System for downloading computer software with broadcasting program

• US 6,532,591 B1
• Filed: 09/23/1998
• Issued: 03/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/1997
• 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: Karibe, Tomoyuki, Hikita, Hiroyuki, Suzuki, Takayuki, Arai, Yuko, Shinohara, Hiroki
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, KIEU OANH T
• Application Number:
  US09/158,492
• Time in Patent Office: 1,630 Days
• Field of Search: 725/60, 725/61, 725/67, 725/68, 725/86, 725/105, 725/117, 725/132, 725/140, 725/152, 725/114-118, 725/90-93, 725/98, 725/37
• US Class Current: 725/132
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/91 broadcasting computer programmes
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/25 Arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8402 involving a version number, e.g. version number of EPG data arrangements for version control in computers G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A guide of a broadcasting program with a computer software product, in which a transmission start time, a name of the broadcasting program, a name of the computer software product, a version number of the computer software product and a terminal type required of a terminal are listed, is transmitted from a center station to each terminal. Also, files of the computer software product are transmitted from the center station to each terminal with video-audio data of the broadcasting program at the transmission start time. In each terminal, a particular terminal type of the terminal and a particular version number of the computer software product downloaded in the terminal are managed. In cases where the particular terminal type of the terminal agrees with the terminal type listed in the guide and the particular version number of the computer software product is higher than the version number listed in the guide, the downloading of the computer software product is judged, and the computer software product is downloaded to the terminal at the transmission start time. Accordingly, the computer software product can be downloaded to user'"'"'s terminal without requiring a special frequency band used only for the computer software product. Also, because the computer software product received in the terminal is updated, the user can always execute the updated computer software product.

Claims

1. A software download system for downloading a software product from a center station to a terminal through a transmission channel, the system comprising:

broadcast program guide preparing means, located in the center station, for preparing at least one guide of broadcast program(s) accompanied by the software product whose version number is a first version number, wherein the version number is changed each time the software product is revised in the center station;

broadcast program data storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of the broadcast program listed in the prepared guide of the broadcast program;

software storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of the software product listed in the prepared guide of the broadcast program;

transmitting means, located in the center station, for transmitting the prepared guide of the broadcast program accompanied by the software product, and transmitting the data of the software product with the data of the broadcast program during a time period of transmission of the broadcast program through the transmission channel under the control of the broadcast program guide preparing means;

receiving means, located in the terminal, for;

receiving the guide to the broadcast program, accompanied by the software product, from the transmitting means transmitted through the transmission channel, and

receiving the data of the software product with the data of the broadcast program during the time period of transmitting from the transmitting means through the transmission channel;

version number managing means, located in the terminal, for managing a second version number of the software product previously downloaded from the center station to the terminal;

download judging means, located in the terminal, for checking whether or not the first version number of the software product of the received guide differs from the managed second version number of the software product and deciding whether to download the received data of the software product to the terminal, where the first version number differs from the second version number;

downloading means, located in the terminal, for extracting the data of the software product from the received broadcast program in cases where the downloading of the software product has been accepted by the download judging means and for storing the data of the software product whereby to download the received software product from the center station to the terminal and to use the software product on a user'"'"'s side;

download completion notice means, located in the terminal, for transmitting information about a download completion notice to the center station where the downloading of the software product performed by the downloading means is completed; and

download record managing means, located in the center station, for managing a record of the downloading of the software product performed in the terminal by using the information contained in the download completion notice.

2. A software download system, according to claim 1, further comprising:

set up information storing means, located at the center station, for storing set up information indicating a first version number of the software product and a first version numbers of files of which the software product is comprised,

wherein the set up information is added to the guide prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means,

wherein the appropriateness of downloading each file of the software product from the center station to the terminal is determined by the download judging means where the first version number of the file differs from the second version number of the file, and

wherein the file that has been selected to be downloaded is extracted from the program being broadcast by the downloading means and is stored.

3. A software downloading system according to claim 2 in which the appropriateness of downloading a particular file of the software product from the center station to the terminal is judged by the download judging means where the first version number of the software product listed in the guide is newer than the second version number of the software product managed by the version number managing means and the first version number of the file is a newer than the second version number of the file managed by the version number managing means.

4. A software downloading system according to claim 1, further comprising:

set up information storing means, located at the center station, for storing set up information indicating a required specific terminal type,

wherein the set up information is added to the guide prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means; and

terminal information managing means for managing a particular type of the terminal,

wherein the appropriateness of downloading the software product from the center station to the terminal is determined by the download judging means where the particular terminal type agrees with the specific terminal type listed in the guide, and

wherein the software product is extracted from the broadcast program by the downloading means and is stored.

