JP3609842B2 - Charge billing device for wireless communication - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to a configuration for efficiently collecting charges according to individual information in various information services using wireless communication, particularly satellite communication.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In satellite communications such as radio broadcasting, television broadcasting, or satellite broadcasting, how to collect information usage fees has been a major issue. As a method widely used nowadays, it is general to collect a fee by assuming that a channel is selected whenever a television apparatus is provided. Also, in recent satellite communications, a signal is scrambled at the time of transmission, and a separate decoder is provided on the receiving side to cancel this, and a monthly fee determined when this decoder is installed is collected Is also popular.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the conventional method is based on the premise that the receiving side voluntarily pays the reception fee, and the efficiency of fee collection is very poor. In addition, if a decoder is required, it can be avoided that the receiving side uses the radio wave without permission. However, the receiving side will be forced to spend the extra cost of the decoder, so the number of subscribers will not increase. There is a problem.
[0004]
In addition, the conventional fee system generally has a fixed monthly fee, and the fee cannot be changed at any time depending on the type of information, so the sending side cannot provide only media with a high broadcasting fee. On the other hand, there is a contradictory problem that the number of subscribers will not increase unless the popular high-priced media is enriched.
[0005]
The present invention is intended to solve the above-described conventional problems, and even if the receiving side does not necessarily collect a monthly fee, it charges appropriately according to the frequency of each medium used by the receiving side. An apparatus capable of performing the above is provided.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention corresponds to a main apparatus on the transmission side consisting of a host computer and a transmitter storing various data, a tuner, a control CPU, a received data processing unit, and a data type. It consists of a receiving device consisting of a signal processing circuit that performs reproduction output and execution of data, and identification data corresponding to the type of the data is written in the signal frame of the data transmitted from the main device and received by the receiving device The identification data corresponding to the data reproduced or executed by the signal processing circuit is counted and stored as the number of times for each circuit by the usage status memory provided in the receiving device, and from the main device. According to the conversion data indicating the unit price for each type of the above data sent periodically, the stored identification data count and conversion data And disjunction, to calculate the subscription fee of, the amount of money through the charging line and transmitted to the central office, using the means of acting on behalf of comprehensive telephone office.
[0007]
[Action]
The main device and the receiving device communicate with each other by wireless communication represented by satellite communication, and transmit and receive karaoke data, game data, video signals, and the like. The receiving device stores the count number of identification data associated with the data processed and executed by the signal processing circuit among the various data transmitted from the main device in the usage status memory, and serves as a basis for fee calculation. The conversion data periodically sent from the main unit is the one where the charging information for each identification data is described, and the periodic fee is calculated by calculating the count number of the conversion data and the stored identification data. Calculated and collected on behalf of the telephone station via the billing line.
[0008]
【Example】
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire apparatus of the present invention, which explains the case where satellite communication is used. In the figure, 1 is a communication satellite, 2 is a main device on the transmitting side, 3 is a receiving device, 4 is a charging line, 5 is a telephone network, 5a is a telephone station, and only the receiving device 3 is a telephone station via the charging line 4 It is configured to be connected to 5a . As shown in FIG. 2, the main apparatus 2 mainly includes a host computer 6, a database 7, a transmitter 8, and an antenna 9. Then, the main apparatus 2 transmits a plurality of channels of signals toward the communication satellite 1 with different types of information addressed to the respective channels. There are various types of information addressed to a plurality of channels. Of course, the user can freely determine, for example, karaoke music / lyric information is an independent channel and computer game data is an independent channel.
[0009]
Next, the internal configuration of the receiving device 3 will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, 10 is a receiving antenna, and 11 is a tuner for receiving a satellite signal, which is a device for receiving a signal transmitted from the main device 2. The signal to be transmitted is communicated in the form of a video signal if it is a video signal, and in the form of a digital signal if it is data necessary for karaoke or a game. The tuner 11 is configured to receive a plurality of channels simultaneously. A received data processing unit 12 such as a buffer memory temporarily stores data of each signal when the tuner 11 processes signals of a plurality of channels, or a data string used during communication such as a header or a footer. This is a block that performs basic processing such as processing and extracting only necessary information. Reference numeral 13 denotes a control CPU for controlling the entire receiving apparatus 3. Reference numeral 14 denotes a signal processing circuit, and circuits corresponding to the types of transmission / reception signals such as a video signal processing circuit 14a, a karaoke signal processing circuit 14b, and a game signal processing circuit 14c are provided in parallel. The output of each processing circuit is connected to the output terminals 15a, 15b, 15c. If it is a video terminal, a display is connected, and if it is a game terminal, it is connected to a computer game machine to perform a desired game. be able to. An operation panel 16 is used to select desired information by key operation based on an information list displayed on the display panel 17 or the like.
