Broadcast communication device, broadcast communication method, and broadcast communication program

Abstract

To efficiently and accurately exclude a specific slave station belonging to a group from group broadcasting targets in broadcast communication.SOLUTION: A broadcast communication device 40 is an information processing device of a master station for performing broadcast communication on a group 50 including one or more slave stations 51, and includes an exclusion target slave station for excluding each of slave stations 51 belonging to the group 50 from broadcast communication targets for the group 50 on the basis of, inappropriateness information 410 representing inappropriateness of performing the broadcast communication on an individual slave station 51, a determination unit 41 for determining either a non-exclusion target slave station that is not excluded from the broadcast communication targets for the group, and a communication unit 42 for performing broadcast communication on a slave station 51 which is a non-exclusion target belonging to the group 50.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a broadcasting device, a broadcasting method, and a broadcasting program. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, in a broadcast communication system in a local government, audio input to a microphone in a master station is output from speakers in slave stations installed in various locations within the local government. Broadcasts in a broadcast communication system include batch broadcasting, in which the master station broadcasts to all slave stations, individual broadcasting, in which the master station selects an individual ID (Identification) that can identify a slave station and broadcasts to that slave station, and group broadcasting, in which the master station selects a group ID that can identify a group including one or more slave stations and broadcasts to the slave stations that belong to that group.

[0003] In the above-described group broadcasting, for example, there are cases where it is desirable to exclude a specific slave station belonging to a group from the group broadcasting. A specific example of such a case is when an event requiring quietness, such as an entrance exam or ceremony, is being held at a facility near the specific slave station. Another specific example is when residents near the specific slave station complain to the local government about noise caused by the broadcast. Another specific example is when the division of an area has changed since the group was established, and the location of the specific slave station in the group is now in a different area from the locations of the other slave stations.

[0004] In this way, if a user wishes to exclude a specific slave station belonging to a group from the target of group broadcasting, one method is to, for example, turn off the power of the specific slave station. However, for example, if a technician travels to a remote location to turn off the power of a slave station, this increases the management costs of the broadcast communication system and reduces the immediacy required of the broadcast communication system due to the increased time required to broadcast. Furthermore, if a user of a broadcast communication system wishes to change the grouping of the slave stations, they usually need to request the change from the company that delivered the broadcast communication system, and are often unable to make the change themselves. Therefore, there is a need for technology that allows the user to flexibly change the slave station to which a broadcast is to be sent during group broadcasting in a broadcast communication system.

[0005] As a technology related to this technology, Patent Document 1 discloses a communication system having a master station that wirelessly transmits broadcast information to slave stations and a plurality of slave stations that report the broadcast information. This system receives input of a group number to which the plurality of slave stations belong and individual numbers that identify the slave stations that belong to the group number. This system then reports the broadcast information to the slave stations that belong to the group number, excluding the slave station with the input individual number.

[0006] Patent Document 2 discloses a disaster prevention radio broadcast system having a master station and slave stations each having an individual ID. This system stores the individual IDs and the group IDs to which they belong in a storage unit, specifies multiple individual IDs to call, and queries the storage unit for the group IDs to which the specified multiple individual IDs belong. This system then converts at least one individual ID into the group ID to which it belongs, and calls the slave stations using the group ID. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-161010 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-039189 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] For example, by using the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, in a group broadcasting system, it is possible to flexibly exclude specific slave stations belonging to a group from the group broadcasting during broadcasting. However, selecting specific slave stations to be excluded from the group broadcasting by a user's input operation is inefficient, and an error in the input operation may result in an incorrect broadcast destination for the group broadcast. In other words, a challenge in broadcasting is to efficiently and accurately exclude specific slave stations belonging to a group from the group broadcasting. Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not particularly mention this challenge.

[0009] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a broadcasting device and the like that efficiently and accurately excludes specific slave stations that belong to a group from the targets of group broadcasting in broadcasting. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] A broadcast communication device according to one embodiment of the present invention is an information processing device of a parent station that performs broadcast communication to a group including one or more child stations, and includes a determination means that determines each of the child stations belonging to the group as either an excluded child station that is excluded from the target of broadcast communication to the group or a non-excluded child station that is not excluded from the target of broadcast communication to the group, based on inappropriateness information that indicates the inappropriateness of performing broadcast communication for each of the child stations, and a communication means that performs broadcast communication to the non-excluded child stations that belong to the group.

