KR100312429B1 - Contents transport streaming system for interactive digital television providing interactivity - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system that provides an interactive function. The present invention provides an interactive content transmission system by allowing an interactive content transmission away from an existing broadcasting system that unilaterally transmits information to the viewer. In order to provide an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system for providing a function, an MPEG-2 video encoder, an MPEG-2 audio encoder, an MPEG-4 encoder, a conditional access controller, a program multiplexer, a data multiplexer, and a switch are provided. By enabling interactive content transmission away from the existing broadcasting system that unilaterally delivers information to viewers, viewers can get the information they want, and with these interactive services, educational broadcasting, quiz / entertainment, games, advertisements, diary Forecasts, stock quotes, news reports, home shows , Home banking, etc. yiyongdoem vote.

Description

Contents transport streaming system for interactive digital television providing interactivity

The present invention relates to an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system that enables a viewer to obtain desired information by enabling interactive content transmission away from an existing broadcasting system that unilaterally transmits information to a viewer.

Until now, there have been many unidirectional digital television broadcasting content transmission systems based on the MPEG-2 (MPEG-2) algorithm, but the streaming system that transmits contents providing interactive functions to viewers is MPEG. -2 algorithm alone is impossible.

Therefore, the data created according to the MPEG-4 algorithm and data in other formats can be used as interactive contents and loaded into the MPEG-2 system transport stream, thereby producing the conventional MPEG-2 algorithm. It is essential to provide a broadcasting transmission streaming system that can transmit interactive content to video / audio, and to provide viewers with an interactive function with content, in addition to unidirectional content transmission from broadcasting stations to viewers. .

The present invention devised to meet the above-described needs, the present invention, by enabling the interactive content transmission away from the existing broadcasting system that unilaterally transmits information to the viewer, thereby providing a conversation function for the viewer to the interactive function with the content Its purpose is to provide a digital television content transmission streaming system.

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention.

2 is a detailed block diagram of an embodiment of an MPEG-4 streaming unit in an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention;

3 is a detailed block diagram of an embodiment of a program multiplexer in an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention;

4 is a detailed configuration diagram of an embodiment of a data multiplexer in an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention.

5 is a detailed configuration diagram of an embodiment of a side information transmitter that is not associated with a program in a data multiplexer according to the present invention.

6 is a detailed configuration diagram of an embodiment of a side information transmitter related to a program in a data multiplexer according to the present invention;

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

11: MPEG-2 video encoder 12: MPEG-2 audio encoder

13: MPEG-4 encoder 14, 19: conditional access controller

15: MPEG-4 streaming unit 16: Program multiplexer

17: data multiplexer 18: switch

20: remultiplexer

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing multimedia content such as audio, video, interactive content, and the like, comprising: encoding means for compressing and encoding the multimedia content which is not compressed from the outside; Switching means for switching a video / audio elementary stream (ES) and a video / audio transport stream (TS) from the outside of the multimedia content compressed and encoded by the encoding means; First access control means for adding a conditional access function to the stream switched by the switching means; Second access control means for adding a conditional access function to interactive content and additional information input from the outside of the multimedia content compressed and encoded by the encoding means; Interactive content streaming means for streaming the second access control means for transmitting the interactive content added with an access control function; In the second access control means, the additional information to which the access control function is added is made into a packet, ordered and multiplexed, and generated into a transport stream that satisfies the buffer model of the system target decoder. Data multiplexing means for transferring the data to the remultiplexer; And packetizing a stream to which the access control function is added by the first access control means, the interactive content streamed by the interactive content streaming means, and a transport stream associated with a program generated by the data multiplexing means. And multiplexing the program to generate a transport stream that satisfies the buffer model of the system target decoder and deliver the same to the remultiplexer.

The present invention uses data created according to the MPEG-4 algorithm and data in other formats as interactive contents, and the video / audio produced by the existing MPEG-2 algorithm can be loaded on the MPEG-2 system transport stream. Allows interactive content to be sent together.

