JPH09289632A - Catv charging system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display lots of kinds of charging information on request of the user by suppressing the entire system cost. SOLUTION: A management use personal computer 1 sends a polling signal to a terminal equipment of each guest room via an information channel unit 3 and receives a reply signal representing a request of the user. Then an idle state in an information channel unit 3 and plural video channel units 4 is selected and various information or video games requested by the user are sent. A charging personal computer 2 receives an instruction of the management personal computer 1 to execute the charging processing of each guest room concentratingly and stores charging information. When the user selects a pay video game, the charging personal computer 1 allows the charging personal computer 2 to start charging processing and allows the charging personal computer 2 to interrupt the charging processing when the user requests charging information to read and send the stored charging information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a CATV charging system, and more particularly to a CAT in a hotel that provides pay video.
In V, it relates to a CATV charging system for displaying a charging status on a TV screen in response to a user's request.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as means for notifying the charging status of a viewed CATV in response to a user's request, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-63-177673, charging processing is performed in each terminal device. When the user requests the billing information, the billing information is read out from the memory in the terminal device as a character image signal and displayed on the screen of the TV receiver. Is displayed.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional example, each terminal device has a memory for storing billing information,
A character image generator and a television modulator for displaying the billing information as a character image signal on the TV screen are provided. For this reason, when applied to a CATV system in a hotel, it is necessary to provide each of the above circuits for displaying billing information in each terminal device of many guest rooms.
There is a problem that the cost of the entire system becomes high.

In the multimedia age, CAT
Since the information provided by V is diversified such as video games, karaoke, characters (Japanese, English, etc.), it is difficult for the conventional terminal device to handle it.

An object of the present invention is to provide a CATV billing system capable of displaying various types of billing information according to a user's request while suppressing the cost of the entire system.

[0006]

The CATV billing system of the present invention centrally executes the billing process on the center side of the CATV, and sends billing information to the terminal side in response to a user's request. In addition, a function is provided for transmitting the billing information as a character image signal to a plurality of video channel units for transmitting the video signal.

[0007] Specifically, a CATV that displays charging information for pay video on a TV screen on the terminal side in response to a user's request.
In the billing system, the center side for transmitting the pay video centrally processes and stores the billing information of the pay video, and the terminal side by reading the billing information stored by the billing process means. Accounting information sending means for sending to the. Further, the billing information transmitting means includes a plurality of video channel units capable of transmitting the image signal of the pay video and also transmitting the billing information as a character image signal, and a plurality of video channel units in an empty state. It has a management personal computer for selecting and transmitting the pay video image signal or the character image signal.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 are block diagrams showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which a CATV center in a hotel provides pay video games and charge information to each guest room.
1 shows a TV system. Here, FIG. 1 shows the configuration on the center side, and FIG. 2 shows the configuration on the passenger room side.

On the center side, as shown in FIG. 1, a management personal computer 1 for controlling the entire system, a billing personal computer 2 for collectively billing each guest room, and a terminal for each guest room by a polling method. An information channel unit 3 for communicating with the device and a plurality of video channel units 4 for generating a game image signal are provided. And
The management personal computer 1 is connected to each unit via the multi-communication interface 5, and is also connected to the billing personal computer 2 via the LAN.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, a TV receiver 6, a terminal device 7 and a remote control transmitter 8 are provided in each passenger room.
Are installed respectively. By operating the remote control transmitter 8, various instructions / requests can be sent from the terminal device 7 to the center.

Now, referring to FIG. 1, a management personal computer 1
Sends a polling signal to the terminal device 7 in each guest room via the information channel unit 3 and receives a response signal indicating a user's request. Then, various information requested by the user, a video game, and the like are transmitted via the information channel unit 3 and the video channel unit 4.

In response to the instruction from the management personal computer 1, the billing personal computer 2 collects and stores billing information such as guest room number, date and time, use time, and charge. That is, when the user selects the pay video game, the charging process is started in response to the instruction from the management personal computer 1. When the user requests the billing information, the billing process is interrupted in response to the instruction from the management personal computer 1, and the recorded billing information is read and sent to the management personal computer 1.

CPU 31 of information channel unit 3
Is controlled by the management personal computer 1, polls the terminal device 7 in each guest room, receives a response signal, and sends it to the management personal computer 1. That is, the CPU 31
Generates a polling signal to be sent to each terminal device, and sends it out via the modem 36 and the mixing / distributing device 37. Further, the response signal from the terminal device is received via the mixing / distributing device 37 and the modem 36 and sent to the management personal computer 1.

Further, when sending information to the terminal device, the CPU 31 receives the information from the management personal computer 1, makes it a character image signal of a predetermined channel by the character image generator 32 and the television modulator 33, and causes the mixing / distributing device 37 to operate. To send over. In this case, the CPU 31 controls the PLL 34 according to the designation of the management personal computer 1, sets the frequencies of the polling signal and the character image signal to the designated frequency, and
The used frequency is reported to the terminal device.

A plurality of video channel units 4 are provided according to the number of channels of the line, and selected by the management personal computer 1 to operate. That is, when a video game request is received from the user, the management personal computer 1
Selects an empty video channel unit 4, and selects the video game unit 40 of the selected video channel unit.
To load the video game program.

The selected video game section 40 generates a game image signal, and a changeover switch 49 and a television modulating section 43.
And to the terminal device in the guest room via the mixing / distributing device 48. In this case, the CPU 41 controls the switching so that the changeover switch 49 selects the game image signal.

