JP2011009839A - Communication system and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a communication system to which an arbitrary function set by a receiver can be added.SOLUTION: A transmitter 100 has a transmission section 120 for transmitting a transport stream signal S10; the transport stream signal S10 includes an extension area in which an arbitrary event and an arbitrary function to be executed when the arbitrary event is generated are set by a receiver 300; and in the transport stream signal S10, the contents of the event and the contents of the function are not set in the extension area. The receiver 300 includes a receiving section 310 for receiving the transport stream signal S10, a setting section 330 for setting the contents of the event and the contents of the function, and an insertion section 350 for generating a TS packet group S14, by inserting the contents of the event and the contents of the function which are set by the setting section 330 into the extension area.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system and a communication method using a transport stream which is a communication standard in broadcast communication.

In a communication standard using a transport stream such as digital broadcasting, section data is added to a broadcast signal in addition to broadcast data. OSD (On
When the display unit displays the OSD by video overlay, the OSD display control is performed using the section data.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a technique in which an OSD display that receives a transport stream displays and controls the OSD. The OSD display can display the OSD regardless of the model of the OSD display by using the markup language for the description of the data information.

Japanese Patent No. 3790761

  A transport stream contains a data file that describes its operation processing and functions. When changing this processing or function, the entire data file must be replaced, and the data file after the change is generated one by one. I had to fix it.

  Also, in the TS (Transport Stream) packet, which is the transport stream transmission unit, the payload, which is the transmission data storage area, is scrambled at the transmission stage during communication, and data is changed or added during transmission. It is not made on the assumption. Therefore, to change the data file included in the payload, it is necessary to unscramble the transport stream once, and it is complicated and difficult to change the contents of the transport stream in the middle.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a communication system having an extended function and a communication method capable of newly adding section data to a transport stream.

  A communication system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a transmission device and a reception device connected to the transmission device via a communication network, and the transmission device generates a first transport stream. Means and a transmission means for transmitting the first transport stream to the receiving device, and the first transport stream includes an arbitrary event and an arbitrary execution executed when the event occurs. And an extension area for setting the function of the event in the receiving apparatus. In the first transport stream, the contents of the event and the contents of the function are not set in the extension area. The reception apparatus sets reception means for receiving the first transport stream, the contents of the event, and the contents of the function. And an insertion unit for generating a second transport stream by inserting the content of the event and the content of the function set by the setting unit into the extension area. .

  According to the communication system according to the first aspect, the transmission apparatus generates a first transport stream having an extension area whose contents are not set, and receives the first transport stream via the communication network. However, it is possible to add an arbitrary function to the second transport stream by setting an arbitrary event and an arbitrary function to be executed when the event occurs in the extension area. Therefore, the transport stream indicator that has received the second transport stream can execute an arbitrary function extended by the receiving device when the event set by the receiving device occurs.

  The communication system according to a second aspect of the present invention is the communication system according to the first aspect, in particular, in the insertion means, the content of the event and the content of the function are set to null of the first transport stream. The second transport stream is characterized by being inserted into a packet.

  According to the communication system according to the second aspect, the insertion data added to the extension area is replaced with the originally transmitted null packet, so that communication can be performed without degrading the transmission efficiency of the transport stream communication. Is possible. Furthermore, since the number of packets to be transmitted does not change even when insertion data is added, it is not necessary to adjust the number of packets for the transport stream clock recovery function.

  In the communication method according to the third aspect of the present invention, (a) an extension area for setting an arbitrary event and an arbitrary function to be executed when the event occurs is provided, and the event is included in the extension area. And (b) transmitting the first transport stream to a communication network; and (c) transmitting the first transport stream to the communication network; Receiving the transport stream from the communication network, (d) setting the event content and the function content, and (e) the event content set in the step (d). And generating the second transport stream by inserting the contents of the function into the extension area. It is set to.

  According to the communication method according to the third aspect, when an arbitrary event and the event occur in the extended area in step (d) with respect to the expanded area not set in step (a), By setting an arbitrary function to be executed, it is possible to add an arbitrary function to the second transport stream. Therefore, in the transport stream display that has received the second transport stream, when the event set in step (d) occurs, a second transport stream that executes any extended function is generated. can do.