[0011] In another aspect of achieving the above object, a broadcasting method according to one embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that an information processing device of a parent station that performs broadcasting to a group including one or more child stations determines each of the child stations belonging to the group as either an excluded child station that is excluded from the targets of broadcasting to the group, or a non-excluded child station that is not excluded from the targets of broadcasting to the group, based on inappropriateness information that indicates the inappropriateness of performing broadcasting for each of the child stations, and performs broadcasting to the non-excluded child stations that belong to the group.

[0012] In addition, in a further aspect of achieving the above-mentioned object, a broadcast communication program according to one embodiment of the present invention causes a computer of a parent station that performs broadcast communication to a group including one or more child stations to execute a determination process of determining, based on inappropriateness information indicating the inappropriateness of performing broadcast communication for each of the child stations, each of the child stations belonging to the group as either an excluded child station that is to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication to the group, or a non-excluded child station that is not to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication to the group, and a communication process of performing broadcast communication to the non-excluded child stations that belong to the group.

[0013] Furthermore, the present invention can also be realized by a computer-readable, non-volatile recording medium in which such a broadcasting program (computer program) is stored. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to the present invention, a broadcasting device or the like can be provided that efficiently and accurately excludes a specific slave station belonging to a group from the targets of group broadcasting in broadcasting. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a broadcasting device 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first example of inappropriateness information 141 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of broadcast communication exclusion information 142 indicating the content determined by the determining unit 11 according to the first embodiment of the present invention based on the inappropriateness information 141 illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a second example of the inappropriateness information 141 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of broadcast communication exclusion information 142 representing the content determined by the determining unit 11 according to the first embodiment of the present invention based on the inappropriateness information 141 illustrated in FIG. 4. FIG. [Figure 6] 10 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the display control unit 13 according to the first embodiment of the present invention displays broadcast communication exclusion information 142 on a display screen 300 using a map. FIG. [Figure 7] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a signal that the communication unit 12 according to the first embodiment of the present invention transmits to the slave station 21 based on the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. [Figure 8] 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the broadcasting device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a broadcasting device 40 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing device 900 that can realize a broadcast communication device according to each embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0017] First Embodiment 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a broadcasting device 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The broadcasting device 10 is an information processing device of a master station in a broadcasting system that broadcasts to residents in, for example, a local government, and broadcasts to slave stations 21 installed in various locations within the local government. The broadcasting device 10 and slave stations 21 are connected so that they can communicate with each other.

[0018] The slave stations 21 are grouped by the user and belong to at least one of the groups 20. That is, each of the one or more groups 20 includes one or more slave stations 21. The groups 20 are set, for example, for each district of a local government, and slave stations 21 installed in the same district belong to the same group. Note that the criteria for grouping the slave stations 21 may be different from the criteria for districts in the local government described above. Each group 20 is assigned a group ID that is an identifier that can identify the group 20, and each slave station 21 is assigned a slave station ID that is an identifier that can identify the slave station 21.

[0019] Broadcasts (broadcasts) performed by the broadcasting device 10 can be broadly divided into batch broadcasts that broadcast to all slave stations 21, individual broadcasts that broadcast to selected slave stations 21, and group broadcasts that broadcast to slave stations 21 that belong to a selected group 20.

[0020] The broadcasting device 10 is communicatively connected to a terminal device 30. The terminal device 30 is an example of a display device. The terminal device 30 is an information processing device, such as a personal computer, that is used by a user of the broadcasting device 10 to input information to the broadcasting device 10 or to check information output from the broadcasting device 10. The terminal device 30 has a display screen 300 that displays the information output from the broadcasting device 10.

[0021] The terminal device 30 is equipped with a microphone (not shown). The broadcasting device 10 controls the output of the audio input from the microphone of the terminal device 30 from a speaker (not shown) provided in the slave station 21, which is the broadcast destination.

