CN1285079A - Method for transferring information - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for transferring information from an information provider (100) to an information consumer (190) in a highly efficient manner by means of a digital video broadcasting (DVB, 140) system and a secondary bidirectional transfer network (130). The secondary bidirectional transfer network provides information of where the DVB receiver (191) of the information consumer is located so that only suitable DVB transmitters (146) in the area are used for the information transfer itself. The location is determined by having at least one of either the transmitter frequency, the original network identification, the transport stream identification, and/or the network identification, of a transport stream of one transmitter that the receiver can receive transferred via the secondary bidirectional transfer network. Thereby only the necessary DVB transmitters need to be used for the information transfer, thus relieving the rest of the DVB transmitters (145, 147) from an unnecessary downloading.

Description

method used to transmit information

The present invention relates generally to methods of information transfer, such as electronic maps, multimedia applications, etc., using one or more radio frequency receivers, such as mobile, portable and stationary radio frequency receivers, and in particular to single scheduled Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) reception machine.

There are many different methods of delivering information from an information/content provider to an information consumer (ie, a destination where the information/content is intended to be used). In order to deliver information to an information consumer, it is necessary to have some means for locating the information consumer, which may be a problem in some cases. This problem can occur on the first message transfer if the message client is stationary. On the other hand, if the information consumer is mobile, the information consumer may have to be relocated for each information transfer to be made, depending on the transfer method. Another problem is how to deliver information in an efficient manner from an economical as well as from a time point of view, this information may not be good tomorrow but must be affordable to obtain it.

Mobile phone systems are information delivery systems. Voice information is in the form of analog or digital information and possibly purely digital data. Mobile telephony systems address the above-mentioned problems in a manner that is intended to be effective primarily for speech. A mobile phone system such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is a two-way communication system using cells in which information is transferred between a mobile phone and a base station. An intermittent exchange of information between the mobile phone and the base station of the cell takes place as long as the mobile phone is powered on (and even when it is on-hook). The information exchange that takes place while the mobile phone is on-hook is particularly useful for tracking this mobile phone. The base station transmits this information to a central database maintained by the mobile phone operator to keep track of where all mobile phones are located, ie in which cell or group of cells they are at the time. When a request is made to establish contact with a mobile telephone, the central database is queried to find out in which cell the mobile telephone is located so that the call can be routed to the appropriate base station for subsequent correct radio communication setup. Unfortunately, mobile telephony systems have relatively narrow bandwidth, ie, rather low information transfer rate capacity, since their main use is bi-directional transfer of voice which does not require very high transfer rates.

A DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) system (i.e. a broadcast system) can have a cell structure similar to what a mobile phone system has, but DVB is a one-way broadcast system, i.e. the DVB receiver cannot communicate with the DVB transmitter within the DVB system . The local DVB transmitter does not know which DVB receivers it is tuned to or which DVB receivers can receive this transmitter or which DVB receivers are fully capable or are receiving for this. The requirement to deliver information to a particular DVB receiver and the guarantee that the DVB receiver has a theoretical chance of receiving this information will therefore include all cells in which this DVB receiver may be located (this usually means the entire DVB network and also means this DVB network This information is sent on all the different frequencies used in the DVB network), which will lead to extremely poor usage efficiency of the DVB network, even though the DVB system has a relatively large bandwidth, that is, the information transfer rate capacity is so large that it can serve its broadcast television to a large number of The main purpose of the receiver. Unfortunately, it can be shown that the method does not use the DVB broadcast system in a very efficient way, since the system bandwidth in the entire DVB network is used for information having only values in a very restricted area to a very limited number of receivers purpose of information transmission.

It does not appear to be possible in a DVB system to transfer information to a predetermined single DVB receiver without having to download the entire system with this information, and in particular there is no way of transferring this information in a secure manner.

It is an object of the present invention to define a method for providing an efficient way of delivering information to one or more predetermined information consumers via a digital video broadcasting system.

Another object of the present invention is to define a method capable of transmitting information in a digital video broadcasting system in a safe, tolerant and efficient manner without using more bandwidth than is required by the digital video broadcasting system.

The above objects are achieved according to the present invention by a method for delivering information from an information provider to an information consumer using a digital video broadcasting (DVB) system and an auxiliary two-way delivery network. This auxiliary two-way delivery network provides information about where the DVB receivers of the information customers are located, so that only suitable DVB transmitters in this area are themselves used for information delivery. The location is determined using network identification of a transport stream receivable by the receiver, eg transmitted over a secondary two-way transport network, to identify the transmitter used. Thereby, only the minimum number of DVB transmitters required for information transfer is necessary, thus freeing the remaining DVB transmitters from unnecessary downloads.