  According to the present invention, in transport stream communication, by providing an extension area whose contents are not set in a transport stream transmitted from a transmission device, the reception device executes when an arbitrary event set by the reception device occurs. It is possible to add arbitrary functions.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of a receiver. It is a functional block diagram which shows the function implement | achieved in a signal processing part by running a program. It is the figure which illustrated a part of BML description for giving function extensibility. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a receiver. It is the figure which illustrated some information added to PMT. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which performs a function expansion by this invention. It is the comparison figure typically expressed regarding the multiplexing of a stream. It is the figure which represented typically about the structure of the 2nd modification of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the element which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in different drawing shall show the same or corresponding element.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a communication system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The communication system 1 includes a transmitter 100, a broadcast network 200, a receiver 300, and a display 400. The transmitter 100 includes a transmission side generation unit 110 and a transmission unit 120 inside, and the display 400 includes a display unit 410, a memory 420, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 430 therein. The output signal S10 of the transmitter 100 is input to the receiver 300 via the broadcast network 200, and the output signal S11 of the receiver 300 is input to the display 400.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the receiver 300. The receiver 300 includes a reception unit 310, a signal processing unit 311 such as a CPU, a storage unit 313 such as a semiconductor memory, and a transmission unit 312. The input to the receiver 300 is connected to the input of the receiving unit 310. An output from the receiving unit 310 is connected to an input of the signal processing unit 311. The output of the signal processing unit 311 is connected to the input of the storage unit 313 and the input of the transmission unit 312. The output of the storage unit 311 is connected to the input of the signal processing unit 311. Then, the output of the transmission unit 312 becomes the output of the receiver 300.

  The receiver 300 included in the communication system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is a computer device, and the signal processing unit 311 reads the program 314 stored in the storage unit 313 and executes the program 314. Functions can be realized. When the transport stream signal S10 from the broadcast network 200 is input to the receiving unit 310, the transport stream signal S10 is input to the signal processing unit 311 and written to the storage unit 313. Then, the signal processing unit 311 reads the program 314 from the storage unit 313 and processes the transport stream signal S10 read from the storage unit 313 in accordance with instructions of the program 314. (Hereinafter, the same applies even when the reading and execution of the program are not specifically described.)

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions realized in the signal processing unit 311 by executing the program 314. In the function realized by the signal processing unit 311 by the program 314, input to the signal processing unit 311 is input to the extraction unit 320 and the insertion unit 350. The output of the extraction unit 320 becomes the input of the setting unit 330. The output of the setting unit 330 becomes the input of the insertion unit 350. The output of the reception side generation unit 340 is input to the insertion unit 350 and the setting unit 330. The output of the insertion unit 350 becomes the output of the signal processing unit 311.

Next, the operation of the communication system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. The communication system 1 is divided into a transmission side and a reception side via a broadcast network 200. For broadcast data communication between the transmission side and the reception side, an MPEG-2 transport stream is used as a standard. The transport stream is a standard in which broadcast data is packetized and multiplexed and stored for communication. TS (Transport Stream) packets, which are unit packets of a transport stream, include PES (Packetized Elementary Stream) packet format audio data and video data, attribute information of each packet called PMT (Program Map Table), and transport stream information Stores section data.

  This section data includes data described in BML (Broadcast Markup Language), which is a multimedia coding standard. BML is a kind of markup language and describes information related to operation control of the display 400.

  First, the transmission side generation unit 110 of the transmitter 100 generates a transport stream signal S10 including broadcast data to be broadcast toward the reception side. The BML file included in the transport stream signal S10 has a description for adding a new arbitrary BML file and extending the function. A part of the description for extending this function is illustrated in FIG. In the example of FIG. 4, when an event message “jump_doc” is received, a function declared as function jump_doc () is executed, and a BML file “xxx.bml” included in the elementary stream specified by the component tag is executed. The process of reading is described.

  Then, the transport stream signal S10 generated by the transmission side generation unit 110 is transmitted to the broadcast network 200 by the transmission unit 120. At this stage, there is nothing in the extension area according to the description for function extension included in the transport stream signal S10, and the extension area remains empty. The transport stream signal S10 is received by the receiver 300 via the broadcast network 200 by packet communication.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the receiver 300 that has received the transport stream signal S10. First, in step SP100, the transport stream signal S10 input to the receiver 300 is input to the receiving unit 310. The receiving unit 310 receives a packet from the transport stream signal S10 and outputs a TS packet group S12.

  Next, in step SP110, the extraction unit 320 searches for the packet including the PMT from the input TS packet group S12 and extracts the PMT. The PMT stores information related to the transport stream such as the type of broadcast data included in the transport stream and PID (Packet Identification). The extraction unit 320 outputs information obtained from the extracted PMT to the setting unit 330 as PMT information S21.

