JP2007274372A - Viewer terminal and communication restriction method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a viewer terminal and a communication restriction method thereof for adaptively setting priority in a simple fashion for a call request in accordance with the state of a network and viewer terminals without increasing a load imposed on a base station for restricting call requests from the viewer terminals. <P>SOLUTION: A content reproduction section 21 receives and decodes a broadcast wave to reproduce broadcast contents, and a speaker 26 and a display section 25 output television video image and data video image. A destination address extract section 22 extracts an IP address of a response reception server 3 registered in the broadcast contents. A policy extract section 23 extracts a communication restriction policy registered in the broadcast contents. An attribute information management section 24 registers the attribute information of the viewer terminal 2. A communication priority setting section 27 sets communication priority on the basis of the communication restriction policy and the attribute information. A call request section 29 transmits a call request message including the communication priority. A message transmission section 28 transmits a response message. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a viewer terminal and a communication restriction method thereof, and more particularly to a viewer terminal having a broadcast wave reception function and a communication function and a communication restriction method thereof.

  As a technique for preventing or mitigating network congestion caused by an increase in communication traffic, or preventing deterioration in communication quality, a technique for restricting outgoing requests and data transmission from terminals has been proposed. ing.

  Patent Document 1 discloses the use of a free channel using a control channel of a second frequency band set separately from a normal standby control channel from a mobile communication terminal to a base station in a state where communication restriction is implemented. When the reservation information is transmitted and the reservation information is received at the base station, it is confirmed whether or not the mobile communication terminal of the transmission source is a specific terminal having the qualification to use the empty channel. A technique for permitting transmission is disclosed.

  In Patent Document 2, user information management means for storing the user selection information indicating the priority connection order and the area information of the mobile phone for each user is provided in the switching device, and when the call request from the mobile phone is received, If the device is under communication restriction, the information held by the user information management means is collected, collated with the collected area information, and sent to the mobile phone of the user who requested the matching call using the collected user selection information. A communication restriction method for call restriction is disclosed.

Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for detecting whether or not an emergency call occurrence rate is high, and preferentially connecting only an emergency call in a situation where the emergency call occurrence rate is high.
JP 2002-204477 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-23648 JP 2003-244284 A

  In each of the above-described conventional techniques, processing for setting a priority for a transmission request from each terminal is imposed on the base station side that regulates the transmission request. However, the load on the base station side has already increased under the situation where the communication regulation of the terminal is required, and it is not preferable to place a load such as search processing and collation processing for setting priority on the base station. .

  Also, if the priority of the outgoing call request is to be set adaptively based on the specific information such as the communication status of the terminal and the contents of the contract, the base station must manage the specific information of all the terminals. Further increase.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and increase the network line congestion state, server load, and viewer without increasing the load on the base station side that restricts transmission requests and data transmission from terminals. It is an object of the present invention to provide a viewer terminal capable of adaptively setting a priority to a transmission request or transmission data according to the terminal attribute and the like and a communication restriction method thereof.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that the following measures are taken in a viewer terminal having a broadcast wave receiving function and a communication function and a communication control method thereof.

  (1) The communication restriction method of the present invention restricts communication of a viewer terminal having a broadcast wave receiving function for receiving a broadcast wave transmitted from a broadcasting station and a communication function for communicating with a communication reception server via a network. The broadcast station transmits a predetermined communication restriction policy by broadcast wave, the viewer terminal extracts the communication restriction policy from the received broadcast wave, and the viewer terminal The procedure for setting the communication priority based on the attribute information and the communication restriction policy, the procedure for the viewer terminal to transmit the packet including the communication priority, and the node on the network having the communication restriction function received And a procedure for permitting or rejecting the communication based on a communication priority included in the packet, and a procedure for relaying the permitted packet to the communication reception server by the communication restriction node. That.

  (2) The viewer terminal of the present invention has a broadcast wave reception function and a communication function, and further includes a communication restriction policy extraction means for extracting a communication restriction policy from the received broadcast wave, and an attribute information management means for managing its own attribute information And communication priority setting means for setting communication priority based on the attribute information and communication restriction policy, and transmission means for transmitting a message including the communication priority.