The above objects are also achieved according to the invention with a method for transferring information from an information provider to a predetermined information customer. The digital video broadcasting system is used to transmit this information to the digital video broadcasting receivers of the subscription information customers. In order to enable effective information transmission when the information provider initiates a request to transmit information to a predetermined information customer, such as NMT (Nordic Mobile Phone), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), Ancillary bi-directional transfer networks such as the Internet (Internet) support this information transfer. This method includes many steps. First, an information provider establishes contact with an information delivery point to request information delivery to a predetermined information customer. The information transfer point can be part of the information provider, part of the DVB system or an independent service. Thereafter, the information transfer point retrieves the access information of the predetermined information customer according to the request from the information provider. The information transfer point establishes initial contact with the reservation information customer based on the retrieved access information about the reservation information customer as a third step. Thereafter, the subscription information customer provides the information delivery point via the auxiliary two-way delivery network depending on the particular DVB network including transport stream identification, network identification, original network identification and/or identification of the subscription information customer's digital video broadcasting receiver receiving or receivable transmission Transport configuration information for at least one of a transmitter frequency and a transmitter frequency of the transport stream. Finally, the information provider transmits information to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the predetermined information customer on the digital video broadcasting system through the information transmission point according to the transmission configuration information, thereby transmitting information from the information provider to the predetermined information customer in an efficient manner.

Suitably, the method also advantageously causes the information delivery point to transmit the information to a digital video broadcast receiver of a predetermined information client via a selected transmitter in the digital video broadcast system based on the delivery configuration information.

The subscription information customer's access information preferably provides information on how the subscription information customer can be contacted through the secondary two-way delivery network, and initial contact with the subscription information customer is accomplished through the secondary two-way delivery network based on the subscription information customer's access information A step of. Preferably, a broadcast over a digital video broadcasting system is performed to prompt the subscribing information customer to establish contact with the information delivery point if the step of establishing initial contact with the subscribing information customer via the secondary two-way delivery network cannot be accomplished. If the information transfer point cannot establish contact with the predetermined information customer after a timeout, it is preferable to inform the information provider that the predetermined information customer cannot actually be contacted.

The subscription information customer's access information can conveniently choose not to provide information on how the subscription information customer can be contacted through the auxiliary two-way delivery network or to provide information on how to use the broadcast on the digital video broadcasting system to contact the subscription information customer, thereby The subscribing information customer is prompted to establish contact with the information delivery point, and the step of establishing initial contact with the subscribing information customer is accomplished using a broadcast on the digital video broadcasting system, thereby prompting the subscribing information customer to establish contact with the information delivery point. If the information transfer point cannot establish contact with the predetermined information customer after a timeout, it is preferable to notify the information provider that the predetermined information customer cannot actually be reached.

This delivery configuration information may also advantageously include transport stream identification, network identification, origin network identification and/or identification of the transmitter and transmitter frequency of the transport stream among all transmitters receivable by the subscriber's DVB receiver , the field strength of all receivable transmitters, what program/transport stream is currently being received by any DVB receiver of the subscription information client, or alternative information delivery routes. The information delivery point can determine when and what transport stream to use for information delivery in some embodiments of the present invention based on the delivery configuration information, and use the auxiliary delivery network to notify the predetermined information consumer of when and what transport flow to use for information delivery. In some other embodiments the determination of what (if any) alternative transport streams should be used for information delivery can be suitably made by the information consumer or by the information consumer's digital video broadcasting receiver.

In some types/embodiments of the invention, increased security of transmitted information is of increasing concern and these embodiments include additional steps. In a first further step, the information transfer point transfers the key to a predetermined information consumer using the secondary two-way transfer network before, during or after the transfer of the information through the digital video broadcasting system. The transmitted information is encoded by the information provider or by the information transfer point. Decoding of the transmitted information is performed using the transmitted key either in the digital video broadcasting receiver of the subscribing information consumer or by the subscribing information consumer. When high-reliability information transmission is required, the method according to the present invention further includes the following steps. First, checksums and the like of information that have been or will be transmitted through the digital video broadcasting system are transmitted to predetermined information customers through the auxiliary two-way transmission network. Second, it is checked whether the transmitted information is not corrupted based on the transmitted checksum or the like. Checking is performed in or by the subscriber information customer's digital video broadcasting receiver. Third, the digital video broadcasting receiver of the subscription information client or the subscription information client requests the information delivery point to resend the corrupted delivery information, and sends this request through the secondary two-way delivery network.

