KR20140134097A - Method and Apparatus for providing recording service in cloud environment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for providing a recording service in a cloud environment. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast system including: a segment generation unit receiving a live program transmitted through a broadcasting system and generating a plurality of segments; A segment storage unit for storing the generated plurality of segments; An ingester for extracting and synthesizing a segment of the live program requested to be recorded in the segment storage unit to generate a recorded content when a user's recording request for the live program is received; And a user storage for storing the generated recorded content, wherein the user storage is allocated to a user who requests the recording.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a recording service in a cloud environment,

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a recording service in a cloud environment.

Recently, digital broadcasting standards have been actively researched, and a broadcasting signal including video, audio, and data has been digitally compressed. Digital broadcasting has made it possible to provide multiple channels of TV broadcasting, and it has become possible to provide various services within each channel due to an increase in transmission amount.

It also provides data (additional information) directly or indirectly related to broadcast programs such as remote recording, weather, news, securities, e-mail, Electronic Program Guide (EPG), TV shopping, banking, Bidirectional data broadcasting service is provided.

Meanwhile, many users who can not view live programs (hereinafter referred to as live programs) provided in real time due to busy lives use the recording service.

Unlike the VCR method of storing broadcast signals on past magnetic tapes, a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) service for recording digital compressed information on a hard disk has been generally provided.

A PVR provided independently or internally to a broadcast receiving terminal such as a set-top box includes a tuner, an analog-digital converter (ADC), a demultiplexer, an MPEG processor and a hard disk. When a user requests recording of a predetermined program, The broadcast signal received through the tuner is stored in the hard disk.

In the conventional recording service, since the program is recorded on the hard disk connected to the set-top box, the user can view the recorded program only through the TV.

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, various studies have been conducted to provide a broadcasting service not only through a TV but also through a smart pad, a smart phone and a PC. Conventionally, a method of viewing a TV program recording program in such a cloud environment .

In addition, conventionally, it has not been possible to support a method of generating own content (user image) by utilizing a recording program.

With the development of information and communication technology, each user is not limited to simply consuming various contents provided online, but there is an increasing tendency to create his / her desired content and share it with other people. However, conventionally, The user does not support the user authoring content service as described above.

In order to solve the problems of the related art as described above, the present invention proposes a method and apparatus for providing a recording service in a cloud environment in which a recording program can be used in a cloud environment without restriction of a place or time.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following examples.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a media cloud server apparatus connected to a broadcaster system and at least one client device via a network, the media cloud server apparatus comprising: A segment generation unit for generating a segment; A segment storage unit for storing the generated plurality of segments; An ingester for extracting and synthesizing a segment of the live program requested to be recorded in the segment storage unit to generate a recorded content when a user's recording request for the live program is received; And a user storage for storing the generated recorded content, wherein the user storage is allocated to a user who requests the recording.

Each of the plurality of segments is composed of n frames (n is a natural number of 1 or more), and the first frame of each of the plurality of segments may include an intra-coded (I) frame.

Wherein the segment generating unit generates a first segment by using a previous frame of the live program, and when the next frame of the last frame included in the first segment is not an I-frame, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > I-frames < / RTI >

Wherein the segment generating unit generates the segment by using the P-frame or B-frame and the image data previously stored in the B-frame when the last frame included in the first segment is a P (Predictive coded) The first I-frame of the second segment may be generated.

If the first I-frame and the second I-frame are consecutively displayed in the frame constituting the live program, the segment generating unit may generate the segment when the first I-frame and the second I- , A segment starting with the second I-frame may be generated.

The user's recording request may include at least one of user identification information, program identification information, and program start and end time information.

Each segment of the live program may have a storage path according to at least one of channel identification information, date information, and time information.

And a recording content providing unit for transmitting the recording content to the client device at the request of the client device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing a recording service in a media cloud server apparatus connected through a network with a broadcaster system and at least one client device, the method comprising: receiving a live program transmitted through a broadcaster system; Generating a plurality of segments using the received live program; Storing the generated plurality of segments; Generating a recorded content by extracting and synthesizing a segment of the live program requested to be recorded in the segment storage unit when a user's recording request for the live program is received; And storing the generated recorded content in a user storage for storing the recorded content.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for performing the above method.

According to the present invention, since a live program is divided into a plurality of segments and then recorded in a cloud-based user storage when recording is requested, there is an advantage that a user can use a recording service without restriction of time or place.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the segment is independently reproducible and has the same time unit in the client device, the user can directly create the content by combining the segments.

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording service providing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig.
2 is a view schematically showing a system for recording a live program in general;
3 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a media cloud server according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart of a recording service providing process according to the present invention.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing.

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording service providing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a system according to the present invention may include a broadcaster system 110, a media cloud server 120, and at least one client device 130.