Through this, the present invention can provide interactive functions with the content to the viewer by transmitting the interactive content in addition to the existing video / audio in the interactive digital television broadcast. Therefore, it is possible to obtain interactive information by enabling interactive content transmission away from the existing broadcasting system that unilaterally transmits information to viewers. Such interactive services provide educational broadcasting, quiz / entertainment, games, advertisements, and journals. It is possible to provide forecasts, stock price information, news information, home shopping, home banking, and voting.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an interactive digital television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the interactive digital television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention is an apparatus for providing multimedia content such as audio, video, interactive content, and the like. MPEG-2 video encoder 11, MPEG-2 audio encoder 12, MPEG-4 encoder 13, MPEG-2 video encoder 11, MPEG-2 audio encoder 12 for compression encoding 103. Switching the video / audio elementary stream (ES) 106, 107 and the video / audio transport stream (TS) 104 from the outside of the compression-encoded multimedia content (i.e., video 101, audio 102). And a conditional access controller 19 for adding conditional access to the stream 109 switched in the switch 18, and multimedia content compressed in the MPEG-4 encoder 13 (i.e., MPEG- The conditional access controller 14 for adding the conditional access function to the interactive content 108 and the additional information 105 input from the outside of the 4 contents 103, and the access control function in the conditional access controller 14 are provided. The MPEG-4 streaming unit 15 for streaming the added interactive content 112 and the additional information 111 to which the access control function is added in the conditional access controller 14 are made into packets, and the order is changed. Conditional access to a data multiplexer 17 which generates a transport stream that satisfies the buffer model of the system target decoder and delivers the stream 116 unrelated to the program among the generated transport streams to the remultiplexer 20. Transport stream associated with stream 110 with access control added by controller 19, interactive content 113 streamed by MPEG-4 streaming unit 15, and program generated by data multiplexer 17 The program multiplexer 16 converts the packet 114 into a packet, sets the order, multiplexes it, and generates a transport stream 115 that satisfies the buffer model of the system target decoder.

The operation of the interactive digital television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention having the configuration as described above is as follows.

Uncompressed video 101, audio 102 and MPEG-4 content 103 are input to an MPEG-2 video encoder 11, an MPEG-2 audio encoder 12 and an MPEG-4 encoder 13, which are encoders. And compression coded, and then passed through a switch 18 to a conditional access controller 19 for the addition of an access control function. At this time, the switch 18 is inputted in the form of a video / audio transport stream (TS) 104 without passing through the MPEG-2 video encoder 11 and the MPEG-2 audio encoder 12 and MPEG-2 video. It is for selecting from a video / audio elementary stream (ES) 106 or 107 through the encoder 11 and the MPEG-2 audio encoder 12 (109) and inputting it to the conditional access controller 19.

On the other hand, the compressed video and audio, ie video / audio transport streams, are passed directly to the conditional access controller 19 via the switch 18 without going through an encoder. In addition, additional information 105, including full screen configuration information expressed in an XML (eXtensible Markup Language), HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language), or other file format, is also directly directed to the conditional access controller 14. Delivered.

The streams 106 and 107 or the video / audio transport stream 104 via the MPEG-2 video encoder 11, the MPEG-2 audio encoder 12, via the conditional access controller 19 (110) and the program multiplexer 16 Is passed to.

The data stream 108 and the side information 105 encoded by the MPEG-4 encoder 13 are passed through the conditional access controller 14 (112, 111) to the MPEG-4 streaming unit 15 and the data multiplexer 17. do. Here, the data stream contains data in MPEG-4 format related to the program content.

In the program multiplexer (PMUX) 16, the streams 113 output from the MPEG-4 streaming unit 15 are packetized, ordered, and multiplexed into a transport stream 115 that satisfies the buffer model of the system target decoder. Make.

On the other hand, the additional information not related to the contents of the program and the additional information and the full screen configuration information 111 which are related to the program and require synchronization with the program are transferred to the data multiplexer 17, whereby the program multiplexer 16 As in the above example, packets are made, ordered, and multiplexed into transport streams 114 and 116 that satisfy the buffer model of the system target decoder. The stream 114 associated with the dual program is passed to the program multiplexer 16, and the other streams 116 are passed to the remultiplexer 20.

Accordingly, there are two transport streams 115 and 116 outputted from the interactive digital television content transmission streaming system, and they are passed to the remultiplexer 20 so that the remultiplexer 20 delivers these two streams 115 and 116. Allows multiplexing into one transport stream along with other incoming input streams.

Now, in the interactive digital television broadcasting, each component of the interactive television content transmission streaming system according to the present invention, which can provide interactive functions with content by transmitting interactive content in addition to existing video / audio, is provided. Describe their function in more detail.

The MPEG-2 video encoder 11 outputs an ES conforming to the MPEG-2 algorithm.

The MPEG-2 audio encoder 12 is a real-time multichannel audio encoder using the MPEG-2 'Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)' standard or the AC-3 standard.