According to the present invention, the following effects are achieved.
(1) According to the communication restriction method of the present invention, the communication restriction policy is registered in the broadcast wave, and the priority setting for communication such as a message is the communication restriction policy extracted from the broadcast wave in each viewer terminal. This is performed based on attribute information unique to the terminal itself. Since a message including the priority information is transmitted from the terminal, communication restriction can be easily performed based on the priority information included in each message on the communication restriction side. Furthermore, adaptive priority setting can be easily performed simply by changing the communication regulation policy registered in the broadcast wave.
(2) According to the viewer terminal of the present invention, the priority of communication restriction can be set based on the communication restriction policy extracted from the broadcast wave and the attribute information unique to the own terminal, so adaptive priority setting can be performed. It becomes easy to do.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network configuration of a communication / broadcast fusion system to which the present invention is applied, and transmits broadcast content in which television video content, data video content and data communication content are multiplexed. A broadcasting station 1 that receives the broadcast wave transmitted from the broadcasting station 1 and reproduces broadcast content, and a viewer terminal 2 such as a television 2a, a computer 2b, and portable terminals 2c and 2d, and these viewer terminals 2 And the response reception server 3 connected via the IP network 6 such as the Internet, and the transmission request and data transmission from each viewer terminal 2 to the response reception server 3 (hereinafter collectively referred to as “communication”) A communication restriction server 5 having a function of restricting communication) and a communication restriction policy for restricting communication between the viewer terminal 2 and the policy. And a communication restriction determining section 7 to request signal to the broadcasting station 1 is a major construction.

  The communication restriction determination unit 7 adaptively defines an optimum communication restriction policy based on the monitoring unit 7a for monitoring the congestion state of the network line 8 and the load of the response reception server 3, and the monitoring result, and transmits the transmission. A policy generation unit 7b for requesting the broadcast station 1, and when the load on the response reception server 3 increases or the congestion state of the network line 8 deteriorates, the communication regulation policy is set so that the communication regulation is strengthened more than the current one. Update. When the load on the response reception server 3 is reduced or the congestion state of the network line 8 is improved, the communication restriction policy is updated so that the communication restriction is relaxed from the present time.

  The broadcast station 1 includes a broadcast server 1a that supplies broadcast content and an OFDM transmitter 1b that digitally modulates the broadcast content and transmits the broadcast content. The communication restriction policy acquired from the communication restriction determination unit 7 is transmitted together with the broadcast content. Send.

  Each viewer terminal 2, for example, when a viewer performs an operation of transmitting an answer while watching a quiz program, a transmission request function for establishing a connection with the response reception server 3 by transmitting a transmission request; A message transmission function for transmitting an answer (response message) using this connection.

  The response message transmitted from each viewer terminal 2 is not limited to the answer to the quiz program or the questionnaire described above, but each viewer who is asked in the broadcast whether or not supplemental information is necessary regarding the broadcast content. A message to be sent in response to this is also included. If the viewer requests the supplement information by the response message, the requested supplement information is transmitted from the response reception server 3 to each viewer terminal 2 via the network 6.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of each viewer terminal 2. Here, only the configuration necessary for the description of the present invention and common to each viewer terminal 2 is shown. .

  The content reproduction unit 21 receives and decodes the broadcast wave to reproduce the broadcast content, and outputs a television video and a data video from the speaker 26 and the display unit 25. The destination address extraction unit 22 extracts the IP address of the response reception server 3 registered in the broadcast content. The policy extraction unit 23 extracts a communication restriction policy registered in the broadcast content.

  The attribute information management unit 24 includes the current position of the viewer terminal 2, contract details, communication volume history, communication quality, transmission data size, communication application identification information, terminal-specific dial number and hardware number, and the like. , Registered as attribute information unique to the terminal itself. Note that the current position of the viewer terminal 2 is detected by a GPS system (not shown) or by communicating with a plurality of radio base stations, and is periodically registered in the attribute information management unit 24. The communication priority setting unit 27 sets a communication priority for the own terminal based on the communication restriction policy and attribute information. The call request unit 29 transmits a call request message including the communication priority to the extracted destination address. When the transmission request is permitted, the message transmission unit 28 transmits a response message to the destination address.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the communication restriction server 5. The receiving unit 51 receives a call request message and a response message transmitted from the viewer terminal 2. The priority extraction unit 52 extracts the communication priority included in the received call request and response message. The communication restriction unit 53 determines whether to permit message relay based on the extracted communication priority. The relay unit 44 relays the message permitted by the communication restriction unit 53 to the response reception server 3. The discard unit 55 discards the rejected message.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the viewer terminal 2. When the viewer terminal 2 receives the broadcast wave in step S1, the broadcast content is decoded in step S2, and the television video and the data video are reproduced in step S3. The IP address of the response reception server 3 registered in the broadcast content is extracted in step S4. In step S5, the policy extraction unit 23 extracts the current communication restriction policy from the broadcast content being received. In step S <b> 6, the communication priority setting unit 27 sets a communication priority based on the extracted communication restriction policy and the attribute information registered in the attribute information management unit 24. In this embodiment, the priority is classified into, for example, five levels from “5” at the highest level to “1” at the lowest level, and each viewer terminal determines which one based on the received communication regulation policy and its own attribute information. Select the priority.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of priority set based on the relationship between the communication regulation policy and the attribute information of the viewer terminal.

