Two-way broadcasting and receiving system with time limit and/or limit data

• US 5,682,599 A
• Filed: 12/20/1994
• Issued: 10/28/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yoshinobu, Hitoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Peng, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRANT, CHRISTOPHER C
• Application Number:
  US08/360,101
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• Field of Search: 348/7, 348/12, 348/13, 348/6, 348/8, 348/10, 348/1, 348/2, 348/11, 455/4.2, 455/5.1, 455/6.1, 455/2, 455/6.2, 455/6.3, 379/92
• US Class Current: 725/134
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals

Abstract

A two-way broadcasting system and method by which the amount of accesses from the reception side can be controlled with certainty by the broadcasting side and a receiving apparatus for use with the method wherein, information of a reply to a question from a broadcasting side is transmitted from a reception side to the broadcasting side by way of a telephone line. Each receiving apparatus on the reception side has individual identification information, and the broadcasting side broadcasts information regarding a reply destination and telephone call origination limiting information for limiting transmission of the information of a reply in a multiplexed condition with a broadcasting signal from the broadcasting side. On the reception side, transmission of the information of a reply to the reply destination is inhibited when the identification information peculiar to a receiving apparatus on the reception side satisfies a condition provided by the telephone call origination limiting information for inhibiting a telephone call origination of a reply to the reply destination.

Claims

1. In a two-way broadcasting method wherein information of a reply to a question from a broadcasting side is transmitted from a reception side to the broadcasting side by way of a telephone line, the improvement wherein:

each receiving apparatus on the reception side has individual identification information;

the broadcasting side broadcasts information regarding a reply destination and telephone call origination limiting information for limiting transmission of the information of a reply in a multiplexed condition with a broadcasting signal from the broadcasting side; and

on the reception side, transmission of the information of a reply to the reply destination is inhibited when the identification information peculiar to a receiving apparatus on the reception side satisfies a condition provided by the telephone call origination limiting information for inhibiting a telephone call origination of a reply to the reply destination, wherein sub broadcasting information relating to a program such as data for accessing the two-way broadcast or data for reservation of the program is constructed using a DTMF signal within an audio signal band and is broadcast in a multiplexed condition with a main broadcasting audio signal.

2. A two-way broadcasting method according to claim 1 wherein, on the reception side, the sub broadcasting information is stored, after decoded, into storage means.

3. A two-way broadcasting method according to claim 1, wherein the identification information of each receiving apparatus on the reception side is a product number of the receiving apparatus or a telephone number of a user of the receiving apparatus.

4. A two-way broadcasting method wherein information of a reply to a question from a broadcasting side is transmitted from a reception side to the broadcasting side by way of a telephone line, the improvement wherein:

each receiving apparatus on the reception side has individual identification information;

the broadcasting side broadcasts information regarding a reply destination and telephone call origination limiting information for limiting transmission of the information of a reply in a multiplexed condition with a broadcasting signal from the broadcasting side; and

on the reception side, transmission of the information of a reply to the reply destination is inhibited when the identification information peculiar to a receiving apparatus on the reception side satisfies a condition provided by the telephone call origination limiting information for inhibiting a telephone call origination of a reply to the reply destination,

wherein the broadcasting signal is a main audio signal, and the information regarding the reply destination and the telephone call origination limiting information are broadcast in the form of a multi-frequency signal, which includes a combination of a plurality of frequencies selected one by one from a plurality of frequency groups in an audio signal band, in a multiplexed condition with the main audio signal.

5. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus, comprising:

inputting means for inputting information of a reply to a question or the like from a broadcasting side;

transmission means for transmitting the inputted reply information to the broadcasting side by way of a telephone line;

reproduction means for reproducing sub-broadcasting information regarding a reply destination multiplexed with a reception signal and telephone call origination limiting information multiplexed with the reception signal for limiting transmission of the reply information, wherein the sub-broadcasting information is constructed using a DTMF signal within an audio signal band and is broadcast in a multiplexed condition with a main broadcasting audio signal;

storage means for storing the information regarding the reply destination and the telephone call origination limiting information reproduced by said reproduction means;

holding means holding identification information peculiar to said receiving apparatus;

discrimination means for comparing the telephone call origination limiting information and the identification information peculiar to said receiving apparatus with each other to discriminate whether or not a telephone call origination for the reply from said receiving apparatus is permitted; and

means for inhibiting, when the result of discrimination by said discrimination means proves that a telephone call origination from said receiving apparatus is not permitted, transmission of the reply information to the reply destination.

6. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the identification information peculiar to said receiving apparatus is a product number of said receiving apparatus or a telephone number of a receiving user.

7. In a two-way broadcasting method wherein a two-way broadcast including information regarding a reply destination is provided from a broadcasting station side, and information of responses of users to a two-way program is transmitted from each reception side to the reply destination by way of telephone lines, the improvement wherein:

a receiving apparatus of each reception side has identification information peculiar thereto; and

when a responding operation to the two-way program is performed by a user of the receiving apparatus of the reception side, a transmission time instant is set in accordance with the identification information and the response information is transmitted to the reply destination at the thus set transmission time instant, wherein the response information to be transmitted to the reply destination includes information regarding a point of time at which the responding operation is performed.