  Next, in step SP120, the receiving side generation unit 340 includes a carousel stream S24 including a BML file in which an arbitrary function to be expanded when an arbitrary event occurs, and an event message that notifies the occurrence of this event. Is generated and output to the insertion unit 350. Further, the reception side generation unit 340 outputs the stream information S22 of the carousel stream S24 to the setting unit 330.

Next, in step SP130, the setting unit 330 generates newly set PMT information S23 based on the input PMT information S21 and stream information S22. At this time, information on a newly added stream is added to the PMT. Therefore, it is necessary to reset the CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) of the PMT. Then, the setting unit 330 outputs the newly set PMT information S23 to the insertion unit 350. FIG. 6 shows an example of PMT information added to the newly set PMT in step SP130. FIG. 6A shows information added to the PMT when a general-purpose event message is added, and FIG. 6B shows information added to the PMT when a carousel stream is added.

  Next, in step SP140, the insertion unit 350 inserts the newly set PMT information S23 and the carousel stream S24 into the TS packet group S12 to generate a TS packet group S14.

  Next, in step SP150, the transmission unit 312 that has received the TS packet group 14 transmits the transport stream signal S11 with an arbitrary function expanded to the display 400 as an output of the receiver 300.

  Then, the display device 400 that has received the transport stream signal S11 output from the receiver 300 decodes the transport stream signal S11, and performs display processing for displaying the transmitted broadcast on the display unit 410. Do. At this time, the BML file attached to the transport stream signal S11 is read into the memory 420. Then, the signal processing is performed by the CPU 430, whereby the display device 400 realizes the function described in the BML file.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in which the display device 400 performs an extended function. First, in step SP200, the display device 400 reads a BML file serving as an entry point. The BML serving as an entry point is a BML file attached when the transmission stream generation unit 110 generates the transport stream signal S10. The display device 400 performs processing control such as OSD according to the BML file. Further, the BML file included in the transport stream signal S10 has a description for extending an arbitrary function as exemplified in FIG.

  Next, in step SP210, the display device 400 determines whether or not an event message has been received. When the display device 400 receives a specific event message (event message “jump_doc” in the example of FIG. 4) from the data carousel S24, the determination is “YES” and the process proceeds to step SP220. If the specific event message has not been received, “NO” is determined, and the process proceeds to step SP240.

  In step SP220, the display device 400 receives from the data carousel S24 and reads a new BML file (file called xxx.bml in the example of FIG. 4) specified by the BML file in which the description for function expansion is described.

  Next, in step SP230, the display device 400 controls the display device 400 according to the description of the BML file newly read in step SP220. By describing an arbitrary function to be expanded in the newly read BML file, the display device 400 can execute an arbitrary function.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step SP210 that the event message is not received and “NO”, step SP240 is executed. In step SP240, since there is no added BML file, the display 400 executes only the description of the original BML file attached to the transport stream signal S10, so that the function expansion is not performed. 400 controls can be performed.

As described above, according to the communication system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the carousel stream S24 including the arbitrary BML file generated by the reception side generation unit 340 and the arbitrary event message is converted into the transport stream signal S10. In addition, when the display device 400 receives an arbitrary event message, the display device 400 can execute an extended function.

<First Modification>
According to the data processing device 1 according to the first modified example, when the insertion unit 350 inserts the carousel stream S24 into the TS packet group S12 in step SP140, the streams are not multiplexed but the TS packet group S12. The data of the carousel stream S24 is inserted into the payload of the null packet included in. FIG. 8 schematically shows TS packets when the general streams are multiplexed and inserted into a null packet. In FIG. 8, the header part of the TS packet is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in general multiplexing between streams, packets are multiplexed in order. Therefore, when a stream is added, the amount of transmission data increases compared to before addition, while null. When inserted into a packet, the amount of transmission data is the same as before the stream is added, and the stream can be added without deteriorating the transmission efficiency.

  In transport stream communication, a clock recovery function is used to synchronize the clock on the transmission side and the clock on the reception side. At this time, if the multiplexing of general streams is performed, the number of packets in the stream changes, so in order to correctly recover the clock, it is necessary to adjust the number of packets again to achieve synchronization. However, if the first modification of the present invention is used, the number of packets to be transmitted does not change before and after the data insertion, so there is no need to make adjustments for clock recovery again.