[0022] The broadcasting device 10 includes a determination unit 11, a communication unit 12, a display control unit 13, and a storage unit 14. The determination unit 11, the communication unit 12, the display control unit 13, and the storage unit 14 are examples of a determination means, a communication means, a display control means, and a storage means, respectively.

[0023] The storage unit 14 is, for example, a storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a hard disk 904, which will be described later with reference to Fig. 10. The storage unit 14 stores inappropriateness information 141 and broadcast communication exclusion information 142. Details of the information stored in the storage unit 14 will be described later.

[0024] The determination unit 11 determines each of the slave stations 21 belonging to a certain group 20 as either an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from targets of group broadcasting, or a non-excluded slave station that is not to be excluded from targets of broadcast communication to the group, based on the inappropriateness information 141 stored in the storage unit 14. The inappropriateness information 141 is information that indicates the inappropriateness of broadcast communication for each of the slave stations 21. The broadcast communication device 10 may obtain the inappropriateness information 141, for example, from an external device (not shown) or by an input operation by the user.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first example of inappropriateness information 141 according to this embodiment. According to the inappropriateness information 141 shown in FIG. 2, a group 20 having a group ID of "01" includes three slave stations 21 having slave station IDs of "001," "002," and "003." A school A is located near the slave station 21 having the slave station ID of "001," and a facility B is located near the slave station 21 having the slave station ID of "002." An entrance exam will be held at school A from 9:00 to 15:00 on February 25th, and a ceremony will be held at facility B from 10:00 to 12:00 on March 10th. It is generally inappropriate to broadcast a message to a slave station 21 during a time period when a facility near the slave station 21 is holding an event that requires quietness.

[0026] The determination unit 11 determines slave stations to be excluded from the group broadcast target based on the inappropriateness information 141, and generates broadcast exclusion information 142 indicating the determination result. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the broadcast exclusion information 142 generated by the determination unit 11 according to this embodiment based on the inappropriateness information 141 illustrated in FIG. 2. As illustrated in the broadcast exclusion information 142 illustrated in FIG. 3, the determination unit 11 determines to exclude the slave station 21 with the slave station ID "001" from the group broadcast target for the group 20 with the group ID "01" during the time slot from 9:00 to 15:00 on February 25th. The determination unit 11 also determines to exclude the slave station 21 with the slave station ID "002" from the group broadcast target for the group 20 with the group ID "01" during the time slot from 10:00 to 12:00 on March 10th.

[0027] 4 is a diagram showing a second example of the inappropriateness information 141 according to this embodiment. According to the inappropriateness information 141 shown in FIG. 4, among the slave stations 21 belonging to the group 20 having the group ID "01", the slave stations 21 having the slave station ID "001" or "002" are installed in district C, and the slave station 21 having the slave station ID "003" is installed in district D. The group 20 having the group ID "01" originally represents a group of slave stations 21 installed in district C, but due to a change in the division of districts, the installation location of the slave station 21 having the slave station ID "003" has been changed from district C to district D. In this case, it is generally inappropriate to perform a group broadcast for the group 20 (i.e., for district C) to the slave station 21 having the slave station ID "003" installed in district D.

[0028] Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating broadcast exclusion information 142 generated by the decision unit 11 according to this embodiment based on the inappropriateness information 141 illustrated in Fig. 4. As illustrated in the broadcast exclusion information 142, the decision unit 11 determines to exclude the slave station 21 with the slave station ID "003" from the group broadcast targets for the group 20 with the group ID "01". In this case, the slave station 21 with the slave station ID "003" is excluded from the group broadcast targets for the group 20 with the group ID "01", regardless of the time period.

[0029] 2 to 5, examples of determining by the determination unit 11 which slave stations 21 belonging to a certain group 20 should be excluded from group broadcasting targets based on the inappropriateness information 141. The inappropriateness information 141 may be, for example, information expressing a complaint about noise caused by broadcasting sent to a local government by residents living near a certain slave station 21. In this case, the determination unit 11 determines to exclude the slave station 21 from group broadcasting targets.

[0030] The display control unit 13 displays the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 generated by the determination unit 11 on the display screen 300 of the terminal device 30.