8. In a two-way broadcasting method wherein a two-way broadcast including information regarding a reply destination is provided from a broadcasting station side, and information of responses of users to a two-way program is transmitted from each reception side to the reply destination by way of telephone lines, the improvement wherein:

a receiving apparatus of each reception side has identification information peculiar thereto; and

when a responding operation to the two-way program is performed by a user of the receiving apparatus of the reception side, a transmission time instant is set in accordance with the identification information and the response information is transmitted to the reply destination at the thus set transmission time instant, wherein, upon broadcasting of the two-way program, the broadcasting station side broadcasts the information regarding the reply destination and the information regarding a response including a limit time to responses from users in a multiplexed condition with a broadcasting signal, and on the reception side, when a responding operation to the two-way broadcast is performed within the response limit time by a user of a receiving apparatus, a transmission time instant is set within a time range including a time outside the limit time in accordance with the identification information and then response information including information regarding a point of time at which the responding operation is performed is transmitted to the reply destination at the thus set transmission time instant.

9. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus which transmits a response of a user of said receiving apparatus to a two-way program provided from a broadcasting station side, wherein the response is transmitted to a predetermined reply destination by way of a telephone line, comprising:

inputting means for inputting information of a response to the two-way program;

transmission means for transmitting the thus inputted response information to the reply destination of the broadcasting station side by way of a telephone line;

a time circuit for providing time instant information;

storage means for storing identification information allocated to said receiving apparatus; and

transmission time setting means for setting a time instant at which the response information is to be transmitted in accordance with the time instant information from said time circuit and the identification information;

the response information being transmitted to the reply destination by said transmission means when the time instant set by said transmission time setting means comes, further comprising means for inserting information regarding a point of time at which the responding operation is performed into the response information.

10. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus which transmits a response of a user of said receiving apparatus to a two-way program provided from a broadcasting station side, wherein the response is transmitted to a predetermined reply destination by way of a telephone line, comprising:

inputting means for inputting information of a response to the two-way program;

transmission means for transmitting the thus inputted response information to the reply destination of the broadcasting station side by way of a telephone line,

a time circuit for providing time instant information;

storage means for storing identification information allocated to said receiving apparatus; and

transmission time setting means for setting a time instant at which the response information is to be transmitted in accordance with the time instant information from said time circuit and the identification information;

the response information being transmitted to the reply destination by said transmission means when the time instant set by said transmission time setting means comes, and further comprising extraction means for extracting limit time information of responses to the two-way program multiplexed in a broadcasting signal, means for storing the thus extracted limit time information, means for inserting information regarding a point of time at which the responding operation is performed into the response information, and discrimination means for discriminating from the time information from said time circuit whether or not the time instant at which the responding operation is performed is within a predetermined time prior to a response ending time instant which is determined from the limit time to responses, said transmission time setting means setting, when the result of discrimination from said discrimination means provides that the time instant at which the responding operation is performed is within the predetermined time prior to the response ending time instant, a transmission time instant for the response information within a predetermined time after the response ending time instant.

11. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving broadcast signal from a broadcast side;

said broadcast signal comprises sub-broadcasting information including destination data representing a specified reply destination and limit data representing specified limits for transmission of reply data, wherein the sub-broadcasting information is constructed using a DTMF signal within an audio signal band and is broadcast in a multiplexed condition with a main broadcasting audio signal;

reproduction means for extracting said destination data and said limit data from said broadcast signal;

first storage means for storing destination data extracted from said broadcast signal

second storage means for storing said limit data extracted from said broadcast signal by said reproducing means;

third storage means storing unique identification data associated with said receiving apparatus;

a comparator for comparing said identification data stored in said third storage means with said limit data stored in said second storage means;

user input means for inputting command data;

said command data comprises said reply data;

transmitting means for transmitting said reply data to a predetermined destination specified by said destination data stored in said first storage means;

controller means for controlling said transmitting means in accordance with data input by said user input means, said reply data and said limit data; and

said controller comprises inhibiting means for inhibiting said transmitting means from transmitting said reply data where said comparator determines that said identification data stored in said third storage means does not match said limit data stored in said second storage means.

12. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said broadcast signal further comprises video data.

13. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said identification data comprises a product model number related to said receiving apparatus.

14. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said identification data comprises a serial number associated with said receiving apparatus.

15. A two-way broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said identification data comprises a telephone number.

16. A method of interactive television broadcasting comprising the steps of:

broadcasting a broadcast signal comprising primary and secondary broadcast information, said secondary broadcast information comprising reply destination data specifying a predetermined reply destination for receiving reply data, and reply limit data for limiting the transmission of reply data to said reply destination including a limit time for replying;

receiving said broadcast signal;

separating said secondary broadcast information from said primary broadcast information;

storing said reply destination data into a first storage means;

storing said reply limit data into a second storage means;

inputting reply data;

comparing said reply limit data stored in said second storage means with identification data stored in a third storage means;

wherein said limit data stored in said second storage means correlates to said identification data stored in said third storage means, initiating communications via a telephone line with said predetermined reply destination specified by said reply destination data stored in said first storage means and transmitting said input reply data at the limit time for replying; and

transmitting with said input reply data, the reply destination data regarding a point of time at which the replying operation is performed.

17. A method of interactive television broadcasting comprising the steps of:

broadcasting a broadcast signal comprising primary and secondary broadcast information, said primary broadcast information comprises video program information, said secondary broadcast information comprises reply destination data transmitted in the form of a DTMF signal within an audio signal band;

receiving said broadcast signal;

separating said separating said secondary broadcast information from said primary broadcast information;

storing said reply destination data into a first storage means;

inputting reply data;

initiating communications via telephone line with a reply destination specified by said reply destination data stored in said first storage means; and

transmitting said reply data to said reply destination via said telephone line.