Broadcaster system 110, media cloud server 120 and client device 130 are connected through a network.

The broadcaster system 110 has an encoder and converts live programs into a predetermined codec format and transmits them. Here, the live program may be a real time image.

The broadcasting company system 110 broadcasts live programs to a broadcast receiving apparatus (ordinary set-top box or TV) through a terrestrial network, a satellite network, the Internet and the like, and the set-top box and the TV are also included in the category of the client device 130 .

A method of transmitting a live program in the broadcaster system 110 will be obvious to those skilled in the art, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The media cloud server 120 is connected to the broadcaster system 110 via a network to acquire an encoded live program. And provides a recording service to the client device 130 in the cloud environment according to the present invention.

Here, the client device 130 may be an electronic device equipped with a wired / wireless communication module such as a mobile communication terminal, a note pad, a PDA, a tablet PC, a computer, and the like, as well as a general broadcast receiving device such as a set-top box and a TV.

In order to acquire and store a live program from the broadcaster system 110, the media cloud server 120 separately stores / manages the broadcast program information.

The media cloud server 120 may receive a specific recording request from the client device 130. [

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the media cloud server 120 generates a plurality of segments by segmenting a live program received from the broadcaster system 110 by a predetermined time unit.

Here, the segment is defined as a fragment in which a live program is divided into units of seconds or minutes at the same time, and can be defined as a unit that can be reproduced or displayed by itself in the client device 130, preferably including an I-frame .

The segment creation process will be described in detail below.

The segments of the live program thus generated are combined and stored in the media cloud server 120 as recorded contents when there is a user's recording request.

When the user requests the transmission of the recorded content through the client device 130, the stored recorded content is transmitted to the client device 130 in a streaming manner.

2 is a view showing a system for a general live program recording.

As shown in FIG. 2, a system for general live program recording includes a head end 210, a broadcast receiving apparatus 220, and a client device 130.

The headend 210 provides a live program in accordance with broadcast schedule information.

The broadcast receiving apparatus 220 receives a live program through the head end 210. [

Accordingly, in order for the client device 130 to record a specific live program, recording information including the recording time and the live program information to be recorded may be registered through the broadcast receiving apparatus 220 connected to the client device 130, It is necessary to input the recording information on the broadcast receiving apparatus 220 through the controller operation.

Accordingly, the broadcast receiving apparatus 220 records the live program received from the head end 210 and stores the live program in the storage space of the broadcast receiving apparatus 220. Accordingly, the client device 130 can reproduce the recorded program only when the client device 130 is connected to the broadcast receiving apparatus 220.

Such a conventional recording method stores a recorded program in a storage space in the broadcast receiving apparatus 220, so that there is no way that the user can actually access the recorded program except where the broadcast receiving apparatus 220 is located I did.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1, the live program is stored in the media cloud server 120, which is a cloud storage space, using the broadcast program information, and synthesized according to the request of the user, There is an advantage that the recorded contents can be reproduced.

In addition, since the cloud storage space stores the recorded content in the media cloud server 120, the user has the advantage that the user can play the recorded content seamlessly through the connection between the plurality of client devices owned by the client.

1 and 2, the method of recording and reproducing broadcast content through the media cloud server 120 according to the embodiment of the present invention is clearly understood from the difference from the prior art, A detailed description will be given of a process of providing a recording service according to the present invention.

3 is a detailed block diagram of a media cloud server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3, the media cloud server 120 according to the present invention includes a segment generation unit 300, a segment storage unit 302, a content management unit 304, an ingestor 306, a user storage 308, and a recording content providing unit 310.

The segment generating unit 300 generates a segment by dividing the video data of the live program at the time when the live program is encoded and transmitted.

In general, a live program can be encoded according to the MPEG2 specification, and thus the image of a live program can include an intra-coded (I) - frame, a predictive coded (P) -frame and a bidirectionally interpolated (B) .

Here, the I-frame is an encoded frame, the frame generated by predicting the P-frame and the preceding frame, and the B-frame predicted using the preceding and following frames.

According to the present invention, the segment is an independently reproducible unit, and therefore, each segment must include an I-frame.

The segment generation process will be described in detail below.

- Initial frame: I1-B1-B2-B3-P1-I2-B4-B5-B6-P2-P3-I3-I4-B7-P4-

Assuming that there is an initial frame as described above, a unit of segment is one second, and three frames per second are included, the frame is changed as follows.

- Modified frames: I1-B1-B2-I101-B3-P1- I102 - I2-B4-I103-B5-B6-I104-P2-P3-I3-I4-B7-P4-

That is, an I-frame is generated every second and a segment can be generated based on the generated I-frame.

