WO2002003691A1

WO2002003691A1 - Method for providing information on a tv set

Info

Publication number: WO2002003691A1
Application number: PCT/DE2001/002400
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matthias Zahn
Original assignee: Fast Tv Server Ag
Priority date: 2000-06-30
Filing date: 2001-06-27
Publication date: 2002-01-10
Also published as: AU2001278372A1; DE10031121B4; DE10031121A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for providing a television set (1) with data to be displayed. A reverse channel can be easily implemented by transmitting the data via long-distance data transmission to a first transceiver device (11), transmitting them from said first transceiver device (11) to a second transceiver device (12) and from the second transceiver device (12) to the TV set (1). Long-distance data transmission is preferably carried out via the internet. A local radio path is preferably established between the two transceiver devices (11, 12). The data preferably refer to an electronic program magazine.

Description

Method for providing information on a television set

The present invention relates to a method for providing information for a television set according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

It is known in the prior art to display information of a general nature, and in particular information relating to the program content of television stations, on a television set. Such information is transmitted via the program itself (so-called program boards) or via teletext. However, the prior art has a number of disadvantages. Initially, teletext is only accessible to those whose television set has a teletext display option. The technical quality of the teletext, on the one hand with regard to the display itself and on the other hand with regard to the ability to navigate and search mechanisms for certain teletext content, is very limited. Furthermore, the respective broadcaster is responsible for the program content of the teletext belonging to their broadcaster, so that no neutral evaluation of a program content and no clear, common overview of the program content of all broadcasters is possible.

The most serious disadvantage of the prior art, however, is that there is no return channel from the television, for example to the broadcaster or an advertising or information provider. The medium of television, which is the most widespread form of entertainment and information, still does not enable simple dialogue communication. For this reason, surveys, competitions with viewers, determination of audience ratings, business transactions ... are only possible in a complicated way.

Due to the technical conditions in television broadcasting, e.g. B. if this is terrestrial or via satellite, the television signal is only broadcast unidirectionally to the television receiver. The television viewer cannot approach the program provider directly. The same applies to companies, which advertising spaces in television Use programs or in relation to sources of information regarding the program content. According to the state of the art, toll-free telephone numbers or fax numbers are shown here or Internet addresses are also given.

The invention is therefore based on the object of avoiding the disadvantages of the prior art and, in particular, of specifying a method for providing information on a television set which likewise provides a return channel.

This object is achieved in a method of the type mentioned by the features specified in the characterizing part of claim 1.

An advantage of the invention is the expected acceptance of the return channel provided. This does not block a telephone line, causes almost no costs and only requires minimal separate hardware.

A particular advantage of the invention is that the operation provided by the return channel provided is possible for the user in which he can use his return channel directly. He can therefore immediately input via the return channel, for. B. participate in a vote (TED). There is no delay, such as would occur in the prior art if a corresponding telephone connection is overloaded. However, its input is only forwarded to the sender when the necessary requirements have been met, e.g. B. the PC connected to the first transceiver device is connected and connected to the Internet accordingly. The operation is therefore transparent. Any time differences are imperceptible to the user or do not impair operation, but possibly operation. The latter does not apply if there is a free dedicated line to the Internet.

Another advantage of the present invention is that individual or individualized data can be displayed on the television for the user. NEN. This is in contrast to the well-known television text. For example, for a user who cannot receive certain television programs, these can be omitted from an EPG for better clarity.

The first transceiver device is advantageously connected to a personal computer. Program contents, for example an electronic program guide, can therefore be delivered to the first transceiver device via the personal computer in order to continue to send them to the second transceiver device. A suitable software program is available for this in the personal computer.

Remote data transmission preferably takes place via the telephone line and / or the power line.

A local radio connection is preferably provided between the first transceiver device and the second transceiver device, which has a range of approximately 50 meters, for example. Instead of the radio connection, another wireless connection, such as. B. an infrared connection may be provided. Furthermore, a cable connection or another suitable connection can also be provided instead of the radio connection.

A particular advantage results from the present invention if the remote data transmission as background takes place in an idle time or "idle time" of an Internet access. In this way, the electronic program magazine can be reloaded, in particular automatically, individually and also transparently for the user.

The control device, which in addition to the second transceiver device, in particular other components, such as. B. a storage device for storing data transmitted via the local radio connection, for. B. an electronic program guide or a hard drive or a mass storage device for storing television or video signals, for example a "video e-mail" on the To display television set, is preferably designed as a plug. Alternatively, the control device can also be integrated in a television set.