5. A software download system according to claim 1, further comprising:

software download reservation managing means, located at the terminal, for managing the reservation of the software product to be transmitted for downloading with the broadcast program where the downloading of the software product is selected by the download judging means, and

means for instructing the downloading means to download the software product to the terminal during the time period that the broadcast program is being transmitted.

6. A software download system according to claim 1, wherein the download record managing means comprises:

download completion notification judging means for judging whether or not the downloading of the software product performed by the downloading means has been completed; and

download completion notice transmitting means for transmitting a download completion notice comprising;

an identification number of the terminal and a name of the software product downloaded by the downloading means, to the center station where the download completion notification judging means has determined that the downloading of the software product performed by the downloading means has been completed.

7. A software download system according to claim 6, wherein:

said download record managing means is configured to manage the record of the downloading of the software program corresponding to the identification number of the terminal and the name of the software product transmitted from the download completion notice transmitting means.

8. A software download system according to claim 6, further comprising:

set-up information storing means, located in the center station,, for storing set-up information including a download completion notification flag,

wherein the set-up information is included in the guide prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means, and

wherein the notification of the downloading of the software product is adapted to be judged by the download completion notification judging means according to the download completion notification flag.

9. A software download system for downloading a software product from a center station terminal through a transmission channel, the system comprising:

broadcast program guide preparing means, located in a center station, for preparing first guides of a first group of broadcast programs and second guides of a second group of broadcast programs, each broadcast program of the first group being accompanied by a software product having a first version number, each broadcast program of the second group being unaccompanied by any software product,

wherein the version number of the software product is adapted to be changed each time the software product is revised in the center station;

broadcast program data storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of each broadcast program;

a program guide preparing means adapted to prepare a program guide from said stored broadcast program data;

software storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of a software product, corresponding to the first version number of each software product, from which the guide is prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means;

transmitting means, located in the center station, for transmitting the prepared guides to the broadcast programs, and adapted to transmit the data, of each broadcast program stored in the broadcast program data storing means, during a time period of transmitting the broadcast program, wherein said transmitting means is under the control of the program guide preparing means and is adapted transmit the data of each software product stored in the software storing means with the data of a broadcast program through the transmission channel of the broadcasting means under the control of the broadcasting program preparing means;

receiving means, located in the terminal, for receiving the guides of the broadcast programs from the transmitting means, and for receiving the data of the broadcast programs and the data of the software products from the transmitting means;

version number managing means, located in the terminal, for managing a second version number corresponding to each software product previously downloaded from the center station to the terminal;

broadcasting software program extracting means, located in the terminal, for extracting the guide of each broadcast program of the first group from the received guides as a guide of a broadcast software program;

download judging means, located in the terminal, for checking whether or not the first version number of the software product of the software program being broadcast differs from the second version number of the software product managed by the version number managing means and extracted by the broadcast software program extracting means, and for determining whether to download the software product of each broadcast software program received by the receiving means to the terminal where the first version number of the software product differs from the second version number of the software product;

downloading means, located in the terminal, for extracting the data of the software product from the received broadcast program during the transmission time period where downloading of the software product is permitted by the download judging means and for storing the data of the software product to download the received software product from the center station to the terminal and to use the software product on a users side;

software download reservation managing means, located in the terminal, for managing recording of a reservation for one or more recording-reserved broadcast programs selected from the second group of broadcast programs; and

download-reserved broadcast program determining means, located in the terminal, for selecting a guide of a download-reserved broadcast program from among guides to one or more broadcast programs, of which software products are judged, by the download judging means, to be downloaded to the terminal, on condition that a transmission time period of the download-reserved broadcast program does not overlap with the transmission time period of any recording-reserved broadcast program managed by the software download reservation managing means,

wherein the software product transmitted with the download-reserved broadcast program is downloaded by the downloading means.

10. A software download system according to claim 9, in which the guide of the download-reserved broadcast program is selected on condition that a transmission start time of the download-reserved broadcast program is later than the current date and time.

11. A software download system according to claim 9, in which a plurality of guides to broadcast programs with the same particular software product are prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means, data of the broadcast programs stored in the broadcast program data storing means are transmitted by the transmitting means during different transmission time periods, at least one name-checked broadcast program with the particular software product being selected from the broadcast programs with the same particular software product by the download-reserved broadcast program determining means on condition that a transmission time period of each name-checked broadcast program does not overlap with the transmission time period of any recording-reserved broadcast program, and the download-reserved broadcast program with the particular software product being selected from the name-checked broadcast programs by the download-reserved broadcast program determining means on condition that the download-reserved broadcast program is the earliest in its transmission start time from among the name-checked broadcast programs.

