JP3698654B2 - Energization control processing system for digital broadcasting receiver - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a receiver process for improving an energization control operation for reliably receiving individual information to an IC card, which is generally implemented in a digital broadcast receiver that receives pay broadcasting.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, digital broadcasting in CS and BS has been started, and terrestrial and CATV are also being studied in the direction of digitization. In these digital broadcasts, services that provide video, audio, and data contents for a fee have already been implemented.
[0003]
In a paid service, the digital data is encrypted such as MULTI2 and only a contracted (paid) user can receive the data. The presence / absence of the contract is determined by sending data including key information called ECM multiplexed for each service to the IC card mounted on the receiver and responding thereto. In the case of a user who has a regular contract, a key for decrypting the above-described encryption can be obtained from the IC card. The contract information of the user is stored in advance in the IC card, and the presence or absence of the contract is determined by ECM acquired from the broadcast wave when the contract information and the service are selected.
[0004]
The contract information stored in the IC card is transmitted to each IC card by being multiplexed as individual information called EMM in a TS (transport stream) for transmitting the service by a pay broadcast provider that provides the service. The The EMM is filtered by the card number obtained from the IC card in the receiver, and only the corresponding EMM is sent to the IC card and stored in the nonvolatile memory area in the IC card.
[0005]
The EMM transmission is first multiplexed and transmitted on a broadcast wave when the user first subscribes to the corresponding service. As mentioned above, this EMM is generally multiplexed with the TS that provides the service, and the user automatically acquires (actually requires a certain waiting time) by selecting the TS. Can be sent to IC card.
[0006]
The contract information stored in the IC card includes the contract deadline, and if the user wishes to continue, the pay broadcaster will provide an EMM for renewing the contract deadline several weeks or days before the deadline. Multiplex and broadcast on TS. During this period, the IC card notifies the receiver of a flag for instructing reception of the EMM and the number of the TS in which the EMM is multiplexed. When the receiver confirms this flag, conventionally, the following processing has been performed to perform energization control for reliably receiving the instructed EMM.
[0007]
When there is an EMM reception instruction from the IC card, the receiver selects the specified TS when the user operation is turned off (the remote control or the switch SW on the front of the receiver) and receives the specified time. Leave the necessary power supply in the aircraft energized. At this time, for example, the power lamp on the front side of the receiver is turned off, and since the video and audio are not output from the receiver, the user seems to be turned off.
[0008]
In the receiver, the EMM multiplexed in the designated TS is received in the energized state and sent to the IC card as usual. Since the EMM reception instruction from the IC card is notified until the EMM is received, this operation is standardized to be performed every time the user operation is turned off for several weeks or days before the contract expiration date until the EMM is received. Has been.
[0009]
Also, the EMM reception instruction from the IC card can be individually set by each pay broadcaster, and a plurality of EMM reception instructions may overlap. In this case, schedule management is performed so that each EMM can be received sequentially by the receiver, and processing for changing reception of TSs in time series is performed.
[0010]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described conventional method, the internal circuit of the receiver is energized even when the power is turned off, and the standby power is almost the same as when the power is turned on, and the power consumption increases. In addition, when the power is frequently turned ON / OFF, there is a problem that the designated EMM cannot be reliably received.
[0011]
Also, when a plurality of EMM reception instructions overlap, it is necessary to change the TS reception in time series, and the energization time of the necessary internal circuit becomes long, resulting in an increase in power consumption.
[0012]
An object of the present invention is to reduce power consumption and shorten the processing time of energization control for energization control processing for EMM reception in writing contract information to an IC card.
[0013]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention adopts the following configuration.
In a digital broadcast receiver having a plurality of tuners,
Watch a broadcast program using one tuner,
In accordance with an energization control instruction from the IC card that stores contract information with the broadcast, the EMM reception process to the IC card is performed using another tuner ,
When viewing the broadcast program using the other tuner, the EMM reception process is interrupted, and the EMM reception process is resumed from the state before the interruption after the end of the viewing of the broadcast program.
[0016]
In the energization control processing system of the digital broadcast receiver, when there are a plurality of energization control instructions from the IC card in which instructions from a plurality of broadcasters are recorded , the EMM corresponding to each broadcaster The reception process is performed using a plurality of other tuners simultaneously.
