KR100730584B1 - Broadcast system and broadcast service method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a broadcast system for providing or relaying a data broadcast service to at least one broadcaster system or a broadcast receiving device of a plurality of subscribers subscribed to the broadcaster system. The broadcast system stores logo information including a logo image file received from the broadcaster system to control its transmission, and controls the transmission of a broadcast program and logo information stored in the logo management unit. The broadcast system converts a broadcast program into an object carousel to repeatedly transmit a broadcast program, receives a logo transmission request from a broadcast reception device, transmits the logo image file, and includes an SI including broadcast program information, channel information, and logo information. service information) Create data.

Data broadcasting, logo, SI

Description

Broadcasting system and broadcasting service method {BROADCAST SYSTEM AND BROADCASTING SERVICE METHOD}

1 is a block diagram illustrating a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a format of a descriptor for describing broadcaster system characteristic information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a format of a short-form virtual channel table (SVCT) including broadcaster system characteristic information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a broadcast service method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a screen including logo information transmitted to a broadcast reception device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a broadcast system and a broadcast service method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a broadcast system and a broadcast service method for providing characteristic information of a plurality of broadcaster systems.

The broadcast system digitizes and transmits broadcast content provided by a broadcast channel user, either on its own or under a contract with a broadcaster system (SO). That is, the broadcast system receives and decrypts an encrypted or unencrypted broadcast signal through a satellite or an optical network, and performs re-encryption for security and authentication. In addition, the broadcasting system transmits a signal format suitable for a network environment after processing such as multiplexing and advertisement insertion in order to restrict reception to a specific subscriber and provide various services.

The broadcaster system may transmit the digital broadcast program provided from the broadcast system to the subscriber's broadcast receiving device, or the broadcast system may transmit the digital broadcast program directly to the broadcast receiving device by contract. At this time, the broadcaster system makes the company name or service name used by the broadcaster system uniquely revealed to the subscriber by inserting and transmitting information such as font or image used as a trademark, that is, logo information into the digital broadcast program. Clearly inform the subject providing the service, and furthermore, promote the effect. In addition, subscribers provided with logo information through the broadcast reception device have an advantage of easily identifying the broadcaster system to which they are subscribed even when a problem occurs in the broadcast reception or to exchange information with other broadcaster systems. Therefore, the demand for such services is increasing.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a broadcast system and a broadcast service method that the broadcast operator system can efficiently transmit logo information to subscribers subscribed to the system.

In order to solve this problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast system for providing or relaying a data broadcast service to at least one broadcaster system or a broadcast receiving device of a plurality of subscribers subscribed to the broadcaster system. . The broadcast system includes a logo manager, a broadcast manager, a data encoder, a PSIP encoder, a return server, and an SI encoder. The logo manager stores the logo information including the logo image file received from the broadcaster system and controls the transmission, and the delivery manager controls the transmission of the broadcast program and the logo information stored in the logo manager. The data encoder converts the broadcast program into an object carousel to repeatedly transmit the broadcast program, and the PSIP encoder generates program and system information potocol (PSIP) data including program information and channel information of the broadcast program. The return server receives a logo transmission request from a broadcast reception device through a return channel and transmits the logo image file, and the SI encoder generates SI (service information) data including broadcast program information, channel information, and logo information. do.

At this time, the broadcast system allocates an identifier to the broadcaster system, matches and manages the plurality of subscriber information subscribed to the broadcaster system and the assigned identifier information, and requests the subscriber from the broadcaster system. The apparatus may further include a service processor configured to receive the data and perform data processing for providing the requested service.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast service method of a broadcast system that receives or transmits a broadcast service by receiving a request transmitted from at least one broadcaster system through a broadcast receiving device of a plurality of subscribers. According to this method, first, logo information including a logo image file is received from a broadcaster system, a logo information transmission request is received from a broadcast reception device, and descriptor data including logo information is generated for each broadcaster system. It generates and transmits service infortmation (SI) data into which the generated descriptor data is inserted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the specification. In addition, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, this means that it may further include other components, except to exclude other components unless otherwise stated.