The above objects are also achieved by a method for transmitting information from an information provider to a digital video broadcasting receiver of an information consumer via a digital video broadcasting system. This transfer is performed with the support of an auxiliary bi-directional transfer network. Thus, when a request to transmit information to an information consumer is initiated by the information consumer, efficient information transmission can be performed. This method includes many steps. First, an information consumer establishes an initial contact with an information transfer point through an auxiliary two-way transfer network using an information transfer request from an information provider to an information client. This information transfer point can be part of the information provider, part of the DVB system or an independent service. Subsequently, the information client provides the information delivery point with the information delivery point according to the specific DVB network including transport stream identification, network identification, original network identification and/or identification of the digital video broadcasting receiver receiving or receivable transmitters and Delivery configuration information for at least one of the transmitter frequencies of the delivery stream. The information transfer point retrieves the requested information. Thereafter, the information provider transmits the information to the digital video broadcasting system of the information customer on the digital video broadcasting system through the information transmission point according to the transmission configuration information, thereby transmitting the information from the information provider to the information customer in an efficient manner.

The method also advantageously causes the information delivery point to deliver the information to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer via the selected transmitter in the digital video broadcasting system based on the delivery configuration information. This delivery configuration information may also advantageously include transport stream identification, network identification, origin network identification and/or identification of the subscription information the transmitter and the transmitter frequency of the transport stream among all transmitters receivable by the client's digital video broadcasting receiver , the field strength of all receivable transmitters, what program/transport stream is currently being received by any DVB receiver of the subscription information client, or alternative information delivery routes. According to the transfer configuration information, the information transfer point can determine when and what channel to use for information transfer in some embodiments of the present invention and use the auxiliary two-way transfer network to inform the information client when and what channel to use for information transfer.

The information delivery point is preferably capable of confirming the availability or unavailability of the requested information to the information consumer via a secondary two-way delivery network or via a digital video broadcasting system.

In some types/embodiments of the invention, increased security of transmitted information is of increasing concern and these types/embodiments include additional steps. In a first further step, the information transfer point transfers the encryption key to the information consumer using the auxiliary two-way transfer network before, during or after the transfer of the information through the digital video broadcasting system. Either encoded by the information provider or by the information transfer point for transfer. Decoding of the transmitted information is performed in the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or by the information consumer using the transmitted key. When high-reliability information transmission is required, the method according to the invention also includes the following additional steps. First, checks and the like of information that has been or will be transmitted through the digital video broadcasting system are transmitted to information consumers through the secondary two-way transmission network. Second, it is checked whether the transmitted information is damaged or not based on the transmitted checksum or the like, which is performed in the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or by the information consumer. Third, the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or the information consumer requests the information transfer point to resend the corrupted transfer through the secondary two-way transfer network.

The above objects are also achieved by a method for transmitting information from an information provider to a digital video broadcasting receiver of an information consumer via a digital video broadcasting system. This delivery is performed with the support of the secondary two-way delivery network, thereby enabling efficient information delivery when a request to deliver information to an information consumer is initiated by the information consumer. This method according to the invention is particularly beneficial when an information customer is receiving programs/channels generated from a service provider and the information customer wants more information from that service provider. This program/channel could for example be a historical program including a flag that the information customer could interpret and use as a request for more information (such as background information) to a service provider who then also becomes an information provider. In another example, the program can be delivered by an Internet server that continuously provides the transport stream with information requested from the Internet (Information Provider) and/or from standard settings, as well as its own IP address or other server identification /channel. The information consumer will then provide the information delivery point with a request such as a home page or the IP address to which these home pages should be sent (ie the IP address of the server to which this information consumer is listening via the digital broadcast system). The information transfer point will then use this IP address to provide the Internet with requests for information and where the requested information should be sent. The Internet server with said IP address will receive the requested information and add this to the transport stream received by the information client. The method according to the invention comprises a number of steps. First, an information consumer establishes an initial contact with an information transfer point through a secondary two-way transfer network with a request for information transfer from an information provider to an information client. This information transfer point can be part of the information provider, part of the DVB system or an independent service. The information consumer then provides the information delivery point with a delivery comprising at least one of the program/transport stream (such as BBC4) or information therein (such as an IP address) currently received by the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer via the secondary two-way delivery network configuration information. Thereafter, the information transmission point transmits the information request and the transmission configuration information to the information provider. Finally, the information provider transmits information to the digital video broadcasting system of the information customer through the digital video broadcasting system according to the transmission configuration information, thereby transmitting information from the information provider to the information customer in an effective manner.