[0017]
In a digital broadcast receiver having a plurality of tuners,
When instructions of EMM reception from a plurality of broadcasters are duplicated, a digital broadcast receiver that simultaneously performs each EMM reception process for each broadcaster using a plurality of tuners after power-off by a user operation Energization control processing system.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An energization control processing system in a digital broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of a digital broadcast receiver, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of a digital broadcast receiver having two tuners, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the energization control process in the first embodiment of the present invention.
[0019]
Here, in this embodiment, for the sake of simplification, the case of satellite digital broadcasting will be described as an example. However, in other media such as terrestrial digital broadcasting, only the receiving antenna and the converter unit are changed. The circuit configuration is the same, and the same effect can be obtained. Further, FIG. 2 shows a receiver having two tuners, and this embodiment also takes a form to explain this, but basically the same effect can be obtained for a receiver having three or more tuners. Obtainable.
[0020]
FIG. 1 shows a typical configuration of a satellite digital broadcast receiver. The configuration may be slightly different depending on the model, but the basic processing contents are the same. The function of the satellite digital broadcast receiver will be described below with reference to FIG.
[0021]
The radio wave received by the antenna 101 is down-converted to a required frequency band and then input to the digital broadcast receiver 108. Tuner unit 102 tunes to the frequency specified by CPU 106 by the user's channel selection, performs digital demodulation such as 8PSK, transmission descrambling, deinterleaving, error correction, etc., and then transmits the service by user channel selection. The transmission slot to be selected is selected (instructed by the CPU 106).
[0022]
The descrambling unit 103 decrypts encrypted data for limited reception in pay broadcasting or the like. The key information for decryption used at this time is obtained from the IC card 107 and given to the descrambling unit 103 by the CPU 106. The subsequent data separation unit 104 separates the service (video / audio / data, etc.) selected by the user from the transport stream defined by the MPEG standard.
[0023]
Each separated service (elementary stream) is sent to the MPEG decoding unit 105 for video and audio, and is output from the video output terminal and audio output terminal after being decoded by MPEG. The data service is output from the data output terminal, and data processing necessary for each service is performed.
[0024]
Next, the basic operation in the case of a receiver having a plurality of tuners will be described with reference to FIG. A receiver having such a configuration is already known in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-155139. In FIG. 2, a receiver having two tuners will be described for the sake of simplicity of explanation, but the basic processing procedure does not change even when three or more tuners are provided. In addition, it will be possible to combine a plurality of blocks into one due to the advancement of device technology, etc., but the processing procedure is the same, and it goes without saying that such a case is also included in the scope of the present invention. .
[0025]
The radio wave received by the antenna 201 is down-converted to a required frequency band, and then input to the digital broadcast receiver 212. This input signal is divided in the receiver and sent to different processing paths. The first tuner unit 202 and the second tuner unit 203 are tuned to the frequency instructed from the CPU 210 by the user's channel selection, and after digital demodulation such as 8PSK, transmission descrambling, deinterleaving, error correction, etc. are performed Then, the transmission slot for transmitting the service by the user channel selection is selected (instructed from the CPU 210). In this case, when the processing route used for viewing by the user is the first route, no particular processing is performed on the second route. For example, when back program recording or two-screen display is performed, an operation similar to the processing in the first route described below is performed. Here, the description of the operation in the second processing path is omitted.
[0026]
The first descrambler 204 decrypts encrypted data for limited reception in pay broadcasting or the like. The key information for decryption used at this time is obtained from the IC card 211 and is given to the first descrambling unit 204 by the CPU 210. The subsequent first data separation unit 206 separates the service (video / audio / data etc.) selected by the user from the transport stream defined by the MPEG standard. Each separated service (elementary stream) is sent to the first MPEG decoding unit 208 for video and audio, and is decoded from MPEG and output from the video output terminal and audio output terminal. The data service is output from the data output terminal, and data processing necessary for each service is performed.