First segment = I1-B1-B2

Second segment = I101-B3-P1

Third segment = I102-I2-B4

Fourth segment = I103-B5-B6

The fifth segment = I104-P2-P3

Sixth Segment = I3

Seventh Segment = I4-B7-P4

Here, I101, I102, I103, and I104 are newly generated I-frames for allowing each segment to be reproducible, and these are I-frames generated based on the last frame (B2, P1, B4, B6) I-frame.

Since the data for I-frame generation is stored in advance in the memory (not shown), it is possible to generate I-frames using the last frame of the previous segment as described above.

In the above, if I3 and I4 in which the I-frames are consecutively displayed are non-continuous images, that is, the scene in which the scene change occurs, the segment in the scene in which the scene change occurs generates a segment including only one I- do.

The plurality of segments thus generated are temporarily stored in the segment storage unit 302.

Segment storage 302 may be defined as buffer storage.

Segments may be stored in the segment storage unit 302 with the following storage paths.

[Raw file folder] / [Broadcast channel identification information] / [Date and time information (date)] / [Hour minute]

RAW / Ch1 / 20120123/000000 / * 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 Video * /

/ RAW / Ch1 / 20120123/000001 / * Video from 00:00 01:00 to 00:00 02:02 * /

/ RAW / Ch1 / 20120123/000002 / * 00:00:00 02:00 ~ 00:00 03:02 Video * /

The content management unit 304 receives a user's recording request from the client device 130. [

The client device 130 transmitting the recording request may be a TV or a set-top box.

The recording request according to the present invention can be performed by a program unit or a time unit. For example, when a user selects a predetermined live program on the EPG to request recording, the recording request received by the content management unit 304 may include user identification information and program identification information (program name, channel, date) .

In addition, in the case of requesting recording of a live program that has already been started from the beginning, the recording request may include user identification information and program identification information.

In addition, when the user requests the recording by specifying the time and the channel, the recording request received by the content management unit 304 may further include the recording start time and the recording end time information in addition to the user identification information and the program identification information .

In addition, when the user requests to start recording while viewing a live program, the content management unit 304 first receives a recording request including user identification information, program identification information, and recording start time information, The user identification information, the program identification information, and the recording end time information.

When the user requests recording in the program unit, the content management unit 304 can receive the recording request including the date and the program name, and changes the date and time information with reference to the program schedule table, 306).

(1) January 23, 2012 A program recording request (contents manager reception message)

(2) Jan. 23, 2012 Recording request (Ingestor delivery message) from 01:00:00 to 02:00:00 of channel X

The ingestor 306 extracts and synthesizes a segment of the live program requested to be recorded in the segment storage unit 302 to generate recorded content.

Here, the inzerter 306 may be defined as a segment combining unit.

The recorded content synthesized by the inventor 306 is stored in the user storage 308.

The user storage 308 according to the present invention may be previously allocated and provided for each user on a cloud basis.

As described above, the recording request includes the user identification information, and the in- putter 306 refers to the user identification information, and is stored in the storage area corresponding to the user who requested the recording.

Thereafter, when the user requests the provision of the recording content, the recording content providing unit 310 transmits the recording content to the client device 130.

Preferably, the recording content provider 310 may be a streaming server connected to the user storage 308.

Since the recorded contents are stored in the cloud storage medium such as the user storage 308, when the user uses a plurality of client devices 130, the N screen service may be provided between the plurality of client devices with respect to the recorded contents. In order to provide such N screen service, the media cloud server 120 may separately store / manage the playback history of the recorded content. The playback history is a log related to the playback of the recorded content and may store information about the playback point of the recorded content. Even if the user requests the playback of the recorded content by changing the client device 130, The recording content can be reproduced by connecting from the point where the reproduction has been completed to the device.

The media cloud server 120 according to the present invention may further include a media scheduler 312 and a metadata management unit 314. [

The media scheduler 312 receives and manages the program information for the live program in cooperation with the broadcaster system 110 and provides the program information when the client device 130 makes a request.

The metadata management unit 314 registers and manages the metadata of the live program.

The meta data may be description information about a live program, and may include channel information of a predetermined live program, a program name, a broadcast time per scene, a performer, a plot, a keyword, and the like according to a scene.

The metadata management unit 314 receives the search result from the metadata search server (not shown) and transmits the search result to the client device 130 in response to a program search request of the client device 130 in cooperation with the metadata search server (not shown) Lt; / RTI >

The metadata search server may be included in the broadcaster system 110.

4 is a flowchart of a recording service providing process according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the media cloud server 120 according to the present invention receives a live program from the broadcaster system 110 (step 400).

The live program in step 400 is a program that is provided in real time to the client device 130 as image data encoded in a preset format according to the broadcaster platform.

Thereafter, the media cloud server 120 divides the frames constituting the live program into a plurality of segments (step 402).

In step 402, the media cloud server 120 may sequentially generate segments.