This transmission configuration information may also advantageously include at least one of transmitter frequency, origin network identification, transport stream identification and/or network identification of the digital video broadcasting transmitter's transport stream receivable by the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information client.

The method also advantageously transmits information for delivery to digital video broadcasting receivers of information consumers via selected transmitters in the digital video broadcasting system based on the delivery configuration information. This delivery configuration information may also beneficially include transmitter frequency, origin network identification, transport stream identification and/or network identification, receivable transmitter's At least one of field strength or an optional information transmission route.

In some types/embodiments of the invention, increased security of the transmitted information is obtained by having the method according to the invention comprise further steps. In a first further step, the information transfer point transfers the encryption key to the information consumer using the auxiliary two-way transfer network before, during or after the transfer of the information through the digital video broadcasting system. Encodes the information to be delivered by the information provider. In a final further step, decoding of the transmitted information is carried out in the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or by the information consumer using the transmitted key. The method can also beneficially include a number of additional steps to ensure high reliability. This is accomplished by first delivering inspections etc. of information that has been or will be delivered over the digital video broadcasting system to the information consumer using the secondary two-way delivery network. Thereafter, it is checked whether the transmitted information is not corrupted based on a transmitted check or the like, which is performed in the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or by the information consumer. Finally, the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or the information consumer requests the information transfer point to resend the corrupted transfer via the secondary two-way transfer network.

By providing a method for delivering information from an information provider to an information consumer over only selected portions of a digital video broadcasting system/network, a number of advantages over prior art systems are obtained. By providing the information to the information delivery point whose DVB transmitter is received by the information customer and optionally receivable by the information customer, the information delivery can then be carried out without having to download the entire system. The information required by the information transfer point can be transferred to the information transfer point using the secondary two-way transfer network such as GSM's readily available telephone network. High security is obtained for the information consumer by directly transferring the encryption key and the like using the auxiliary bidirectional transfer network which is preferably the point-to-point transfer network in that case. High reliability is achieved by using the secondary bidirectional transport network as a backup channel for resending failed data block requests. By combining (since the entire system bandwidth is not used) an inexpensive high-capacity broadcast system with a lower-capacity or more expensive secondary two-way delivery network, an efficient way of delivering information is obtained according to the invention. Another advantage of the present invention is the ability to identify information clients using DVB receiver identification, identification of assisted two-way transmission network transceivers, another identifier independent of hardware, or any combination of the above.

The invention will now be more particularly described, for purposes of explanation and not at all limitation, with reference to the following drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the system according to the invention;

Figure 2 represents a flow chart of the method according to the invention;

Figure 3 represents a flow chart of another method according to the present invention;

Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of how to achieve high security and fault tolerance according to a method of the present invention.

In order to illustrate the system according to the invention, some embodiments of its use will now be described with reference to Figures 1-4.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the system according to the invention. As shown in this figure and below, certain parts can form smaller or larger groups. Information to be delivered to the information client/terminal 190 can be found on the information/content provider 100. The other parts making up the system are information delivery point/service provider 110, access information database 120, digital video broadcasting (DVB) network/network provider 140 with associated cells 145,146,147, auxiliary two-way delivery network/interaction network 130, an information client/terminal 190 with a DVB receiver 191 and a transceiver 192 for assisting the two-way transmission network 130 and optionally means 199 for handling encrypted transmissions. Access information database 120 is used to identify secondary two-way delivery network 130 and access of that network to information consumers. The invention does not depend on the exact physical proximity of the different parts, the information client 190 is preferably logically separated from the other parts 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 of the system. For example, the information transfer point 110 may be part of the information provider 100 or form part of the access information database 120 and the DVB network/system 140 or a completely independent business. As mentioned, there are many possibilities, but these do not affect the invention.