The MPEG-4 encoder 13 includes an audio / video encoder, a binary format for scene (BIFS) encoder, an object descriptor encoder, and an initial object descriptor encoder. This outputs an MPEG-4 audio visual stream, an object descriptor stream, a BIFS animation stream, a BIFS command stream, and an initial object descriptor stream.

Conditional access controllers 14 and 19 introduce the concept of subscribers into an interactive television broadcast service to allow access only to viewers who have paid a subscription fee. Therefore, only viewers who are allowed to access the service can descramble and watch interactive television programs. These conditional access controllers 14 and 19 have a powerful scrambling function to prevent illegal descrambling to access a program (content). To this end, conditional access control is added to the MPEG-2 encoded video / audio ES and MPEG-4 streams and additional information to add conditional access to the viewer's program (content).

As shown in FIG. 2, the MPEG-4 streaming unit 15 includes an MPEG-4 system flexmux 21, an object encapsulation unit 22, a BIFS animation encapsulation unit 23, and a BIFS command encapsulation. The unit 24, and the object descriptor encapsulation unit 25. Looking at the function of each component in more detail as follows.

The MPEG-4 system flexmux 21 serves to convert the audio / visual stream 201, which is an MPEG-4 object, into the flexmux stream 205 as an input.

The object encapsulation unit 22 attaches the packetized elementary stream (PES) packet header to the flexmux stream 205, which is the output of the MPEG-4 system flexmux 21, to attach the PES packet 206. It makes a role. The object encapsulation section 22 encodes the object stream file into the payload of the PES packet, checks the total length of the object stream in bytes, separates the MPEG-4 audio stream in units of access units, and -4 separate the visual stream into units of access units and code a Cyclic Redundancy Coding (CRC) for PES packets.

The BIFS animation encapsulation unit 23 serves to make the PES packet 207 by attaching a PES packet header to the BIFS-animation stream 202. The BIFS animation encapsulation unit 23 codes the BIFS-animated stream file to the payload of the PES packet, checks the total length of the BIFS-animated stream in bytes, and calculates and codes the CRC for the PES packet. do.

The BIFS command encapsulation unit 24 serves to make the section packet 208 by attaching a section header for the MPEG-4 stream to the BIFS command stream 203. The BIFS command encapsulation unit 24 generates a section header, codes the BIFS command stream file into the payload of the section, checks the total length of the BIFS command stream in bytes, and CRC for the section. Compute and code

The object descriptor encapsulation unit 25 serves to make the section packet 209 by attaching a section header for the MPEG-4 stream to the object descriptor stream 204. The object descriptor encapsulation unit 25 codes the object descriptor stream file at the payload of the section, checks the total length of the object descriptor stream in bytes, and calculates and codes the CRC for the section. .

On the other hand, the program multiplexer (PMUX) 16 is a packetized elementary stream (PES) packet generator 31, a program specific information (PSI) generator 32, A transport stream (TS) packet generator 33 and a TS packet multiplexer 34 are included. Looking at the function of each component in more detail as follows.

The PES packet generator 31 serves to make the PES packet 304 by adding a PES header to the MPEG-2 audio / video bit string 301. Then, the PES packet generator 31 generates a PES packet header and codes the MPEG-2 audio / video element bit string file into the payload of the PES packet. In addition, the total length of the MPEG-2 audio / video element bit string file is checked in bytes, the MPEG-2 audio element bit string is divided into access unit units, and the MPEG-4 video element bit string is separated into access unit units. The CRC for the PES packet is calculated and coded.

The PSI generation unit 32 serves to generate program information 306 defined by a user so that the system decoder can decode a program in the TS stream. The PSI generation unit 32 generates a 'PAT (Program Association Table)', a 'PMT (Program Map Table)', a packet, waits for multiplexing, and multiplexes and transmits the packet at a predetermined transmission period. In addition, it creates a PAT section header, assigns PMT_PID to code the PAT section payload, and creates a PMT section header. In addition, the initial object descriptor file 303, various descriptors, 'PCR (Program Clock Reference) _PID' and 'elementary_PID' are allocated and coded in the payload of the PMT section, and the total length of the initial object descriptor file in bytes Check and code CRC for each section.

The TS packet generation unit 33 serves to generate a TS packet by inputting a PES packet or section data and attaching a TS header to them. That is, the MPEG-2 audio / video PES packet 304, the MPEG-4 PES packet and the section data 305, the program related additional information PES packet and the section data 302, and the PSI section data 306 are TS packets respectively. It means to output to (307 to 310).

