JP3932019B2 - Program selection method, program selection device, and program selection program - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to reception of a network broadcast in which program content such as video (hereinafter referred to as a program) is distributed via the Internet, and more specifically, a program selection method and program selection for switching a viewing program at high speed in response to a user request. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a program selection program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in order to realize network broadcasting with a small number of network resources, multicast is used, and IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) is used for control of program selection. In IGMP, a group of programs that are multicast-distributed (one-to-n distribution) is referred to as a multicast group.
[0003]
A network broadcasting terminal equipped with the IGMP function sends a join packet when switching a program to be viewed, and joins a multicast group (network note) in a multicast group (the terminal joins as a multicast distribution destination of the program) And a frame addressed to the corresponding Ethernet address (MAC address) is set to be sent to the upper layer protocol for the own network interface. Next, when another program is to be watched, a leave packet is sent out, and after leaving the currently participating multicast group, a new join packet is sent out and joined to the multicast group of the program to be viewed.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the prior art, if a multicast tree to be viewed from now is formed up to the nearest multicast point of the own terminal, it is considered that the response time by switching of the Internet broadcast program is fast, but if not, In order for the terminal itself to join the desired multicast group, a multicast tree must be constructed from the upper multicast point, sometimes a multicast point several stages before, to the terminal itself, so the switching speed of the net broadcast program is slow. In particular, when an operation such as channel up / down, which is often performed on a normal television, is performed, the slow response gives stress to the user.
[0005]
In order to improve the response time when switching to an online broadcast program, it is possible to join a multicast group for all online broadcast programs from the program guide displayed in the electronic program guide, etc., but actually increase the packet to the upper protocol. This is only the multicast group packet of the program selected by the user on the electronic program guide or the like. On the other hand, it is realized by switching the network broadcast program so that only the frame addressed to the corresponding Ethernet address is set to the higher protocol for the network interface. In this case, the packets of all programs described in the electronic program guide etc. have reached the network interface, and the user's program selection operation sets an Ethernet address for raising the packet to the upper protocol in the network interface. Therefore, you can expect an improvement in the response time. However, if the number of programs described in the electronic program guide is enormous, a large amount of network resources will be consumed.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and its purpose is to simultaneously participate in a multicast group for a limited number of programs and improve a program switching response time. And reducing the consumption of network resources.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention predicts a program that is likely to be selected next when a user selects a program at a user terminal (net broadcasting terminal), sends a distribution request for the predicted program, and is distributed. Only the program selected by the user is received from the recorded programs.
[0008]
Specifically, at the time of program selection, the distance L of the program is obtained by the sum of the spatial distance to the selected program based on the program guide and the preference distance based on the genre obtained from the access history. In order from the smallest program, the maximum number of programs whose total bandwidth used by the program is equal to or less than a predetermined bandwidth is extracted, and a request to participate in the multicast group is sent to the extracted programs. Then, the multicast packet of the selected program is received, and the multicast packet of the extracted program is not received.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a network broadcasting system to which the present invention is applied. 1, reference numerals 100-1 to 100-n denote user terminals (hereinafter referred to as terminals) as network broadcasting terminals, 110 denotes a program guide management server (hereinafter referred to as EGP server) such as an electronic program guide, and 120-1 to 120-. m is a program distribution server, and 130 is a network connecting them.
[0010]
The EGP 110 manages a program guide (electronic program guide) of programs (program contents) provided by the program delivery servers 120-1 to 120-m to the delivery service, and when there is a request from a certain terminal 100-i, An electronic program guide is sent to the terminal 100-i. The user of the terminal 100-i selects a program to view according to the program guide sent from the EPG server 110. On the other hand, the program distribution servers 120-1 to 120-m normally send programs to the network 130 on a regular basis. The network 130 generally includes multi-stage multicast points (nodes), and multicasts the programs sent from the program distribution servers 120-1 to 120-m to the terminals 100-1 to 100-n.