[0027]
Next, the energization control method in the prior art will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the energization control process in the prior art. In digital broadcasting, contract information for pay viewing is recorded on an IC card, and a method for determining whether or not viewing is possible is implemented. When a contract is made, a key necessary for descrambling can be obtained by inputting key information data called ECM obtained from broadcast waves to the IC card. By setting this key in the descrambler unit, data such as video and audio is decrypted and presented to the user. The contract information recorded in the IC card can be recorded by acquiring individual information called EMM (filtering by IC card number) from the broadcast wave and inputting it into the IC card.
[0028]
Generally, this EMM (individual information) is broadcasted by a carrier operating a pay broadcast multiplexed on a transport stream (hereinafter referred to as TS), and the user calls a pay broadcaster who wants to make a contract. Contact and broadcast to the user's IC card number. At the initial contract, the receiver can receive the corresponding EMM by watching the service for pay broadcasting for a certain period of time. The contract information recorded on the IC card records the expiration date of this contract in addition to the contract contents contracted by the user. Normally, the user will be treated as continuation unless he / she offers to suspend the contract, but it is necessary to rewrite the contract expiration date data of the IC card at this time.
[0029]
The pay broadcaster transmits an EMM containing the extension of the contract period to this IC card from several days or weeks before the contract deadline. If the user selects this pay broadcast service in some form and views it for a certain period of time, this EMM can be received. If the user does not select this pay broadcast service during the EMM transmission period, the EMM is received. Cannot be received, and as a result, the pay broadcast cannot be descrambled after the contract expiration date recorded on the IC card. As a technique for avoiding such a situation, an energization control system is used.
[0030]
A pay broadcast service is being implemented that requires a contract due date when the user turns off the power with a remote control or the like in response to an instruction from the IC card during the EMM transmission period several days to several weeks before the contract due date Select TS and enable EMM reception. Confirmation of the energization control instruction from the IC card can be obtained by inputting an energization control information acquisition command to the card when the power is turned on or when the IC card is inserted.
[0031]
The energization control process is performed by energizing only the necessary parts of the receiver so that it is not visible to the user. For example, the power lamp on the front panel of the receiver is in the OFF state and does not output video or audio. I have to. This energization is instructed from the IC card, and the TS number for performing the process, the energization time, etc. are also obtained by this instruction, and the receiver implements this. For example, when the instructions of a plurality of pay broadcasters overlap, it is processed in time series so that EMM can be received reliably. When the EMM cannot be received during the energization time, designated energization control is performed each time the user performs a power-off operation during the period when the EMM is being sent.
[0032]
In the energization control of the prior art, after the user performs a power-off operation, the process is performed in a situation that is not recognized by the user. Therefore, a current flows through the circuit in spite of the standby state, and extra power is consumed for the user. Further, even if the hardware configuration is used, it is necessary to prepare a power source in a separate system for energization control, which is very complicated.
[0033]
As a technique for improving the problems described above, a technique for improving the energization control operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. As a configuration of the receiver, a plurality of tuners as shown in FIG. 2 are provided. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart for explaining the energization control processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[0034]
In the first embodiment of the present invention, referring to FIG. 4, when the power is turned on or the IC card is inserted, the receiver issues an energization control information confirmation command to the IC card and receives the EMM. Check whether or not is necessary. When energization control is instructed by a card response, in this embodiment, it is confirmed whether or not the processing path passing through the second tuner of the receiver is currently used for user viewing (recording of a back program, display of two screens, etc.) To do. When this processing path is in use, this usage state is periodically checked, and after checking that it is not used, the following processing is continued.
[0035]
When the second processing path is not used, the TS designated by the energization control information obtained by the response from the IC card is selected. This channel selection continues for the time specified by the energization control information. When the second processing path is used by a user operation or the like during this time, it is given priority and TS channel selection for EMM reception is interrupted. When the EMM is received at the designated time, the contract information in the card is rewritten by inputting the EMM to the IC card in the same manner as the normal processing. Regardless of whether the EMM is received or not, if the specified time has elapsed, it is checked whether there is an energization control instruction from another pay broadcaster. Hold this state for
[0036]
By such processing, the processing that has been performed after the power-off of the user operation is performed while the user is viewing, so that standby power can be reduced.