[0031] 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of how the display control unit 13 according to this embodiment displays the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 on the display screen 300 using a map showing the positions of the groups 20 and the slave stations 21. In the example shown in FIG. 6, in response to an input operation by a user to select the group 20 having the group ID "01", the display control unit 13 displays the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 related to the group 20 having the group ID "01" on the display screen 300. At this time, the display control unit 13 displays the area on the map of the group 20 having the group ID "01" by, for example, shading it.

[0032] 6, the display control unit 13 displays, on the display screen 300, among the slave stations 21 belonging to the group 20 whose group ID is "01", the slave stations 21 whose ID is "001" in a shaded manner, and the slave stations 21 whose ID is "002" or "003" in a non-shaded manner. In this case, the slave stations 21 whose ID is "002" or "003" are excluded from the group broadcast for the group 20 whose group ID is "01", and the slave station 21 whose ID is "001" is the target of the group broadcast. In other words, the display control unit 13 displays, on the display screen 300, the slave stations 21 that are excluded from the group broadcast for the group 20 (excluded slave stations) and the slave stations 21 that are not excluded from the group broadcast (non-excluded slave stations) in different display modes.

[0033] The terminal device 30 accepts a user's input operation to input information instructing an update of the broadcast exclusion information 142. For example, consider a case where a slave station 21 (a non-excluded slave station) with a slave station ID of "002" that is not to be excluded from the group broadcast for the group 20 is changed to an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from the group broadcast by a user's input operation. In this case, the display control unit 13 displays the slave station 21 with the slave station ID of "002" on the display screen 300 in a shaded manner before the change. Then, when the user selects the slave station 21 with the slave station ID of "002" on the display screen 300 (for example, the user moves the mouse cursor to the display position of the slave station 21 and clicks), the determination unit 11 changes the slave station 21 to be excluded from the group broadcast. At this time, the display control unit 13 changes the display mode of the slave station 21 on the display screen 300 from a shaded state to a non-shaded state. Then, the decision unit 11 stores in the storage unit 14 broadcast exclusion information 142 indicating that the change has been made to exclude the slave station 21 from the group broadcast targets.

[0034] Based on the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 generated or updated by the decision unit 11, the communication unit 12 performs broadcast communication to the slave stations 21 that belong to the group 20 and are not to be excluded, as indicated by the broadcast communication exclusion information 142.

[0035] 7 is a diagram illustrating signals that the communication unit 12 according to this embodiment transmits to the slave stations 21 based on the broadcast exclusion information 142 illustrated in FIG. 3. In FIG. 7, the group 01 activation signal is a signal that puts the slave stations 21 included in the group 20 whose group ID is "01" into a state where they can broadcast, and includes information indicating that the group ID is "01." The audio signal is a signal that represents audio broadcast from the slave stations 21. The slave station 001 end signal is a signal that puts the slave station 21 whose slave station ID is "001" into a state where it cannot broadcast, and includes information indicating that the slave station ID is "001." The slave station 002 end signal is a signal that puts the slave station 21 whose slave station ID is "002" into a state where it cannot broadcast, and includes information indicating that the slave station ID is "002." The group 01 end signal is a signal that puts the slave stations 21 included in the group 20 whose group ID is "01" into a state where they cannot broadcast (ends broadcasting), and includes information indicating that the group ID is "01".

[0036] 7(a), when performing group broadcasting to group 20 whose group ID is "01" from 9:00 to 15:00 on February 25th, the communication unit 12 transmits a group 01 activation signal, a slave station 001 end signal, an audio signal, and a group 01 end signal to the slave stations 21 in that order. As a result, the communication unit 12 broadcasts to the slave stations 21 that are not subject to exclusion, excluding the slave station 21 whose slave station ID is "001", in the group 20 whose group ID is "01". However, the communication unit 12 is provided with a timekeeping function such as a clock.

[0037] 7(b), when performing group broadcasting to group 20 whose group ID is "01" during the period from 10:00 to 12:00 on March 10, the communication unit 12 transmits a group 01 activation signal, a slave station 002 end signal, an audio signal, and a group 01 end signal in that order to slave stations 21. As a result, the communication unit 12 performs broadcasting to slave stations 21 that are non-exclusion target slave stations in group 20 whose group ID is "01", excluding slave station 21 whose slave station ID is "002".