In the present specification, "broadcast program" means information including at least one of image information (video stream), sound information (audio stream), and an application, and "application" is information for data broadcasting, and includes an executable file and image information. It means that all the information that can be provided in the data broadcast, including, for example, text information.

Now, a broadcast system and a broadcast service method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing a data broadcasting system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a data broadcasting system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a logo manager 110, a service processor 120, a transmission manager 130, a content database (DB) 140, and a return server ( 150, data encoder 160, PSIP encoder 170, SI encoder 180, and multiplexer 190. The broadcast system interworks with at least one broadcast service provider system (SO) 200 to provide a broadcast service.

The broadcaster system 200 relays the subscriber's subscription to the data broadcasting service to the system to which the subscriber subscribes, and handles billing for the service, and the broadcast system 100 receives the subscriber's request from the broadcaster system 200. Providing services according to.

The logo manager 110 receives the logo-related information from the broadcast system 100 and the at least one broadcaster system 200, stores the logo-related information for each broadcaster system 200, and has a request for transmission from the broadcast manager 120. In that case, provide that information. In this case, the logo related information transmitted from the broadcaster system 200 may include identifier information of each broadcaster system 200, logo image file and version information of the corresponding file, broadcast program information and channel information into which a logo image is to be inserted, and logo image. It may include the transmission form of the, identifier information assigned to the subscriber to receive the logo image file. When the subscriber receiving the data broadcast has a failure, the logo management unit 110 receives call center information that is operated by the broadcast service provider system 200 from the broadcast service provider system 200 for smooth communication with the subscriber. Can be stored.

At this time, the broadcasting system 100 allocates a separate authority for controlling the operation of the logo management unit 110 to each broadcasting company system 200 to which the broadcasting company system 200 provides the subscriber. The logo related information can be updated in real time, and unnecessary information can be deleted.

The service processor 120 manages subscriber information, broadcaster system information, equipment information, and the like, and processes the service opening of the subscriber, the addition of the subscriber's products, the cancellation and change, the replacement of the subscriber's equipment, and the like to the transmission manager 130. Send subscriber related information. The service processor 120 allocates an identifier to each broadcaster system 200 associated with the broadcast system 100, and matches a plurality of subscriber information subscribed to the broadcaster system 200 with the assigned identifier information. To manage.

The transmission manager 130 collects information for controlling the entire data broadcasting system, managing channel information, managing schedule information, and generating electronic program guide (EPG) information, and controlling transmission of a broadcast program. The transmission manager 130, according to the logo information request received from the subscriber through the broadcast reception device 300 and the return server 150, from the logo management unit 110, identifier information of the broadcast service system 200 to which the subscriber is subscribed. And extract and collect logo information. In addition, the transmission manager 130 controls the return server 150 to transmit the logo information to the subscriber according to the extracted information so that the logo image file can be transmitted to the broadcast receiving device 300, and the SI encoder 180 By controlling the SI data including the logo-related information can be generated for each broadcaster system 200. In addition, the transmission manager 130 is based on traffic state information and subscriber related information including transmission error rates of in-band channels and out-of-band channels, which are data transmission paths between the return server 150 and the subscriber's broadcast reception device 300. By determining the communication status to the subscriber to control a portion of the broadcast program or application to be transmitted to a specific subscriber can be transmitted through the return channel.

In this case, the transmission manager 130 may multicast the SI data generated for each broadcaster system 200 to be transmitted only to subscribers subscribed to the broadcaster system 200. That is, the transmission manager 130 receives data matching the plurality of subscriber information subscribed to the broadcaster system and the assigned identifier information from the service processor 120 and based on the subscriber information, the broadcaster 130 receives subscribers associated with the broadcaster system. Can only multicast SI data.

The content DB 140 stores the broadcast program information and the application information for transmission to the subscriber and transmits the stored program information to the delivery manager 130.

The return server 150 transmits a logo image file of each broadcaster system 200 stored in the logo manager 110 through a return channel. The return server 150 converts some broadcast programs and applications set by the transmission manager 130 through the return channel into data based on the HTTP protocol and transmits the data through the return channel. In addition, the return server 150 receives the subscriber's request signal for the broadcast service transmitted from the broadcast receiving device 300 and transmits it to the delivery manager 130 so that the service desired by the subscriber can be provided.

