JPS60253386A - Controller of cable television system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a case where a subscriber misses a contracted program by providing a means at a center station to send the forcible tuning data to the subscriber making a contract with the corresponding program in response to the start of the charged program. CONSTITUTION:When a certain charged program is started, the forcible tuning data is modulated by a modulator 35 and sent to each subscriber who reserved said program, in the form of the forward data. When the data is demodulated by a demodulator 49, a digital processing part 51 decides whether or not an external control unit 18 is designated. If the unit 18 is deisgnated, the channel selection data is given to each contracted subscriber for tuning to a latch circuit. Then the part 51 transmits the ON information of a power supply to a subscriber processing unit when an outlet switch of said processing unit corresponding to a converter tuner to which the forcible tuning is carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a control device for a cable television Zoyon 7 stem.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In cable television (hereinafter referred to as CATV)/system, a contract is made between a CATV company and a subscriber for desired channels and desired programs. Subscriber is CA
When a contract for a desired channel or program is completed with a TV company, the subscriber can view that channel or program.

By the way, in order for a subscriber to subscribe to a contracted channel or view a contracted program, the subscriber generally performs a selection operation by himself. However, the subscriber may forget this when it is time for the subscribed program. Also, I may be watching another channel when a contracted program starts.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in order to deal with the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is possible to forcibly tune the subscriber's tune when the program or channel to which the subscriber subscribes starts to be aired, It is an object of the present invention to provide a control device for a cable television system that can automatically turn on the power to a subscriber whose receiver is turned off.

[Summary of the invention]

In this invention, by providing the central station II with means for sending forced tuning data to subscribers who have subscribed to this program in response to the start of a paid program, it is possible to prevent subscribers from missing the subscribed program. It is something. .

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

Figure 1 shows a central station 1 and an external control unit 1.
8 shows the relationship with the subscriber processing unit 2o.

Broadcast signals from the central station 1 reach a branch line 14 via a main line 12 and a branch line 13. Broadcast signals include telephony signals, FM signals for services, and signals for data transmission.

Further, 15 and 16 are a main amplifier and a branch amplifier.

An external controller unit 18 is attached to a utility pole 17 in the middle of the branch line 14 as a tag-off. This external control unit 18 is provided with a distributor, tuner, etc. for distributing service lines for, for example, six houses. A drop-in line 19 from the external control unit 18 is connected to a subscriber processing unit 2o installed indoors at the subscriber's residence. In the figure, the lead-in line I9
Although one line is shown, drop-in lines are also led to other subscriber's homes. The subscriber processing unit 2o has a built-in circuit for processing television signals and communication FM signals input manually through the drop-in line 19. Further, between the external control unit 18 and the subscriber processing unit 20, there is a subscriber processing unit (2 o
Means is also provided for the subscriber side to supply power to the external control unit side through the drop-in line 19 from the subscriber side.

Figure 2 shows the central station 11 and the external control unit 1.
8, between the external control unit 18 and the subscriber processing unit 20, and between the subscriber processing unit 2υ and the central office 11.

Bands of signals transmitted from the central station 1 to the external control unit 18 include the following bands.

■ Television signal low band 2 (50MHz
~88 M [(z) and high band 22 (120 MH
z ~450 M) (z) ■ FM signal band 23
(88MHz -120MHz) ■ Forward data transmission band 24 (104MFIz ±0.1 MHz) Forward 0
The data transmission band 24 is used to transmit various data from the central office 11 to the external control unit 18.

Next, a reverse data transmission band 25 for transmitting reverse data from the external control unit 8 to the central office 11 is also set.

(19MHz) Also reverse data transmission band 25
2 5 MHz is also used by the subscriber processing unit 20 to transmit data directly to the central office 11 .

Next, data communication can also be performed between the external control unit 18 and the subscriber processing unit 20, 430
A carrier of kHz, 468 k) (z) is used. Also, 60 Hz is the power frequency supplied from the subscriber processing unit 20 to the external control unit I8.