12. A software download system for downloading a software product from a center station to a terminal through a transmission channel, the system comprising:

broadcast program ,guide preparing means, located in a center station, for preparing guides of a first group of broadcast programs and guides of a second group of broadcast programs, each broadcast program of the first group being accompanied by the software product of which version number is a first version number, each broadcast program of the second group being unaccompanied by any software product, and a version number of the software product being changed each time the software product is revised in he center r station;

broadcast program data storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of each broadcast program from which the guide is prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means;

software storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of a software product corresponding to the first version number for each software product of which the guide is prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means;

transmitting means, located in the center station, for transmitting the prepared guides of the broadcast programs, transmitting the data of each broadcast program stored in the broadcast program data storing means, during a transmission time period of the broadcast program, under the control of the broadcast program guide preparing means, and transmitting the data of each software product stored in the software storing means with the data of a broadcast program under the control of the broadcast program guide preparing means;

receiving means, located in the terminal, for receiving the guides of the broadcast programs from the transmitting means, and for receiving the data of the broadcast programs and the data of the software products from the transmitting means;

version number managing means, located in the terminal, for managing a second version number corresponding to each software product previously downloaded from the center station to the terminal;

broadcast software program extracting means, located in the terminal, for extracting the guide of each broadcast program of the first group from the received guides as a guide of one broadcast software program;

download judging means, located in the terminal, for checking whether or not the first version number of the software product of the broadcast software program of each guide, that is extracted by the broadcast software program extracting means, differs from the second version number of the software product managed by the version number managing means and determining whether to download the software product of a broadcast software program received by the receiving means to the terminal where the first version number of the software product differs from the second version number of the software product;

downloading means, located in the terminal, for extracting the data of the software product from the received broadcast program during the transmission time period where the downloading of the software product is judged by the download judging means and for storing the data of the software product to download the received software product from the center station to the terminal and to use the software product on user'"'"'s side;

software download reservation managing means, located in the terminal, for managing the recording reservation for one or more first recording-reserved broadcast programs selected from the second group of broadcast programs, and newly managing the recording reservation for a second recording-reserved broadcasting program selected from the second group of broadcasting programs;

download-reserved broadcast program determining means, located in the terminal, for selecting a guide of a first particular download-reserved broadcast program from guides of one or more particular broadcasting programs, which include the same particular software product determined by the download judging means to be downloaded to the terminal, on condition that a transmission time period of the first download-reserved broadcasting program does not overlap with the transmission time period of any of the first recording-reserved broadcast program managed by the software download reservation managing means; and

duplication reservation detecting means, located in the terminal, for detecting that a transmission time period of the first particular download-reserved broadcasting program overlaps with the transmission time period of the second recording-desired broadcast program newly managed by the software download reservation managing means, transmitting information indicating the duplication reservation of the first particular download-reserved broadcast program to the download-reserved broadcast program determining means to select a guide of a second particular download-reserved broadcast program relating to a specific transmission time period from the guides of the particular broadcast programs in the download-reserved broadcasting program determining means on condition that the specific transmission time period of the second particular download-reserved broadcasting program does not overlap with the transmission time period of any first recording-desired broadcast program or the second recording-desired broadcasting program, and transmitting the guide of the second particular download-reserved broadcast program relating to the specific transmission time period to the software product transmitted with the second particular download-reserved broadcasting program downloaded by the downloading means at the specific transmission time period under the control of the software download reservation managing means.

13. A software download system according to claim 12, in which the guide of the first particular download-reserved broadcast program and the guide of the second particular download-reserved broadcast program are selected on condition that a transmission start time of each download-reserved broadcast program follows current date and time.

14. A software download system for downloading a software product from a center station to a terminal through a transmission channel, the system comprising:

broadcast program guide preparing means, located in the center station, for preparing a guide of a broadcast program accompanied by the software product whose version number is a first version number, the version number being adapted to be changed each time the software product is revised in the center station;

broadcast program data storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of the broadcast program listed in the prepared guide of the broadcasting program;

software storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of the software product listed in the prepared guide of the broadcast program;

transmitting means, located in the center station, for transmitting the prepared guide of the broadcast program accompanied by the software product, and transmitting the data of the software product with the data of the broadcast program during a transmission time period of the broadcast program through the transmission channel of the broadcast program under the control of the broadcast program guide preparing means;

receiving means, located in the terminal, for receiving the guide of the broadcast program accompanied by the software product from the transmitting means transmitted through the transmission channel, and receiving the data of the software product with the data of the broadcast program, during the transmission time period, from the transmitting means and transmitted through the transmission channel;