The data encoder 160 performs a substantial encoding operation for configuring a broadcast program and an application output by the control of the transmission manager 130 into an object carousel (OC), which is a transmission protocol standard for data broadcasting. That is, in the data encoder 150, the object carousel (OC) stream, the stream event (STE) section, and the application information table section (AIT Section) data stream are repeatedly transmitted through a data sender. Make it happen. The data transmission block generates a data sender thread to perform a repetitive transmission operation in a thread loop and calculates the total amount of bit stream data every minute, thereby overflowing and shortening the output data stream. Controls the occurrence of underflow.

The PSIP encoder 170 performs generation and repetitive transmission of PSIP data. Program and system information protocol (PSIP) is a digital broadcasting system standard standard of the advanced television system committe (ATSC) in the United States, and channel information, EPG information, and broadcast program for a broadcast receiving device can recognize a channel. It plays a role of generating grade information, system time information (STT, etc.) in a data format that can be delivered to a receiving device. PSIP data generated by the PSIP encoder 170 is transmitted through an in-band channel along with broadcast program information written in an object carousel. Here, the in-band channel refers to a variety of information such as voice, video service, digital multimedia service and information service in the 54 MHz to 864 MHz frequency band according to the format of the transport stream specified in ISO / IEC 13818-1 (MPEG 2). Say channel. The PSIP encoder 170 inserts SO identifier information allocated to each broadcaster system 200 by the service processor 120 into a virtual channel table (VCT) to generate PSIP data, and the broadcaster system 100 Send to subscribers subscribed to. The broadcast reception device 300 receiving the SO identifier information may store it in an internal memory unit (not shown).

The SI encoder 180 performs generation and repeated transmission of SI data. Service information (SI) is a digital cable broadcasting system standard standard of the SCTE (society of cable telecommunications engineers), and serves to deliver information for selecting a whole service channel and navigating through a broadcast receiving device. The SI encoder 180 generates a broadcaster system characteristic descriptor for each broadcaster system including logo information indicating each broadcaster system 200 transmitted from the logo manager 110 for each broadcaster system, and short-forms the SVCT (short-form). Insert into the virtual channel table) format. Descriptor information and SVCT information generated by the SI encoder 180 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 below.

Unlike the PSIP data, the SI data generated as described above is transmitted through an out-of-band channel. Here, the out-of-band channel refers to a channel for transmitting control information, access information, and program guide information transmitted from the main transmission device to the subscriber station in the 70 MHz to 130 MHz frequency band.

The multiplexer 190 multiplexes the object carousel, PSIP data, and SI data transmitted from the data encoder 160, the PSIP encoder 170, and the SI encoder 180, and generates a transport stream to generate an in-band channel and an out-of-band channel. Send through.

The broadcast reception device 300 includes a tuner unit for demodulating an RF signal, a program system information (PSI) analyzer, a service information (SI) analyzer, an demultiplexer for separating audio, video signals, and data signals, and an A / V signal. The AV decoding unit for decoding the s, the middleware (middleware) for interpreting and driving the application, etc., and receives the object carousel, PSIP data and SI data transmitted through the in-band channel and the out-of-band channel, the return channel Receives a broadcast program transmitted through the restored data and displays it to the subscriber. In the embodiment of the present invention, the broadcast receiving device 300 stores a logo image file, version information, and path information thereof received through a return channel in an internal memory unit. The logo related information processing in the broadcast receiving device 300 is performed by the middleware unit. When the version information included in the descriptor in the received SI data is different from the version information of the logo image file previously received and stored, the broadcast receiving device 300 transmits a new version of the logo image file to the broadcasting system 100. Ask. When a new logo image file is received according to the request, the broadcast receiving device 300 provides a broadcast program in which the new logo image file is inserted by deleting and updating the existing image file.