If the control device is a reading device for electronic means of payment, such as. B. chip cards or magnetic cards or the like, payment transactions can also be made via the return channel provided according to the invention. Since the control device is preferably plugged into the rear of the television, it preferably has a variably positionable receiver, preferably an infrared receiver, which can be attached in particular to the side of the television. The control device is then operated via an infrared remote control. The data stored via the radio link from the control device into the television set can be displayed in the television set instead of a television picture or also superimposed thereon, as is known from conventional teletext. In the latter variant, the television signal must be accessed, which is why it is particularly preferred for integration into a television set.

Finally, it is preferred that the on the respective transmission links, i. H. on the first "route" from the Internet to the first transceiver device, and on the second transmission route, from the first transceiver to the second transceiver, the data to be transmitted at the respective devices, i. H. essentially at the terminal of the first transceiver, i.e. H. preferably the personal computer, and at the location of the second transceiver device d. H. preferably the location of the control device, the data can be stored in order to take advantage of the availability of the communication links when it is available. In particular, the fact that communication on the radio link is slower than remote data transmission can be taken into account in this way.

The invention, as well as further features, objectives, advantages and possible uses thereof, will be explained in more detail below on the basis of a description with reference to the attached drawings. All of the described and / or illustrated features form individually or in any meaningful combination. nation the subject of the present invention, regardless of their summary in the claims or their relationship. The drawings show:

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the arrangement according to the invention to explain the method according to the invention.

1 shows a television set 1, which is set up, for example, in the living room of a user. A personal computer 2 is installed in the study, for example. The personal computer 2 is connected to a monitor 3, which enables the operation of the personal computer 2 to be visualized. The personal computer 2 is connected to the Internet or another suitable data network via a telephone or power line (not shown) or other suitable means. An electronic program guide, namely a so-called "electronic program guide" or EPG, is located on the Internet at a suitable URL address. It is now known per se to view this EPG on the computer monitor 3 and its functionality, e.g. B. to use the search for keywords in program descriptions. However, it is not known to display an EPG on television set 1.

For this purpose, for example, a first transceiver or transceiver 11 is connected to the serial RS 232 interface of the personal computer 2. The transceiver 11 is designed as a plug or "stick". The transceiver 11 can also with other interfaces, such as. B. the USB interface. A second transceiver or transceiver 12 is also formed in a plug 5 and is inserted into the SCART socket of the television set 1 during operation. Further components are provided in the plug 5, which enable processing and / or storage of signals transmitted on the radio link 11-12. In particular, a CPU 6, a RAM 7 and a FLASH memory 8 are provided in the plug device 5. The plug device 5 also has a clock. To supply power to its components, the plug device 5 is connected via a (not shown) provided) cable and an intermediate transformer connected to the power grid. It is also preferred that the plug-in device 5, which can also be referred to as local television control, has a hard disk (not shown) for storing television signals. As an alternative to the exemplary embodiment shown, the control device 5 can also be integrated in the television set 1. This simplifies the power supply for the control device and the latter can also directly access the television signal.

In operation, the plug-in device 5 is plugged into the rear of the television set 1. A cable 9 with an IR receiver 10 connected to it is provided for remote control via a remote control 20. The IR receiver can, for example, be magnetically attached to the side of the housing of the television set 1, so that unimpeded communication is possible between the remote control 20 and the IR receiver 10. To increase the functionality, the IR receiver can also be connected to an (IR) transmitter, not shown, which has other components, for. B. drives a conventional video recorder. The remote control or remote control 20 preferably has means to trigger interactions. The means comprise a keyboard, which in particular has a "scroll" functionality. Four keys are preferably provided, with which one can move a cursor in a menu (up, down, right, left), and one key with which a menu item can be selected. The remote control is preferably capable of learning so that it can transmit the signal from other remote-controlled devices, e.g. B. VCR, learn, save and play. Furthermore, the remote control 20 preferably has a display device (not shown), by means of which it is possible to recognize in the manner of a “fill level indicator” how much program content is currently available on the television set 1, and more precisely in the control device 5. The user thus recognizes when he should use his Internet access again in order to download further program information from the network. According to the invention, the “fill level indicator” can alternatively be displayed directly on the television set 1. It should be noted that in a further exemplary embodiment (not shown) of the present invention, instead of or in addition to the use of a personal computer 2, a separate terminal can also be provided, which receives information, for example, directly via a telephone line and this via a radio link accordingly transmits the radio link 11-12 to the television set. The radio link 11-12 can also be realized by a pure cable connection and by a combination of a radio and cable connection.