The TS packet generator 33 creates a TS header for each input data by referring to the input PSI information, reads and codes each data that will constitute the TS payload by an appropriate length, and references a clock for system clock synchronization. Generates. In addition, a null packet is generated, the total length of the MPEG-2 PES packet is checked in bytes, the total length of the MPEG-4 PES packet is checked in bytes, and the total length of the program-related additional information PES packet is checked. Is checked in bytes, the total length of the MPEG-4 section is checked in bytes, the total length of the program-related additional information section is checked in bytes, and the total length of the PSI section is checked in bytes.

The TS packet multiplexer 34 takes each TS packet 307 to 310 as an input, and multiplexes it into one TS 311 according to the transmission priority of the packet. In this case, the priority of the packet is transmitted in the order of PAT, PMT, and PCR packets at the beginning of the multiplexing, and the PCR, PAT, and PMT packets are periodically transmitted in the normal state, and the packet including the ES has a low transmission rate. First of all. At this time, the PCR packet is transmitted once within 0.05 seconds, the PSI packet is transmitted every 0.1 seconds, and the PAT and PMT packets are successively multiplexed. In addition, a null packet is used to generate a transmission bit string of a given fixed rate.

The TS packet multiplexer 34 checks whether each input TS is scheduled by checking the stored buffer state, and when each buffer is activated, creates a CBR-type file according to the transmission priority, and generates each TS packet according to the transmission priority. Detects the timing for periodic transmission of PCR, Null packets, checks whether transmission is possible in the next packet transmission section, and codes TS streams, which are outputs of successive TS packets, by continuously adding them to one file.

On the other hand, the data multiplexer 17 is composed of an additional information data transmission section 41 associated with a program and an additional information data transmission section 42 not associated with a program, as shown in FIG.

The additional information data transmission unit 41 associated with the program includes the PES packet generators 51 and 52, the section generators 53 to 55, the TS packet generator 56, and the PSI / SDT section generator as shown in FIG. 57, and the TS scheduler (58). Looking at the function of each component in more detail as follows.

The PES packet generators 51 and 52 encapsulate the synchronous data 503 or the synchronized streaming data 504 into the PES packets 508 and 509 and the TS packet generator 56. To pass.

The section generators 53 to 55 encapsulate the asynchronous data 501 into dsmcc_section 506 using the DSM-CC download protocol. In addition, an asynchronous datagram 502 is encapsulated into a DSM-CC addressable section 507. In addition, private data 505 is encapsulated into a private section 510 to support data piping.

The TS packet generator 56 encapsulates the PES packet and sections into TS packets 512 to 517.

The PSI / SDT section generator 57 identifies each ES encapsulated in a TS packet as a PID and provides the SDT 511 defined in the PSI and ATSC data broadcasting standards required by the decoder. .

The TS scheduler 58 determines whether to send a specific type of packet every hour, and monitors buffer overflows or exhaustion, allowing DSM-CC sections, DSM-CC addressable sections, synchronous streaming data, synchronized streaming data, private sections, The output grant signal is sent to the PSI / SDT, multiplexed to one TS, and provided to the remultiplexer 20.

On the other hand, the additional information data transmission unit 42, which is not associated with the program, includes the DSMCC section processing unit 61, the private section processing unit 63, the addressable section processing unit 62, the sync stream processing unit 64, and the like. It is composed of a synchronized streaming section 65. Looking at the function of each component in more detail as follows.

The DSMCC section processor 61 packetizes the asynchronous data 601 into the DSMCC section 606 of the ATSC data broadcasting standard.

The addressable section processor 62 packetizes the datagram data 602 into the DSMCC Addressable section 607 of the ATSC data broadcasting standard.

The private section processor 63 packetizes the private data 603 into the private section 608.

The synchronous stream processor 64 packetizes the synchronous data stream 604 in accordance with the ATSC data broadcasting standard (609).

The synchronized stream processor 65 packetizes the synchronized data stream 605 according to the ATSC data broadcasting standard (610).

The present invention described above is capable of various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the spirit of the present invention for those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains, and the above-described embodiments and accompanying It is not limited to the drawing.

As described above, the present invention can provide an interactive broadcast service function capable of obtaining information desired by a viewer by enabling interactive content transmission away from an existing broadcasting system that unilaterally transmits information to a viewer. It is possible to provide educational broadcasting, quiz entertainment, games, advertisements, weather forecasts, stock information, news, home shopping, and home banking.

