KR100220914B1 - A program rating survey method of catv - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method for investigating a rating of a cable television system in which a cable television broadcasting station receives a plurality of channel information for different viewing ratings from a plurality of subscriber facilities by performing one-way communication. Since the cable television station side can simultaneously obtain a plurality of channel information corresponding to different viewing rate investigations by one-way communication performed between a plurality of subscriber facilities, it is possible to perform a viewership survey for a plurality of continuous or discontinuous broadcasts at once. It can work.

In addition, since the present invention stores a plurality of subscriber facilities in a ROM (Read Only Memory), there is no risk of loss of channel information, thereby improving the accuracy of the audience rating survey.

Description

Rating method investigation method of cable television system

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a viewer rating research method of a cable television system. In particular, the cable television broadcasting station continuously or discontinuously receives a plurality of two-way communication information from a plurality of subscriber equipments by performing one-way communication. An audience rating survey method of a cable television system capable of performing audience rating surveys of a plurality of broadcasts at a time.

In general, cable television is a system for distributing high-quality television signals received using a high-sensitivity antenna to television receivers in each home through a broadband transmission line such as a coaxial cable. The dissemination began.

As mentioned above, cable television, which has been a supplementary function of existing broadcasting by retransmitting television signals to urban and mountain area urban areas, has recently provided its own broadcasting and two-way communication functions to provide various information transmission and local broadcasting programs. Has developed into a medium.

In addition, since the 1990s, home computers have been connected to data banks to provide new functions to meet various social needs such as remote meter reading, crime prevention, fire, home shopping, and home banking.

As shown in FIG. 1, a cable television system for performing the two-way communication function includes a cable television broadcasting station 50 that provides various broadcast signals, and N subscriber facilities 60 that receive and display the broadcast signals. And a communication network 70 which interconnects the cable television broadcasting station 50 and the N subscriber facilities 60.

The cable television broadcasting station 50 controls a central processing unit (CPU) 51 for controlling the entire broadcasting system, and controls the bidirectional data transmission between the central processing unit 51 and the N subscriber facilities 60. Communication control unit (CCU) 52 is provided.

The N subscriber facilities 60 are N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N which perform a reception adapter function for an existing television receiver (not shown).

Each cable television converter CVT 1 to CVT N includes a microcomputer for controlling the entire system, a read only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM) for storing various data under the control of the microcomputer. ).

The communication network 70 further includes first and second transmission paths W1, for transmitting data from the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 to the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N. W2) and a third transmission path W3 for transmitting data from the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N to the communication control device 52 side.

On the other hand, using the cable television system configured as described above it was possible to investigate the audience rating (used mainly as a basis for determining the advertising costs, the effectiveness of the program, etc.) of a particular broadcast.

The audience rating research method of the cable television system according to the prior art is by high-level data link control procedure (HDLC) communication between the cable television station 50 and the N subscribers 60 as follows.

In a first step, the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 receives a first command frame for storing channel information currently watched under the control of the central processing unit 51 through the first transmission path W1. Each of the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N is transmitted.

The first command frame is a code (COMMAND 1) indicating a communication scheme between the cable television station 50 and the N subscriber facilities 60, as shown in FIG. 2A, and the N subscriber facilities 60, that is, Each cable television converter (CVT 1 to CVT N) includes a code indicating the type of action to be performed (EVENT 1-to store the channel information currently being watched in the RAM).

In the second step after the first step, the microcomputers of the N cable television converters CVT1 to CVT N respectively receive the first command frame transmitted from the cable television station 50 and store the channel information currently being viewed in the RAM. do.

After the second step, when the communication time is low, the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 transmits the channel information currently stored in the RAM under the control of the central processing unit 51 in the third step. The second command frame is transmitted to the N cable television converters CVT1 to CVT N through the second transmission path W2, respectively.

The second command frame is a code (COMMAND 2) indicating a communication scheme between the cable television station 50 and the N subscriber facilities 60, as shown in FIG. 2B, and the N subscriber facilities 60, that is, Each cable television converter CVT 1 to CVT N includes a code indicating the type of action to be performed (read and transmit channel information stored in the EVENT 2-RAM).

In the fourth step after the third step, the microcomputers of the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N each receive a second command frame transmitted from the cable television broadcasting station 50 to receive channel information stored in the RAM. After reading, the channel information is loaded in a response frame and transmitted to the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 through the third transmission path W3.

In this case, the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N may transmit response frames only when the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 transmits a progress signal according to a polling method.

In addition, the response frame includes a code (COMMAND 3) indicating a communication scheme between the cable television station 50 and the N subscriber facilities 60, as shown in FIG. Contains code indicating the type of action performed by the cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N (EVENT 2-reads and transmits channel information stored in RAM), and includes one channel information stored in RAM. .

