Pay television system

• US 4,833,710 A
• Filed: 12/03/1987
• Issued: 05/23/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/1984
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirashima, Masayoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Buczinski, Stephen C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/127,593
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 380/10, 380/16, 380/20, 358/84, 358/86, 455/2
• US Class Current: 380/233
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58

Abstract

This invention, relating to a unidirectional television system such as satellite television broadcasting system, is intended to transmit and receive the charging information corresponding to the content of the program being transmitted in the digital form at certain time intervals, and account the amount by a charging amount accounting means built in the receiver from said information and the time of receiving the television program, write the charge data proportional to the amount in a memory, read out the charge data in the memory when necessary, and display it on a display means.

Claims

1. A pay televison system comprising:

a means for tr ansmitting and receiving a charge code corresponding to the content of a program transmitted in a unidirectional television system, said charge code being in the form of digital coded signals which are transmitted a plurality of times throughout an entire period of each broardcast program at specified time intervals and a content of said charge code being changed at predetermined time intervals;

a means for accounting an amount in an accounting circuit within a receiver according to the number of changes of said received charge code;

a means for writing charge data proportional to this amount into a memory; and

a means for reading out charge data stored in said m®

mory when necessary and for displaying said stored charge data on a display means.

2. A pay television system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said memory is a nonvolatile memory.

3. A pay television system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a means for transmitting paid charge information sent out from a televison program transmission side to said receiver into a memory;

a means for comparing said paid charge information and a charge data in said memory, said charge data in said memory representing an accrued amount of charges from a last payment, andaa means for storing a new key code sent form said transmission side only when both of said pad charge information amounts and said charge data amounts are equal or when said pad charge inforamtion amounts sent from said transmission side is greater than said charge data amount stored in said memory.

4. A pay television system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said memory is a nonvolatile memory.

5. A pay television system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising, with said memory being divided into three sections:

a means for storing charge data proportional to the number of changes of said received charge code of every program in a first memory;

a means for adding the content stored in said first memory to the content of a second memory when a program is over, when power is cut off, when the channel is changed, or when reception of a pay program is otherwise over;

a means for trenasferring and storing the content stored in said second memory to a third memory when receiving a charge display instruction code sent form a television program transmission side, and a means for comparing received data with the content of said second o third memory when said received data corresponds to paid charge inforamtion individually sent to said receiver from said transmission side, and for clearing the content of said second and third memories when both values are equal or when the content of asid second or third memory is smaller than said received data, or for storing the difference in said second and third memories when said received data is smaller than the content of the second or third memory and for displaying this different amount.

6. A pay television system as set forth in claim 5, wherein said first, second and third memories are nonvolatile memories.

7. A pay television system as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a means for rejecting acceptance of new descrambling information at said receiver sent from the transmission side when said receivied data is smaller than the content stored in said third memory of said receiver.

9. A pay television system as set forth in claim 1, wherein a memory for storing charging data and a memory for storing a key code signal for descrambling a scrambled video signal and sound signal are individually provided, and as the key code signal memory, a first memory stores a presently valid key code and a second memory stores a key code signal which becomes valid in the future;

said system further comprising;

a means for writing a key code signal consecutively sent from the transmissionside once in said key code signal memory;

a memory for storing data when the content of a charge information memory is renewed according to the charge information of an individual terminal sent from the transmission side and a flag to indicate a type of the charge inforamtion at that time, and a thrid memroy for storing an indication taht a content of said seocnd memory was transferred into said first memory in accordance with the key code signal change signal from the transmission side.

10. A pay television system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said memories are all nonvolatile memories.

11. A pay television system as set forth in claim 9, wherein a means is provided for storinq information in said third memory whne different key code signals are simulataneously stored in said first and second memories, said information being the same as information stored in said third memory when the data is transferred from said second memory to said first memory.

12. A pay television system as set forth in claim 1, wherein an individiual address assigned to said receiver is scrambled by a first scrambling method and stored in said memory, and information for descrambling the terminal key code, scrambled by a secodn scrambling method which is sent from the television program transmission side, is scrambled by said first scrambling method and stored in said memory, and a program for descramling said first scrambling method is stored in said memory on a chip of a microprocessor used for main control.

13. A pay television system as set forth in claim 12, wherein an address and information for descrambling the terminal key code are stored in one memory which is detachably connected to said system by means of a socket.

8. A pay television system as set forth incalim 5, further comprsiing:

a means for comparing said received data and the content stored in said second memory;

a means for storing the differene between said recevied data and said content of said second memory in said second memory when the former content of said second memory is greater than the latter content thereof and for providing a flag signal when said differnece is stored in said second memory, and a means for adding the content of said first memory as a negative number to the control of said second memory when transferring the content of said first memory into said second memory during a certain period of said flag signal and storing the result in said second memory.