WO2002025467A1

WO2002025467A1 - System and method for providing internet broadcasting service

Info

Publication number: WO2002025467A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/001576
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yong-Bong Cho
Original assignee: CLICK1004 Co Ltd
Current assignee: CLICK1004 Co Ltd
Priority date: 2000-09-20
Filing date: 2001-09-20
Publication date: 2002-03-28
Anticipated expiration: 2003-03-20
Also published as: AU2001292379A1

Abstract

The system and the method for providing Internet broadcasting service are disclosed. The system and the method of the prevent invention can create the individual broadcasting station for the broadcaster. The broadcaster can communicate with the audience on air and transmit commercial message to the audience. When the audience select the pre-selected channel for the broadcaster's broadcasting, Internet broadcasting system sets the apparatus of the broadcaster coupled with the apparatus of the audience by a peer-to-peer network. The apparatus of the broadcaster can directly transmit arbitrary data to the apparatus of the audience and receive communication data from the apparatus of the audience. Predetermined and usable points are computed and reserved through the result carried out the broadcasting and commercial message data. Such points can be used for purchasing goods, exchanging with money and so on.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING INTERNET BROADCASTING

SERVICE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing Internet

broadcasting service. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and

method that enables to create a private broadcasting station, to transmit a voice between

broadcasters and listeners on the air, and to improve the effect of advertisement by

providing voice or text advertisement to whole listeners who are accessing the

broadcasting channel.

BACKGROUND ART

Along with the development of communication technologies, Internet

broadcasting stations, which can be performed with less money than existing wireless

broadcasting station, are emerging. Internet broadcasting is to broadcast programs that

are provided by existing television stations or radio stations via Internet.

However, conventional Internet broadcasting are substantially the same as

conventional wireless broadcasting. That is, because only broadcasters can control the

progress of program, in the view of the progress of program, listeners are permitted to

restrictively access the program by phone and so on. Along with the development of the technology of communications, radio and

television broadcasting station as well as Internet broadcasting stations have been

appeared. Compared with the radio and television broadcasting station, the Internet

broadcasting stations have a special feature that the system operator (SO) can start his

business with little capital.

The Internet broadcasting is that the specified programs of the radio and

television broadcasting station are broadcasted via the Internet.

But, the conventional Internet broadcasting is little removed from the

conventionalities of the conventional radio and television broadcasting. That is, in

aspect of the progress of the broadcasting program, because the system operator

monopolizes it, the conventional broadcasting has a problem that a televiewer or a radio

subscriber can access within the limit, for example, by talking over the telephone.

Also, although the conventional Internet broadcasting can be started with little

capital in contrast of the radio and television broadcasting station, the conventional

broadcasting has another problem that the system operator has to appropriate a sizable

amount of money for constructing an Internet broadcasting stating system.

There are several advertising methods that are conventionally performed on the

Internet.

As a basic and usual method, there is a method for using a banner bar for

advertisement. That is, when a user connects a website (or homepage) via Internet, the banner bar for advertisement included in the website is automatically displayed on the

screen.

But, the method for using a banner bar for advertisement has a weak point that

the efficiency of the advertisement is low, because the ratio of banner clicks or page

view is low.

To promote the ratio of banner click or page view and overcome the weak point

of the method for using banner bar, the method for providing compensation in

proportion to the banner bar click is appeared.

That is, when a user connects a website (or homepage) via Internet, a plurality

of banner bars for advertisement arranged in the predetermined web page are displayed

on the screen. And then, if the user presses a banner bar with a mouse, the

predetermined compensation corresponding to the banner bar is provided. In the first

stage, GOLDBANK (http://www.goldbank.co.kr) carried out this method.

But, although this advertising method can provide the part of advertising cost to

pertinent user and the data including veracious banner click oftenness information to a

sponsor, this method has a weak point that it lacks clarify how much the banner bar

arouses customer's interest directly.

The universal advertising method is to use an electronic mail including

commercial message.

That is, the website manager sends an electronic mail including commercial massage to a plurality of users via Internet, and then the users reads the electronic mail.

But, this method for using electronic mail arouses the displeasure of user's, because the

electronic mail is sent to users in the shape of junk mail (i.e., Spam mail). Also, the

electronic mail can be deleted, before the user reads the electronic mail.

And, although the conventional advertising method for using Internet places

more importance on advertising method for using banner bar including image, the

efficiency of the advertisement is far from satisfactory because specified application

program, which can be disappeared the banner bar on the screen, is spread.

Also, the conventional advertising method has another weak point that it is not

easy to calculate accurately the number of users who show or read the commercial

message.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide Internet broadcasting

service and method thereof that, by applying peer-to-peer technology to the desktop

application and web application, enables a plurality of users to communicate each other

and has various contents.

It is another object of the present invention to provide Internet broadcasting

service and method thereof that the broadcaster and the listener in the same channel can

communicate voice to each other in real time. It is still another object of the present invention to provide Internet broadcasting

service and method thereof that by importing channel concept to a broadcast station, a

plurality of broadcasters can broadcast independently and a plurality of listeners can

listen a desiring channel selectively.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide Internet broadcasting

service and method thereof that, by providing web application to personal home page,

the home page's web master can do real-time voice conversation with the user who is

accessing the home page.

service and method thereof that, because the broadcaster can provide text or voice

advertising data to a plurality of users who are listening the broadcasting, so advertising

data can be delivered to the plurality of users properly.

service and method thereof that it is possible to reward the broadcaster for providing

advertising data to listeners, and as a result, listeners can listen the good quality

broadcast of the broadcaster continuously.

service and method thereof that, because the broadcaster can provide advertising data to

the very limits of obstructing the current of broadcasting, it is possible to enable

listeners not to feel displease or rejection. It is still another object of the present invention to provide Internet broadcasting

service and method thereof that, by totalizing precisely the number of listeners who are

exposed to advertising data that is transmitted from the broadcaster, a sponsor can pay

the advertisement charge based on the honestly-performed advertisement and as a result,

a clean system for performing advertisement can be established.

To achieve aforementioned objectives, a method for transferring voice between

a plurality of users in Internet broadcasting performed by a broadcaster, which method

comprises the steps of: receiving an access request from a first broadcaster's terminal of

a first mater through network, receiving a channel-selection data corresponding to a first

broadcasting channel of at least one predetermined broadcasting channel from the first

broadcaster's terminal, receiving an access request data from at least one listener's

terminal of broadcasting listener, transmitting an IP address of the first broadcaster's

terminal to the listener's terminal in the case of receiving the channel-selection data

corresponding to the first broadcasting channel and transmitting an IP address of the

listener's terminal to the first broadcaster's terminal.

The method can further comprise the steps of: examining whether or not a

second broadcasting channel is on the air in the case of receiving a channel-selection

data corresponding to the second broadcasting channel from the listener's terminal,

transmitting an IP address of a second broadcaster's terminal corresponding to a second

broadcaster to the listener's terminal in the case that the second broadcasting channel in on the air, transmitting an IP address of the listener's terminal to the second

broadcaster's terminal and releasing a link between the first broadcaster's terminal and

the listener's terminal.

The method can further comprise the steps of: determine whether or not the first

broadcaster has an authority to broadcast in the first broadcasting channel, receiving a

broadcasting data from the first broadcaster's terminal in the case that the first

broadcaster has the authority to broadcast in the first broadcasting channel and

transmitting the broadcasting data to the listener's terminal, wherein the broadcasting

data comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of voice, sound and

music.

The method can further comprise the steps of: receiving a communication

request for communicating with the listener from the first broadcaster's terminal,

producing a communication channel corresponding to the communication request and

transmitting a communication data received from the first broadcaster's terminal to the

listener's terminal in the case that the listener accesses the communication channel by

the use of the listener's terminal, wherein the communication data is at least one

selected from the group consisting of voice and sound. And the channel is indicated in

digits as a gateway that exchanges IP addresses between the broadcaster and at least one

listener.

A method for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet broadcasting by executing a broadcasting program for the internet broadcasting installed

in a broadcaster's terminal, which method comprises the steps of: transmitting an access

request to a multilateral voice transferring system via network, transmitting a channel-

selection data corresponding to a broadcasting channel, in which the broadcaster has an

authority to broadcast, selected from at least one predetermined broadcasting channel,

receiving an IP address of at least one listener's terminal accessed to the broadcasting

channel, accessing to the listener's terminal by the use of the IP address, transmitting a

broadcasting data to the listener's terminal, if it is possible to directly transmit the

broadcasting data to the listener's terminal and transmitting the broadcasting data to the

multilateral voice transferring system, if it is impossible to directly transmit the

broadcasting data to the listener's terminal.

The method can further comprise: transmitting a communication request data to

the listener's terminal via network, receiving a communication approval data from the

listener's terminal, transmitting a communication data to the listener's terminal, if it is

possible to directly transmit the communication data to the listener's terminal and

transmitting the communication data to the multilateral voice transferring system, if it is

impossible to directly transmit to the listener's terminal.

The method can further comprise the steps of: transmitting a communication

channel generating request to the multilateral voice transferring system via network,

receiving a communication channel assignment data from the multilateral voice transferring system, transmitting the communication channel assignment data to the

listener's terminal and accessing the listener's terminal by the use of a communication

port corresponding to the communication channel assignment data.