[0038] 7(c), when performing group broadcasting to the group 20 whose group ID is "01" during a period excluding the periods shown in FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b), the communication unit 12 transmits a group 01 activation signal, an audio signal, and a group 01 end signal in sequence to the slave stations 21. As a result, the communication unit 12 broadcasts to all slave stations 21 included in the group 20 whose group ID is "01".

[0039] Next, the operation (processing) of the broadcasting device 10 according to this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0040] The broadcasting device 10 acquires inappropriateness information 141 from outside and stores it in the storage unit 14 (step S101). The determination unit 11 determines, based on the inappropriateness information 141, each of the slave stations 21 belonging to the group 20 as either an excluded slave station 21 to be excluded from targets of broadcasting or a non-excluded slave station 21, and stores broadcasting exclusion information 142 indicating the determination result in the storage unit 14 (step S102).

[0041] The display control unit 13 displays the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 generated by the determination unit 11 on the display screen 300 of the terminal device 30 (step S103). When information instructing the update of the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 is input to the terminal device 30 (Yes in step S104), the determination unit 11 updates the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 based on the information instructing the update of the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 (step S105).

[0042] If the terminal device 30 does not receive information instructing updating of the broadcast communication exclusion information 142 (No in step S104), the process proceeds to step S106. The communication unit 12 performs broadcast communication to the slave stations 21 that are not to be excluded, as indicated by the broadcast communication exclusion information 142, among the slave stations 21 that belong to the group 20 (step S106), and the entire process ends.

[0043] The broadcasting device 10 according to this embodiment can efficiently and accurately exclude specific slave stations belonging to a group from targets of group broadcasting in broadcasting because the broadcasting device 10 automatically determines each of the slave stations 21 belonging to the group 20 as either an excluded slave station to be excluded from targets of broadcasting to the group 20 or a non-excluded slave station based on the inappropriateness information 141, and performs broadcasting to the slave stations 21 belonging to the group 20 that are non-excluded slave stations.

[0044] The effects achieved by the broadcasting device 10 according to this embodiment will be described in detail below.

[0045] In a group broadcasting system, there is a system that allows specific slave stations belonging to a group to be excluded from the group broadcast during broadcasting. However, selecting specific slave stations to be excluded from the group broadcast by a user's input operation is inefficient, and an input error may result in an incorrect broadcast destination for the group broadcast. In other words, it is a challenge to efficiently and accurately exclude specific slave stations belonging to a group from the group broadcast in a broadcasting system.

[0046] In response to such problems, the broadcasting device 10 according to this embodiment includes a determination unit 11 and a communication unit 12, and operates as described above with reference to Figs. 1 to 8. That is, the determination unit 11 determines each of the slave stations 21 belonging to a group 20 as either an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from the targets of broadcasting to the group 20, or a non-excluded slave station that is not to be excluded from the targets of broadcasting to the group 20, based on inappropriateness information 141 that indicates the inappropriateness of performing broadcasting for each of the slave stations 21. The communication unit 12 performs broadcasting to the slave stations 21 that belong to the group 20 and are non-excluded slave stations.

[0047] That is, the broadcasting device 10 according to the present embodiment automatically determines, based on the inappropriateness information 141, slave stations 21 belonging to a group 20 that are to be excluded from targets of broadcasting to the group 20, so that the user does not need to perform an input operation to select slave stations to be excluded from targets of group broadcasting. This allows the broadcasting device 10 to efficiently and accurately exclude specific slave stations belonging to a group from targets of group broadcasting in broadcasting.

[0048] Furthermore, the broadcasting device 10 according to this embodiment uses, as the inappropriateness information 141, for example, a schedule of events taking place near the location of the slave station 21, information indicating complaints from residents near the location of the slave station 21 about noise caused by broadcasting, and information indicating the district including the location of the slave station 21. This allows the broadcasting device 10 to more appropriately determine slave stations to be excluded from the targets of group broadcasting.