Figure 3 shows the central station 1) and the external control unit 1).
8 and the subscriber processing unit 2o are shown more specifically.

In the central station II, 31 is a broadcast signal processing section, from which television signals and FM signals are led out onto a cable via a transmitter 32 and a bidirectional distributor 33. Further, 34 is a data processing device, and this data processing device 3
4 outputs forward data, which is modulated by an FSK modulator 35 using 104.1 MHz and 103-9 MI (z) and output onto a cable via a bidirectional distributor 33. In addition, reverse data is manually input to the data processing device 34.IJ
Birth data includes, for example, a 19 MHz signal modulated and returned using a double sideband method, or a 25 MHz FSK method signal. These signals are demodulated by a demodulator 36 and input to the data processing device 34 as reverse data.

The terminal 4) of the external control unit 18 is connected to the branch line I4.
are connected, and the branch line 14 is relayed by an internal cable 42. A bidirectional coupler 43 is provided in the middle of the internal cable 42 . A coil 44 connected in parallel with the bidirectional coupler 43 is for passing power from the branch amplifier. The coupling terminal 43a of the bidirectional coupler 43 is
It is connected to the common terminal of the bidirectional 9-divider 45.

The terminal 45a of the 9 divider 45 is connected to the FM signal filter device 4.
6 and a narrowband filter device 47. FM
The signal filter device 46 can separate the broadcast FM signal and input it to the 6-distributor 4H, and can also separate the forward data transmission signal and input it to the demodulator 49.

Also, the narrow band filter device 47 filters the 25 MH from the subscriber processing unit 2o outputted through the 6-distributor 48.
IJ of z This is for passing birth data.

The FM broadcast signal is transmitted through a 6-distributor 48, a bidirectional combiner 64,
It is led out to a terminal 67 via a capacitor 66. This terminal 67 is connected to a terminal 81 of the subscriber processing unit 18 via a drop-in line I9.

On the other hand, the forward data signal separated by the FM filter device 64 is demodulated by the demodulator 49 and input to the azotal processing section 51. The digital processing unit 5 reads the forward data and decodes its contents.

The digital processing section 51 has a built-in microcomputer.

The digital processing section 5I can output reverse data and input it to the modulator 50. This is used for communication with the central office 1. This portion of reverse data is a 19 MHz modulated signal and is output to the cable via the 9-band divider 45.

The digital processing section 51 can communicate data with the central station II, and can also communicate data with the subscriber processing unit 20 side. When performing data communication with the subscriber processing unit 20 side, the output data is modulated by the modulator 52, and sent to the combiner 54 and selector 5.
5, bidirectional coupler 63, combiner 64, capacitor 66
It is output to terminal 67 via. Further, a communication signal from the subscriber processing unit 20 is input to a terminal 67, and is sent to a capacitor 66, a combiner 64, a bidirectional coupler 63, and a selector 5.
5, is input to the demodulator 53 via the combiner 54. The data demodulated by the demodulator 53 is processed by the azotal processing section 5I.
is input. Coil 65 exhibits high impedance to AC signals.

The information sent from the Azotal processing unit 51 to the subscriber processing unit 20 includes display signal information, emergency control M
There are I-reports, etc. Further, the information sent from the subscriber processing unit 20 to the digital processing section 5 includes channel request information and the like. When channel request information is sent from the subscriber processing unit 2o, the Azotal processing unit 5no sends the requested channel-1)
r Determine whether there is a contract with the CATV company.

If the contract has been concluded, the azotal processing unit 51 will be connected to the latch circuit 68.
latches the data for tuning. Latch circuit 6
The output data of 8 is applied to the switch 61 and also to the channel selection data input terminal of the converter tuner 62.