Also, a method for advertising in Internet broadcasting including at least one

channel, which comprises the steps of: receiving an operation command to perform a

broadcasting program installed in a user' terminal from the user, wherein the user

comprises a broadcaster and a listener and operating the broadcasting program, wherein

the broadcasting program performs following steps of: transmitting an access data to an

Internet broadcasting system via network, receiving the advertising data from the

Internet broadcasting system in the case of valid access data, wherein the advertising

data comprises voice advertising data, sound advertising data and text advertising data,

storing the advertising data and reproducing the advertising data in the case of receiving

a channel change command from the user.

The broadcasting program can further perform the following steps of:

converting a result of advertising reproduction into a point data by the use of a

predetermined method in the case of reproducing the advertising data and transmitting

the point data to the Internet broadcasting system.

Also, a method for advertising in Internet broadcasting including at least one

broadcasting program installed in a broadcaster's terminal from the broadcaster and operating the broadcasting program, wherein the broadcasting program performs

following steps of: transmitting an access data to an Internet broadcasting system via

network, receiving the advertising data from the Internet broadcasting system in the

case of valid access data, wherein the advertising data comprises voice advertising data,

sound advertising data and text advertising data, storing the advertising data and

reproducing the advertising data in the case of receiving a channel change command

from the user, receiving an IP address of at least one listener's terminal accessing the

channel, which the broadcaster accesses to broadcast, from the Internet broadcasting

system, executing peer-to-peer access to the listener's terminal by the use of the IP

address via network, receiving a sound data from the broadcaster, wherein the sound

data comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a broadcasting data

and the advertising data, compressing the sound data and transmitting the compressed

sound data to the listener's terminal via network.

The broadcasting program can further perform the following steps of:

producing the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising data,

converting a result of advertising reproduction into a point data by the use of the

number of listeners and a predetermined method and transmitting the point data to the

Internet broadcasting system.

A method for advertising in Internet broadcasting including at least one channel,

which method can provide an advertising data on the air, comprises the steps of: receiving an operation command to perform a broadcasting program installed in a

broadcaster's terminal from the broadcaster and operating the broadcasting program,

wherein the broadcasting program performs following steps of: transmitting an access

data to an Internet broadcasting system via network, receiving an IP address of at least

one listener's terminal accessing the channel, which the broadcaster accesses to

broadcast, from the Internet broadcasting system, executing peer-to-peer access to the

listener's terminal by the use of the IP address via network, receiving an advertising

data request command from the broadcaster, transmittmg the advertising data request

command to the Internet broadcasting system, receiving an advertising data list

comprising at least one advertising data from the Internet broadcasting system,

receiving an advertising data selection command corresponding to arbitrary advertising

data comprised in the advertising data list, transmitting the advertising data selection

command to the Internet broadcasting system, receiving the advertising data

corresponding to the advertising data selection command from the Internet broadcasting

system and transmitting the received advertising data to the listener's terminal.

The broadcasting program further perform the following steps of: producing the

number of listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising data, converting a result

of advertising reproduction into a point data by the use of the number of listeners and a

predetermined method and transmitting the point data to the Internet broadcasting

system. The advertising data is an electric file comprising the advertising data or an

URL data indicating where the advertising data is located in.

Also, a method for advertising in Internet broadcasting including at least one

channel, which method can provide an advertising data on the air, comprises the steps

of: receiving an access data from a broadcaster's terminal via network, searching the

advertising data in the case of valid access data, transmitting the searched advertising

data to the broadcaster's terminal, wherein the advertising data comprises at least one

selected from the group consisting of a voice advertising data, a sound advertising data

and a text advertising data, transmitting an IP address of at least one listener's terminal

accessing the channel, which the broadcaster accesses to broadcast, to the broadcaster's

terminal, transmitting an IP address of the broadcaster's terminal to the listener's

terminal, receiving an advertising data request command from the broadcaster's

terminal, producing an advertising data list comprising at least one advertising data

previously stored, transmitting the advertising data list to the broadcaster's terminal,

data comprised in the advertising data list, searching the advertising data corresponding

to the advertising data selection command and transmitting the searched advertising

data to the broadcaster's terminal.

The method can further comprise the steps of: producing the number of

listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising data, converting a result of advertising reproduction into a point data by the use of the number of listeners and a

predetermined method and storing the point data to the Internet broadcasting system.

The method can further comprise the steps of: receiving the point data and

storing the point data.

Also, a system for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

broadcasting performed by a broadcaster, comprises: receiving means for receiving an

access request and/or a selection data of broadcasting channel from a broadcaster's

terminal and a listener's terminal via network, channel controlling means for

transmitting an IP address to the broadcaster's terminal and the listener's terminal,

examining the broadcaster's authority to broadcast and producing a communication

channel, load balancing means for controlling said channel controlling means and

transmitting means for transmitting a broadcastmg data and/or a communication data

received from the broadcaster's terminal to the listener's terminal.

Also, a system for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

broadcasting performed by a broadcaster, comprises: a memory for storing a program

and a processor coupled to said memory for operating the program, wherein said

processor executes the predetermined method.

Also, a computer-readable medium including a program containing computer-

executable instructions, which the program practices the predetermined method, can be

provided. Also, an Internet broadcasting system for transferring advertising data on the air,

which broadcasting system can comprise at least one channel, comprises: means for

receiving an access data, an advertising data a request command and an advertising data

selection command from a broadcaster's terminal via network, means for transmitting

the advertising data, an advertising data list, an IP address of the broadcaster's terminal

and an IP address of a listener's terminal to the broadcaster's terminal and the listener's

terminal, advertising data list generating means for producing the advertising data list

including at least one predetermined advertising data and means for searching the

advertising data.

The Internet broadcasting system can further comprise: means for producing

the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising data, means for

number of listeners and a predetermined method and means for storing the point data to

the Internet broadcasting system.

Also, a system for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

and a processor coupled to said memory for operating the program, wherein said

processor executes the predetermined method.

Also, a computer-readable medium including a program containing computer-

executable instructions can be provided. Wherein the program practices the predetermined method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG la shows a block diagram of Internet broadcasting system in accordance

with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig lb shows a block diagram of advertising system by the use of Internet

broadcasting in accordance in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the

present invention;

FIG 2a and FIG 2b shows an exemplary view that is displayed in a user

terminal by the broadcasting program in accordance with preferred embodiment of the

present invention;

FIG 3 is a flowchart of Internet broadcasting utilizing Peer-to-Peer method in

accordance with preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG 4 is a flowchart showing the method for listening Internet broadcasting

utilizing Peer-to-Peer method in accordance with preferred embodiment of the present

invention;

FIG 5 is a flowchart showing the method for communicating in progression of

Internet broadcasting in accordance with preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG 6a is a flowchart showing the method for establishing communication

channel in the method for transferring voice between a plurality of users; FIG 6b is a flowchart showing the method for accessing the established

communication channel in the method for transferring voice between a plurality of users

in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG 6c is a flowchart showing the method for performing the communication in

the method for transferring voice between a plurality of users in accordance with the

preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG 7 is a flowchart showing the method for automatically outputting

advertising data for the time to change a broadcasting channel in accordance with

another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG 8 is a flowchart showing the method for outputting advertising data while

broadcasting in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG 9 is a view of configuring advertising data to be outputted while

FIG 10 is a flowchart showing the method for providing advertising data in

accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG 11a to lie are views of inserting advertising data into play list in

accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

110: broadcaster's terminal 120: operator's system

130a, 130b: listener's terminal

140: accessing process part

145: storage

150: load balancer

155: channel controller

160: transmitter

165: advertising data controller

170: point controller

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be

described with accompanying drawings.

FIG la shows a block diagram of Internet broadcasting system in accordance

with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Referring to FIG la, the system for transferring voice between a plurality of

users in Internet broadcasting can comprise a broadcaster's terminal 110, an operator's

system 120 and listener's terminal 130a, 130b.

The operator's system can comprise an accessing process part 140, a load balancer 150, a channel controller 155 and a transmitter 160.

The accessing process part 140 verifies that the user's callsign and password

are valid by the use of storage 145, and if the user's callsign and password are valid,

then transmits information necessary for a user (e.g., current channel, available channel,

etc.) to the user's terminal. Also, the accessing process part 140 updates an out-of-date

broadcasting program automatically.

As the callsign in this description is a general term used in HAM, in the

preferred embodiment of the present invention, the causing is used as a counteφart

corresponding to ID.

The callsign in HAM is used as a form of ΗL5CBT'. Herein HL is a prefix

showing country, 5 shows a region and CBT is a suffix showing designated sequence.

The callsign used in the present invention has a same system of offline callsign

used in HAM. That is, offline HAM users can use the same callsign that user have used

before. But the callsign for network users has additional 'N' before prefix, so the

callsign for network user has a form of 'NHL5CBT'. By using this callsign instead of

ID, user can be aware of the region where the counteφart locates only by the callsign.

The load balancer 145 manages at least one channel controller 155 and stores

data of channel that the channel controller 155 manages.