[0011]
Now, for example, it is assumed that the program A of the program distribution server 120-1 is distributed to the terminals 100-2 to 100-n. This is the multicast group for program A. When the user of the terminal 100-1 intends to view the program A, the user selects the program A from the electronic program guide. In response to this, the terminal 100-1 sends out a join packet (distribution request) of the program A to notify the multicast point that it will join the multicast group of the program A, and to the network interface of the terminal 100-1. A multicast packet of A is set to be receivable. When receiving the program A join packet from the terminal 100-1, the multicast point also distributes the program A multicast packet to the terminal 100-1. That is, in addition to the terminals 100-2 to 100-n, the terminal 100-1 is one of the multicast distribution destinations of the program A. Terminal 100-1, its own network interface because it is set to be received multicast packet of the program A, to receive the multicast packets of the delivered program A from the multicast point via its own network interface.
[0012]
On the other hand, when the user of the terminal 100-1 selects another program, the terminal 100-1 transmits a leave packet (distribution stop request) of the program A. When the multicast point receives the leave packet of program A from terminal 100-1, the multicast point stops distributing the multicast packet of program A to terminal 100-1. As a result, the terminal 100-1 leaves the multicast group of the program A that has participated so far.
[0013]
Although the above is the same as the conventional one, in the present invention, when a user selects a program to be viewed, the terminal predicts a program that is likely to be selected next, and a program obtained by the prediction (prediction) Program) is sent out so that the multicast packet corresponding to the predicted program reaches the network interface from the multicast point. As a result, when the program to be viewed by the user is switched and the multicast packet of the program reaches the own network interface, the multicast packet of the program can be immediately acquired at the terminal (application).
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 2, terminals 100-1 to 100-n (hereinafter referred to as terminals 100) are network broadcast programs including a CPU 210, a storage device 220 such as a hard disk, a keyboard 230, a mouse 240, a display 250, a network interface 260, and the like. A personal computer or a mobile terminal equipped with a receiving function. The CPU 210 controls each unit and executes a program selection process described later. In addition to the program executed by the CPU 210, the storage device 220 includes a predicted program table 221 and an access history database (DB) 222 as components related to the present invention. The predicted program table 221 holds a program (predicted program) of the previous prediction result, and the access history DB 222 holds an access history by program category selected by the user of the terminal 100.
[0015]
FIG. 3 shows an overall process flowchart of the terminal 100 as an embodiment of the program selection apparatus of the present invention. The processing of FIG. 3 is actually handled by the CPU 210, but here is unified by the terminal 100.
[0016]
When there is a request from the user (user), the terminal 100 transmits a request for the electronic program guide to the EGP server 110 (step 301), receives the electronic schedule from the EGP server 110, and displays it on the display 250 (step 250). 302). The user selects a program to be viewed on the electronic program guide screen on the display 250 using the keyboard 230 and the mouse 240 (step 303). Here, the program selected by the user is called a user-selected program.
[0017]
The terminal 100 transmits a join packet of the user-selected program, notifies the network (multicast point) 130 of the participation of the user-selected program in the multicast group (step 304), and notifies the network interface 260 of the user-selected program. A multicast packet of the user-selected program is set to be receivable (acquisable) (step 305). In response to sending the join packet of the user-selected program, the multicast packet of the user-selected program reaches the network interface 260 of the terminal 100 from the multicast point. In step 305, since the network interface 260 is set to be able to receive the multicast packet of the user-selected number, the terminal 100 receives the multicast packet of the user-selected program and displays the program content on the display 250 ( Step 306).
[0018]
After or in parallel with the above processing, the terminal 100 is likely to be selected next based on the distance between the user-selected program and other programs on the electronic program guide, user preference information, and the like. A program is predicted (step 307). Details of this program selection prediction will be described later. Next, the terminal 100 matches the program of the previous prediction result held in the prediction program table 221 with the program obtained by this prediction, and the program held in the prediction program table 221 is predicted this time. If the program is not in the program, the program is deleted from the predicted program table 221 (that is, it is less likely to be selected thereafter), and if the program predicted this time is not in the predicted program table 221, the program is predicted. It adds to the program table 221 (step 308). Next, the terminal 100 sends a join packet of the program added to the predicted program table 221 to notify the multicast point of participation in the multicast group of the program, and also leaves the program deleted from the predicted program table 221 A packet is transmitted to notify the multicast point that the program has left the multicast group (step 309).