[0037]
Next, an energization control processing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The second embodiment is a coping method in the case where the second tuner processing path is used for viewing by a user operation before the specified time has elapsed. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the processing, and the hardware has the configuration shown in FIG. In this case, of course, user operation must be prioritized. When this operation is executed, the receiver records the reception time in which the designated TS has been received so far in the receiver. In addition, the channel selection process for the designated TS is temporarily suspended.
[0038]
After that, the usage status of the second tuner processing path is periodically checked, and when this user process ends (the second tuner processing path becomes unused), the channel selection time recorded in the receiver Is subtracted from the designated time instructed from the IC card. The EMM reception process can be completed by selecting a designated TS for the remaining time. Thereafter, it is checked whether there is an energization control instruction from another pay broadcaster as in the above-described processing, and further processing is continued if necessary.
[0039]
Next, an energization control processing system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The third embodiment is a coping method when the user operation is turned off before the specified time elapses. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the processing, and the hardware has the configuration shown in FIG.
[0040]
In this case, after energization of circuits other than those required for EMM reception processing is stopped, energization using the conventional method is performed for the remaining time obtained by subtracting the tuning time of the designated TS received so far from the time of the card instruction. Implement control. Naturally, when there is an energization control instruction from another pay broadcaster, the necessary energization control is continued, and the energization of the circuit is terminated when all are completed. Even in this case, the energization control time after the power is turned off can be shortened, which is beneficial.
[0041]
Next, an energization control processing system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The fourth embodiment is a coping method when there are energization control instructions from a plurality of pay broadcasters. FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of the processing, and a digital broadcast receiver having three tuners has been described. However, the present embodiment is not limited to the number of tuners. The hardware of this embodiment has the configuration shown in FIG.
[0042]
First, as in the first embodiment, when the power is turned on or the IC card is inserted, an energization control information acquisition command is issued to the IC card to confirm the energization control instruction from the card.
[0043]
When there are energization control instructions from a plurality of pay broadcasters and only the first tuner is used for viewing or the like, the receiver selects a designated TS channel for energization control instructed by the card. One of the above is executed by the second tuner. At the same time, TS tuning designated for other energization control is executed using the third tuner. Each of these channel selections is executed at the reception time designated by the card.
[0044]
If the EMM is received during this reception time, this data is transferred to the IC card.
When each reception time ends, if there is another TS channel designated by the card, the designated TS channel selection is further performed. This operation is repeated, and when all designated TS channel selection is completed, the process is terminated.
[0045]
The same applies to the case where there are three or more tuners, and a plurality of designated TS channels are selected simultaneously. According to the present invention, TS channel selection for EMM reception instructed from an IC card can be completed in a short time.
[0046]
Next, an energization control processing system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the fifth embodiment, an IC card instruction for EMM reception from a pay broadcaster is recorded in the receiver memory, and the IC card instruction recorded in the memory is confirmed when the power is turned off by a user operation or the like. This is a processing method when there is an energization control instruction. FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the processing. Here, a digital broadcast receiver having two tuners will be described. However, the present embodiment is not limited to the number of tuners. The hardware of this embodiment has the configuration shown in FIG.
[0047]
First, the receiver issues an energization control information acquisition command to the IC card when the power is turned on or when the card is inserted, and confirms whether there is an instruction for receiving EMM from the pay broadcaster. This instruction content is recorded in a memory area in the receiver. When the power is turned off by a user's remote control operation or the like, the receiver confirms whether or not there is an instruction for the energization control, and if not, all the circuit energization is stopped.
[0048]
When there is an energization control instruction from a pay broadcaster, the EMM reception process is performed by the designated TS channel selection using the first tuner processing path after the energization of other circuit parts necessary for this process is stopped. This channel selection continues for a specified time according to the card instruction. Subsequently, TS tuning instructed by another broadcaster is performed using the second tuner processing path, and EMM reception processing is performed. Similarly, this tuning continues for a specified time. A hot water bath having two or more energization control instructions is continuously performed using the TS tuning at the designated time by the first and second tuner processing paths. That is, two energization control processes are always performed using two tuner processing paths simultaneously.