Also, the load balancer 145 transmits data of channel controller 155, which

controls the channel that user wants to select, to the user's terminal to help the user to access that channel. Also, if a user wants to access the channel that is not established,

the load balancer 145 selects the most disengaged channel controller 155 to establish

and manage a channel.

The channel controller 155 is a logical device to manage channels directly and,

when newcomer accesses a channel, transmits IP of newcomer's terminal to others who

have accessed that channel. Also, if that channel is on the air, the channel controller 155

orders the user's terminal to access to a broadcasting port of broadcaster and stores IP

addresses of that user's terminal. And, the channel controller 155 transmits data of

channels that the channel controller is controlling to the load balancer 150 continually.

The transmitter 160 transmits a compressed voice data received from the

broadcaster's terminal 110 to at least one listener's terminal 130a accessing same

channel. For example, according to the user's selection, the transmission protocol used

to communicate the compressed voice data between broadcaster's terminal and

listener's terminal can be TCP or UDP.

In this case, broadcaster's communicating voice data cannot be transmitted

directly to the listener's terminal located within the network, which is protected by NAT

(Network Address Translation) or Firewall.

For the sake of these users, the transmitter 160 (or transmission server), which

locates between these users' terminal, connects two user's terminal. However, though

there is no transmitter 160 as shown in FIG la, the channel controller 155 can perform the function of the transmitter at the same time.

NAT technology or firewall relates to security technologies to protect intranet.

Among above-mentioned technologies, when a user's terminal in intranet environment

accesses to or communicates with another user's terminal or server in Internet, NAT

technology coverts the real IP of the user's terminal into a different IP, so that a user in

extranet or Internet can not know the real IP.

The storage 145 can store user data related to the broadcaster and the listener.

Also, the storage 145 can store channel data managed by the load balancer 150.

However, for the puφose of high efficiency, it is better that the channel data is stored in

the load balancer 150.

As shown in FIG la, aforementioned operator's system 120 can be composed

of a plurality of individual means that are elements of a server, however, the operator's

system 120 can be comprised of a group of servers (e.g., Login server, channel control

server, transmission server, etc)

Also, though the broadcaster's terminal 100 and listener's terminal 130a, 130b

may be shown in the form of computer in FIG la, the terminal 100, 130a, 130b can be a

cellular phone or PDA.

Also, the operator's system 120 can further comprise a web server, which is not

shown in FIG la.

The web server is a device for providing diverse information via web for the puφose of helping broadcasters or listeners to utilize a broadcasting program efficiently.

For example, the web server can provide an additional service as folio wings: providing

a broadcasting channel list or communicating channel list to listeners, exchanging e-

mail between broadcasters and listeners or providing a homepage to broadcaster.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be briefly described with a system for

transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet broadcasting shown in FIG la.

As a gateway, which is recognized as a frequency, for exchanging IP addresses

between users, the channel in this description is a logical conception for a classified

indicator in that users can listen same voice or sound. Accordingly, in the same channel,

the broadcaster and a plurality of listeners can hear same voice or sound, but otherwise

in the different channel.

And, the channel in the present invention does not indicate URL of specific

broadcaster's homepage and can be perceived as a frequency that a plurality of users

can communicate each other in the same one. As described with examples, according to

the usage of frequency, the whole channel can be classified into several channels by

NHz unit.

Also, according to the present invention, the broadcaster's terminal 110 can be

indirectly connected to listener's terminal 130a via transmitter 160, or directly

connected to listener's terminal 130b without transmitter 160 by the use of peer-to-peer

model.

In peer-to-peer model, the broadcaster's terminal 110 and listener's terminal

130b are connected directly, and can exchange data and message with each other

without additional server. That is, the broadcaster's terminal 110 and listener's terminal

130b simultaneously perform transmission and reception of message in the same level.

Generally, because the client-server model is applied for more than 10 persons

in different places, so a computer having plentiful amount of storage and ability of

calculation is utilized as a server. On the other side, the peer-to-peer network is called as

a 'workgroup' and applied for less than 10 persons in the same place.

As aforementioned, because the time required to route electrical mail in POP

server or SMTP server, so, in the case of peer-to-peer model, the time required to send electrical mail or message will be reduced less than 500 ms and the case that electrical

mail or message is missed in transmission does not happen.

And, recently peer-to-peer method, which is applied for connecting computers

via Internet and for directly exchanging message or data with each other, is widely

utilized.

As an international example of peer-to-peer method (e.g., program), there are

Globalscape's CuteMX, Nullsoft's Gnutella, Ian Clarke's Freenet and a search engine

Scouter. And there are Soribada, Seefriend and Sindbad in Korea.

Hereinafter, the method for commonly sharing same broadcastmg in the

broadcaster's terminal 110 and listener's terminal 130a that peer-to-peer method can't

be applied to, will be described briefly.

This is the case, as aforementioned, that the broadcaster or one of listeners is in

the network protected by NAT or firewall.

In this case, the broadcaster can start broadcasting by selecting broadcasting-

available channel by the use of the accessing process part 140, the load balancer 150

and the channel controller 155. In order to select the broadcasting-available channel, the

step of referring the user data of the broadcaster, which is stored in storage 170, by the

use of broadcaster's callsign and the step of determining whether or not the broadcaster

has an authority to broadcast in that channel by way of a predetermined method must be

performed in the channel controller 155. If the broadcaster has the authority to broadcast in that channel, the broadcaster

can broadcast music and voice at the same time, and the transmitter receives and

compresses the music and voice according to a predetermined method, and then

transmits the compressed music and voice (hereinafter, 'broadcasting data') to listener's

terminal 130a.

When listener's terminal 130a receives broadcasting data, the broadcasting data

is reproduced by a broadcasting program installed in listener's terminal 130a and then

outputted via speaker coupled to the listener's terminal 130a.

The procedure of compressing and decompressing broadcasting data is

performed by universal program, such as Microsoft's WMT (Windows Media

Technology) and will be described with accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, the method for commonly sharing same broadcasting in the

broadcaster's terminal 110 and listener's terminal 130a that peer-to-peer method can be

applied to, will be described briefly.

As described above, the broadcaster can start broadcasting by selecting

broadcasting-available channel by the use of the accessing process part 140, the load

balancer 150 and the channel controller 155.

Then the access controller 140 authenticates listeners who attempt to access. If

listeners are permitted to access, listeners can select a desiring broadcasting channel

displayed on monitor of listener's terminal 130b by using channel move button, and then listen music or voice outputted from the selected broadcasting channel.

In this embodiment, unlike aforementioned embodiment, listener's terminal

130b receive broadcasting data directly from the broadcaster's terminal 110 without any

performance of the transmitter 160. Because the way of constructing this kind of peer-

to-peer model is well known to those who skilled in the art, so detailed description of

this part will be omitted.

Fig lb shows a block diagram of advertising system by the use of Internet

broadcasting in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In describing advertising system by the use of Internet broadcastmg with FIG

lb, description of some part of FIG lb, which is already described in FIG la, will be

omitted

The operator's system 120 can further comprise advertising data controller 165

and point controller 170 for the puφose of performing advertising method by the use of

Internet broadcasting.

The storage 145 can store not only user data of broadcasters and listeners, but

also advertising data (e.g., voice advertising data, effect sound data, CM data, text data

and banner advertising data) and point data besides.

The advertising data controller 165 enables the broadcaster, who is

broadcasting in specific channel, to select desiring advertising data that the broadcaster

want to put in his broadcasting program. The type of advertising data that the broadcaster can select via the advertising

data controller 165 and the storage 140 is a voice advertisement, a banner advertisement

(or text advertisement), a combined form of voice advertisement and banner

advertisement, etc.

Also, if the users' terminal 110, 130a, 130b and the operator's system 120 are

connected with each other, the broadcasting program installed in users' terminal 110,

130a, 130b automatically receives and stores arbitrary advertising data from the

advertising data controller 165 to automatically output the stored advertising data during

user moves to another channel.

And, in the case that the broadcaster sets up the advertising data to be outputted

during broadcasting, the broadcasting program totalizes the number of users who are

exposed to advertising data. Of course, the totalization can be performed in the channel

controller 155 of the operator's system 120.

Also, listeners can access to web sites, which provide information of specific

products or company, by listening voice advertising data or viewing text advertising

data. In this case, the advertising data controller can totalize the number of access to

these web sites.

Accordingly, the advertising data controller 165 can manage the number of

outputting advertising data and the number of access to these web sites.

The point controller 170 receives point-related data from the users terminal 110 and stores point-related data in the storage 145 to manage.

That is, when the broadcaster inputs advertisement output command, the

broadcasting program totalizes the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the

advertising data, and then transmits the totalized number to the point controller 170.

Also, a broadcasting time of the broadcaster and the variation of the number of listeners

are converted into point to be stored.

The broadcaster may receive cash corresponding to the point accumulated

through broadcasting and advertising, or purchase products corresponding to the point

as a reward.

Also, in the case that the operator's system 120 further comprise web server,

the broadcaster's point accumulated through broadcasting and advertising can be ranked

in the web server to induce vigorous participation of broadcasters.

The advertising system by the use of Internet broadcastmg in FIG lb will be

described with FIG 7 to FIG lie.