version number managing means, located in the terminal, for managing a second version number of the software product previously downloaded from the center station to the terminal,

download judging means, located in the terminal, for checking whether or not the first version number of the software product of the received guide differs from the managed second version number of the software product and determining whether to download the received data of the software product to the terminal where the first version number differs from the second version number;

downloading means, located in the terminal, for extracting the data of the software product from the received broadcast program in cases where the downloading of the software product is judged by the download judging means and for storing the data of the software product from the center station to the terminal and to use the software product on a user'"'"'s side;

protocol processing means, located in the center station, for processing the stored data of the software product according to a particular software communication protocol to produce a particular protocol-processed software product that is communicable according to the particular software communication protocol, a name of the particular software communication protocol being listed in the prepared guide of the broadcast program, the particular protocol-processed software product being adapted to be transmitted from the transmitting means to the receiving means of the terminal though the transmission channel, and the particular protocol-processed software product being adapted to be received by the receiving means;

protocol processing program storing means, located in the terminal, for storing one or more protocol processing programs respectively used for a protocol processing in which one protocol-processed software product, communicable according to one software communication protocol, is changed to data of one software product;

protocol correspondence table holding means, located in the terminal, for holding a protocol correspondence table in which the correspondence of one software communication protocol and one protocol processing program is listed for each protocol processing program stored in the protocol processing program storing means;

software communication protocol judging means, located in the terminal, for checking whether or not the particular software communication protocol, whose name is listed in the guide of the received broadcast program, is listed in the held protocol correspondence table in cases where the download judging means decides to download the software product, and adapted to output the name of the particular software communication protocol in cases where the particular software communication protocol is listed in the protocol correspondence table; and

protocol processing performing means, located in the terminal, for receiving the name of the judged particular software communication protocol, extracting a particular protocol processing program corresponding to the particular software communication protocol from the protocol processing program storing means, performing a protocol processing for the received particular protocol-processed software product according to the particular protocol processing program to change the particular protocol-processed software product to the software product being downloaded by the downloading means.

15. A software download system for downloading a software product from a center station to a terminal through a transmission channel, the system comprising:

broadcast program guide preparing means, located in a center station, for preparing at least one guide comprising a first group of programs for broadcasting and at least one guide comprising a second group of programs for broadcasting,

wherein each program of the first group is accompanied by a software product having a version number that is a first version number,

wherein each program of the second group is unaccompanied by any software product, and

wherein a version number of the software product is changed each time the software product is revised in the center station;

broadcast program data storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of each broadcast program that has a guide that has been prepared by the broadcast program preparing means;

software storing means, located in the center station, for storing data of a software product corresponding to the first version number for each software product from which the guide has been prepared by the broadcast program;

guide preparing means;

transmitting means, located in the center station, through the transmission channel, for transmitting the prepared guides of the broadcast programs, adapted to transmit the data of each broadcast program that has been stored in the broadcast program data storing means during a time period of the transmission of a broadcast program under the control of the broadcast program guide preparing means, and adapted to transmit the data of each software product stored in the software storing means with the data of one broadcast program through the transmission channel of the broadcast program under the control of the broadcast program guide preparing means;

receiving means, located in the terminal, for receiving the guide(s) related to the broadcast programs from the transmitting means, and adapted to receive the data of the broadcast programs and the data of the software products from the transmitting means;

version number managing means, located in the terminal, for managing a second version number corresponding to each software product previously downloaded from the center station to the terminal;

broadcast software program extracting means, located in the terminal, for extracting the guide related to each broadcast program of the first group from the received guides of one broadcasting software program;

download judging mean, located in the terminal, for checking whether or not the first version number of the software product of the broadcasting software program of each guide, that has been extracted by the broadcast software program extracting means, differs from the second version number of the software product managed by the version number managing means and deciding whether to download the software product of each broadcasting software program received by the receiving means to the terminal where the first version number of the software product differs from the second version number of the software product;

downloading means, located in the terminal, for extracting the data of the software product from the received broadcast program during the transmission time period where the downloading of the software product is judged by the download judging means and adapted to store the data of the software product to download the received software product from the center station to the terminal and to use the software product on a user'"'"'s side; and

audience rating managing means, located in the center station, for managing a broadcast program audience rating table in which an audience rating of each broadcast program whose guide has been prepared by the broadcast program guide preparing means is listed,

wherein the broadcast program guide preparing means includes means for setting a broadcast program having a high audience rating as a specific broadcast program not accompanied by a software product on condition that the particular broadcast program with the particular software product is in a different transmission channel from each other channel and in