[0049]
When all energization control is completed, all circuit energization is stopped and the process is terminated.
By taking such a method, the time required for energization control can be halved in practice, and power consumption during standby can be reduced. As described above, a receiver having three or more tuners can perform three or more energization control operations at the same time, so that the effect of reducing power is further increased.
[0050]
As described above, the embodiment of the present invention includes a system for performing energization control processing as described below using a digital broadcast receiver having a plurality of tuners. In other words, this is an individual information receiving system in which EMM reception processing instructed from the IC card is performed by a secondary tuner other than the main tuner used by the user for viewing, etc., and the EMM is received and sent to the IC card.
[0051]
In addition, in the individual information receiving system described above, when the subordinate tuner is used for viewing or the like by user operation during execution of the EMM reception processing by the subordinate tuner, the TS for EMM reception performed before that is performed. By subtracting the channel selection time from the reception time specified by the IC card and recording it in the receiver, and by resuming EMM reception for the remaining reception time recorded after the use of the tuner is stopped by the user operation. is there.
[0052]
In addition, in the individual information receiving system described above, when the tuner followed by the user operation is used for viewing and the like, and the EMM reception process according to the instruction from the IC card cannot be completed, Only the circuit necessary for reception is energized to continue EMM reception.
[0053]
In the individual information receiving system described above, when there are a plurality of EMM reception instructions from the IC card, a plurality of subordinate tuners other than the main tuner that the user is using for viewing and the like are simultaneously used. This is an individual information receiving system that performs EMM reception and sends it to an IC card.
[0054]
Further, when there are a plurality of EMM reception instructions from the IC card, after the power is turned off by a user operation, all tuners are used simultaneously, and different TSs are selected to perform EMM reception processing.
[0055]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, with respect to energization control for EMM reception performed in writing contract information to an IC card necessary for pay broadcast viewing of digital broadcasting, a user can normally view using a receiver having a plurality of tuners. Use a different tuner processing path.
[0056]
As a result, it is possible to eliminate or shorten the processing that has been performed while the circuit is energized after the power is turned off by a conventional user operation. As a result, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the receiver during standby.
[0057]
In addition, the energization control can be performed using a plurality of tuner processing paths simultaneously, and the processing time required for the energization control can be shortened.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of a digital broadcast receiver.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of a digital broadcast receiver having two tuners applied to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of energization control processing in the prior art.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of energization control processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of energization control processing according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of energization control processing according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of energization control processing according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of a digital broadcast receiver having three tuners applied to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of energization control processing according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
101, 201, 301 Antenna 102 Tuner 103 Descrambler 104 Data separator 105 MPEG decoder 106, 210, 315 CPU
107, 211, 314 IC card 108, 212, 316 Digital broadcast receiver 202, 302 First tuner unit 203, 303 Second tuner unit 204, 305 First descrambling unit 205, 306 Second descrambling unit 206, 308 1 data separation unit 207, 309 2nd data separation unit 208, 311 1st MPEG decoding unit 209, 312 2nd MPEG decoding unit 304 3rd tuner unit 307 3rd descrambling unit 310 3rd data separation unit 313 3rd MPEG decoding unit

Claims (3)

In a digital broadcast receiver having a plurality of tuners,
Watch a broadcast program using one tuner,
In accordance with an energization control instruction from an IC card that stores contract information with broadcasting, the EMM reception process to the IC card is performed using another tuner,
When viewing the broadcast program using the other tuner, the EMM reception process is interrupted, and the EMM reception process is resumed from the state before the interruption after the end of the viewing of the broadcast program. Energization control processing system for digital broadcast receivers. In the energization control processing system of the digital broadcast receiver according to claim 1,
When there are multiple energization control instructions from the IC card in which instructions from multiple broadcasters are recorded, EMM reception processing corresponding to each broadcaster is performed simultaneously using multiple other tuners An energization control processing system for a digital broadcast receiver. In a digital broadcast receiver having a plurality of tuners,
When EMM reception instructions from a plurality of broadcasters overlap, after the power is turned off by a user operation, each EMM reception process for each broadcaster is simultaneously performed using a plurality of tuners. Energization control processing system for digital broadcast receivers.

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