FIG 2a and FIG 2b shows an exemplary view that is displayed in a user

present invention.

Referring to FIG 2a, in the case that a user (broadcaster or listener) runs the

broadcasting program installed in user terminal 110, 130a, 130b, a broadcasting control

screen 200, which comprises a broadcasting conversion button 201, a communicating conversion button 202, a mailbox button 203 and an additional data button 204, is

displayed.

The broadcasting conversion button 201 is a button for converting the

broadcasting control screen 200 into a broadcasting work screen 240(in FIG 2b) when

the user wants to broadcast as a broadcaster. The broadcasting conversion button 201

will be described with FIG 2b.

The communicating conversion button 202 is a button for converting the

broadcastmg control screen 200 into a communicating screen for the purpose of

communicating with at least one user.

The mailbox button 203 is a button for reading a message, which may be a

music request message or an ordinary mail from others.

The additional data button 204 is a button for receiving detailed data from the

operator's system 120 (in FIG la) when the user wants to read the detailed data.

A cooperation button 205 is a button for read specific data (e.g., outputting a

broadcasting channel list, etc) cooperated with a web application. The web application

is a program for communicating in the form of ActiveX control.

If a web master who wants the web application requests the use of web

application and, as a result, receives an approval, then the web master will receives

ActiveX control and predetermined HTML links. After the received link is inserted into

the desired location of the homepage, all guests who visit the homepage will communicate with the web master without installing broadcasting program in their

terminals.

A short message window 206 is a region for displaying the title of song

outputted from speakers and the text advertising data. A wave window 207 is a region

for displaying the pitch and wave of song outputted from speakers.

A bit window 208 is a region for displaying the bit of song outputted from

speakers.

A help button 209, a hide button 210, a zoom-in/zoom-out button 211 and an

end button are buttons for performing general functions, which are performed by same-

named buttons.

A state selection/window 213 is a region for displaying the state in which the

broadcaster is broadcasting and the listener is. A channel scan button 214 is a button for

searching broadcasting channels on the air or broadcasting-available channels.

Also, the broadcasting control screen can comprise a network configuration

button 215 for converting the broadcasting control screen into network configuration

window and a general configuration button 216 for converting broadcasting control

screen into general configuration window.

And the broadcasting control screen can comprise a music volume control bar

217, a microphone volume control bar 218, a channel window 219 for displaying the

channel that the user is accessing to and a channel move button 220. Also, the broadcasting control screen can comprise a speech button 221 for

communicating voice data between listeners and broadcaster on the air.

FIG 2b shows the broadcasting work screen 240 converted from the

broadcasting control screen 200 when a user selects the broadcasting conversion button

201.

Referring to FIG 2b, the broadcasting work screen 240 can comprise not only

aforementioned buttons, but also compression CODEC selecting window 242 for

selecting compression CODEC utilized in broadcasting and a reproduction player

button 243.

And, the broadcasting work screen 240 can further comprise a progression

control 244 for showing the progression of music, a previous track button 245, a play

button 246, a stop button 247, a pause button 248, next track button 249 and a track

delete button 250, which are comprised in general music player, and an item addition

button 251 for adding some item in a play list 252. Also, the broadcasting work screen

240 can comprise a communication start button 253, which enables to communicate

voice data between broadcaster and listeners on the air.

And, the broadcasting work screen 240 can further comprise a fade control 254

for controlling the fade speed of music, a record button 255 and an invite button 256 for

inviting users who do not listen to Internet broadcasting.

And, broadcaster can record his words with background music to play for listeners by the use of the record button 255 and can record conversation in live

broadcastmg.

Also, the broadcasting work screen 240 can further comprise a listeners'

number window 257 for displaying the number of listeners who are listening the

broadcasting.

FIG 3 is a flowchart of Internet broadcasting utilizing Peer-to-Peer method in

accordance with preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG 3, at step 310, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives

operation command to start the broadcasting program installed in the broadcaster's

terminal 110.

When the broadcasting program is started, a callsign and password input

window for identifying the user who has the authority to utilize the system for

transferring voice between a plurality of users in accordance with the present invention,

is displayed in the monitor of the broadcaster's terminal 110.

At step 315, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives the callsign and password

from the broadcaster and then transmits them to the operator's system 120 via network

coupled between broadcaster's terminal 110 and the operator's system 120.

Of course, at step 315, in order to prevent hacking and exposing of the callsign

and password, additional step of encoding them can further comprised.

At step 320, immediately on receiving the callsign and password from the broadcaster's terminal 110, the operator's system 120 proceeds to step 325 and then

examines the validity of the callsign and password by the access controller 140(FIG 1).

According to the examination of the step 320, if the callsign and password are

not valid, then proceeds to step 330 and transmits an error message to the broadcaster's

terminal 110 to terminate the procedure.

Although it is not shown in FIG 3, in this case, the operator's system 120 can

transmit a predetermined web page for member registration to be displayed in the

monitor of the broadcaster's terminal 110.

Also, according to the examination of the step 320, if the callsign and password

are valid, then at step 335, the established channel data (regardless of authorized

channel for the broadcaster) and the version of the broadcasting program installed in the

broadcaster's terminal 110 are searched and identified.

Of course, although it is not shown in FIG 3, if the version of the broadcasting

program is not up-to-date, the broadcasting program can be updated automatically to the

latest one.

At step 340, the operator's system 120 transmits the channel data searched at

step 335 to the broadcaster's terminal 110.

At step 345, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives the channel data from the

operator's system, and then proceeds to step 350 to transmit a channel selection data

inputted by the broadcaster to the operator's system 120. At step 355, the operator's system 120 receives the channel selection data from

the broadcaster's terminal 110, and then proceeds to step 360 to examine whether or not

the selected channel corresponding to the channel selection data is the predetermined

channel, in which the broadcaster has authority to do broadcast.

Of course, differently as described at step 340 to step 355, without transmitting

the channel data to the broadcaster's terminal 110, and only with receiving the channel

selection data from the broadcaster's terminal 110, the operator's system 120 can

examine whether or not the selected channel corresponding to the channel selection data

is the predetermined channel, in which the broadcaster has authority to do broadcast. In

this case, the step 340 to step 355 can be skipped.

At step 360, the operator's system 120 examines whether or not the selected

channel corresponding to the channel selection data is the predetermined channel, in

which the broadcaster has authority to do broadcast.

According to the examination of step 360, if the channel selection data does not

correspond to the broadcasting-available channel, then proceeds to step 365 and an error

message (e.g., 'This channel is not available. Select again, please.') can be transmitted

to the broadcaster's terminal 110 to terminate the procedure.

In this case, instead of terminating the procedure at step 365, it is also possible

for the broadcaster to be accessed the channel as a listener. A procedure for listening

broadcaster's broadcast as a listener will be described in detail with FIG 4. According to the examination of step 360, if the channel selection data

corresponds to the broadcasting-available channel, then the operator's system proceeds

to step 370 and transmit a broadcast start request to the broadcaster's terminal 110.

At step 375, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives broadcasting data from the

broadcaster and proceeds to step 380. At step 380, the broadcaster's terminal 110

compresses the broadcasting data and then transmits listener's terminal 130b coupled to

the broadcaster's terminal 110 by peer-to-peer method.

Broadcasting data received at step 375 can comprise a general broadcasting

data containing music data and words and a conversation data containing a conversation

between the broadcaster and at least one listener.

The procedure of receiving and transmitting broadcasting data is that when the

broadcaster starts to broadcast, the broadcasting program captures all sound data

generated from a sound card by utilizing Direct Sound, which is provided by Microsoft.

And captured sound data is compressed by a CODEC provided from WMT and

then transmitted to listener's terminal 130b.

For sound cards, which are shipped to market, have a built-in channel for

mixing sound, so sound outputted from the channel is compressed for use when the

broadcast is being progressed.

Also, in the case of a broadcaster who does not use sound card having this

built-in channel, the broadcastmg program can extract broadcasting portion as a wave format from the file reproduced by itself and compress the extracted broadcasting

portion by utilizing WMT CODEC, then transmit the compressed broadcasting portion

to listener's terminal 130b. In this case, the broadcasting program can provide a

function of mixing sound with microphone or other channel.

At step 390, listener's terminal 130b reproduces the received broadcasting data

to output through the monitor or speaker coupled to the listener's terminal 130b. The

step of reproducing the broadcast at step 390 and the procedure of coupling listener's

terminal 130b and the broadcaster's terminal 110 will be described with FIG 4.

Till now Internet broadcasting utilizing Peer-to-Peer method is described. In

addition, according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, Internet

broadcasting can be utilized by whom the peer-to-peer method can be applied to.

In other words, because the broadcaster's terminal 110 and listener's terminal

130b are coupled to each other by peer-to-peer method in FIG 3, so it is possible to

receive and transmit broadcastmg data directly, however, if it is impossible to utilize

peer-to-peer method, same effect can be expected by using transmitter 155 (in FIG 1).