[0049] Furthermore, the broadcasting device 10 according to this embodiment displays on the display screen 300 broadcast exclusion information 142 indicating the result of determining which slave stations are to be excluded from the group broadcasting, and updates the broadcast exclusion information 142 based on externally input information instructing an update of the broadcast exclusion information 142. That is, the broadcasting device 10 accepts a user instruction to correct the automatically determined slave stations to be excluded from the group broadcasting. This allows the broadcasting device 10 to more flexibly determine which slave stations are to be excluded from the group broadcasting, taking into account the user's intentions.

[0050] Furthermore, the broadcasting device 10 according to the present embodiment displays the broadcast exclusion information 142 on the display screen 300 using a map showing the positions of the groups 20 and the slave stations 21, and displays slave stations 21 that belong to the group 20 as excluded slave stations and slave stations 21 that are not excluded slave stations in the map in different ways on the display screen 300. This enables the broadcasting device 10 to improve the convenience of the user interface when the user changes the excluded slave stations to be excluded from the targets of group broadcasting.

[0051] <Second embodiment> FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a broadcasting device 40 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0052] The broadcasting device 40 according to this embodiment is an information processing device of a master station that performs broadcasting to a group 50 including one or more slave stations 51. The broadcasting device 40 includes a determination unit 41 and a communication unit 42. The determination unit 41 and the communication unit 42 are examples of a determination means and a communication means, respectively.

[0053] The determination unit 41 determines each of the 51 slave stations belonging to the group 50 as either an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from the targets of broadcast communication for the group 50, or a non-excluded slave station that is not to be excluded from the targets of broadcast communication for the group 50, based on inappropriateness information 410 that indicates the inappropriateness of performing broadcast communication for each slave station 51. The inappropriateness information 410 is information similar to, for example, the inappropriateness information 141 according to the first embodiment. The determination unit 41 operates in the same manner as, for example, the determination unit 11 according to the first embodiment.

[0054] The communication unit 42 performs broadcast communication to the slave stations 51 that are non-exclusion target slave stations and belong to the group 50. The communication unit 42 operates in the same manner as the communication unit 12 according to the first embodiment, for example.

[0055] The broadcasting device 40 according to this embodiment can efficiently and accurately exclude specific slave stations belonging to a group from targets of group broadcasting in broadcasting because the broadcasting device 40 automatically determines each of the slave stations 51 belonging to a group 50 as either an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from targets of broadcasting to the group 50 or a non-excluded slave station based on the inappropriateness information 410, and performs broadcasting to the non-excluded slave stations 51 belonging to the group 50.

[0056] <Hardware configuration example> In each of the above-described embodiments, each unit in the broadcast communication device shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 9 can be realized by dedicated HW (Hardware) (electronic circuitry). In Fig. 1 and Fig. 9, at least the following components can be considered as functional (processing) units (software modules) of a software program including instructions executed by a processor. decision units 11 and 41, Communication units 12 and 42, Display control unit 13, ·Memory control function in the memory unit 14.

[0057] However, the division of the various components shown in these drawings is for the sake of convenience, and various configurations may be assumed for implementation. An example of the hardware environment in this case will be described with reference to FIG. 10.

[0058] Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing device 900 (computer) that can realize the broadcasting device according to each embodiment of the present invention. That is, Fig. 10 shows the configuration of a computer (information processing device) that can realize the broadcasting device shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 9, and represents a hardware environment that can realize each function in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0059] The information processing device 900 shown in FIG. 10 includes the following components. ·CPU(Central_Processing_Unit)901, ·ROM(Read_Only_Memory)902, ·RAM(Random_Access_Memory)903, Hard disk (storage device) 904, a communication interface 905; Bus 906 (communication line), A reader / writer 908 capable of reading and writing data stored in a recording medium 907 such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), · Input / output interface 909 such as a monitor, speaker, keyboard, etc.

[0060] That is, the information processing device 900 including the above components is a general computer in which these components are connected via a bus 906. The information processing device 900 may include multiple CPUs 901, or may include a CPU 901 configured with multiple cores.