  In Case 1, the communication regulation policy defines the relationship between the transmission area and the communication priority, the whole country is divided into a plurality of areas, and the priority is set for each transmission area. In the viewer terminal 2, the communication priority can be set based on to which region the current position registered as attribute information belongs. In this case 1, for example, priority is given to transmission from a disaster occurrence area such as an earthquake, so that safety information and the like can be quickly distributed and damage information can be collected from the victim.

  In Case 2, the communication regulation policy defines the relationship between the contract class of the viewer terminal 2 and the communication priority, and the viewer terminal 2 sets the communication priority based on its own contract class registered as attribute information. Can be set. In Case 2, by setting a higher priority for a contract class with a higher fee, it becomes possible to provide a fair service commensurate with the fee.

  In Case 3, the communication regulation policy defines the relationship between the communication history and the communication priority of the viewer terminal 2, and the communication priority is determined based on the past communication amount registered as attribute information in the viewer terminal 2. Can be set. In this case 3, if a plurality of classes are set according to the traffic volume, and the priority is set higher for a class with a small past traffic volume, fairness among the viewer terminals can be ensured.

  In Case 4, the communication regulation policy defines the relationship between the communication quality and the communication priority, and the viewer terminal 2 can set the communication priority based on the past communication quality registered as attribute information. In this case 4, for example, a plurality of classes are set according to communication quality such as transmission rate, error rate, received power level, delay time, number of errors, packet loss, etc., and higher priority is set for a class with lower communication quality. If so, fairness among the viewer terminals can be secured.

  In Case 5, the communication regulation policy defines the relationship between the identification information unique to the communication terminal and the communication priority. In the viewer terminal 2, the identification information (dial number or hardware) of the own terminal registered as attribute information. The communication priority can be set based on the number. In this case 5, since the priority can be set for each terminal, a finer priority setting can be performed.

  In Case 6, the communication regulation policy defines the relationship between the data size and the communication priority, and the viewer terminal 2 can set the communication priority based on the size of transmission data registered as attribute information. In this case 6, for example, if the priority is set higher for a terminal having a smaller transmission data size, fairness among the viewer terminals can be secured, so that more connections can be accommodated.

  In Case 7, the communication regulation policy defines the relationship between the communication application and the communication priority, and the viewer terminal 2 can set the communication priority based on the communication application registered as attribute information. In Case 7, for example, if a higher priority is set for a terminal that uses an application with a small amount of traffic or an application that requires immediacy and real-time performance, fairness among viewer terminals can be ensured and service quality can be ensured. Can be prevented.

  As described above, in the present invention, the priority can be variously set according to the communication restriction policy. Therefore, if the communication restriction policy defines the relationship between the communication quality and the communication priority as in the case 4, for example, the lower the communication quality class is. By setting a high priority, fairness among viewer terminals can be ensured. Conversely, if a higher priority is set for a class with higher communication quality, the system utilization efficiency can be maximized. By defining the communication regulation policy, it becomes possible to provide a flexible service corresponding to the operation guideline.

  Returning to FIG. 4, in step S <b> 7, it is determined whether or not an answer in a quiz program or a questionnaire survey or a request for supplementary information has been input by the viewer as a response message. If the input of the response message is not detected, the process returns to step S1 and each process is repeated.

  Thereafter, a response message is input by the viewer, and when this is detected in step S7, in step S8, a transmission request including the communication priority is sent to the destination address extracted by the destination address extraction unit 22 in the transmission request. Transmitted from the unit 29. In step S9, it is determined whether or not a response to allow the transmission request has been returned from the response reception server 3.

  When the outgoing response is permitted and a connection is established with the response reception server 3, a response message is transmitted in packet units in step S10. In step S11, it is determined whether or not a response indicating that the transmission packet has been normally received has been returned. If a response is received, the next packet is transmitted. If no response is received, the packet is retransmitted.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the communication restriction server 5. In step S21, when the call request message or response message is received by the message receiving unit 51, in step S22, the priority extraction unit 52 extracts the communication priority from the message. In step S23, the communication restriction unit 53 determines whether or not to relay the message based on the communication priority.

  Here, if the priority is expressed in five levels from “5” at the highest level to “1” at the lowest level, the communication regulation server 5 permits 100% of the message with the priority “5”. , Messages with a priority of "4" are allowed with a probability of 80%, messages with a priority of "3" are allowed with a probability of 60%, and messages with a priority of "2" are allowed with a probability of 40% A message with a priority “1” is permitted with a probability of 20%. When the message relay is permitted, the process proceeds to step S24, and the message is transferred to the response reception server 3 by the message relay unit 54. If the relay is denied, the process proceeds to step S25, and the message is discarded by the message discard unit 55.