Basically, the present invention locates the information consumer 190 and only sends information to where the information consumer 190 is located. The present invention utilizes broadcast system 140 to deliver information to information consumers 190 . Broadcast systems are very efficient at delivering information to many receivers. Sometimes broadcast systems are called point-to-multipoint delivery systems. A customary method of transmitting information to (and from) a single recipient is to use a so-called peer-to-peer transmission system. A common disadvantage shared by point-to-point systems is that each unit of transmitted information is very expensive. A very attractive advantage of using the DVB system for transferring information is its enormous bandwidth, ie it can transfer large (huge) amounts of data/information in very short time intervals. By locating the receiver/information client 190 in the broadcast system 145, 146, 147, information delivery to that location 146 can be made, and the network can be used simultaneously by spatially separated receivers, making the delivery of information very cost-effective. DVB systems can have SFN (Single Frequency Network) features, have more traditional TV broadcast features, have different frequency regions/cells 145, 146, 147 or a combination of both, where there can be a SFN covering a country or a large area , and can also have several different DVB frequency regions within the same coverage area, each frequency region can be a small SFN system. It is possible to direct and send different information in SFN as well as in traditional cell structures. Sending different information in SFN requires great care, but is possible. However, both methods preferably require knowledge of the receiver's location if transmission of information to a single information client 190 is to be effective. Reference in this specification to the identification of a transmitter means the identification of the number of transmitters in a single frequency network. The broadcasting of information in a DVB network is done using so-called transport streams sent from one or more transmitters on predetermined carrier frequencies. A transport stream is an elementary stream comprising, for example, (only some of which are mentioned) one or more programs (i.e. program channels such as BBC1 and SVT1 and not time-restricted shows), data, service information, conditional access control and synchronization information Information reuse. A transport stream is designed for multi-program applications, ie it usually consists of elementary streams for more than one program. Elementary streams can be eg sound (audio), video, teletext and data, where eg a television broadcast (programme) comprises several elementary streams such as video, mono audio, stereo audio, teletext etc. A transport stream according to DVB also includes a data structure which includes a lot of information. The present invention utilizes the information of one or more blocks within these data structures according to the particular DVB network. In particular, the present invention utilizes one or more of original-network-id, transportstream-id and network-id available in the data structure of a DVB transport stream.

According to the present invention, the auxiliary two-way delivery network 130 is used to deliver the location information of the information customer to the information delivery point 110 . One way of obtaining the location of the messaging client itself would be to use GPS (Global Positioning System) and send this information to the messaging point 110 via the secondary two-way delivery network 130 . However, this can be considered a disadvantage when it is necessary for the information client to include GPS.

Another method of locating the information client 190 would be to use information generated by a secondary cell-based two-way delivery network 130 such as GSM. Unfortunately, that information is usually the privilege of the operator of that network and thus not available to users outside of that network. The use of that method will then be specific to a particular secondary bi-directional transport network 130, which can sometimes be considered a disadvantage.

According to the invention, the information contained in the transport stream of the DVB broadcast and possibly the frequency of the transmitter of the received transport stream is used to locate the information client 190 . A combination of one or more of transmitter frequencies, original-network-id, transportstream-id, and/or network-id for said transport stream will uniquely identify the Transmitters and transport streams (in SFN) received by this receiver. Different DVB networks will provide different types of information in the transport stream and provide different meanings for the original network identification, transport stream identification and network identification. In some DVB networks it will be sufficient to have the original network identification given the source of the transport stream, and this together with the transport stream identification will uniquely identify where and on what transport stream the information to be delivered should be added. If there is no possibility to add this information to the currently received Transport Stream, it may be necessary to also use the network identification and possibly also the received frequency of the network from which this Transport Stream should be specified to be received, in order thus to be able to correctly identify the network from which this Transport Stream was received. The transmitter that delivers the stream. If this transmitter is identified, it is at least possible to identify the approximate location of the information client 190 with its DVB receiver 191 and auxiliary two-way transfer network transceiver 192, so that the DVB receiver 191 can receive, for example, information from the identified transmitter. Alternative transport streams can be considered. In other DVB networks, the original network ID may not have any meaning, but this network ID uniquely identifies the transmitter and frequency. In these DVB networks it is quite sufficient to use the network identification and optionally only the transport identification. Thus, according to the present invention, according to said DVB network, at least one of transmitter frequency, original network ID, transport stream ID and/or network ID is obtained and transmitted to the information transfer point 110 via the auxiliary bidirectional transfer network 130 . In other embodiments of the invention, programs/channels and/or information received within the received transport stream, such as identified by the server, as described above, is sufficient to at least roughly locate the DVB receiver 191 having its DVB receiver 191 transceived with the secondary two-way transport network. The information client 190 of the machine 192. Optionally, more receivable transport streams and their corresponding transmitter frequencies, original network identities, transport stream identities and/or network identities are optionally transmitted together with their corresponding field strengths. This enables the information delivery point 110 to locate the information consumer 190 with considerable accuracy and thereby determine the most efficient way to deliver this information. Criteria that can be used by the information transfer point 110 can be, for example, direction of movement, free capacity in different transport streams, amount of information to be transferred, what transport streams are receivable, urgency/priority of the request to transfer information, and the like.