[0019]
Through the above processing in the terminal 100, the multicast packet of the user-selected program and the multicast packet of the program (predicted program) currently registered in the predicted program table 221 arrive at the local network interface 260. Since it is set to be able to receive the multicast packet of the user-selected program, the terminal 100 continues to receive the multicast packet of the user-selected program.
[0020]
Thereafter, when the user switches the program to be viewed, the terminal 100 sets the own network interface 260 so that a multicast packet of the new user-selected program can be acquired. As a result, if the new user-selected program is included in the previous predicted program and the multicast packet has reached its own network interface 260, the terminal 100 immediately receives the multicast packet of the new user-selected program. Thus, sending out the join packet of the new user-selected program is omitted. Next, the terminal 100 again performs a program selection prediction process triggered by the selection of the new program.
[0021]
Next, the program selection prediction process will be described in detail. The program selection prediction is performed as follows using the program table (electronic program table) and the access history DB 222, for example.
[0022]
Now, assuming that the electronic program guide 401 is as shown in FIG. 4, the electronic program guide 401 between the objects of the programs A, B, D, E, and F from the object of the program C selected by the user is shown. Let α be the spatial distance. In addition, referring to the access history DB 222, preference information such as a favorite genre from a user's past access history is used as a distance (preference distance). For example, if there are A, B, and C as genres, and the access history for each past genre is a, b, and c times, 1 / a, 1 / b, and 1 / c are assigned to each genre. The distance β with respect to. In this case, the distance value L for determining participation in the multicast group of a plurality of program guides on the electronic program 401 is, for example, L = α + β (1)
Is required. A predetermined number of programs (predicted programs) are selected in ascending order of the distance and are set as subjects to participate in the multicast group. In the example of FIG. 4, when the user selects the program C, the program that is likely to be selected next is selected in the order of A, E, and B, and these A, E, and B participate in each multicast group. It becomes a target to do.
[0023]
Further, when the electronic program guide 401 is composed of a plurality of pages, the distance between objects in the page of the electronic program guide currently being viewed is the same, and the distance value L is a spatial distance between the pages. For example, L = γx + β (2)
It is possible to ask for it. Here, γ is the weight of the spatial distance between the pages, and x is the number of pages (spatial distance) from the page of the electronic program guide currently viewed to each page.
[0024]
Note that the spatial distance may be not only the distance between program objects and the distance between pages in the same page, but also a combination of both. As for the preferred distance, in addition to how many times the address of the selected multicast group has been accessed, a method of storing the total connected time can be considered. In addition, the field and program information is put in the packet sent, the number of accesses to the packet is stored, and the start / end time of participation in the multicast group (listening) is also selected on the network. It is also possible to search for a program in which field at which time in a multicast group.
[0025]
Next, narrowing down the predicted number of programs will be described. The predicted number of programs to be selected, that is, the number of simultaneous participations in a plurality of multicast groups, for example, if the bandwidth used by each program is known, as shown in FIG. Limit the total bandwidth used by participation. First, the multicast group participation target programs are sorted by the distance value L (step 501). Here, the distance value of each program is L (n). n is the order after sorting, and the number of the smallest distance value is set to 0. The program is C (n). Next, n = 0 and acc = 0 are initialized (step 502), and steps 503 to 505 are repeated until acc> rsv is satisfied. Here, “acc” is a cumulative value of the bandwidth of the plurality of multicast groups, and “rsv” is a bandwidth threshold allocated to the plurality of multicast groups. If acc> rsv is satisfied, the programs C (0) to C (n−1) up to that point are selected as the programs that are likely to be selected next, and are to be participated in a plurality of multicast groups (step 506).
[0026]
Note that the number of predicted programs may be narrowed down by, for example, simply fixing the number of participations in a plurality of multicast groups, up to three.
[0027]
6 and 7 show specific operation examples of program selection according to the present invention. Here, the program distribution server is omitted.