That is, according to the method as shown in FIG3, the inputted and

compressed broadcasting data is transmitted to listener's terminal 130b through

transmitter of the broadcaster's terminal 110. In another preferred embodiment of the

present invention, however, the inputted and compressed broadcastmg data is

transmitted to the operator's system 120, and then transmitted to listener's terminal 130b through transmitter 155(in FIG 3) of the operator's system 120. Besides above-

mentioned step, because the rest of steps are same to already-described steps in FIG 3,

so description of the rest of steps will be omitted.

FIG 4 is a flowchart showing the method for listening Internet broadcasting

invention.

Referring to FIG 4, at step 410, listener's terminal 130b receives an operation

command of the broadcasting program installed in listener's terminal 130b and starts

the broadcasting program. And because following steps to step 455 are same steps of

already-described step 315 to step 355 in FIG 3, so description of these steps will be

omitted.

Step 460, the operator's system 460 examine whether or not a channel selection

data received from listener's terminal 130b at step 455 corresponds to a broadcast-in-

progress channel.

According to the examination of step 460, if the channel corresponding to the

channel selection data is not a broadcast-in-progress channel, then the operator's system

120 proceeds to step 465 and transmits error message to listener's terminal 130b to

terminate the procedure.

Of course, at step 465, in some other way as described at step 465, it is also

possible for listener's terminal 130b to maintain the state of accessing to the channel until any broadcaster starts to broadcast in that channel.

According to the examination of step 460, if the channel corresponding to the

channel selection data is a broadcast-in-progress channel, then the operator's system

460, then the operator's system proceeds to step 470. At step 460, in order to share IP

addresses of the broadcaster's terminal 110 and listener's terminal 130b, the operator's

system 120 transmits a connection setup data to them. Because the step 470 is a

generally required step in the program using peer-to-peer method, so detailed

description of step 470 will be omitted.

At step 475, the broadcaster's terminal 110 and listener's terminal 130b receive

the connection setup data from the operator's system and directly couple to each other

via network.

At step 480, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives the broadcasting data from

the broadcaster and, at step 485, compresses the broadcasting data and transmits the

compressed broadcasting data to listener's terminal 130b coupled to the broadcaster's

terminal 110 by peer-to-peer method.

Broadcasting data received at step 480 can comprise a general broadcasting

data containing music data and words, and a conversation data containing a

conversation between the broadcaster and at least one listener.

At step 490, listener's terminal 130b receive the broadcasting data transmitted

from the broadcaster's terminal 110 and then proceed to step 495. At step 495, listener's terminal 130b decompress the received broadcastmg data and then proceed to step 497.

At step 497, listener's terminal 130b output the decompressed broadcasting data

through monitor or speaker coupled to listener's terminal 130b.

That is, listener's terminal 130b access to the broadcaster's terminal by using

HTTP protocol and download a compressed sound streaming compressed with WMT

CODEC.

And between users who communicate their voice, a voice wave data having a

format of 8KHz, 16bit and mono, is compressed with a built-in CODEC and then

transmitted directly to each other by using TCP or UDP protocol. Also, because a user

list that shows whole users who are in the same channel can be identified by the use of

the channel controller 150 (in FIG 1), so the compressed voice wave data is transmitted

directly to whole identified IP addresses.

As describing again the method for listening Internet broadcasting in brief, the

channel selection data transmitted from listener's terminal to access to arbitrary channel,

is transferred to the load balancer 145 (in FIG 1) of the operator's system 120. By the

channel selection data, the load balancer 145 (in FIG 1) examines whether or not the

channel is established and, if established, in which channel controller 150 (in FIG 1) the

channel is established.

If the channel is established in the third channel controller, the load balancer

145 (in FIG 1) transmits an access command that listener's terminal 130b accesses to the third channel controller, and according to the access command, listener's terminal

130b access to the third channel controller automatically.

And the third channel controller registers the listener's terminal in the channel

and transmits the IP address data of the listener to whole listeners who are accessing to

the channel, and at the same time, transmits IP address data of whole listeners to the

listener's terminal 130b.

The listener's terminal 130b attempts access to the broadcaster's terminal 110,

who is broadcasting. And after accessed to the broadcaster's terminalllO, the listener's

terminal 130b receives broadcasting data transmitted from the broadcaster's terminal

110 and outputs it through monitor or speaker.

Besides aforementioned peer-to-peer model, as the present invention can be

performed by the use of transmitter 155(in FIG 1) of the operator's system 120 and

description of that model was already described, so additional description will be

omitted.

FIG 5 is a flowchart showing the method for communicating in progression of

Internet broadcasting in accordance with preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Communicating method according to the present invention can be classified

into following types:

First, when the broadcaster requests communication to arbitrary listener in the

progression of broadcasting, they can communicate voice data to each other in the same channel by pushing the speech button 221 (in IFG 2a).

Second, when the broadcaster requests communication to arbitrary listener in

the progression of broadcasting, an additional communicating port for the broadcaster

and the listener is established by the channel controller 155, and the broadcaster and the

listener access to the communicating port to communicate voice data to each other.

In this case, it is possible for other listeners to listen the communication

between the broadcaster and the listener or it is also possible to prevent other listeners

from listening their communication. Of course, it is possible for the broadcaster or the

listener to select which type of communication by pushing specific button for an open

communication or a secret communication.

Third, when arbitrary listener requests communication to the broadcaster in the

progression of broadcasting, it is true that two aforementioned types can be applied to

this case. A reject function (or button) for rejecting that request or a suspending function

(or button) can be comprised for the case that it is impossible for the broadcaster to

communicate with the listener.

Hereinafter, among the above-mentioned types, the second type will be

described with the flowchart. By way of following description, those skilled in the art

can perform the first and the third type easily.

The procedure for enabling the communication, that is, the conversation

between the broadcaster and the listener in broadcasting, is presented in FIG 5. At step 510, the broadcaster's terminal 110 transmits broadcasting data to

listener A's terminal and listener B's terminal, which are coupled to the broadcaster's

terminal 110 by way of peer-to-peer method or the operator's system 120(in FIG 2).

At step 515, the broadcaster who wants to communicate with listener A in the

progression of broadcasting, transmits communication request data to the listener A's

terminal via network.

At step 520, if the listener wants to communicate with the broadcaster, the

listener A's terminal transmits communication request approval data to the

broadcaster's terminal 110.

At step 525, the broadcaster's terminal receives communication request

approval data from the listener A's terminal. At step 530, the channel controller 155

establishes a communication channel corresponding to communication request approval

data.

At step 535, the channel controller 155 transmits communication channel

assignment data corresponding to the communication channel established in step 530, to

the broadcaster's terminal 110. At step 540, the broadcaster's terminal transmits

communication channel assignment data to the listener A's terminal. By way of step

540, the listener A's terminal can recognize that the communication channel for

communicating to the broadcaster's terminal 110 is established.

At step 545, the listener A's terminal transmits a communication channel access request to the channel controller 155. At step 550, the channel controller 155 transmits

the communication port data of the assigned communication channel to the listener's

terminal.

At step 555, the listener A's terminal accesses the communication port

corresponding to the communication port data. Herewith, the listener A can

communicate with the broadcaster.

At step 560, the broadcaster's terminal 110 and the listener A's terminal

transmit and receive voice data for communicating, and output it respectively. Voice

data which is received or transmitted by the broadcaster's terminal, is transmitted to

listener B's terminal through step 565.

That is, the listener B's terminal continuously receives and outputs broadcasting

data and voice data which are transmitted from the broadcaster's terminal 110 in step

510 to step 565.

At step 570, corresponding to a request from listener A who wants to end the

communication, the listener A's terminal transmits a communication end request to the

channel controller 155 via network. Of course, the communication end request can be

transmitted from the broadcaster's terminal 110.

At step 575, the channel controller 155 perceives the end of communication

between the broadcaster and listener A, and transmits communication end data to

listener A's terminal and the broadcaster's terminal 110. At step 580, the listener A's terminal receives broadcasting data from the

broadcaster's terminal 110 and outputs it. Of course, the listener A's terminal

continuously receives and outputs broadcasting data which is transmitted from the

broadcaster's terminal 110 in step 510 to step 575.

In performing the communication between the broadcaster and listener A, the

method for communicating in a broadcast-in-progress channel that was already

established has been described.

Of course, besides aforementioned method, listener A can communicate with

the broadcaster in newly-established communication channel, which differs from the

broadcasting channel and is established by the channel controller 155 according to the

request of the broadcaster.

In this case, the step that the listener A's terminal disconnects the access to the

present broadcasting channel and accesses to the newly-established communication

channel, will be further comprised after step 540 in FIG 5, and the step that disconnects

the communication channel and accesses to the present broadcasting channel, will be

further comprised after step 575.

Briefly described communication procedure between the broadcaster and the

listener will be easily understood with FIG 6a through FIG 6c.

FIG 6a is a flowchart showing the method for establishing communication

channel in the method for transferring voice between a plurality of users, FIG 6b is a flowchart showing the method for accessing the established communication channel in

preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG 6c is a flowchart showing the

method for performing the communication in the method for transferring voice between

a plurality of users in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present

invention.

Hereinafter, for the puφose of describing the method more easily, the channel

in where the broadcaster and the listener communicate their voice data will be limited to

223.3 among a plurality of channels in the description of FIG 6a to FIG 6c.