Fig. 2 shows a flow chart of a method according to the invention using a system such as that according to Fig. 1 . The method according to FIG. 2 describes when a request to transmit information to an information consumer is generated from an information provider (ie, a push system). In a first step, request step 210, a request to transmit information to an information consumer is initiated at the information provider, which is sent as a request in request step 220 to the information transfer point. The information transfer point performs a search in a search step 230 in order to establish a known method of establishing contact with the information consumer. According to the lookup in establishing contact step 240, contact is established with the information customer. The step 240 of establishing contact can optionally include the following sub-steps. Sub-step SBTN or DVB? 241 Establishes whether initial contact with the information customer will be made via the Supplementary Bidirectional Transport Network (SBTN) or via the Digital Video Broadcasting Network (DVB). This information is typically obtained and established in lookup step 230 . If a secondary two-way delivery network will be used, what are the steps to communicate? 242 Determine if it is possible to establish contact with the information customer. If it is possible to establish a contact with the information customer, in a step-by-step DVB connection? 243 and switching on 244 ensure switching on the DVB receiver of the message client, after which the procedure continues with step minimum message 250. If in step-by-step contact? 242 A method of continuing where contact is not possible due to, for example, switching off the information client's auxiliary two-way transfer network transceiver or the fact that the information transfer point does not have or has erroneous information about the information client's auxiliary two-way transfer network Yes proceed to sub-step DVB broadcast 245 . In the step-by-step DVB broadcast 245 a general call is made through parts or the entire DVB network in order to inform the information customer that a request to transmit information has occurred. If the information client receives the all-call in the step-by-step reception broadcast 246, the information client should switch on its auxiliary two-way delivery network transceiver in a step-by-step confirmation 247 and confirm that it has received the call to send the message point, and thereafter continue with step minimum information 250. On the other hand, if the information transfer point does not receive an acknowledgment or establish any other contact with the information customer within the predetermined time interval, then in sub-step timeout 248 it will not be possible to obtain contact with the information customer to inform the information provider. After an initial contact has been made with the information customer, then in step minimum message 250 the information customer sends the transmitter frequency, original network identification, transport stream identification and The transmission configuration information of at least one of/or the network identification is transmitted to the information transmission point. Optionally, in the step-by-step selection information 251, the information client also provides the information transmission point with other transmission configuration information such as other receivable transmission streams and corresponding information, field strength of the receiving transmitter, optional transmission path, etc. Alternatively, in sub-step selection 252, the information transfer point determines/selects the best route/transfer flow to send this information. Finally, in a transmitting step 260, the information is transmitted from the information provider to the information consumer via the digital video broadcasting network.

Figure 3 shows a flow chart of another method according to the invention using the system according to eg Figure 1 . The method according to FIG. 3 describes when a request is generated from an information consumer (ie, a pull system) to deliver information to an information consumer. In the first step, need step 210, the need to deliver information to the information consumer originates in the information consumer itself. In select sub-steps DVB turned on? 311, connect 312, connect SBTN? In 313 and switching on 314, the information customer is sure to switch on the necessary equipment. Thereafter, the information client makes initial contact with the information delivery point in step minimum message 320 and also transmits the information request and includes the transmitter frequency of the transport stream that the DVB receiver of the information client can receive, the original network identification, the delivery The configuration information of at least one of the flow identification and/or the network identification is transmitted to the information transmission point. Optionally, in the step-by-step selection information 321, the information client also provides the information transmission point with other transmission configuration information such as another transmission stream, field strength of the receiving transmitter, optional transmission route, and the like. In data step 330, the information transfer point retrieves the requested information from the information provider. Optionally in sub-step confirming 331, the information transfer point confirms to the information transfer point whether the requested information is available. Optionally, in sub-step selection 332, the information transfer point determines/selects the best route/transfer flow to send this information. Finally, in a transmitting step 360, the information is transmitted from the information provider to the information consumer via the digital video broadcasting network.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of how high security and fault tolerance are achieved according to a method of the invention which can be implemented in the methods according to FIGS. 2 and 3 as sub-step transfers 260 and 360 respectively. In the first step key 461, the key and the like are transmitted to the information consumer through the secondary two-way transmission network. In a second step of transmission 462, the encoded information is transmitted to the information consumer via DVB. Decode/decrypt this information and at step OK? 463 to determine if the message was received in its entirety. If the message is received without error, then in step acknowledgment 466 the message consumer can optionally acknowledge receipt of the message to the message transfer point via the secondary two-way delivery network. In order to make the transfer as efficient as possible, it is appropriate in most embodiments of the invention not to acknowledge correctly received information. On the other hand, if there is an error in the received information, the information consumer requests the information transfer point to resend the erroneous information through the secondary two-way transfer network in step request resend 464 . In step resend 465 the message is resent via the DVB network, after which the procedure utilizes the step OK? 363 continues.