[0028]
The terminal 100 transmits a request for a program guide (electronic program guide) to the EGP server 110 and receives the electronic program guide from the EGP server 110. Now, assume that the user selects program C from the electronic program guide. The terminal 100 transmits a join packet of the program C to the network (multicast point) 130 and sets its own network interface 260 so that the multicast packet of the program C can be received. As a result, the multicast packet of the program C reaches the network interface 260 of the terminal 100 from the multicast point, and the terminal 100 receives the multicast packet of the program C.
[0029]
In parallel with this, the terminal 100 predicts a program that is likely to be selected next, and it is assumed here that the programs A, B, and E are selected. If the predicted program table 221 is now empty, the terminal 100 adds these programs A, B, and E to the predicted program table 221 and simultaneously transmits the join packets of the programs A, B, and E to the multicast point. As a result, the multicast packets of programs A, B, E, and C reach the network interface 260 of the terminal 100 from the multicast packets, but the terminal 100 continues to receive only the multicast packet of program C.
[0030]
Next, it is assumed that the program viewed by the user is switched to E. The terminal 100 sets its own network interface 260 so that a multicast packet of the program E can be acquired. As a result, the terminal 100 immediately starts receiving the multicast packet of the program E that has reached its network interface 260, and omits sending of the join packet of the program E.
[0031]
In parallel with this, the terminal 100 predicts again a program that is likely to be selected next, and it is assumed here that the programs A, C, and F are selected. Here, since the previously predicted program B is not included in the currently predicted programs A, C, and F, the program B is deleted from the predicted program table 221. In addition, since the currently predicted program F is not included in the previously predicted programs A, B, and E, the program F is added to the predicted program table 221. As a result, the terminal 100 transmits a join packet of the program F and a leave packet of the program B to the multicast point. As a result, the multicast packets of the programs A, E, F, and C reach the network interface 260 of the terminal 100 from the multicast point, and the terminal 100 continues to receive the multicast packet of the program E among these.
[0032]
Note that a part or all of the processing functions of the CPU 210 in the terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2 can be configured by a computer program and the program can be executed using the computer to implement the present invention, or FIG. It goes without saying that the processing procedure shown in Fig. 1 can be configured by a computer program and the program can be executed by the computer, and the program for realizing the processing function by the computer or the processing procedure is executed by the computer. The program to be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as FD (floppy disk (registered trademark), MO, ROM, memory card, CD, DVD, removable disk, etc. And can provide Moni, it is possible to or distribute the program through a network such as the Internet.
[0033]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, high-speed program selection can be performed while suppressing consumption of network resources in a situation where program contents such as video are multicast distributed via the network.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a network broadcasting system to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a network broadcasting terminal (user terminal).
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a program selection process according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining program selection prediction;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a predicted program number narrowing process;
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing a specific example of a program selection processing operation according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram continued from FIG. 6;
[Explanation of symbols]
100-1 to 100-n terminal 110 EGP server 120-1 to 120-m program distribution server 130 multicast point group 210 CPU
220 Storage Device 221 Prediction Program Table 222 Access History DB
230 Keyboard 240 Mouse 250 Display 260 Network interface

Claims (5)

A program selection method for selecting a program distributed by multicast over a network in a user terminal,
Obtaining a distance L of a program by a sum of a spatial distance to the selected program based on the program table and a preference distance based on a genre obtained from the access history when selecting a program;
Extracting the maximum number of programs in which the sum of the bands used by the programs is equal to or less than a predetermined bandwidth, in order from the program having the smallest distance L;
Sending a request to join a multicast group for the extracted program;
A program selection method characterized by comprising: Receiving a multicast packet of the selected program and not receiving a multicast packet of the extracted program;
The program selection method according to claim 1, wherein: A program selection device for selecting a program distributed by multicast via the network,
Means for determining the distance L of the program by the sum of the spatial distance to the selected program based on the program table and the preference distance based on the genre obtained from the access history when selecting the program;
Means for extracting the maximum number of programs in which the sum of the bands used by the programs is equal to or less than a predetermined bandwidth, in order from the program having the smallest distance L;
Means for sending a request to join a multicast group for the extracted program;
A program selection apparatus comprising: Means for receiving a multicast packet of the selected program and not receiving a multicast packet of the extracted program;
4. The program selection method according to claim 3, wherein: A program selection program for causing a computer to execute the program selection method according to claim 1.

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