Two-way information transmission system, two-way information method, and subscriber terminal device

• US 6,169,570 B1
• Filed: 04/14/1997
• Issued: 01/02/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Mitsuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, KIEU OANH T
• Application Number:
  US08/834,109
• Time in Patent Office: 1,359 Days
• Field of Search: 348/3, 348/7, 348/6, 348/10, 348/12, 348/13, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 725/105
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00173 wherein the origin of the content is checked, e.g. determining whether the content has originally been retrieved from a legal disc copy or another trusted source
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00666 involving a step of erasing or nullifying data, e.g. data being overwritten with a random string
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/33 by plural channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/69 Optical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/76 Wired systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/79 using downlink of the CATV systems, e.g. audio broadcast via CATV network
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/97 using uplink of the CATV systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2221 being a cable television head-end CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17345 Control of the passage of the selected programme

Abstract

A subscriber terminal ms sends a demand including at least information for identifying the demand subscriber terminal, information for identifying the requested information, and information relating to the urgency of the requested information to the information distribution transmission center HE through a going-up line. The information distribution transmission center HE plans and transmits information requested according to the transmission schedule of the information based on the demand, and transmits the transmission schedule information in the going-down control data to the subscriber terminal which sent the demand prior to the actual transmission, and transmits the requested information according to the above-mentioned transmission schedule. The subscriber terminal ms receives and analyzes the going-down control data from the information distribution transmission center HE and is informed of the transmission schedule, and acquires the information to be transmitted based on the obtained transmission plan. The subscriber terminal stores the information in a large scale memory, and reads the information from the memory for use. After the information is read from the memory for use, an information reusing disabling unit disables the reusing of the information in such a way as to delete the corresponding information from the memory.

Claims

1. A two-way information transmission system comprising:

an information distribution transmission center for receiving an information distribution transmission request and for transmitting requested information;

a plurality of subscriber terminals connected to said information distribution transmission center by going-up lines and going-down lines for transmitting said information distribution transmission request to said information distribution transmission center through said going-up lines and for receiving said requested information transmitted by said information distribution transmission center through said going-down lines, wherein each of said plurality of subscriber terminals includes;

distribution transmission request transmitting means for transmitting said information distribution transmission request to said information distribution transmission center having at least information for identifying one of said plurality of subscriber terminals transmitting said information distribution transmission request, information for identifying said requested information, and information relating to an urgency of said requested information,

memory means for storing said requested information transmitted by said information distribution transmission center,

transmission plan receiving analysis means for receiving a transmission plan based on going-down control data from said information distribution transmission center,

information acquisition means for receiving the requested information transmitted by said information distribution transmission center based on said transmission plan and for storing the requested information in said memory means according to the urgency of said requested information based on said transmission plan,

reading means for reading the requested information from said memory means, and

information reuse disabling means for disabling reusing of the requested information read from said memory means by said reading means, and wherein

said information distribution transmission center includes;

transmission planning means for planning a transmission plan for transmitting the requested information based on said information distribution transmission request from one of said plurality of subscriber terminals,

transmission implementation means for transmitting said requested information based on the transmission plan planned by said transmission planning means to one of said plurality of subscriber terminals, and

going-down control data sending means for sending said going-down control data including information of the transmission plan planned by said transmission planning means to one of the plurality of subscriber terminals which sent said information distribution transmission request before said transmission implementation means transmits the requested information.

2. The two-way information transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said memory means includes a mechanism that prevents a memory medium from being directly removed from each of said plurality of subscriber terminals.

3. The two-way information transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein authentification information for permitting copying of transmitted information is transmitted from said information distribution transmission center to said plurality of subscriber terminals in relation to said information distribution transmission requests and wherein said information acquisition means of said plurality of subscriber terminals stores said requested information in said memory means based on said authentification information.

4. The two-way information transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, after said requested information is read from said memory means, said information reusing disabling means automatically performs one of deleting the requested information from said memory means and logically writing information in the memory means over the read out requested information.

5. The two-way information transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of subscriber terminals further includes:

a user interface for a user to input a memory reading request for reading said requested information from said memory means, and

means for transmitting the memory reading request to said information distribution transmission center through said going-up line in response to the input of said memory reading request by said user via said user interface, wherein

said information distribution transmission center sends a reading permission signal from said going-down control data sending means to one of said plurality of subscriber terminals through said going-down line in response to the memory reading request inputted by said user from one of said plurality of subscriber terminals.

6. The two-way information transmission system as claimed in claim 5, wherein a copying permission request in addition to said memory reading request is transmitted from one of said plurality of subscriber terminals to said information distribution transmission center through said going-up line, and

upon said information distribution transmission center receiving said copying permission request from one of said plurality of subscriber terminals, said information distribution transmission center transmits to one of said plurality of subscriber terminals control data for removing copying prohibition from said requested information to be read from said memory means, and charges an additional fee to one of said plurality of subscriber terminals that transmitted said copying permission request.

7. A method for two-way information transmission comprising the steps of:

transmitting an information distribution transmission request from one of a plurality of subscriber terminals to an information distribution transmission center including at least information for identifying one of the plurality of subscriber terminals that transmitted said information distribution transmission request, information for identifying requested information, and information relating to an urgency of the requested information through a going-up line;

planning a transmission plan by said information distribution transmission center for information to be transmitted based on said information distribution transmission request from one of said plurality of subscriber terminals; and

transmitting said transmission plan from said information distribution transmission center to one of the plurality of subscriber terminals which transmitted said information distribution transmission request in going-down control data through a going-down line prior to the transmission of the requested information, and thereafter transmitting said requested information through said going-down line according to said transmission plan, whereby

one of said plurality of subscriber terminals is informed of said transmission plan by receiving and analyzing said going-down control data transmitted from said information distribution transmission center, receives the requested information transmitted from said information distribution transmission center based on the acquired transmission plan, stores the requested information in a memory having a large capacity according to the urgency of said requested information, reads said requested information from said memory for using said requested information, and after said requested information is used by a user, disables a reusing of the requested information.

8. A plurality of subscriber terminals connected to an information distribution transmission center through going-up lines and going-down lines for requesting information from said information distribution transmission center through said going-up lines and for receiving the requested information from said information distribution transmission center in response to the request through said going-down lines, each subscriber terminal of said plurality of subscriber terminals comprising:

distribution transmission request sending means for transmitting an information distribution transmission request to said information distribution transmission center including at least information for identifying one of the plurality of subscriber terminals transmitting said information distribution transmission request, information for identifying requested information, and information relating to an urgency of said requested information;

memory means for storing said requested information transmitted by said information distribution transmission center;

transmission plan receiving analysis means for receiving a transmission plan for said requested information to be transmitted by said information distribution transmission center, wherein said transmission plan is based on said information distribution transmission request transmitted by one of said plurality of subscriber terminals, by referring to going-down control data transmitted by said information distribution transmission center;

information acquisition means for receiving the requested information transmitted by said information distribution transmission center based on the transmission plan and for storing the requested information in said memory means according to the urgency of said requested information based on said transmission plan;

reading means for reading the requested information from said memory means; and

information reusing disabling means for disabling the reusing of the requested information read from said memory means by said reading means and used by a user.