  In the above-described embodiment, the communication restriction server 5 is arranged on the network and this is described as restricting message relay. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the communication restriction server 5 is abolished. Thus, the response reception server 3 may be provided with a communication restriction function so that the response reception server 3 restricts message reception from each viewer terminal. Further, the communication restriction function is not necessarily given to the server, but may be given to a terminal such as a router as long as it is a device (node) connected to the network.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a network configuration of a communication / broadcast fusion system to which the present invention is applied. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the principal part of a viewer terminal. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the principal part of a communication control server. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of the viewer terminal. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of the communication control server. It is the figure which showed an example of the priority set based on the relationship between a communication control policy and the attribute information of a viewer terminal.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Broadcasting station, 2 ... Viewer terminal, 2a ... Television, 2b ... Computer, 2c, 2d ... Portable terminal, 3 ... Response reception server, 5 ... Communication control server, 6 ... IP network, 7 ... Policy server

Claims (18)

In a communication restriction method for restricting communication of a viewer terminal having a broadcast wave receiving function for receiving a broadcast wave transmitted from a broadcast station and a communication function for communicating with a communication reception server via a network,
A procedure for a broadcast station to transmit a predetermined communication regulation policy by broadcast waves,
A procedure in which the viewer terminal extracts the communication restriction policy from the received broadcast wave;
The procedure for the viewer terminal to set the communication priority based on its own attribute information and communication restriction policy,
A procedure in which a viewer terminal transmits a packet including the communication priority;
A node on the network having a communication restriction function permits or rejects the communication based on the communication priority included in the received packet;
A communication restriction method for a viewer terminal, comprising: a step in which the communication restriction node relays the permitted packet to a communication reception server.   The communication restriction method for a viewer terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication reception server also serves as a communication restriction node.   The communication restriction method for a viewer terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication restriction policy defines a relationship between a transmission area and a communication priority, and the attribute information includes a current position of the viewer terminal. .   3. The communication restriction method for a viewer terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication restriction policy defines a relationship between contract contents and communication priority, and the attribute information includes contract contents of the viewer terminal. .   The communication of the viewer terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication restriction policy defines a relationship between a communication amount history and a communication priority, and the attribute information includes a communication amount history of the viewer terminal. Regulation method.   The communication restriction of a viewer terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication restriction policy defines a relationship between communication quality and communication priority, and the attribute information includes quality information of a communication viewer terminal. Method.   The viewing / listening according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication regulation policy defines a relationship between identification information unique to a communication terminal and communication priority, and the attribute information includes identification information unique to the communication terminal. Communication restriction method for the user terminal.   The communication restriction of the viewer terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication restriction policy defines a relationship between a size of transmission data and a communication priority, and the attribute information includes a data size of a transmission message. Method.   The communication restriction method for a viewer terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication restriction policy defines a relationship between a communication application and a communication priority, and the attribute information includes identification information of the communication application.   10. The viewer terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a procedure for adaptively changing the communication restriction policy based on a load of the communication reception server and / or a congestion state of a network. Communication regulation method. In a viewer terminal equipped with a broadcast wave receiving function and a communication function,
A communication restriction policy extracting means for extracting a communication restriction policy from the received broadcast wave;
Attribute information management means for managing its own attribute information;
Communication priority setting means for setting a communication priority based on the attribute information and the communication regulation policy;
A viewer terminal, comprising: a transmission means for transmitting a message including the communication priority. It further comprises means for managing its current position as attribute information,
The viewer according to claim 11, wherein the communication priority setting means sets a priority based on a communication regulation policy that defines a relationship between a transmission area and a communication priority, and a current position of the communication restriction policy. Terminal. It further comprises means for managing its own contract details as attribute information,
12. The viewer according to claim 11, wherein the communication priority setting means sets a priority based on a communication regulation policy that defines a relationship between contract contents and communication priorities, and own contract contents. Terminal. It further comprises means for managing its own traffic history as attribute information,
12. The communication priority setting unit, according to claim 11, wherein the communication priority setting unit sets a priority based on a communication restriction policy that defines a relationship between a communication amount history and a communication priority, and a communication amount history of the communication priority setting unit. Viewer terminal. It further comprises means for managing its own communication quality as attribute information,
12. The viewer according to claim 11, wherein the communication priority setting means sets a priority based on a communication regulation policy that defines a relationship between communication quality and communication priority, and own communication quality. Terminal. It further comprises means for managing identification information unique to itself as attribute information,
12. The communication priority setting unit sets priority based on a communication regulation policy that defines a relationship between identification information unique to a communication terminal and communication priority, and its own identification information. Viewer terminal described in. Means for managing the size of the transmitted message as attribute information;
The communication priority setting unit sets the priority based on a communication regulation policy that defines a relationship between a size of transmission data and a communication priority, and a size of a transmission message. Viewer terminal. A means for managing communication application identification information as attribute information;
The communication priority setting means sets a priority based on a communication regulation policy that defines a relationship between identification information of a communication application and a communication priority, and identification information of an application used for communication. Item 12. A viewer terminal according to Item 11.

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