Referring to FIG 6a, at step 610, in order to communicate other user, user A

transmits 222.3 channel access request to the load balancer 150 by way of user A's

terminal.

Of course, the 222.3 channel access request transmitted from the user A's

terminal can be received by the accessing process part or another device included in the

operator's system, as well as the load balancer 150.

At step 615, the load balancer 150 receives the 222.3 channel access request

from the user A's terminal and, at step 620, examines whether or not 222.3 channel is

established.

According to the examination of step 620, if the 222.3 channel is already

established, then the procedure is terminated. Following steps after step 620 will be described in FIG 6b.

According to the examination of step 620, if the 222.3 channel have to be

established, then the procedure proceeds to step 630. At step 630, the load balancer 150

searches the channel controller, which has the smallest number of channels to be

controlled, from at least one channel controller connected to itself.

At step 635, the load balancer 150 transmits a channel establishment command

to the channel controller searched at step 630. At step 640, the channel controller 155

establishes a channel corresponding to the channel establishment command. At step 645,

the channel controller 155 transmits a channel establishment report to the load balancer

150.

At step 650, the load balancer 150 receives the channel establishment report

from the channel controller 155. At step 655, the load balancer transmits an access

command to the user A's terminal to access the channel controller that established the

channel corresponding to the channel establishment command.

At step 660, the user A's terminal receives the access command from the load

balancer 150, and then accesses to the channel controller 155.

Referring to FIG 6b, as describing how to access the already-established

communication channel, at step 710, in order to communicate other user, user B

transmits the 222.3 channel access request to the load balancer 150 by way of user B's

terminal. At step 715, the load balancer 150 receives the 222.3 channel access request

from the user B's terminal. At step 720, the load balancer 150 examines whether or not

the 222.3 channel is established.

According to the examination of step 720, if the 222.3 channel is not

established, then the procedure is terminated. (Of course, the procedure is not

terminated really and steps for establishing channel are already described with FIG 6a.)

According to the examination of step 720, if the 222.3 channel is already

established, then the procedure proceeds to step 725. At step 725, the load balancer 150

transmits access command to the user B's terminal to access the channel controller that

established the channel.

At step 730, the user B's terminal receives the access command from the load

balancer 150, and at step 735, transmits an access request to the channel controller 155

that established the channel.

At step 740, the channel controller 155 receives the access request from the user

B's terminal. At step 745, the channel controller 155 registers data of the user B's

terminal and sets up TCP connection with the user B's terminal.

Also, at step 750, the channel controller 155 transmits data of the user B's

terminal, such as IP address, to all user terminals which are accessing to the channel.

Referring to FIG 6c, as describing the method for communicating, at step 810,

the user A selects a communication button in terminal. At step 815, the user A's terminal transmits communication start data to the channel controller 155 via network.

At step 820, the channel controller 155 receives communication start data from

the user A's terminal, and at step 825, examines whether or not other user already

communicates with somebody in that channel.

According to the examination of step 825, if someone is communicating in that

channel, then at step 830, the channel controller 155 transmits error message (e.g.,

'someone is using that channel. Please wait till the communication is terminated.') to

the user A's terminal.

At step 835, the user A's terminal receives the error message from the channel

controller 155 and displays the error message on the monitor coupled to the terminal for

user A to wait.

Referring to step 825 again, according to the examination of step 825, if there is

no one who communicates in that channel, then proceeds to step 840. At step 840, the

channel controller 155 transmits communication start authorization data to the user A's

terminal in order that the user A can start to communicate.

At step 845, the user A's terminal receives communication start authorization

data from the channel controller 155, and at step 850, transmits communicating voice

data (comprising music data or sound data) inputted from the user A to the user B's

terminal.

By this, the user B's terminal can receive communicating voice data at step 855, and as shown in FIG 6c, communicating voice data can be transmitted directly to the

user B's terminal without relay of the channel controller 155.

Between users who communicate their voice, a voice wave data having a

format of 8KHz, 16bit and mono, is compressed with a built-in CODEC and then

transmitted directly to each other by using TCP or UDP protocol. And because a user

the channel controller 155 (in FIG 1), so the compressed voice wave data is transmitted

directly to whole identified IP addresses.

However, the user who is protected by NAT technology must use the

transmitter 160 (in FIG 1) to communicate with other users. The user who requests to

use the transmitter 160 (in FIG 1) can transmit communicating voice data through TCP

connection coupled to the transmitter 160 and other users can receive communicating

voice data through TCP connection to the transmitter 160.

To prevent the case that user could not communicate due to Firewall, in the

stage of accessing, it is automatically examined and set up that whether or not the user

is protected by NAT technology.

At step 860, the user A's terminal examines whether or not the user A ends to

communicate. If the user A continues to communicate, then proceeds to step 850.

Otherwise, at step 865, the user A's terminal transmits communication end data to the

channel controller 155. At step 870, the channel controller 155 receives communication end data from

the user A's terminal and waits till receiving another communication start data from

user's terminals.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, as it is same to

aforementioned description that the user who does not install the broadcasting program

can access the homepage having the web application and communicate with the web

master of the homepage by way of similar method as described in FIG 6a to FIG 6c, so

detailed description of this will be omitted.

FIG 7 is a flowchart showing the method for automatically outputting

another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG 7, at step 910, corresponding to the execution command of the

broadcasting program, the user's terminal executes the broadcasting program installed

in it.

When the broadcasting program is executed, the callsign and password input

window for identifying whether or not the user is authorized to use Internet

broadcasting system, can be displayed on the monitor of the user's terminal.

At step 915, after receiving callsign and password from the user, the user's

terminal transmits them to the operator's system 120 via network.

Of course, encoding for preventing callsign and password from being exposed during transmission can be further performed at step 915.

At step 920, the operator's system receives the callsign and password and at

step 925, examines whether or not the callsign and password are valid by way of the

access controller 140 (in FIG 1).

According to the examination of step 925, if the callsign and password are

invalid, then, at step 930, the operator's system 120 transmits an error message to the

user's terminal and terminates the procedure. Of course, instead of terminating the

procedure at step 930, the step 925 can be performed again with newly received callsing

and password from the user's terminal.

Also, although it is not shown in FIG 7, in this case, the web page for

registration can be automatically displayed on the monitor of the user's terminal in

order to enable the user to subscribe.

And according to the examination of step 925, if the callsign and password are

valid, then, at step 935, the established channel data (regardless of authorized channel

for the broadcaster) and advertising data are searched, and the version of the

broadcastmg program installed in the user's terminal is examined.

Of course, although it is not shown in FIG 7, if the version of the broadcasting

latest one.

At step 940, the operator's system transmits channel data and advertising data search at step 935 to the user's terminal.

At step 945, the user's terminal receives channel data and advertising data from

the operator's terminal 120. (Of course, a step for storing them in a temporary memory

can be comprised.)

At step 950, the user's terminal examines whether or not the user inputs

channel selection data. According to the examination of step 950, if there is channel

selection data inputted from the user, then at step 955, the user's terminal outputs

advertising data according to the predetermined method. (e.g., method for orderly

outputting advertising data, method for arbitrarily outputting advertising data, etc)

The method for appointing time to output advertising data can be the method

for appointing the predetermined time to each advertising data, the method for

outputting advertising data till accessing to the channel selected by the user, and etc.

Also, according to the examination of step 950, if there is no selection inputted

from the user, then the procedure will be terminated. Of course, in this case, text-

advertising data can be continuously outputted through the short message window 206

(in FIG 2a).

FIG 8 is a flowchart showing the method for outputting advertising data while

broadcasting in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention,

and FIG 9 is a view of configuring advertising data to be outputted while broadcasting

in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention. In describing the method for outputting advertising data while broadcasting,

because steps, which are earlier than step 945, are same to steps described in FIG 7, so

description of these steps will be omitted. (Not shown in FIG 8)

Referring to FIG 8, at step 945, the broadcastmg program installed in the

broadcaster's terminal 10 receives channel data and advertising data from the operator's

system, and at step 1010, transmits channel selection data inputted by the broadcaster to

the operator's system 120.

At step 1015, the operator's system 120 receives channel selection data from

the broadcaster's terminal 110, and at step 1020, examines whether or not channel

selection data received from the broadcaster's terminal corresponds to the

predetermined channel that the broadcaster can broadcast in.

According to the examination of step 1020, if channel selection data does not

correspond to the predetermined channel, then at step 1025, the operator's system 120

transmits an error message (e.g., 'You cannot broadcast in this channel. Please select

again') to the broadcaster's terminal 110 and can terminate the procedure.

Of course in this case, same to step 1025, instead of terminating the step, the

broadcaster can access to that channel as a listener.

According to the examination of step 1020, if channel selection data

corresponds to the predetermined channel, then at step 1030, the operator's system 120

transmits broadcast start request data to the broadcaster's terminal 110. At step 1035, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives broadcast start request

data from the operator's system 120. By receiving broadcast start request data, upon

accessing to the channel selected by the broadcaster, a listener can receive broadcasting

data from the broadcaster's terminal by way of the listener's terminal 130b.