The above-described functional block of the broadcast receiving device 300 may be composed of hardware, but the protocol responsible part including middleware is composed of programmable software to flexibly cope with changes in data broadcasting technology.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the transmission manager 130 has been described as extracting the logo information from the logo management unit 110 when there is a transmission request from the return server 150, the logo management unit 110 is broadcaster system 200 ) May transmit the logo information to the delivery manager 130 based on the information set in advance. In addition, the transmission manager 130 may control the transmission of the logo in a state of receiving and retaining these information, and further includes a separate register or memory for storing notice-related information for improving data processing efficiency and backup. It is available.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a format of a descriptor for describing broadcaster system characteristic information according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a short-form SVCT including broadcaster system characteristic information according to an embodiment of the present invention. shows the format of a virtual channel table).

In the embodiment of the present invention, the format of the broadcaster system property information descriptor SO_properties_descriptor as shown in FIG. 2 is defined. The broadcaster system property information descriptor includes the path and file name information (logo_image_file_name) of the logo image file. These information include logo_image_file_name_text (), which is Unicode format information representing a file name, and logo_image_file_name_length, which is defined in an unsigned integer format representing the length of a file name. The broadcaster system characteristic information descriptor includes version information of the descriptor itself, and the version information also has an unsigned integer format. The broadcaster system characteristic information descriptor additionally includes call center telephone number information (call_center_phone_length, call_center_phone_text ()). In addition, it may include descriptor_tag and descriptor_length information indicating information of the descriptor itself.

The broadcaster system characteristic information descriptor shown in FIG. 2 is included in the SVCT shown in FIG. 3 and transmitted. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the SVCT describes channel information such as a virtual channel map (VCM) and an inverse channel map (ICM). The SVCT includes descriptor information including various descriptors such as a stuffing descriptor, a channel properties descriptor, and a user private descriptor. The broadcaster system characteristic information descriptor of FIG. 2 may be inserted and transmitted in the highest common descriptor region of the SVCT or may be inserted and transmitted in the user private descriptor region. SI data including logo-related information indicating a broadcaster system generated in the format shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 by the SI encoder 180 is transmitted to the broadcast receiving apparatus 300 through an out-of-band channel through multiplexing. do. The broadcast receiving device 300 receiving such SI data compares the logo image file information previously received and stored through the return channel with descriptor information including the logo image information included in the SI data, and when the version information is identical, The logo image file is inserted into the broadcast program and provided to the subscriber. On the other hand, if the two information do not match, the broadcast reception device 300 requests the broadcast system 100 to transmit a new version of the logo image file.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the logo image file of each broadcaster system is transmitted from the return server 150 through the return channel, but is transmitted in the form of an object carousel together with the broadcast program under the control of the delivery manager 130. Can be. In this case, the logo image file path information and SVCT information included in the descriptor format shown in Figs. 2 and 3 are changed.

4 is a diagram illustrating a broadcast service method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The broadcast system 100 receives logo image file related information, which is a unique image file representing each operator system, from the at least one broadcaster system 200 operating in association with each other and stores the received logo image file information in the logo manager 110 (S410).

The broadcast system 100 extracts a logo image file stored in the logo management unit 110 and broadcasts it through the return server 150 when there is a request for transmitting logo information of the broadcaster system 200 from the broadcast receiving device 300. It transmits to the receiving device 300 (S420).

The broadcast system 100 generates SI data by inserting logo related information including path information of a logo image file except a logo image file into descriptor information as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 in the SI encoder 180. After the multiplexing, the broadcast signal is transmitted to the broadcast receiving device 300 in operation S430 and S440.

Here, when the environment for receiving broadcasts is changed through upgrade of middleware, upgrade of cable card software, etc., the broadcast reception device 300 and the broadcast reception device of the logo image information currently owned by the broadcast system 100 are broadcast. It is determined whether the logo image information stored in the 300 matches, and if it does not match, the broadcast system 100 requests the transmission of new logo information. In this case, in determining whether to change the logo information of the broadcast receiving device 300, version information of the logo image file as shown in FIG. 2 is used. In addition, the broadcast system 100 transmits a new version of the logo image file to the broadcast receiving apparatus 300 through the return server 150, and the broadcast receiving apparatus 300 receiving the received logo image file is transmitted to the broadcast receiving apparatus 300. Delete and update with the new file. The broadcast reception device 300 provides the subscriber with the updated logo image file information by inserting the updated logo image file information into the broadcast program. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a screen including logo information transmitted to the broadcast reception device 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the logo image representing the broadcaster system 200 is inserted and displayed at the lower left of the screen, but according to the logo related information provided by the broadcaster system 200 to the broadcast system 100, In general, various methods of providing a logo image may be adopted and used.