Then, in a fifth step, the central processing unit 51 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 transmits each response frame transmitted from the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N through the communication control device 52. Receive and then analyze to investigate the viewer ratings of a particular broadcast.

On the other hand, the first and second command frames are transmitted by one HDLC communication, and each takes a short time of 1 second or less, but the transmission of the response frame takes a long time because it is polled.

For example, when the number of subscriber facilities 60 connected to the cable television broadcasting station 50 is 30,000, and the response frame transmission time of one subscriber equipment is 1 second, 30,000 times 1 second = 30,000 seconds, that is, 8 hours or more. It takes a lot of time.

That is, the audience rating investigation method of the cable television system according to the prior art is performed at one time by one interactive communication (first and second command frames and response frame transmission and reception) performed between the cable television station and the N subscriber equipments. Since only the corresponding channel information is exchanged, the time required to investigate the viewer rating of one broadcast is too long, and thus, the viewer rating of a plurality of continuous or discontinuous broadcasts cannot be investigated.

In addition, conventionally, channel information at the time of audience rating research is stored in the RAM of each cable television converter, and since the RAM stores all the stored contents when the power is turned off, the channel information for the audience rating research is easily lost. There was a problem that the accuracy of the survey was poor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems. The present invention provides a continuous or continuous method by exchanging channel information corresponding to a plurality of viewership survey points by one-way communication performed between a cable television station and a plurality of subscriber facilities. An object of the present invention is to provide a viewer rating research method of a cable television system that enables audience rating research on a plurality of discontinuous broadcasts at once.

1 is a block diagram showing a simplified configuration of a cable television system according to the prior art;

2a is a view showing a first command frame according to the prior art;

2b is a view showing a second command frame according to the prior art;

Figure 2c is a view showing a response frame according to the prior art,

3 is a block diagram showing a simplified configuration of a cable television system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

4A is a view showing a first command frame according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

4b is a view showing a second command frame according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

4c is a view showing a response frame according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

10: cable television broadcasting station 11: central processing unit (CPU)

12: Communication control unit (CCU) 20: N subscriber equipment

CVT 1 to CVT N: Converter for cable television 30: Communication network

In order to achieve the above object, a viewer rating survey method of a cable television system according to the present invention transmits a first command frame to store channel information currently viewed from a cable television broadcasting station to a plurality of subscriber equipments at a plurality of viewer rating survey times. A first step, a second step of storing channel information being watched in a memory each time the plurality of subscriber facilities receives the first command frame; and after the first and second steps, the cable television station A third step of transmitting a second command frame to transmit a plurality of channel information stored in the memory to a plurality of subscriber facilities; and after the third step, the plurality of subscriber facilities have been stored in the memory to the cable television broadcasting station side. Send a response frame containing a plurality of channel information Is a fourth step, and after the fourth step, the cable television broadcasting station analyzes the response frame to investigate a viewer rating of a plurality of broadcasts.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first command frame of the first and second steps includes a code indicating a communication method between the cable television station and the plurality of subscriber equipments, and an action to be performed by the plurality of subscriber equipments. And a code indicating an identification code and an identification code for a current viewership survey time point, wherein the response frames of the fourth and fifth stages represent a communication scheme between the cable television station and the plurality of subscriber facilities and the plurality of subscriber facilities. Preferably includes a code indicating an action performed by the user, a plurality of ID codes for each of the viewership time points, and the plurality of channel information.

Further, in the second step, each of the plurality of subscriber facilities preferably stores the channel information being viewed at that time and the ID code included in the first command frame together in the memory each time the first command frame is received. .

In addition, the plurality of subscriber facilities is a cable television converter, and the memory is a read only memory (ROM) included in the cable television converter.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, with reference to attached drawing, preferred embodiment of the audience rating research method of the cable television system by this invention is demonstrated in detail.

First, a cable television system for implementing a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a cable television broadcasting station 10 for providing various broadcast signals as shown in FIG. 3, and N subscriber equipments for receiving and displaying the broadcast signals. 20 and a communication network 30 interconnecting the cable television broadcasting station 10 and the N subscriber facilities 20.

The cable television broadcasting station 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 11 for controlling the entire broadcasting system, and a communication control device for controlling two-way data transmission between the central processing unit 11 and the N subscriber facilities 20 ( CCU 12 is provided.

The N subscriber facilities 20 are N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N which perform a reception adapter function for an existing television receiver (not shown).

Each cable television converter CVT 1 to CVT N includes a microcomputer for controlling the entire system, and a ROM and a RAM for storing various data under the control of the microcomputer.

In addition, the communication network 30 is the first and second transmission paths w1, for transmitting data from the communication control device 12 of the cable television broadcasting station 10 to the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N. w2) and a third transmission path w3 for transmitting data from the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N to the communication control device 12 side.

The audience rating research method according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention using the cable television system configured as described above is based on HDLC communication between the cable television broadcasting station 10 and the N subscriber equipments 20.