The switch 6I can select the output signal of the distributor 45 or 71, and is determined by the output of the latch circuit 68. The distributor 71 is used when the cable 14' is added and the number of channels increases. The output of switch 61 is input to converter tuner 62 . The converter team 62 has a local oscillation means using a phase lock loop, and the frequency division data (corresponding to the channel selection data) in the phase lock loop is transmitted to the latch circuit 6.
Given from 8. The television broadcast signal selected by the tuner 62 is converted to a CATV channel, for example, a second or third channel, and is sent to a combiner 63 and a combiner 64.
, are led out to a terminal 67 via a capacitor 66. Terminal 67 is connected to terminal 8 of subscriber processing unit 20 via lead-in line 9.

Next, from the subscriber processing unit 20°, the drop-in line 1
Power can be supplied to the external control unit 8 via 9. The AC power is input from the terminal 67 to the common power supply circuit 56 and the individual power supply circuits 69. The common power supply circuit 56 rectifies and smoothes, for example, the negative half cycle of AC t'#. Further, the individual power supply circuit 69 rectifies and smoothes the positive half cycle of the AC 1 m source. The output power from the common power supply circuit 56 is used by the digital processing section 51, the modulator 50, the demodulator 49, and the like. Since AC power from a plurality of subscribers is input to the common power supply circuit 56, the power of the common power supply circuit section is negative 4 by all the subscribers. Individual power supply circuit 6
9 supplies output power to the converter tuner 62 since its purpose is to supply power to circuits related to each subscriber.

In FIG. 3, the external control unit 18 can be roughly divided into a common control circuit section and an individual subscriber circuit section L1 when its internal circuit blocks are roughly divided. In the drawing, 1 of "Individual subscriber circuit section i"
Although only one block is shown, in reality, six such blocks are built in. Therefore, from this external control unit 18, drop-in lines can be wired to, for example, six subscriber homes.

Next, the subscriber processing unit 20 will be explained. Subscriber processing unit 2? A lead-in line 9 is connected to the terminal 81 of the . The terminal 81 is grounded via a DC blocking capacitor 82 and a coil 83, and is also connected to a bidirectional coupler 84. This bidirectional coupler 8
4 terminals 84a and 84b are each connected to a 2-way divider 85.9
1 to each common terminal. The distributed output of the two-way divider 85 is input to an FM receiver 88 and a television receiver 89 via terminals 86 and 87.

On the other hand, the divided output of the two-way divider 91 is input to a demodulator 92. This demodulator 92 is a circuit that demodulates the communication data from the aforementioned desotal processing section 51, and the demodulated data is introduced into the microcomputer 94 and decoded.

This microcomputer 94 can also output communication data to be transmitted to the external control unit 18. The communication data output from the microcomputer 94 is modulated by the modulator 93, and is led out to the terminal 8I via the two-way divider 91 and the bidirectional coupler 84.

The microcomputer 94 sends display data to the display 95 and processes key input from the key gate 96. It also provides control signals to the remote control transmitter/receiver 97 and receives data from the remote control transmitter/receiver 97. The display contents of the display 95 include a receiving channel number, an error display, and the like. The role of the remote control transmitter/receiver 97 is to force the television receiver 89 to switch to the second channel or the third channel (CATV channel) when a receiving channel is designated by the key g-rye. Furthermore, it is also possible to receive control signals sent from a wireless remote control transmitter and import the received data into a microcomputer.

Next, the power supply system will be explained. 101 is a plug into which commercial AC power is input. To the terminal 101 of this plug 10, l0IB is the primary winding 103 of the transformer 102.
connected to both ends. One end of the secondary winding 104 of the transformer 102 is grounded, and the other end is connected to the terminal 81 via the coil 106. Therefore, the AC power is supplied to the lead-in wire 1 via the winding 104, the coil 106, and the terminal 81.
σ and input to the common power supply circuit 56 and individual power supply circuit 69 on the external control unit 8 side. Further, a winding 105 is provided on the secondary side of the transformer 02. One end of this winding 105 is grounded, and the other end is connected to a power supply circuit 107 within the power processing unit 20. The output of this power supply circuit 107 is supplied to circuits within the subscriber processing unit 20.