[0061] The above-described embodiment may also provide a computer program capable of realizing the following functions for the information processing device 900 shown in FIG. 10. For example, the functions are the above-described configurations in the block diagrams (FIGS. 1 and 9) referred to in the description of the embodiment, or the functions of the flowchart (FIG. 8). The functions of the broadcast communication device according to this embodiment are then achieved by reading the computer program into the CPU 901 of the hardware, interpreting and executing it. The computer program provided within the device may be stored in a readable / writable volatile memory (RAM 903) or a non-volatile storage device such as the ROM 902 or hard disk 904.

[0062] In the above case, a computer program can be supplied to the hardware using a currently common procedure. Examples of such a procedure include installing the program in the device via a recording medium 907 such as a CD-ROM, or downloading the program from an external source via a communication line such as the Internet. In such a case, the computer program supplied to the information processing device according to this embodiment can be considered to be composed of the code that constitutes the program, or the recording medium 907 on which the code is stored.

[0063] The present invention has been described above using the above-described embodiments as exemplary examples. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. In other words, the present invention can be applied in various aspects that can be understood by a person skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0064] 10 Broadcasting equipment 11 Decision Section 12 Communications Department 13 Display control unit 14 Storage section 141 Inappropriate information 142 Broadcast communication exclusion information 20 groups 21 slave stations 30 Terminal Equipment 300 display screen 40 Broadcasting equipment 41 Decision Section 410 Inappropriate information 42 Communications Department 50 groups 51 slave stations 900 Information Processing Equipment 901 CPU 902 ROM 903 RAM 904 Hard disk (storage device) 905 Communication Interface 906 Bus 907 Recording Media 908 Reader / Writer 909 Input / Output Interface

Claims

1. An information processing device of a master station that performs broadcast communication to a group including one or more slave stations, a determining means for automatically determining, based on the inappropriateness information, whether each of the slave stations belonging to the group is an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication for the group, or a non-excluded slave station that is not to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication for the group; and a communication means for broadcasting to the non-excluded slave stations belonging to the group; A broadcasting device comprising:

2. the determining means determines the specific time period and the excluded slave station in association with each other based on the inappropriateness information indicating the specific time period; the communication means performs broadcast communication to the non-exclusion target slave stations that belong to the group during the specific time period.

2. The broadcasting device of claim 1.

3. the determining means uses the unsuitability information representing a schedule of events taking place in the vicinity of the location of the slave station.

3. The broadcasting device of claim 2.

4. the determining means uses the unsuitability information representing complaints from residents in the vicinity of the location of the slave station about noise caused by the broadcast.

4. A broadcasting device according to claim 1.

5. the determining means uses the unsuitability information representing a district in which the location of the slave station is located; 5. A broadcasting device according to claim 1.

6. a display control means for displaying, on a display device, broadcast communication exclusion information indicating the result of the determination of the excluded slave stations by the determination means; the determining means updates the broadcast communication exclusion information based on information input from outside that instructs updating the broadcast communication exclusion information.

6. A broadcasting device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. the display control means displays the broadcast communication exclusion information on the display device using a map showing the group and the positions of the slave stations, and displays the excluded slave stations and the non-excluded slave stations belonging to the group on the map in different ways on the display device.

7. The broadcasting device of claim 6.

8. further comprising a storage means for storing the inappropriateness information and the broadcast communication exclusion information; 8. A broadcasting device according to claim 6 or claim 7.

9. An information processing device of a master station that performs broadcast communication to a group including one or more slave stations, acquires from an external device inappropriateness information indicating the inappropriateness of broadcast communication for each of the slave stations, and automatically determines, based on the inappropriateness information, each of the slave stations belonging to the group as either an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication for the group, or a non-excluded slave station that is not to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication for the group; broadcasting to the non-excluded slave stations belonging to the group; Broadcast communication method.

10. A master station computer that broadcasts to a group including one or more slave stations, a determination process for automatically determining, based on the inappropriateness information, each of the slave stations belonging to the group as either an excluded slave station that is to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication for the group, or a non-excluded slave station that is not to be excluded from the target of broadcast communication for the group; and a communication process for broadcasting to the non-excluded slave stations belonging to the group; A broadcast program for executing the above.

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