As in the above example, the initial frame is configured as I1-P1-P2-P3-B1-I2-P4-P5-P6-B2-B3-I3-I4-P7-8P, Frame, the media cloud server 120 generates the first segment using the I1-P1-P2 frames, which are the front-end frames.

The media cloud server 120 generates the I101 frame corresponding to the first frame of the second segment using the P2 frame, and transmits the I101-P3-B1 frame as the first frame And generates a second segment including the second segment.

That is, if the next frame of the last frame included in the first segment is not an I-frame, the media cloud server 120 generates the first I-frame of the second segment based on the last frame of the first segment.

In the same way, the next segment can be sequentially generated.

Meanwhile, the media cloud server 120 may determine whether the I-frames are consecutive in the segment creation process, and may recognize that the I-frames are discontinuous when the I-frames are discontinuous.

In the above description, segments are sequentially generated. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an I-frame to be displayed first in each segment may be generated first by identifying an array of all frames.

The media cloud server 120 temporarily stores a segment of the live program generated as described above (step 404).

If the first client device 130-1 transmits a recording request for a currently-provided live program (step 406), the media cloud server 120 transmits the program identification information or the time information (start time / End time) to extract a segment for the requested live program (step 408), and synthesizes the segment to generate recorded content (step 410).

The recording request of the user according to the present invention includes the user identification information. The media cloud server 120 stores the recorded content generated by synthesizing the segments in the user storage 308 corresponding to the user (step 412).

The media cloud server 120 then transmits the requested recording content to the client device 130 (step 415). The media cloud server 120 then transmits the requested recording content to the client device 130 Step 416).

Here, the first client device 130-1 may be a TV or a set-top box, and the second client device 130-2 may be a TV, a set top box, a mobile communication terminal, a notepad, a PDA, And may be various terminals that can be connected.

According to the present invention, since a live program is divided into segments and stored in advance, the segment is extracted according to a user's recording request to generate recorded contents, and the recorded contents are stored in the user storage.

In addition, since the segment according to the present invention is divided into units that can be independently reproduced or displayed on the screen, the user can directly create his / her own contents by properly combining them as necessary.

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed on various computer means and recorded on a computer readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and constructed for the present invention or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magnetic media such as floppy disks; Examples of program instructions, such as magneto-optical and ROM, RAM, flash memory and the like, can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like, as well as machine code, Includes a high-level language code. The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate as at least one software module to perform operations of one embodiment of the present invention, and vice versa.

As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, such as specific elements, and specific embodiments and drawings. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above- And various modifications and changes may be made thereto by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described, and all of the equivalents or equivalents of the claims, as well as the following claims, belong to the scope of the present invention .

Claims (10)

A media cloud server device connected via a network with a broadcaster system and one or more client devices,
A segment generator for receiving a live program transmitted through the broadcasting system and generating a plurality of segments;
A segment storage unit for storing the generated plurality of segments;
An ingester for extracting and synthesizing a segment of the live program requested to be recorded in the segment storage unit to generate a recorded content when a user's recording request for the live program is received; And
And a user storage for storing the generated recording content,
Wherein the user storage is allocated to the user who requested the recording. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein each of the plurality of segments comprises n (n is a natural number of 1 or more) frames, and the first frame of each of the plurality of segments includes an intra-coded (I) -frame. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the segment generating unit comprises:
Generating a first segment using a previous frame of the live program, and if the next frame of the last frame included in the first segment is not an I-frame, generating a first segment of the second segment based on the last frame, A media cloud server device for generating frames. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the segment generating unit comprises:
Frame or a B (Bidirectionally interpolated) -b frame, the first segment of the first segment may be used as the first segment of the second segment by using the P-frame or the B- Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > I-frames. ≪ / RTI > The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the segment generating unit comprises:
If a first I-frame and a second I-frame are consecutively displayed in a frame constituting the live program, if the first I-frame and the second I-frame are in a section where a scene change occurs, A media cloud server device for generating segments starting with a frame. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the recording request of the user includes at least one of user identification information, program identification information, and program start and end time information. The method according to claim 1,
The segment storage unit stores,
Wherein each segment of the live program has a storage path according to at least one of channel identification information, date information, and time information. The method according to claim 1,
And a recording content providing unit for transmitting the recording content to the client device at the request of the client device. A method for providing a recording service in a media cloud server apparatus connected through a network with a broadcaster system and one or more client devices,
Receiving a live program transmitted through a broadcaster system;
Generating a plurality of segments using the received live program;
Storing the generated plurality of segments;
Generating a recorded content by extracting and synthesizing a segment of the live program requested to be recorded in the segment storage unit when a user's recording request for the live program is received; And
And storing the generated recorded content in a user storage for storing the recorded content. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for performing the method according to claim 9 is recorded.

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