In a first step, the communication control apparatus 12 of the cable television broadcasting station 10 is controlled by the central processing unit 11 and transmits a first command frame to store channel information currently viewed for each of a plurality of viewing rate survey points. Through the furnace w1, transmission is made to the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N, respectively.

The first command frame is a code (COMMAND 1) indicating a communication scheme between the cable television broadcasting station 10 and the N subscriber facilities 20, as shown in FIG. 4A, and the N subscriber facilities 20, that is, A code indicating the type of action each cable television converter (CVT 1 to CVT N) should perform (EVENT 1-store the current channel information in the ROM), and an identification code for the time of the current rating survey. It includes.

Meanwhile, in the second step, the microcomputers of the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N each receive an ID included in the first command frame each time a first command frame transmitted from the cable television broadcasting station 10 is received. The code and the channel information being watched are stored together in the ROM.

After the second step, when the communication time is low, the communication control device 12 of the cable television broadcasting station 10 receives a plurality of channel information currently stored in the ROM under the control of the central processing unit 11 in the third step. The second command frame to be transmitted is transmitted to the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N through the second transmission line w2, respectively.

The second command frame is a code (COMMAND 2) indicating a communication scheme between the cable television broadcasting station 10 and the N subscriber equipments 20, as shown in FIG. 4B, and the N subscriber equipments 20, that is, Each cable television converter (CVT 1 to CVT N) includes a code indicating the type of action to be performed (read and transmit channel information stored in EVENT 2-ROM).

In the fourth step after the third step, the microcomputers of the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N each receive a second command frame transmitted from the cable television station 10 and store the plurality of channels stored in the ROM. After reading the information and the ID code, the plurality of channel information and the ID code are loaded in the response frame and transmitted to the communication control device 12 of the cable television broadcasting station 10 through the third transmission path w3.

In this case, the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N may transmit response frames only when the communication control device 12 of the cable television broadcasting station 10 transmits a progress signal according to a polling scheme.

In addition, the response frame includes a code (COMMAND 3) indicating a communication method between the cable television broadcasting station 10 and the N subscriber facilities 20, as shown in FIG. Code indicating the type of action performed by the cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N (EVENT 2-read and transmit a plurality of channel information stored in the ROM), and a plurality of channel information and ID codes stored in the ROM. It includes.

Then, in a fifth step, the central processing unit 11 of the cable television broadcasting station 10 transmits each response frame transmitted from the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N through the communication control device 12. After receiving and analyzing, the audience ratings of a plurality of broadcasts are examined.

On the other hand, when the frame of the HDLC communication is 10 bytes, each subscriber equipment 20 side carries a total of five channel information in a response frame as shown in FIG. ), The viewer ratings of up to five consecutive or discontinuous broadcasts can be investigated at a time.

As described above, the present invention is continuous or discontinuous because the cable television station side can simultaneously obtain a plurality of channel information corresponding to different viewer ratings by one-way communication performed between the cable television station and a plurality of subscriber facilities. There is an effect that the audience rating survey for a plurality of broadcasts can be performed at once.

In addition, since the present invention stores a plurality of subscriber facilities in a ROM (Read Only Memory), there is no risk of loss of channel information, thereby improving the accuracy of the audience rating survey.

Claims (4)

A first step of transmitting a first command frame for storing channel information currently viewed from a cable television station to a plurality of subscriber facilities at a plurality of viewing rate survey points, and when receiving the first command frame at the plurality of subscriber facilities; And a second command frame for storing the channel information being watched in the memory every time, and transmitting the plurality of channel information stored in the memory from the cable television station to the plurality of subscriber equipments after the first and second steps. Transmitting a response frame including a plurality of channel information stored in the memory from the plurality of subscriber facilities to the cable television broadcasting station after the third step; and the fourth step. The cable television station then analyzes the response frame Audience measurement method of the cable television system according to claim 5 consisting of a first step of irradiating a rating of several broadcast. The method of claim 1, The first command frame of the first and second stages includes a code indicating a communication method between the cable television broadcasting station and the plurality of subscriber equipments, a code indicating an action to be performed by the plurality of subscriber equipments, and a current viewing rate. And identification codes for the fourth and fifth steps, wherein the response frames of the fourth and fifth stages are codes indicating a communication method between the cable television station and the plurality of subscriber facilities and codes indicating actions performed by the plurality of subscriber facilities. And a plurality of ID codes and the plurality of channel information for each of the viewer rating investigation time points. The method of claim 2, In the second step, the plurality of subscriber equipment stores the channel information being viewed at that time and the ID code included in the first command frame together in the memory each time the first command frame is received. How to investigate the rating of television system. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, And said plurality of subscriber facilities is a cable television converter, and said memory is a read only memory (ROM) included in said cable television converter.