Next, the subscriber processing unit 20 is provided with seven outlets 1 and 0. One terminal of this outlet 110 is connected to the terminal 101 side of the plug 10, and the other terminal is connected to the terminal 101 of the plug 101 via the switch 111.
t) Connected to the IB side. The switch 111 is turned on and off by a control signal from the microcomputer 94.

One embodiment of the present invention is constructed as described above.

[Explanation of forced tuning operation]

The device of the present invention can forcibly tune the subscriber's converter tuner when the pay program starts when the subscriber has contracted for a pay program with a CATV company. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation during the forced tuning operation.

The data processing unit 34 of the central station 11 is also provided with a timer circuit, and can start and end the charge program. Now, as shown in step 120,
When a certain paid program starts, in step f21, forced tuning data is transmitted to each subscriber who has reserved this program. The forced cheating data is modulated by a modulator 35 and transmitted as forward data. The format of the forced cheating data is configured as shown in FIG. 5, for example. That is, 141 is a start bit to mark the beginning of data, 142 is (7) f-ta for designating an external control unit,
143 is command data, in which data such as writing, reading, tuning, etc. is set. In this case, it is a tuning instruction. Next 144 is processed data. The processing data includes data for assigning subscriber processing units, forced tuning channel data, and power-on information. Further, 145 is a check data section, and I46 is an end data section.

When the forward data in the above format is transmitted and demodulated by the demodulator 49, the digital processing unit 51
It is then determined whether its own external control unit 18 is designated. This determination is made by comparing the data specifying the external control unit with the unique number data of the external control unit 18. Step 122 is a step for detecting designated data.

If the digital processing unit 5 determines that the external control unit 18 has been designated, the instruction data 14
The type of 3 is determined in step 123. If the command data 143 is forced cheating data in step 123, the process moves to Stella f124. In step 124, the processed data 44 is decoded, and the tuning data for tuning is provided to the latch circuit of each subscriber. Now, if tuning data is given to the latch circuit 68 in the circuit section -7'0, the receiving channel of the converter tuner 62 will be forcibly determined to be the forced tuning channel.

As a result, the selected channel of the converter tuner 62 becomes the contract channel, and its output is the lead-in line I9.
is input to the subscriber processing unit 20 via. Further, the routine of the denotal processing section 51 moves to step 125. In step 125, it is determined whether power-on information is to be transmitted to the subscriber. This determination is made by the digital processing section 51 and the microcomputer 9.
This is done by data communication between the four. Microcon beater 94 stores the state of outlet switch 111 in its memory. If the outlet switch 110 is turned on by the microcomputer 94,
The stored data is sent to the digital processing section 5.

If the outlet switch 110 is turned off, the off information is sent from the microcon beater 94. Therefore, the digital processing section 5 can detect whether each subscriber's outlet switch is in the on state or the off state, and can store this.

Next, if the outlet switch of the subscriber processing unit corresponding to the converter chip for which forced tuning has been performed is off, the digital processing unit 5 transmits power-on information to the subscriber processing unit. Transmit.

The power-on information is transmitted to the modulator 52, synthesizer 54, selector 55
, a combiner 63, a combiner 64, and a terminal 67. The power-on information inputted to the terminal 81 via the lead-in line 19 is transmitted to the capacitor 82, coupler 84, and distributor 91.
, is input to the demodulator 92.

The power-on information demodulated here is decoded by the microconbeater 94. In step 126, the microcomputer 94 then determines whether the external control unit 18 has been designated. This determination is made based on the content of the data sent from the digital processing section 5. If it is determined in step 126 that the external control unit I8 has assigned the request, the microcomputer 94 executes step Z.
27, the next data is read. Check that this data includes power-on information.
Judging by Surt, move to microcomputer 94J/i stezog 199 and switch 111 of outlet 110.
is turned on, for example, by relay control.

