored, and a product code indicating a type of the product is stored. Product code section 520 is provided.

The operation of the embodiment will be described below.

In the store, usually sold products 110a-1 to 110a-n are photographed by television cameras 120a-1 to 120a-n installed in the store. Here, it is assumed that hundreds of television camera groups are provided in a large department store or the like.

Television cameras 120a-1 to 120a-n
All the information photographed by is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 130a, and further converted by the control unit 140a
4 is divided into fixed-length blocks (cells), and a header section 540 (FIG. 4) storing identifiers indicating destinations and attributes of information.
), And a store code section 530 storing the store code.
(See FIG. 4) and a merchandise code section 520 (see FIG. 4) storing the merchandise code are sent to the ATM switch 200 as cells 500 (see FIG. 4).

In ATM exchange 200, header section 540 (see FIG. 4) in cell 500 (see FIG. 4) sent thereto.
The cell 500 (see FIG. 4) is transmitted to the home terminal device to which the cell is to be transmitted, based on the information stored in the cell 500.

Then, an operation for selecting information required by the consumer is performed by the ATM terminal device 310 provided in the home.
A, the cell 500 corresponding to the information from the information transmitted from the ATM switch 200
(See FIG. 4) is selected and received by the ATM terminal device 310A. Here, the ATM terminal device 310A is connected to the cell 5
00 (see FIG. 4).
The cell 500 (see FIG. 4) required by the consumer can be selected from the information stored in the product code section 520 (see FIG. 4) and the product code section 520 (see FIG. 4). Thereafter, the information field 510 (see FIG. 4) of the received cell 500 (see FIG. 4)
) Is reproduced, and a desired image is reproduced on the television receiver 330A provided in the consumer's home 300A.

Further, when a command for enlarging or reducing the image or changing the shooting direction is input to the ATM terminal device 310A, the command is transmitted to the corresponding store and transmitted by the control unit in the corresponding store. The operation of the television camera is controlled according to the command, and the consumer can obtain a desired image.

In this embodiment, only the provision of a television camera in a store and the provision of information by video are described. However, the provision of information by sound is also performed by installing a microphone in the store similarly to the television camera. It is easy to do. Provision of information using information data on products can also be easily implemented if a function for handling information data is provided in a control unit provided in the store. As a result, it is possible to cause each store to present a description of the product as needed or to have a conversation with a clerk only by operating the terminal device in each home.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram relating to the transfer of information cells when information is provided to each home by video information, audio information and information data.

Each video signal, audio signal and information data signal from the terminal device 100a (see FIG. 1) in the store are stored in the video input signal cell 610a, the audio input signal cell 620a and the information data input signal cell 630a, respectively. Then, after being multiplexed and transferred on the ATM network 400 in cell units, the ATM switch 20
0 (refer to FIG. 1), each of the destination addresses in the header section 540 (refer to FIG. 4) is distributed to the terminal device 300A in each home as a video output signal cell 615a, an audio output signal cell 625a, and an information data output signal cell 635a. ~ 300N.

[0029]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

Means for collecting information on displayed products and means for transmitting the collected information to the home are provided at a terminal device in a store where the store is normally selling, and further transmitted to the terminal device at home. By providing a means for selecting and receiving only necessary information from the received information and a means for displaying the received information on a television receiver, the consumer can obtain a desired store or product at home. By simply specifying the code number, information on products displayed in many department stores and large stores in the city and neighboring cities can be obtained in a short time. In addition, since the user can actually go to the store and perform shopping in the same situation as watching the product display fence in the store, the range of product selection in terms of quality and price can be expanded for the consumer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a television shopping system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal device in each store shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal device in each home shown in FIG.

4 is a signal configuration diagram of an information cell used for transferring information from each store to each home in the television shopping system shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram related to transfer of information cells when information is provided to each home by video information, audio information, and information data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100a to 100n Terminal devices in stores 110a-1 to 110a-n Merchandise 120a-1 to 120a-n Television camera 130a A / D converter 140a Control unit 150a Display fence 200 ATM exchange 300A to 300N Terminal device at home 310A ATM terminal device 320A Data line 330A Television receiver 400 ATM network 500 Cell 510 Information field 520 Merchandise code section 530 Store code section 540 Header section 610a Video input signal cell 620a Audio input signal cell 630a Information data input signal cell 615a Video output signal cell 625a Audio output Signal cell 635a Information data output signal cell

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 7/10-7/173 G06F 15/21 G06F 15/40

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A second terminal for transmitting and receiving information to and from a first terminal provided at each of a plurality of stores where products are displayed and a plurality of first terminals provided at each of a plurality of homes. Terminal, and the plurality of first terminals and second terminals
And a central control unit that performs an operation of exchanging information with the terminal, and a television shopping system that communicates with a plurality of cells partitioned for each piece of the information, wherein each of the plurality of cells is An information field portion in which information from each of the stores is stored; a header portion in which identifiers indicating destinations and attributes of information for distributing information from each of the stores to each of the homes; and a name of each of the stores And a product code portion storing a product code indicating a type of the product, wherein each of the plurality of first terminals includes one or more television cameras When controls the operation of the one or more units of the TV camera based on information transmitted from the second terminal via the central control device, the one or more units of tele A control unit for storing information collected by a bi-camera in the cell and sending the information to the central control device, wherein each of the plurality of second terminals includes An AT that receives a control command for the one or more television cameras of the terminal and selects and receives necessary information from information transmitted from the central control device.
A television shopping system comprising: an M terminal device; and a television receiver for displaying information received by the ATM terminal device. 2. The one or more television cameras,
2. The telephone according to claim 1, further comprising a microphone.
Levi shopping system.