Information providing method

• US 7,583,928 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2004
• Issued: 09/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Iwatsu, Takeshi, Sakoh, Noriyuki, Murase, Yasuhiro, Yamashita, Shinsuke, Moriya, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson; Matthew D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Safaipour; Bobbak
• Application Number:
  US10/563,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20060160509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,932 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.01, 455/411, 455/522, 709/219
• US Class Current: 455/3.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/82 using signals not modulated onto a carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/18 Arrangements characterised by circuits or components specially adapted for receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/74 using programme related information, e.g. title, composer or interpreter
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/82 the transmission system being the Internet
• 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 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8547 involving timestamps for synchronizing content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

An information provision apparatus previously stores associated information concerning an on-air program. The apparatus accepts a request for associated information from a client terminal CT which receives a program'"'"'s broadcast signal. In synchronization with timing of accepting the request, the apparatus reads the associated information and transmits it to the client terminal CT. When the on-air program changes to a next program in such situation, the apparatus updates the associated information which should be read and transmitted. The apparatus can update the associated information to be transmitted in synchronization with program changeover. It is possible to provide the program in synchronization with the associated information without a time difference between both.

Claims

1. An information provision method characterized by comprising:

searching associated information from a database storing a plurality of associated information concerning an on-air program broadcasted by a broadcasting station;

accepting an acquisition request for the associated information from a broadcast receiver to receive a broadcast signal for the program;

setting the associated information stored in the database in accordance with timing of accepting the acquisition request as transmitted information;

assigning a service session ID to the broadcast receiver and a valid period for the service session ID, said service session ID assigned at each acquisition request to identify a current communication connection;

performing an authentication process of the acquisition request based on the session ID and the valid period, said authentication process failing when the valid period is expired;

transmitting the associated information to the broadcast receiver if the authentication process is successful; and

when the on-air program changes to a next program, resetting the transmitted information as associated information of the next program for transmission.

2. The information provision method according to claim 1, wherein when the on-air program changes to a next program, the resetting removes the transmitted information until the program changes to the next program.

3. The information provision method according to claim 1, wherein the resetting changes the transmitted information until changeover to the next program to associated information concerning the next program.

4. The information provision method according to claim 1, wherein at the accepting, a server to provide the associated information receives request information which requests the associated information and the service session ID equivalent to a session ID associated with the associated information provision server transmitted from the broadcast receiver;

the associated information provision server performs the authentication process based on the service session ID and, when an authentication error occurs, transmits information indicating the authentication error and service identification information for identifying the associated information provision server to the broadcast receiver;

an authentication server receives authentication ticket issuance request information which requests to issue an authentication ticket for access to the associated information provision server as well as an authentication session ID equivalent to a session ID associated with the authentication server from the broadcast receiver;

the authentication server authenticates the authentication session ID, when granting an authentication, issues an authentication ticket, and transmits the issued authentication ticket to the broadcast receiver;

the associated information provision server receives the authentication ticket transmitted from the broadcast receiver and transmits the received authentication ticket to the authentication server;

the authentication server, when authenticating the received authentication ticket to be valid, transmits information indicating authentication permission to the associated information provision server;

the associated information provision server receives the information indicating authentication permission, issues the service session ID as a session ID associated with the broadcast receiver, and transmits the issued service session ID to the broadcast receiver;

at the transmitting, the associated information provision server receives request information to request the associated information as well as the service session ID from the broadcast receiver; and

the associated information provision server performs the authentication process using the service session ID and, when granting an authentication, transmits associated information corresponding to the request information to the broadcast receiver.

5. The information provision method according to claim 1, wherein the associated information concerning a production which differs from the on-air program and is broadcast in the program is stored in the database;

and

the resetting changes the associated information transmitted at the transmitting to transmitted information concerning the new production when a next new production starts being broadcast.

6. The information provision method according to claim 5, wherein when the on-air program changes to a next program, the resetting removes the transmitted information concerning the production which was transmitted at the transmitting until the program changes to the next program.

7. The information provision method according to claim 5, wherein the resetting changes the transmitted information concerning the production transmitted until changeover to the next program to associated information concerning the new production.

18. The method recited in claim 1 further comprising:

sending the session ID to the broadcast receiver with the valid period.

19. The method recited in claim 18, further comprising:

receiving the session ID with the valid period back from the broadcast receiver.

20. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the valid period is approximately 1 minute.

8. An information provision apparatus comprising:

a database configured to store a plurality of associated information concerning an on-air program broadcasted by a broadcasting station;

a searching unit configured to search the database for associated information concerning the on-air program broadcasted by the broadcasting station;

an acceptance unit configured to accept an acquisition request for the associated information from a broadcast receiver to receive a broadcast signal for the program;

an assignment unit configured to assign a service session ID to the broadcast receiver and a valid period for the service session ID, said service session ID assigned at each acquisition request to identify a current communication connection;

an authentication unit configured to performing an authentication process on the acquisition request based on the session ID and the valid period and provide an indication that the authentication process was successful or unsuccessful, said authentication unit indicating that the authentication process was unsuccessful when the valid period is expired;

a transmitter configured to read the associated information stored in the database synchronously with timing to accept the acquisition request by the acceptance unit as transmitted information and to transmit the associated information to the broadcast receiver if the authentication unit indicates that the authentication process was successful; and

a resetting unit configured to reset the transmitted information which should be read from the database for transmission when the on-air program changes to a next program.

9. The information provision apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when the on-air program changes to a next program, the resetting unit removes the transmitted information until the program changes to the next program.

10. The information provision apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the resetting unit is configured to change the transmitted information until changeover to the next program to associated information concerning the next program.

11. The information provision apparatus according to claim 8, the database is configured to store the associated information concerning a production which differs from the on-air program and is broadcast in the program;

and

the resetting unit is configured to change the transmitted information to associated information concerning the new production when a next new production starts being broadcast.

12. The information provision apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when the on-air program changes to a next program, the resetting unit removes the transmitted information concerning the production until the program changes to the next program.

13. A storage medium, when accessed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

searching associated information from a database storing a plurality of associated information concerning an on-air program broadcasted by a broadcasting station;

accepting an acquisition request for the associated information from a broadcast receiver to receive a broadcast signal for the program;

setting the associated information stored in the database with timing to accept the acquisition request as transmitted information;

assigning a service session ID to the broadcast receiver and a valid period for the service session ID, said service session ID assigned at each acquisition request to identify a current communication connection;

performing an authentication process on the acquisition request based on the session ID and valid period, said authentication process failing when the valid period is expired;

transmitting the associated information to the broadcast receiver if the authentication process is successful; and

when the on-air program changes to a next program, resetting the transmitted information as associated information of the next program for transmission.

14. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein when the on-air program changes to a next program, the resetting removes the transmitted information until the program changes to the next program.

15. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the resetting changes the transmitted information until changeover to the next program to associated information concerning the next program.

16. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the database stores the associated information concerning a production which differs from the on-air program and is broadcast in the program;

and the resetting changes the transmitted information to associated information concerning the new production when a next new production starts being broadcast.

17. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein when the on-air program changes to a next program, the resetting removes the transmitted information concerning the production which was transmitted at the transmitting until the program changes to the next program.