As a result of the above, if the outlet 89k of the television receiver 89 is plugged into the outlet 11O, the power of the television receiver 89p can also be automatically turned on. Furthermore, when power-on information is detected in step 129, microcomputer 94 may send data to display 95 to indicate that the contracted program has started. After turning on the switch 110 in step 129, the process ends in step 130. If the television receiver 89 is already powered on when the forced tuning data is transmitted, the channel will be automatically switched to the contracted program channel.

In the above description, forced tuning was performed for specific subscribers managed by the central office 11. but,
When an emergency situation occurs, it is necessary to transmit emergency information to all subscribers.

In this case, a specific code for specifying all external control units and subscribers may be determined, and forced tuning and power supply processing may be performed using this code.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned device can also release the forced-cheating state. That is, in FIG. 6, Stella ft5o is for detecting that a paid program has ended, and is set in the data processing section 34. When the end of the paid program is detected, the process moves to step 151, where the detuning data is transmitted as forward 9 data to each subscriber who has reserved the program.

Stella fl 52 is set within the digital processing section 51 of the external g control unit 12. Step 15
2, external control unit 180 designation data detection is performed. When the data specifying the external control unit 18 is detected, the routine of the digital processing section 5 moves to step 153.

In step 153, tuning cancellation data is detected. If detuning data and corresponding subscriber code data are detected, the process moves to step 154. In step 154, the data before forced tuning is set for each subscriber's latch circuit that has been tuned. As a result, the process of canceling the channeling and returning to the original receiving channel is performed. The setting data for each latch circuit before forced tuning is temporarily stored in the memory before forced tuning. In addition, each subscriber's outlet switch status signal is also temporarily stored in memory prior to performing forced tuning. Therefore, this status signal is transmitted to the subscriber processing unit 20 side in step 155.

Step 15G is within the program routine of microcomputer 94 within subscriber processing unit 20. In this Stella f156, it is determined whether or not there has been a designation from the external control unit 12. If the designation has been received, the process moves to step 152, data is read, and the process moves to step 15B.

In step 158, a determination is made as to whether power-on information (previous outlet switch status signal) is present. If the outlet switch status signal is power off information, the out-left switch 111 is turned off in step 7'''159, after which the process moves to step 160 and ends.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As mentioned above, this invention forcibly tunes the subscriber's tuner so that the subscriber can watch the subscribed program when the subscriber's subscribed program starts, and It is possible to provide a control device for a cable television system that can automatically turn on a subscriber whose receiver is turned off.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the outline of a cable television system. Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the frequency spectrum A of a signal used in the cable television system. Figure 3 is an illustration of an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the circuit operation of the present invention; Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the data format used in the circuit of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is also a circuit of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart shown to explain the operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Central Ji6, ts... External control unit, 19... Drop-in line, 20... Subscriber processing unit, 3... Broadcast signal processing section, 32... Transmitter, 34 ... data processing device, 46 ... filter device, 47 ... narrowband filter device, 49 ... demodulator, 50 ... modulator, 51 ... digital processing unit, 5
2... Modulator, 53... Demodulator, 55... Selector, 62... Converter cheese, 63... Directional coupler, 68... Latch circuit, 92... Demodulator vessel, 93
...Modulator, 94...Microcombi, -ta, 95
...Display, 96...Key M-dore, 101...Plug, 110...Outlet, III...Outlet switch. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A plurality of external control units to which signals are transmitted from the central office via cables, a plurality of subscriber processing units each connected to the external control units via drop lines, and the central office. modulating forward data provided in the station and having at least data designating any of said external control units, and data for forcing tuning of any converter in said external control unit; means for demodulating the modulated forward data and detecting data designating the external control unit; and means provided in the external control unit for detecting data designating the external control unit; and means for forcibly tuning the converter tuner to a predetermined channel in response to detecting data for forcibly tuning the converter tuner.