The invention can be implemented in the form of an apparatus as pure hardware, as pure software or as a combination of hardware and software. If the method according to the invention is implemented in software, it can be completely independent or it can be part of a larger program. The software can suitably reside on a general purpose computer or a special purpose computer.

In summary, the present invention can be basically described as a method of providing an efficient way of delivering information within a DVB network to information consumers using an auxiliary bi-directional delivery network.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above but may be varied within the scope of the appended patent claims.

Claims (24)

1. A method for transmitting information from an information provider to a predetermined information consumer utilizing a digital video broadcasting system to a digital video broadcasting receiver of a subscribing information consumer and utilizing the support of an ancillary two-way delivery network, whereby the information is transmitted at the information provider origination Effective information transmission can be carried out when requesting information from customers, characterized in that the method includes the following steps: The information provider establishes contact with the information transmission point to request information to be transmitted to the predetermined information customer; The information transfer point retrieves the access information of the predetermined information customer according to the request from the information provider; The information transmission point establishes initial contact with the reservation information customer according to the retrieved access information about the reservation information customer; The Subscription Information Client provides the Information Delivery Point via the secondary two-way delivery network with the transmitter frequency, original network identification, transport stream identification and/or network identification of the DVB transmitter's transport stream receivable by the Subscription Information Customer's DVB receiver Transmission configuration information of at least one of them; The information provider transmits information to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the predetermined information customer on the digital video broadcasting system through the information transmission point according to the transmission configuration information, thereby transmitting information from the information provider to the predetermined information customer in an efficient manner. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, based on the transmission configuration information, the information transmission point can transmit the information to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the predetermined information customer through the selected transmitter in the digital video broadcasting system. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the subscription information customer's access information provides information on how the subscription information customer can be contacted via the secondary two-way transfer network, and the step of establishing initial contact with the subscription information customer is based on a subscription Access to information by information clients is accomplished using a secondary two-way delivery network. 4. 3. The method according to claim 3, wherein, if the step of establishing initial contact with the subscribing information customer through the auxiliary two-way delivery network cannot be completed, performing a broadcast on the digital video broadcasting system to prompt the subscribing information customer to establish contact with the information delivery point. 5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that if the information transfer point cannot establish contact with the predetermined information customer after a timeout, the information provider is informed that the predetermined information customer cannot actually be contacted. 6. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the subscription information customer's access information either does not provide information on how the subscription information customer can be contacted via the auxiliary two-way transfer network or the access information provides information on how to use the digital video The broadcast on the broadcasting system is connected to the information of the reservation information customer, so as to thereby prompt the reservation information customer to establish contact with the information transmission point, and the step of establishing initial contact with the reservation information customer is completed through the broadcast on the digital video broadcasting system, so as to thereby prompt the reservation information customer The information client establishes contact with the information delivery point. 7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that if the information transfer point cannot establish contact with the predetermined information customer after a timeout, the information provider is informed that the predetermined information customer cannot actually be contacted. 8. A method according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that the delivery configuration information also includes transmitter frequency, origin network at least one of identification, transport stream identification and/or network identification, field strength of receivable transmitters, what program is currently being received by any digital video broadcasting receiver of a subscription information client, or alternative information delivery routes. 9. A method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that the information transfer point determines when and what transport flow to use for information transfer based on the transfer configuration information, and uses the auxiliary two-way transfer network to determine when and Notify the subscription information client of what transport stream is used for information delivery. 10. A method according to any one of claims 1-9, further comprising the steps of: The information transmission point transmits the encryption key to the predetermined information customer before, during or after the transmission of the information through the digital video broadcasting system using the auxiliary two-way transmission network; Information to be transmitted encoded by the information provider or by the information transmission point; The transmitted information is decoded using the transmitted key in or by the subscriber's digital video broadcasting receiver. 11. A method according to any one of claims 1-10, further comprising the steps of: Transmission of inspection, etc. of information that has been or will be transmitted through the digital video broadcasting system to predetermined information customers through the auxiliary two-way transmission network; To check whether the transmitted information is damaged based on the transmitted inspection, etc., in the digital video broadcasting receiver of the predetermined information customer or by the predetermined information customer; The digital video broadcasting receiver of the subscription information client or the subscription information client requests the information transfer point to resend the corrupted transfer information through the secondary two-way transfer network. 