[0010]
Next, a configuration for charging information usage will be described. In the figure, reference numeral 18 denotes a usage status storage unit, which counts and accumulates the usage status in the signal processing circuit 14 for each circuit. Then, the usage fee is periodically calculated using the accumulated result. Here, the information for counting the usage situation is inserted into the transmission signal, and identification data corresponding to the type of information such as karaoke or a game is written in the signal frame. The signal received by the tuner 11 is processed by the control CPU 13, and the data selected by the operation panel 16 is processed by the corresponding processing circuits 14a to 14c. 18 is stored for each type. Then, since the unit price for each type of information is periodically transmitted as conversion data from the transmission side, a collation operation is performed with the identification data stored in the usage status memory 18, and the amount is calculated every period. In this embodiment, the case where the unit price is uniform for each type of information has been described. However, the unit price can be made different for individual information. That is, the utilization status storage unit 18 stores the identification data written in the frame in the form of a data table. When conversion data, which is a data string indicating the unit price, is transmitted from the transmission side, the amount is calculated by collating on the table, and the total amount is determined. In this embodiment, the data indicating the information unit price is not stored in advance in the receiving apparatus 3 but is periodically provided as transmission data from the transmission side so that the unit price can be changed as appropriate. Although the communication satellite is used in this embodiment, the basic configuration is not changed at all even if the wireless communication is performed by another means.
[0011]
The amount determined inside the receiving device 3 as described above is output from the data communication modem 19 and transmitted to the telephone station 5 a via the accounting line 4. As an example, the billing line 4 is publicly known that the telephone station 5a collects the added value corresponding to the time of use, and pays the information provider (in this case, the transmitting side) the amount minus the surcharge. Adopt system.
[0012]
In this embodiment, the fee collection is included in the call charge from the reception side to the telephone station 5a and is collected instead. For example, the host computer 6 on the transmission side is accessed from the reception side through the telephone line, for example. A configuration for registering usage charges may be employed. What is important in the present invention is that the receiving side calculates an information usage amount based on conversion data that is charge data provided from the transmitting side, and periodically transmits this.
[0013]
【The invention's effect】
In the present invention, as described above, various types of data are transmitted from the main device on the transmission side, and at the same time, identification data is written in each of them, and the used identification data is stored and converted periodically transmitted from the main device. We decided to calculate the usage amount for each period according to the data. Therefore, the user can pay the amount corresponding to the desired media, which is very reasonable. In addition, the information provider on the transmission side can be charged according to the value of the information to be provided, and the number of types of information can be increased. Thus, an effective charging device can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the main device;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a receiving device;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Communication satellite 2 Transmission side main unit 3 Receiving device 4 Billing line 5 Telephone network 5a Telephone station 6 Host computer 7 Database 8 Transmitter 9 Antenna 10 Receiving antenna 11 Tuner 12 Data processing unit 13 CPU for control
14 Signal Processing Circuit 18 Usage Status Memory

Claims (1)

From the main device on the transmission side consisting of a host computer and a transmitter that store various data, a tuner, a control CPU, a received data processing unit, and a signal processing circuit that performs reproduction output and execution of data according to the type of data The identification data corresponding to the type of the data is written in the signal frame of the data transmitted from the main device, and the data received by the receiving device is reproduced or executed by the signal processing circuit. The identification data corresponding to the received data is counted and stored as the number of times for each circuit in the usage status memory provided in the receiving device, and for each type of the data periodically transmitted from the main device In accordance with the conversion data indicating the unit price, the stored identification data count and conversion data are collated to calculate the periodic usage fee. Amount transmitted to the central office via the charging line, toll device of a wireless communication and characterized in that behalf comprehensive central office.

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