<Second Modification>
FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing a second embodiment of the present invention. When viewing a digital broadcast at home, the viewer receives a digital broadcast signal at an STB (Set Top Box) 520 via an HGW (Home Gateway) 510. The STB 520 can release the scramble of the digital broadcast signal, decode the digital broadcast signal, and receive the broadcast on the digital television 530.

  Here, in terms of the structure of the communication system 1 in the embodiment of the present invention, the HGW 510 has the function of the receiver 300, and the STB 520 and the digital television 530 are described as having the function of the display 400. I do. In addition, it is assumed that the function of the transmitter 100 of the communication system 1 in the embodiment of the present invention is included in a broadcasting station that performs digital broadcasting. In addition, the apparatus in which the communication system in embodiment of this invention is mounted is not limited, It is an illustration to the last and STB520 may have the function of the receiver 300. FIG.

  The broadcast station transmits digital broadcast broadcast data to the broadcast network 550 as a transport stream. At this time, a BML file including a description for extending an arbitrary function in the present invention is attached to the transport stream. The HGW 510 that has received the transport stream from the broadcast network 550 sends the broadcast data to the STB 520 and decodes the transport stream. The decrypted broadcast data can be received by the digital television 530 and the broadcast can be viewed on the television screen.

Here, it is assumed that the fire alarm 540 sensor connected to the HGW 510 detects a fire (occurrence of a fire detection event). The fire alarm 540 transmits a fire occurrence signal to the HGW 510. The HGW 510 that has received the fire occurrence signal generates a BML file in which control for displaying the fire occurrence alarm is described, and a carousel stream including an event message related to the fire occurrence alarm, and inserts the BML file into the transport stream. The digital television 530 that has received the transport stream to which the carousel stream has been added receives the event message regarding the fire occurrence alarm, and follows the description for extending any function as illustrated in FIG. A BML file for displaying the added fire alarm is read from the data carousel. According to the description of the added BML file, the digital television 530 can display a fire alarm on the screen.

<Third Modification>
According to the third modification of the present invention, a telephone line is connected to the HGW 510 (the telephone line does not need to be prepared separately from the broadcast network 550, and the same broadcast network 550 may be used). It has a function for detecting incoming calls. When there is an incoming call, the HGW 510 generates a BML file in which the control at the time of the incoming call is described, and a carousel stream including an event message related to the incoming call. This carousel stream is inserted into the transport stream and sent to the digital television 530.

  The digital television 530 that has received the event message regarding the incoming call reads a BML file in which the control at the time of the incoming call is further described from the data carousel according to the description for extending an arbitrary function as illustrated in FIG. According to the description of the BML file, the digital television 530 can display a message informing the incoming call such as “There is an incoming call” on the digital television 530.

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the illustrated ones, but can also be displayed with a warning display of a security sensor or a display notifying the visitor of the intercom. Further, not only display on the OSD screen but also arbitrary processing that can be controlled by BML can be expanded.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above description but by the claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Communication system 100 Transmitter 110 Transmission side production | generation part 120 Transmission part 200 Broadcast network 300 Receiver 310 Reception part 311 Signal processing part 312 Transmission part 313 Storage part 314 Program 320 Extraction part 330 Setting part 340 Reception side production | generation part 350 Insertion part 400 Display 410 Display unit 420 Memory 430 CPU

Claims (3)

A transmitting device;
A receiving device connected to the transmitting device via a communication network,
The transmitter is
Generating means for generating a first transport stream;
Transmitting means for transmitting the first transport stream toward the receiving device;
The first transport stream is provided with an extension area for setting an arbitrary event and an arbitrary function to be executed when the event occurs in the receiving device,
In the first transport stream, the content of the event and the content of the function are not set in the extension area,
The receiving device is:
Receiving means for receiving the first transport stream;
Setting means for setting the content of the event and the content of the function;
A communication system comprising insertion means for generating a second transport stream by inserting the contents of the event and the contents of the function set by the setting means into the extension area.   The insertion means inserts the contents of the event and the contents of the function into a null packet of the first transport stream, thereby forming a second transport stream. The communication system according to 1. (A) An extension area for setting an arbitrary event and an arbitrary function to be executed when the event occurs is provided, and the contents of the event and the contents of the function are not set in the extension area Generating a first transport stream;
(B) transmitting the first transport stream to a communication network; (c) receiving the first transport stream from the communication network;
(D) setting the content of the event and the content of the function;
And (e) generating a second transport stream by inserting the content of the event and the content of the function set in the step (d) into the extension area.

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