Receiver and receiving system and method

• US 20020177434A1
• Filed: 04/26/2002
• Published: 11/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Sato, Shigeru, Suzuki, Keizo
• Granted Patent: US 6,907,232 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols

Abstract

A receiver and a receiving system capable of obtaining content related information corresponding to a retrieval key are provided. When a retrieval instruction is performed by a user, a retrieval key setting section sets the artist name of a musical piece provided by a program being received as a retrieval key. A related information retrieval section obtains program content data added to distribution information of another program, and retrieves content related information (for example, information such as the scheduled date of the sale of a new musical piece) corresponding to the retrieval key set by the retrieval key setting section. When the content related information corresponding to the retrieval key is extracted, a display processing section creates image data for displaying the extracted content related information and displays the image data on a display section.

Claims

1. A receiver for retrieving content related information from a plurality of broadcasting channels, said receiver comprising:

a receiving section operable to receive said distribution information containing program information and incidental information from said plurality of broadcasting channels;

an operation section operable to designate a retrieval key inputted by a user;

a retrieval section operable to identify broadcasting channels with incidental information containing said retrieval key, retrieve one or more broadcasting channels with incidental information containing said retrieval key, and retrieve content related information from said one or more broadcasting channels with incidental information containing said retrieval key; and

a display section for displaying the content of said content related information.

2. The receiver of claim 1, wherein said retrieval section retrieves content related information from each of said one or more broadcasting channels containing said retrieval key.

3. The receiver of claim 1, wherein said incidental information contains an artist, said content related information contains works of said artist, and said display section displays said works of said artist when the name of said artist is specified as said retrieval key.

4. A receiving system comprising:

a receiver for retrieving content related information from a plurality of broadcasting channels, said receiver comprising a receiving section operable to receive said distribution information containing program information and incidental information from said plurality of broadcasting channels, an operation section operable to designate a retrieval key inputted by a user, a retrieval section operable to identify broadcasting channels with incidental information containing said retrieval key, retrieve one or more broadcasting channels with incidental information containing said retrieval key, and retrieve content related information from said one or more broadcasting channels with incidental information containing said retrieval key, and a display section for displaying the content of said content related information; and

an external device including a recording medium having said incidental information stored thereon,

wherein said retrieval section is operable to retrieve said content related information from said distribution information received by said receiver, and from said incidental information stored in said storage medium within said external device.

5. The receiving system of claim 4, further comprising a database containing said incidental information, which is connected to said receiver via a predetermined network,

wherein said retrieval section is operable to retrieve said content related information from said distribution information received by said receiver and from said database.

6. The receiving system of claim 5, wherein said predetermined network is the Internet.

7. The receiving system of claim 5, wherein said display section displays said content related information retrieved by said retrieval section in order of time of retrieval.

8. The receiving system of claim 5, further comprising:

a confirmation section for asking a user to confirm the capability of a retrieval before said content related information is retrieved from said database when a payment obligation of a fee occurs during communication via said network,

wherein said retrieval section retrieves said content related information from said database when the execution of a retrieval is instructed by said confirmation section.

9. The receiving system of claim 5, further comprising:

a confirmation section for asking a user to confirm the capability of a retrieval of said content related information from said database before the payment obligation of an additional fee occurs in a case where a free charge or a fixed charge is set regarding within a predetermined range and a payment obligation of an additional fee occurs when this predetermined range is exceeded during communication via said network,

wherein said retrieval section retrieves said content related information from said database only when the execution of a retrieval is instructed by said confirmation section in a case where said predetermined range is exceeded.

10. The receiving system of claim 4, further comprising:

a database containing said incidental information, which is connected to said receiver via a predetermined network,

wherein said retrieval section is operable to retrieve said content related information from said distribution information received by said receiver, from said incidental information stored in said storage medium within said external device, and from said database.

11. The receiving system of claim 10, wherein said predetermined network is the Internet.

12. The receiving system of claim 10, wherein said display section displays said content related information retrieved by said retrieval section in order of time of retrieval.

13. The receiving system of claim 10, further comprising:

a confirmation section for asking a user to confirm the capability of a retrieval before said content related information is retrieved from said database when a payment obligation of a fee occurs during communication via said network,

wherein said retrieval section retrieves said content related information from said database when the execution of a retrieval is instructed by said confirmation section.

14. The receiving system of claim 10, further comprising:

a confirmation section for asking a user to confirm the capability of a retrieval of said content related information from said database before the payment obligation of an additional fee occurs in a case where a free charge or a fixed charge is set regarding within a predetermined range and a payment obligation of an additional fee occurs when this predetermined range is exceeded during communication via said network,

wherein said retrieval section retrieves said content related information from said database only when the execution of a retrieval is instructed by said confirmation section in a case where said predetermined range is exceeded.

16. A receiving method of claim 15, wherein said act of retrieving content related information includes retrieving content related information from each of said broadcasting channels having incidental information including said retrieval key.

17. A receiving method of claim 15, wherein said incidental information contains an artist, said content related information contains works of said artist, and said display section displays said works of said artist when the name of said artist is specified as said retrieval key

18. A receiving method of claim 15, further comprising the acts of:

storing said incidental information on a storage medium; and

retrieving said content related information from said received distribution information and from said storage medium.

19. A receiving method of claim 15, further comprising the acts of:

connecting to a database containing said incidental information via a predetermined network; and

retrieving said content related information from said received distribution information and from said database as a target.

20. The receiving method of claim 19 wherein said predetermined network is the Internet.

21. A receiving method according to claim 15, further comprising the acts of:

storing said incidental information on a storage medium;

connecting to a database containing said incidental information via a predetermined network; and

retrieving said content related information from said received distribution information, from said incidental information stored on said storage medium, and from said database.

22. A receiving method according to claim 19, wherein said retrieved content related information is displayed in order of time of retrieval.

23. A receiving method according to claim 19, further comprising:

the act of asking a user to confirm the capability of a retrieval before said content related information is retrieved from said database when a payment obligation of a fee occurs during communication via said network,

wherein, when the confirmation result instructs the execution of a retrieval, said content related information is retrieved from said database as a target.

24. A receiving method according to claim 19, further comprising:

the act of asking a user to confirm the capability of a retrieval of said content related information from said database before a payment obligation of an additional fee occurs in a case where a free charge or a fixed charge is set regarding within a predetermined range and a payment obligation of an additional fee occurs when this predetermined range is exceeded during communication via said network,

wherein, when said predetermined range is exceeded, said content related information is retrieved from said database only when the confirmation result instructs the execution of a retrieval.

15. A receiving method for retrieving content related information corresponding to a retrieval key by using distribution information of a plurality of broadcasting channels received, said receiving method comprising the acts of:

receiving said distribution information containing program information and incidental information;

designating a retrieval key;

identifying broadcasting channels having incidental information including said retrieval key

retrieving content related information from at least one of said broadcasting channels having said incidental information including said retrieval key; and

displaying said content related information from at least one of said broadcasting channels having incidental information including said retrieval key.