12. A method for delivering information from an information provider to an information consumer using a digital video broadcasting system to a digital video broadcasting receiver of an information consumer and using the support of an ancillary two-way delivery network whereby the information consumer initiates the delivery of information to the information consumer An effective information transmission can be carried out when the information customer requests it, and it is characterized in that the method includes the following steps: The information consumer establishes initial contact with the information transfer point through the secondary two-way transfer network with a request for information transfer from the information provider to the information client; The information client provides the information delivery point with the information delivery point through the auxiliary two-way delivery network, including the transmitter frequency, original network identification, transport stream identification and/or network identification of the digital video broadcasting transmitter's transport stream that the information customer's digital video broadcasting receiver can receive. Transmission configuration information of at least one of; The information delivery point retrieves the requested information; The information provider transmits the information to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information customer on the digital video broadcasting system through the information transmission point according to the transmission configuration information, thereby transmitting the information from the information provider to the information customer in an effective manner. 13. 12. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, according to the transmission configuration information, the information transmission point can transmit the information to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information customer through the selected transmitter in the digital video broadcasting system. 14. A method according to any one of claims 12 or 13, characterized in that the delivery configuration information also includes transmitter frequency, origin network identification, delivery At least one of stream identification and/or network identification, field strengths of receivable transmitters, what programs are currently being received by any digital video broadcasting receivers of the subscribing information clients, or alternative information delivery routes. 15. A method according to any one of claims 12-14, wherein the information transfer point determines when and what transport flow to use for information transfer based on the transfer configuration information, and uses the auxiliary bidirectional transfer network to determine when and The message client is informed of what transport stream is used for message delivery. 16. A method according to any one of claims 12-15, characterized in that the information transfer point confirms the availability or unavailability of the requested information to the information consumer via a secondary two-way transfer network or via a digital video broadcasting system. 17. A method according to any one of claims 12-16, further comprising the steps of: The information transmission point transmits the encryption key to the information consumer before, during or after the transmission of the information through the digital video broadcasting system using the auxiliary two-way transmission network; Information to be transmitted encoded by the information provider or by the information transmission point; In the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or by the information consumer, the transmitted information is decoded using the transmitted key. 18. A method according to any one of claims 12-17, further comprising the steps of: Transmitting checksums, etc. of information that has been or will be transmitted via the digital video broadcasting system to the information customer via the auxiliary two-way transmission network; To check whether the transmitted information is corrupted based on the transmitted checksum, etc., in the digital video broadcasting receiver of this information customer or by this information customer; The digital video broadcasting receiver of the information client or the information client requests the information transfer point to resend the corrupted transfer through the secondary two-way transfer network. 19. A method for delivering information from an information provider to an information consumer using a digital video broadcasting system to a digital video broadcasting receiver of an information consumer and using the support of an ancillary two-way delivery network whereby the information consumer initiates the delivery of information to the information consumer An effective information transmission can be carried out when the information customer requests it, and it is characterized in that the method includes the following steps: The information consumer establishes initial contact with the information transfer point through the secondary two-way transfer network with a request for information transfer from the information provider to the information client; The information client provides the information transfer point with delivery configuration information including at least one of the program/transport stream currently being received by the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information client or information therein through the auxiliary two-way delivery network; The information transmission point transmits the information request and the transmission configuration information to the information provider; The information provider transmits information to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information customer on the digital video broadcasting system according to the transmission configuration information, thereby transmitting information from the information provider to the information customer in an efficient manner. 20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that the transmission configuration information also includes the transmitter frequency, origin network identification, transport stream identification and/or or at least one of network identification. twenty one. A method according to any one of claims 19 or 20, characterized in that, according to the delivery configuration information, the information to be delivered to the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information client is transmitted by the selected transmitter in the digital video broadcasting system. twenty two. A method according to any one of claims 19-21, characterized in that the delivery configuration information also includes transmitter frequency, origin network At least one of identification, transport flow identification and/or network identification, field strength of a receivable transmitter or optional information transmission routing. twenty three. A method according to any one of claims 19-22, further comprising the steps of: The information transmission point transmits the encryption key to the information consumer before, during or after the transmission of the information through the digital video broadcasting system using the auxiliary two-way transmission network; encode the information to be transmitted by the information provider; In the digital video broadcasting receiver of the information consumer or by the information consumer, the transmitted information is decoded using the transmitted key. twenty four. A method according to any one of claims 19-23, further comprising the steps of: Transmitting checksums, etc. of information that has been or will be transmitted via the digital video broadcasting system to the information customer via the auxiliary two-way transmission network; To check whether the transmitted information is corrupted based on the transmitted checksum, etc., in the digital video broadcasting receiver of this information customer or by this information customer; The digital video broadcasting receiver of the information client or the information client requests the information transfer point to resend the corrupted transfer through the secondary two-way transfer network.

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