Claims (5)

In the device for providing multimedia content, such as audio, video, interactive content, etc., Encoding means for compression encoding the multimedia content not compressed from the outside; Switching means for switching a video / audio elementary stream (ES) and a video / audio transport stream (TS) from the outside of the multimedia content compressed and encoded by the encoding means; First access control means for adding a conditional access function to the stream switched by the switching means; Second access control means for adding a conditional access function to interactive content and additional information input from the outside of the multimedia content compressed and encoded by the encoding means; Interactive content streaming means for streaming such that the second access control means can transmit the interactive content to which the access control function is added; In the second access control means, the additional information to which the access control function is added is made into a packet, ordered and multiplexed, and generated into a transport stream that satisfies the buffer model of the system target decoder. Data multiplexing means for transferring the data to the remultiplexer; And The packet is made by converting the stream to which the access control function is added by the first access control means, the interactive content streamed by the interactive content streaming means, and the transport stream related to the program generated by the data multiplexing means into a packet, and ordering the multiplexing. Program multiplexing means for generating a transport stream that satisfies the buffer model of the system target decoder and delivering the same to the remultiplexer. Interactive digital television content transmission streaming system providing an interactive function comprising a. The method of claim 1, The interactive content streaming means, MPEG-4 system for generating an audio / visual stream, which is an MPEG-4 object, as a flexmux stream as an input; An object encapsulation unit for generating a packetized elementary stream (PES) packet by attaching a packetized elementary stream (PES) packet header to a flex mux stream that is an output of the MPEG-4 system flexmux; A video binary format (BIFS) animation encapsulation unit for generating a packetized basestream (PES) packet by attaching a packetized basestream (PES) packet header to a video binary format (BIFS) animation stream; A video binary format (BIFS) command encapsulation unit for generating a section packet by attaching a section header for an MPEG-4 stream to a video binary format (BIFS) command stream; And An object descriptor encapsulation unit for generating a section packet by attaching a section header for an MPEG-4 stream to the object descriptor stream. Interactive digital television content transmission streaming system providing an interactive function comprising a. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The program multiplexing means, A packetized elementary stream (PES) packet generator for generating a packetized elementary stream (PES) packet by adding a packetized elementary stream (PES) header to an MPEG-2 audio / video bit stream; A program detail information (PSI) generator for generating program information defined by a user so that the system decoder can decode a program in the transport stream TS; A transport stream (TS) packet generator for generating a transport stream (TS) packet by inputting a packetized elementary stream (PES) packet or section data and attaching a transport stream (TS) header to them; And A transport stream (TS) packet multiplexer for multiplexing each transport stream (TS) packet into one transport stream (TS) according to the transmission priority of the packet. Interactive digital television content transmission streaming system providing an interactive function comprising a. The method of claim 3, wherein The data multiplexing means, At the time of transmission of additional information data related to the program, A packetized elementary stream (PES) packet generator which encapsulates synchronous data or synchronized streaming data into a packetized elementary stream (PES) packet and delivers it to a transport stream (TS) packet generator; A first section generator for encapsulating asynchronous data into a DSM-CC section using a DSM-CC download protocol; A transport stream (TS) packet generator for encapsulating packetized elementary stream (PES) packets and sections into transport stream (TS) packets; Each elementary stream (ES) encapsulated in a transport stream (TS) packet can be identified by a packet identifier (PID), and the program information (PSI) and data broadcast standard (ATSC) required by the decoder are identified. A second section generator for providing a defined predetermined standard (SDT); And Determines whether a particular type of packet should be sent every hour, and monitors for buffer overflows or exhaustion so that the DSM-CC section, the DSM-CC addressable section, and synchronous streaming data And transmitting the output permission signal to the synchronized streaming data, the private section, the program detail information (PSI) / the predetermined standard (SDT), and multiplexing into one transport stream (TS) to provide to the remultiplexer. Stream Scheduler Interactive digital television content transmission streaming system providing an interactive function comprising a. The method of claim 3, wherein The data multiplexing means, At the time of transmission of additional information data not related to the program, A DS MMS section processing unit for packetizing asynchronous data into a DSM-CC section of the data broadcasting standard (ATSC); An addressable section processor for packetizing datagram data into a DSM-CC addressable section of the data broadcasting standard (ATSC); A private section processing unit for packetizing the private data into the private section; A synchronous stream processor for packetizing a synchronous data stream according to the data broadcasting standard (ATSC); And Synchronized stream processing unit for packetizing the synchronized data stream in accordance with the data broadcasting standard (ATSC) Interactive digital television content transmission streaming system providing an interactive function comprising a.