In the embodiment of the present invention, although the logo related information is generated for each broadcaster system 200 in the broadcaster system 200 characteristic information descriptor and the SVCT format in the SI data, and transmitted in a multicast manner, the broadcast system 100 ) May broadcast the logo information including the broadcaster system 200 identifier information to the object carousel together with the broadcast program or include the logo-related information in the PSIP data, and the broadcast receiving apparatus 300 may receive the logo information. Logo image information provided by the subscribed broadcaster system 200 may be extracted, inserted into a broadcast program, and displayed.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

As described above, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, by transmitting the logo information including the unique image representing each broadcaster system together with the broadcast program, the broadcaster system can clearly inform the subscriber of the subject of the service provided to the subscriber.

In addition, the broadcast system may reduce data throughput in the broadcast system by multicasting the logo related information for each broadcaster system in the SI data.

Claims (13)

A broadcast system for providing or relaying a data broadcast service to at least one broadcaster system or a broadcast receiving device of a plurality of subscribers subscribed to the broadcaster system, A logo management unit for storing logo information including a logo image file received from the broadcasting company system and controlling transmission; A transmission manager for controlling transmission of a broadcast program and logo information stored in the logo management unit; A data encoder for converting the broadcast program into an object carousel so as to repeatedly transmit the broadcast program; A PSIP encoder for generating program and system information potocol (PSIP) data including programming information and channel information of the broadcast program; A return server receiving a logo transmission request from the broadcast receiving device and transmitting the logo image file; And And an SI encoder for generating service information (SI) data including the broadcast program information, channel information, and logo information. The method of claim 1, Assign an identifier to the broadcaster system, match and manage a plurality of subscriber information subscribed to the broadcaster system and the assigned identifier information, and receive and request a request message of the subscriber from the broadcaster system. And a service processor which performs data processing for providing the service. The method of claim 1, The logo information includes a logo image file, and further includes at least one of version information of the file, broadcast program information into which the file is inserted, transmission form of the file, and identifier information of a broadcaster system indicated by the file. system. The method of claim 3, The logo information further includes a call center information operated by the broadcasting company system. The method of claim 3, The SI encoder And generating descriptor data including a name of a logo image file of the broadcaster system, path information of the file, and version information. The method of claim 5, The SI encoder And generating short-form virtual channel table (SVCT) data including the generated descriptor data, encoding the same, and transmitting the same. The method of claim 6, The play manager And broadcasting the generated SI data based on broadcaster system identifier information to which the plurality of subscribers are subscribed. The method of claim 7, wherein The play manager And a part of a broadcast program transmitted to the broadcast receiving apparatus by determining a communication situation based on traffic state information of a channel through which the object carousel is transmitted, and controlling the broadcast server to transmit a part of the broadcast program. The method of claim 8, The play manager When a signal for requesting a new version of logo information is input from the broadcast reception device through the return server, logo information is extracted from the logo management unit and transmitted to the broadcast reception device to update the logo information stored in the broadcast reception device. Broadcasting system. A broadcast service method of a broadcast system for receiving or requesting a request transmitted from at least one broadcaster system through a broadcast receiving device of a plurality of subscribers to provide or relay a broadcast service. Receiving logo information including a logo image file from the broadcaster system; Receiving a logo information transmission request from the broadcast reception device; And generating descriptor data including the logo information for each broadcasting company system, and generating and transmitting service infortmation (SI) data into which the generated descriptor data is inserted. The method of claim 10, The broadcast system further comprises the step of transmitting the logo image file to the broadcast receiving device via a return channel. The method of claim 11, And allocating an identifier to the broadcaster system, respectively, by the broadcast system. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, The descriptor data including the logo information is inserted into a short-form virtual channel table (SVCT) of SI data and transmitted.

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