At step 1040, the listener transmits channel selection data to the operator's

system by way of the listener's terminal 130b. (Of course, the listener has already done

step 910 to 940 as done by the broadcaster)

At step 1045, the operator's system 120 receives channel selection data from

the listener's terminal 130b, and at step 1050, in order to enable the broadcaster's

terminal 110 and the listener's terminal 130b to share IP addresses between them,

transmits connection setup data to them. Step 1050 is a generally required step in the

peer-to-peer program, so description will be omitted.

At step 1055, the broadcaster's terminalllO and the listener's terminal 130b

directly connect each other by the use of connection setup data transmitted from the

operator's system 120.

At step 1060, the broadcaster inputs broadcasting data to the broadcaster's

terminal 110. At step 1065, the broadcaster's terminal 110 compressed broadcasting

data advertising data, and then transmits them to listener's terminal connected to the

broadcaster's terminal 110 by way of peer-to-peer method.

Broadcasting data inputted at step 1060 can be general broadcasting data, which comprises music data words data, or conversation data, which comprises a conversation

between the broadcaster and at least one listener. Advertising data can be text-

advertising data, voice advertising data and sound advertising data.

Referring to FIG 9, broadcasting data and advertising data, which are selected

by broadcaster, are comprised in the play list. These broadcasting data and advertising

data can be data that is already stored in the broadcaster's terminal 110 or downloaded

data that was downloaded from the operator's system 120.

The way that the broadcaster selects and input broadcasting data and

advertising data to be comprised to the play list or the way to reproduce them is same as

the way that is performed in the ordinary music playing program.

Referring to FIG 8 again, at step 1070, the listener's terminall30b

decompresses broadcasting data/advertising data transmitted from the broadcaster's

terminal in the form of compressed data, and then step 1075, outputs the decompressed

data through the monitor or speaker coupled to the listener's terminal 130b.

That is, listener's terminal 130b accesses to the broadcaster's terminal 110 by

using HTTP protocol and downloads a compressed sound streaming compressed with

WMT CODEC.

And between users who communicate their voice, a voice wave data having a

format of 8KHz, 16bϊt and mono, is compressed with a built-in CODEC and then

transmitted directly to each other by using TCP or UDP protocol. Also, because a user list that shows whole users who are in the same channel can be identified by the use of

directly to whole identified IP addresses.

And, at step 1080, the broadcasting program installed in the broadcaster's

terminal 110 totalizes the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising

data, and then transmits the totalized number to the operator's system 120.

Referring to FIG 9, the number of listeners (that is, the number of listener's

terminals connected to the broadcaster's terminal 110 via network) who are listening the

broadcasting is displayed in the listeners' number window of the broadcasting program,

and the number of listeners at the point that the broadcaster outputs advertising data is

totalized as a point.

For the puφose that the broadcasting program or the operator's system 120 can

recognize advertising data for being exchanged into points, advertising data can

comprise an additional identifier.

Referring FIG 8 again, at step 1085, the operator's system 120 receives point

data transmitted from the broadcaster's terminal 110 and stores it in the storage.

At step 1090, the broadcasting program of the broadcaster's terminal 110

examines whether or not the broadcaster ends to broadcast. If broadcast still goes on,

then proceeds to step 1060. Otherwise, the broadcasting program terminates the

procedure. FIG 10 is a flowchart showing the method for providing advertising data in

accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG 11a to

lie are views of inserting advertising data into play list in accordance with another

preferred embodiment of the present invention.

With reference of FIG 10, FIG 11a to lie, the method for providmg advertising

data from the operator's system to the broadcaster's terminal will be mainly described

in the method for providing advertising data in accordance with another preferred

embodiment of the present invention,

However, by using similar method after downloading advertising data at the

step of requiring an access, wherein the method will be described with FIG 10, FIG 11a

to lie, it is also possible for the broadcaster's terminal not to access to the operator's

system 120 in order to download advertising data.

Accordingly, the description of the step of channel selection and the step of

totalization of points will be omitted.

Referring FIG 10, at step 1110, the broadcaster inputs broadcasting data to the

broadcasting program installed in the broadcaster's terminal 110. At step 1115, the

broadcasting program examines whether or not the broadcaster inputs broadcasting data

request.

Referring to FIG 11a, the broadcasting program can further comprise an

advertising data list request button 1210. And step 1115 in FIG 10 is that the broadcasting program examines whether or not the broadcaster clicks the advertising

data list request button 1210.

Referring to FIG 10 again, according to the examination of step 1115, if the

broadcaster inputs the advertising data request, then at step 1120, the broadcaster's

terminal 110 transmits the advertising data list request to the operator's system 120

through network. Otherwise, proceeds to step 1175.

At step 1125, the operator's system 120 receives the advertising data list

request and then at step 1130, searches advertising data list stored in the storage.

And at step 1135, the operator's system 120 transmits the advertising data list

searched at step 1130 to the broadcaster's terminal 110.

At step 1140, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives the advertising data list

from the operator's system, and then at step 1145, examines whether or not the

broadcaster inputs selection data for arbitrary advertising data.

At step 1145, according to the examination of step 1145, if there is selection

data for arbitrary advertising data inputted by the broadcaster, then at step 1150, the

broadcaster's terminal 110 transmits advertising selection data to the operator's system

120. Otherwise, proceeds to step 1175.

At step 1155, the operator's system 120 receives advertising selection data from

the broadcaster's terminal 110, and then at step 1160, transmits advertising data selected

by the broadcaster to the broadcaster's terminal 110. At step 1165, the broadcaster's terminal 110 receives advertising data from the

operator's system 120, and then at step 1170, inserts received advertising data to the

play list.

The view of receiving advertising data list and outputting it on the monitor is

showed in FIG lib.

Referring to FIG lib, the advertising data list comprising at least one

advertising data is displayed in the window of the monitor of the broadcaster's terminal

110.

The advertising data list can comprise a list field (for example, 'IBM computer

CM', etc), a playing time field (for example, '0:40', etc) and a point data field (for

example, '3 point/person', etc).

Of course, instead of assigning same point to all advertising data as shown in

FIG lib, it is also possible to assign different point to each advertising data.

If the broadcaster selects '1. IBM computer CM' from the plurality of

advertising data, which comprise 1.IBM computer CM, 2. PEPSI cola CM, 3. Popeyess

CM, 4. CHILSUNG cider CM, 5. DEAWOO motor CM, as shown in FIG lib by way

of mouse or keyboard, the view as shown in FIG lie will be displayed in the monitor of

the broadcaster's terminal 110.

That is, specific advertising data selected by the broadcaster in FIG lib is

inserted to the play list. Referring FIG 10 again, at step 1175, the broadcasting program installed in the

broadcaster's terminal 110 examines whether or not the broadcaster ends broadcasting.

If the broadcaster ends broadcasting, then the broadcasting program terminates the

procedure. Otherwise, the broadcasting program proceeds to step 1110.

Up to now, with referring to FIG 10, FIG 11a to lie, the present invention,

which is embodied in the form of the peer-to-peer model, was described.

However, in the case of another preferred embodiment of the present invention,

which performs Internet broadcasting by utilizing the transmitter 160 (in FIG 1), it is

also possible that when the broadcaster selects advertising data, the URL and title of

advertising data can be transmitted to the broadcaster's terminal 110 and the listener's

terminal 130b.

In the latter case, at the point of outputting advertising data, the broadcaster's

terminal 110 and the listener's terminal 130b access to the URL, receive advertising

data and output it. Accordingly, it does not need to store specific advertising data in

advance for the puφose of outputting it.

Also, according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, in

the case that the broadcaster requests to output advertising data in the progression of

broadcasting, advertising data can be outputted in the form of voice outputted through

speaker, text (comprising banner having a moving picture) outputted through short

message window 206 (in FIG 2) or the combination of voice and text. At this moment, in the case that the listener clicks text advertising data in the

short message window 206 (in FIG 2) displayed on the monitor of the listener's

terminal 130b, it is possible to enable the broadcasting program or other web browser to

access to the web site corresponding to advertising data. By this, the operator can

manage the Internet broadcasting system that is closely connected with electrical

commerce system.

And because it is well-know technology to provide electrical commerce service

through the website, so description of this will be omitted.

Also, in this case, by providing a certain amount of point to the listener and/or

the broadcaster, it is true that the effect of advertisement can be maximized.

INDERATRIAL APPLICABILITY

As aforementioned, according to a system for providmg Internet broadcasting

service and method thereof in accordance with the present invention, by applying peer-

to-peer technology to the desktop application and web application, it is possible to

provide Internet broadcasting that enables a plurality of users to communicate each

Claims

1. A method for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

broadcasting performed by a broadcaster, which method comprising the steps of:

receiving an access request from a first broadcaster's terminal of a first mater

through network;

receiving a channel-selection data corresponding to a first broadcasting channel

of at least one predetermined broadcasting channel from the first broadcaster's terminal

receiving an access request data from at least one listener's terminal of

broadcasting listener;

transmitting an IP address of the first broadcaster's terminal to the listener's

terminal in the case of receiving the channel-selection data corresponding to the first

broadcasting channel;

transmitting an IP address of the listener's terminal to the first broadcaster's

terminal.