In the operation of the system according to the invention, for example, data from an electronic program magazine are loaded from the Internet onto the personal computer 2. The personal computer 2 must be switched on and connected to the Internet. The process of switching on and connecting to the Internet can also take place automatically. For example via a timer, corresponding software or the like. However, a variant is preferred in which the data of the EPG are loaded in an appropriately prepared form on the personal computer 2 during a connection to the Internet in a so-called idle or idle time. This makes the process of charging invisible and cheaper for the user. In a "pause", that is to say, for example, when a user merely looks at a website on the monitor 3, program information is loaded into the personal computer 2 via appropriate software. This information is then transmitted to the plug device 5 via the radio link 11-12. Then they are available on the television set 1. The data can be transmitted on the radio link 11-12 in principle with the personal computer 2 switched on or off. The former is particularly preferred when the transceiver 11 is operatively connected to the personal computer 2 such that it participates, for example, from its power supply or memory or is controlled by its software. The latter is particularly preferred if the transceiver 11 can carry out a data transmission independently of the personal computer 2. This applies e.g. B. in the case where the transceiver has its own memory or its own power supply. The transmission of data over the radio link 11-12 is much slower than the data transmission over the Internet. This means that even a short time on the Internet enough to reload the EPG. It is preferred that the system according to the invention loads the program about three weeks in advance. The corresponding software program ensures that only "new" information, ie information that has not yet been stored in RAM 7, is reloaded from the Internet. For this purpose, in particular the current date stored in the system data of the personal computer 2 can be compared with the date up to which program information was loaded from the worldwide network during the last reloading process. This comparison reveals that this difference is greater than a predetermined threshold value, e.g. B. is about three weeks, the difference in program information, z. B. for two missing weeks, reloaded.

An important advantage of the invention is the return channel resulting from the system configuration. A control program stored in the CPU 6 ensures that, for example, control information entered by the remote control 20 is transmitted back to the Internet via the radio link 11-12 and via the personal computer 2. In this way, e.g. B. data about programs that are switched on, requests for information about topics displayed on the television, ... are forwarded.

A device for reading chip or magnetic stripe cards can also be provided in the control device 5. In this way, a user can, for example, use the return channel provided according to the invention to carry out a payment or debiting process, for example using a money or credit card.

The invention was previously explained in more detail using preferred exemplary embodiments thereof. However, it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that various modifications and modifications can be made without departing from the concept on which the invention is based. The invention was described above in connection with the representation of an electronic program guide on a television set. However, any type of information can be displayed on the television, such as. B. emails, advertising ... LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 television set

2 personal computers

3 monitor

5 plug-in device

6 CPU

7 RAM

8 Flash memory

9 cables

10 IR receivers

11 first transceiver or transceiver

12 second transceiver or transceiver

11-12 radio link

20 Remote control or control

Claims

claims

1. A method for providing data for a television set (1) for displaying the data, characterized in that the data are transmitted via a remote data transmission to a first transceiver device (11), from the first transceiver device (11) to a second transceiver device (12) are transmitted and transmitted from the second transceiver device (12) to the television set (1).

2. The method according spoke 1, characterized in that a return channel mode is provided by data transmission from the second transceiver device (12) to the first transceiver device (11).

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first transceiver device (11) is connected to a personal computer (2).

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the first transceiver device (11) is connected to a telephone device.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the personal computer (2) is connected to the Internet.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first transceiver device (11) is connected to a storage device for storing the data.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data have an electronic program guide.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the remote data transmission takes place via the telephone line and / or the power line.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmission between the first transceiver device (11) and the second transceiver device (12) takes place via a local radio link.

10. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized. that the remote data transmission takes place essentially in the background in an idle time of an Internet access.

11. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that control device (5) is provided which has the second transceiver device (12), a CPU and a memory device.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the control device (5) is designed as a plug.

13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the control device (5) in the television set (1) is integrated.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that the control device (5) has a reading device for chip cards, magnetic cards or the like.

15. The method according to any one of claims to 14, characterized in that a remote control (20) is provided for operating the control device (5).

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that the control device (5) has a variably positionable receiver, preferably an IR receiver (12).

17. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that stored by the control device (5) in the television set (1) data with television program data.

18. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the remote data transmission from and to the first transceiver device (11), the data transmission between the first transceiver device (11) and the second transceiver device (12) and between the second transceiver device (12) and the Television (1) are decoupled in time.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that the data to be transmitted on the respective transmission links can be temporarily stored at the respective devices.