This game image signal is displayed on the screen of the TV receiver 6 via the terminal device 7 shown in FIG. Then, the user operates the remote control transmitter 8 while looking at the game screen of the TV receiver 6, whereby a remote control signal for game operation is sent from the terminal device 7 to the center. This remote control signal is separated by the mixing / distributing device 48 of the selected video channel unit 4 on the center side shown in FIG. 1, and is input to the video game unit 40 via the remote control signal demodulating unit 47 and the remote control decoder 46. The video game unit 40 operates according to the remote control signal and outputs a game image signal. In this way, the user can operate the remote control transmitter 8 to enjoy the video game.

Each of the plurality of video channel units 4 has a character image generating section 42 and a changeover switch 49, and can transmit a video game or character information. The changeover switch 49 is a CPU
Controlled by 41, one of the game image signal and the character image signal is selected. By doing so, when billing information is frequently requested, information can be provided using the video channel unit 4 in an empty state, which is efficient. In this case, the management personal computer 1 selects an empty video channel unit 4 and sets the frequency number of the selected video channel unit to the terminal device 7.
After that, the billing information recorded by the billing personal computer 2 is read and transmitted.

Next, the terminal device 7 on the cabin side will be described.

In FIG. 2, the character image signal and the game image signal sent from the center side are mixed and distributed by the mixer / distributor 7.
It is separated by 1, supplied to the up-down converter 72, and displayed on the screen of the TV receiver 6.

By the way, the changeover switch 77 is the CPU 73.
The CPU side (contact point a) is normally selected by the switch control, but when the user requests a video game, the remote control receiving section side (contact point b) is selected.

The modem 76 receives the polling signal from the center separated by the mixing / distributing device 71, and the changeover switch 7
It is sent to the CPU 73 through the contact point a of No. 7. The remote control receiver 78 receives the remote control signal sent from the remote control transmitter 8 and sends it to the contact point b of the CPU 73 and the changeover switch 77. When receiving the polling signal, the CPU 73 generates a response signal according to the instruction request indicated by the remote control signal, and sends it to the center via the contact a of the changeover switch 77, the modem 76 and the mixing / distributing device 71. Note that C
The PU 31 controls the PLL 34 to the frequency designated by the management personal computer 1 and enables communication with the center.

Now, when the user operates the remote control transmitter 8 to request a video game, the CPU 73 sends a remote control signal requesting a video game when receiving a polling signal. After that, a game image signal is sent from the center, and when the user starts the game, the changeover switch 77 is changed over to the contact b side and the charge L
The ED 79 is turned on to display that charging is in progress. In this state, the user can operate the remote control transmitter 8 to enjoy the video game.

Further, the CPU 73 controls the end of the video game,
Alternatively, when a remote control signal indicating a billing information request is received, the changeover switch 77 is switched to the contact a side, and when a polling signal is received, this remote control signal is transmitted and the billing LED 79 is turned off or blinks to charge. Display that it is stopped.

Next, an operation example of the remote controller will be described in the case where the user requests the video game and then the billing information.

When the information request button of the remote control transmitter 8 is pressed, guidance information as shown in FIG.
Displayed on the screen of the receiver. Here, if "1. Pay channel guide" is selected, a description of the pay video is displayed on the screen.

When the menu button of the remote control transmitter 8 is pressed for a few seconds, a menu as shown in FIG. 3B, for example, is displayed on the TV receiver. If "1. game title" is selected here, the title of the video game is displayed. Here, if the title of the desired video game is selected, the game image is displayed on the TV receiver. After that, the user can enjoy the video game by operating the buttons of the remote control transmitter 8 while watching the TV screen.

When requesting the billing information, the menu button of the remote control transmitter 8 is pressed for a few seconds to display the menu screen shown in FIG. 3B on the TV receiver, and then "6.
By selecting "Billing information", billing information as shown in FIG. 3C, for example, is displayed on the TV receiver. Here, if the “C” button is pressed, the menu screen shown in FIG. 3B is returned. Furthermore, "7. Return" on the menu screen
If is selected, the guide information screen shown in FIG.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, C
By centrally executing the processing related to charging on the side of the ATV, and selecting and transmitting an idle unit of a plurality of video channel units capable of transmitting the image signal of the pay video and the character image signal of the billing information. Not only is it possible to handle a wide variety of billing information, but it is not necessary to provide a billing information display function to the terminal device as in the conventional case, so that the terminal device can be downsized, the cost can be reduced, and the system cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The configuration on the center side is shown.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention,
The structure of the guest room is shown.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a TV screen when a user requests pay video and billing information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 management personal computer 2 billing personal computer 3 information channel unit 4 video channel unit 6 TV receiver 7 terminal device 8 remote control transmitter

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A CATV billing system for displaying billing information for a pay video on a TV screen of a terminal according to a user's request, wherein a center side for sending the pay video collects billing information for the pay video. Billing processing means for processing and storing,
A CATV billing system comprising: billing information sending means for reading the billing information stored in the billing processing means and sending it to the terminal side. 2. The charging information transmitting means can transmit a video signal of the pay video and a plurality of video channel units capable of transmitting the charging information as a character image signal, and an empty state of the plurality of video channel units. 2. The CATV billing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a management personal computer for selecting the pay video image signal or the character image signal.