2. The method as stated in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

examining whether or not a second broadcasting channel is on the air in the

case of receiving a channel-selection data corresponding to the second broadcasting

channel from the listener's terminal;

transmittmg an IP address of a second broadcaster's terminal corresponding to a second broadcaster to the listener's terminal in the case that the second broadcasting

channel in on the air;

transmitting an IP address of the listener's terminal to the second broadcaster's

terminal;

releasing a link between the first broadcaster's terminal and the listener's

terminal.

3. The method as stated in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether or not the first broadcaster has an authority to broadcast in

the first broadcasting channel;

receiving a broadcasting data from the first broadcaster's terminal in the case

that the first broadcaster has the authority to broadcast in the first broadcasting channel;

transmitting the broadcasting data to the listener's terminal,

wherein the broadcasting data comprises at least one selected from the group

consisting of voice, sound and music.

4. The method as stated in claim 1 or claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a communication request for communicating with the listener from

the first broadcaster's terminal;

producing a communication channel corresponding to the communication request;

transmitting a communication data received from the first broadcaster's

terminal to the listener's terminal in the case that the listener accesses the

communication channel by the use of the listener's terminal,

wherein the communication data is at least one selected from the group

consisting of voice and sound.

5. The method as stated in claim 1 or claim 4, wherem the channel is indicated

in digits as a gateway that exchanges IP addresses between the broadcaster and at least

one listener.

6. A method for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

broadcasting by executing a broadcasting program for the internet broadcasting installed

in a broadcaster's terminal, comprising the steps of:

transmitting an access request to a multilateral voice transferring system via

network;

transmitting a channel-selection data corresponding to a broadcasting channel,

in which the broadcaster has an authority to broadcast, selected from at least one

predetermined broadcasting channel;

receiving an IP address of at least one listener's terminal accessed to the broadcasting channel;

accessing to the listener's terminal by the use of the IP address;

transmitting a broadcasting data to the listener's terminal, if it is possible to

directly transmit the broadcasting data to the listener's terminal; and

transmitting the broadcasting data to the multilateral voice transferring system,

if it is impossible to directly transmit the broadcasting data to the listener's terminal.

7. The method as stated in claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting a communication request data to the listener's terminal via

network;

receiving a communication approval data from the listener's terminal;

transmitting a communication data to the listener's terminal, if it is possible to

directly transmit the communication data to the listener's terminal;

transmitting the communication data to the multilateral voice transferring

system, if it is impossible to directly transmit to the listener's terminal.

8. The method as stated in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting a communication channel generating request to the multilateral

voice transferring system via network;

receiving a communication channel assignment data from the multilateral voice transferring system

transmitting the communication channel assignment data to the listener's

terminal;

accessing the listener's terminal by the use of a communication port

corresponding to the communication channel assignment data.

9. A method for advertising in Internet broadcasting including at least one

channel, which method can provide an advertising data on the air, comprising the steps

of:

receiving an operation command to perform a broadcastmg program installed in

a user' terminal from the user, wherein the user comprises a broadcaster and a listener;

and

operating the broadcasting program,

wherein the broadcasting program performs following steps of:

transmitting an access data to an Internet broadcasting system via network;

receiving the advertising data from the Internet broadcasting system in the case

of valid access data, wherein the advertising data comprises voice advertising data,

sound advertising data and text advertising data;

storing the advertising data; and

reproducing the advertising data in the case of receiving a channel change command from the user.

10. The method as stated in claim 9, wherein the broadcasting program further

perform the following steps of:

predetermined method in the case of reproducing the advertising data; and

transmitting the point data to the Internet broadcasting system.

11. A method for advertising in Internet broadcasting including at least one

of:

receiving an operation command to perform a broadcasting program installed in

a broadcaster's terminal from the broadcaster; and

operating the broadcasting program,

wherein the broadcasting program performs following steps of:

transmitting an access data to an Internet broadcasting system via network;

receiving the advertising data from the Internet broadcastmg system in the case

sound advertising data and text advertising data;

storing the advertising data; and reproducing the advertising data in the case of receiving a channel change

command from the user.

receiving an IP address of at least one listener's terminal accessing the channel,

which the broadcaster accesses to broadcast, from the Internet broadcasting system;

executing peer-to-peer access to the listener's terminal by the use of the IP

address via network;

receiving a sound data from the broadcaster, wherein the sound data comprises

at least one selected from the group consisting of a broadcasting data and the advertising

data;

compressing the sound data; and

transmitting the compressed sound data to the listener's terminal via network.

12. The method as stated in claim 11, wherein the broadcasting program further

perform the following steps of:

producing the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising

data;

converting a result of advertising reproduction into a point data by the use of

the number of listeners and a predetermined method; and

transmitting the point data to the Internet broadcasting system.

13. A method for advertising in Internet broadcasting including at least one

of:

receiving an operation command to perform a broadcasting program installed in

a broadcaster's terminal from the broadcaster; and

operating the broadcasting program,

wherein the broadcasting program performs following steps of:

transmitting an access data to an Internet broadcasting system via network;

executing peer-to-peer access to the listener's terminal by the use of the IP

address via network;

receiving an advertising data request command from the broadcaster;

transmittmg the advertising data request command to the Internet broadcasting

system;

receiving an advertising data list comprising at least one advertising data from

the Internet broadcasting system;

receiving an advertising data selection command corresponding to arbitrary

advertising data comprised in the advertising data list;

transmitting the advertising data selection command to the Internet broadcasting system;

receiving the advertising data corresponding to the advertising data selection

command from the Internet broadcasting system; and

transmitting the received advertising data to the listener's terminal.

14. The method as stated in claim 13, wherein the broadcasting program further

perform the following steps of:

producing the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising

data;

converting a result of advertising reproduction into a point data by the use of

the number of listeners and a predetermined method; and

transmitting the point data to the Internet broadcasting system.

15. The method as stated I claim 13, wherein the advertising data is an electric

file comprising the advertising data or an URL data indicating where the advertising

data is located in.

16. A method for advertising in Internet broadcastmg including at least one

of: receiving an access data from a broadcaster's terminal via network;

searching the advertising data in the case of valid access data;

transmitting the searched advertising data to the broadcaster's terminal, wherein

the advertising data comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a voice

advertising data, a sound advertising data and a text advertising data;

transmitting an IP address of at least one listener's terminal accessing the

channel, which the broadcaster accesses to broadcast, to the broadcaster's terminal;

transmitting an IP address of the broadcaster's terminal to the listener's

terminal;

receiving an advertising data request command from the broadcaster's terminal;

producing an advertising data list comprising at least one advertising data

previously stored;

transmitting the advertising data list to the broadcaster's terminal;

receiving an advertising data selection command corresponding to arbitrary

advertising data comprised in the advertising data list;

searching the advertising data corresponding to the advertising data selection

command; and

transmitting the searched advertising data to the broadcaster's terminal.

17. The method as stated in claim 16, further comprising the steps of: producing the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the advertising

data;

converting a result of advertising reproduction into a point data by the use of

the number of listeners and a predetermined method; and

storing the point data to the Internet broadcasting system.

18. The method as stated in claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the point data; and

storing the point data.

19. A system for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

broadcasting performed by a broadcaster, comprising:

receiving means for receiving an access request and/or a selection data of

broadcastmg channel from a broadcaster's terminal and a listener's terminal via

network;

channel controlling means for transmitting an IP address to the broadcaster's

terminal and the listener's terminal, examining the broadcaster's authority to broadcast

and producing a communication channel;

load balancing means for controlling said channel controlling means; and

transmitting means for transmitting a broadcasting data and/or a communication data received from the broadcaster's terminal to the listener's terminal.

20. A system for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

broadcasting performed by a broadcaster, comprising:

a memory for storing a program; and

a processor coupled to said memory for operating the program,

wherein said processor executes the method as stated in one of claim 1 to claim

4.

21. A computer-readable medium including a program containing computer-

executable instructions, wherein the program practices the method as stated in one of

claim 6 to claim 8.

22. An Internet broadcasting system for transferring advertising data on the air,

which broadcasting system can comprise at least one channel, comprising:

means for receiving an access data, an advertising data a request command and

an advertising data selection command from a broadcaster's terminal via network;

means for transmitting the advertising data, an advertising data list, an IP

address of the broadcaster's terminal and an IP address of a listener's terminal to the

broadcaster's terminal and the listener's terminal; advertising data list generating means for producing the advertising data list

including at least one predetermined advertising data; and

means for searching the advertising data.

23. The Internet broadcasting system as stated in claim 22, wherein the Internet

broadcasting system further comprise:

means for producing the number of listeners at the point of reproducing the

advertising data;

means for converting a result of advertising reproduction into a point data by

the use of the number of listeners and a predetermined method; and

means for storing the point data to the Internet broadcastmg system.

24. A system for transferring voice between a plurality of users in Internet

broadcasting performed by a broadcaster, comprising:

a memory for storing a program; and

a processor coupled to said memory for operating the program,

wherem said processor executes the method as stated in one of claim 16 to

claim 18.

25. A computer-readable medium including a program containing computer- executable instructions, wherein the program practices the method as stated in one of

claim 9 to claim 15.