KR100789781B1 - Effective Application program transmission/receive method and its device using module concept at digital broadcasting network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to application transmission in a digital broadcasting network using satellites, terrestrial waves, cables, or leased lines, and more particularly, to an efficient application transmission and reception method and apparatus using a module concept in a digital broadcasting network.

The present invention receives a signaling message including information on an application composed of modules separated by identifiers as a transmission / reception and storage unit and information on the module, and uses the information included in the signaling message to remind the application. Receiving unit for receiving in the module unit; A database unit for classifying and storing the received module based on the identifier; And an application processor for controlling execution of the application by reading the stored module based on the identifier.

Description

Efficient application program transmission / receive method and its device using module concept at digital broadcasting network

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an application transceiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 shows a detailed configuration of a transmitter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a view showing a detailed configuration of a receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to application transmission in a digital broadcasting network using satellites, terrestrial waves, cables, or leased lines, and more particularly, to an efficient application transmission and reception method and apparatus using a module concept in a digital broadcasting network.

There are two main methods for transmitting an application and data in a digital broadcasting network, which is a technical field of the present invention. First, the program code and data constituting the application are bundled and transmitted. In this case, even if there is a common element in several applications and data, the transmitter must retransmit all the contents when some contents are changed, and the receiver must store and manage all the contents.

Next, the program code and data constituting the application are separated by each element and transmitted at once without any special classification. In this case, since the common elements are not transmitted separately or logically separated, they cannot be transmitted in different time zones or in completely different ways for each component of an application, and thus partial update is difficult. In addition, since there is no logical unit and no identifier, functionally identical components cannot be supplied by multiple suppliers, and the number of components to be managed is disadvantageous.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an application transmitting and receiving method and apparatus for solving the above-mentioned problem.

In detail, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for efficiently transmitting and receiving an application by separating program codes and data constituting an application by elements into one or more modules using a module concept in a digital broadcasting network.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a digital broadcast receiver includes a signaling message including information on an application and information about an application, which is composed of modules separated by identifiers, as a transmission / reception unit and a storage unit. Receiving unit for receiving the application by the module unit using the information contained in the message; A database unit for classifying and storing the received module based on the identifier; And an application processing unit which controls execution of the application by reading the stored module based on the identifier.

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In addition, the present invention for achieving the above object is a digital broadcast transmitter, a database unit for storing an application consisting of modules separated by identifiers as transmission and reception and storage units; A signaling message generator configured to generate a signaling message including information about the application and information about the module; And a data encoder for encoding and transmitting the signaling message and encoding and transmitting the application in a module unit.

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In addition, the present invention for achieving the above object, as a digital broadcast reception method, and receives a signaling message including information on the application and information on the application consisting of modules divided into identifiers as a transmission and reception unit and the storage unit, A first step of receiving the application in the module unit by using the information included in the signaling message; A second step of classifying and storing the received module based on the identifier; And a third step of controlling execution of the application by reading the stored module based on the identifier.

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The present invention for achieving the above object is a digital broadcast transmission method, comprising: generating a signaling message including information on an application composed of modules separated by identifiers as transmission / reception and storage units and information on the module; Stage 1; And a second step of encoding and transmitting the signaling message and encoding and transmitting the application in a module unit.

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 The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. First, in adding reference numerals to the components of each drawing, it should be noted that the same components as much as possible even if displayed on different drawings. In addition, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the related known technology may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As described above, there are currently two methods for distributing an application using a digital broadcasting network. The application distribution method according to the prior art transmits the entire program code and data constituting the application in one unit, or collects and transmits the program code and data constituting several applications without particular distinction, and the received program code and data at the receiver Store and manage them all. In this case, even though there is a common element for each application, there is a single unit of transfer, which means that application components cannot be transferred in different protocols and different time zones, and there is no logical unit of construction. Therefore, functionally identical components cannot be supplied by multiple providers. Can be.

Therefore, it is necessary to classify the program codes and data constituting the application by elements and treat them as one or more modules and transmit them in logical transmission units.

The present invention proposes a method and apparatus for transmitting / receiving an application which reduces transmission bandwidth at a transmitter, improves memory efficiency at a receiver, enables partial update of an application, and enables flexible distribution of application components.

 The basic principle of the present invention is to divide the program code and data constituting the application into a module concept and treat the module as a basic unit constituting the application and a basic unit for transmission. That is, the program codes and data constituting the application are classified by elements, and the program codes and data are grouped into modules and treated as one or more modules. In addition, by treating the module as a logical transmission unit, it is easy to manage the application and data by transmitting in a module unit, and has the advantage that it can be transmitted using a different protocol and time zone for each component.

In the following description, the program codes and data constituting the application will be collectively referred to as 'application data'. In addition, a module which is a basic unit constituting an application will be referred to as an 'application module' or simply 'module'.

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

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an application transmitting and receiving device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, as described above, the application data 101 and 103 are divided into application modules according to the features and functions of each component. That is, the application module is a bundle of data constituting the application, and has additional information related to the application module. This additional information includes the module's version, identifier, digital signature, and the like. The application modules may be physically transmitted independently of each other.

In the following description, an application signaling message refers to a message that conveys information about an application and an application module to inform the existence of the application on a digital broadcasting network and to transmit and receive the application module through various networks. .

Accordingly, the application signaling message is composed of a method necessary for receiving a module, information on each application composed of the module, and binding information with a video / audio service, and are published through the broadcasting network. Hereinafter, the application signaling message will be referred to simply as a signaling message.

The transmitter 100 transmits the following information through a broadcasting network using a signaling message to announce an application.

-Application side information: name, version, etc.

-Receiver profile and version on which the application can run

Application configuration module list: specifies the configuration module identifier and version information. The module identifier is different from the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on the web. The URL does not identify the resource itself, but rather specifies where the resource can be obtained from.

How to run the application: Specify the application entry point.

Parameters given to the application: additional information given at application launch time. Even applications that consist of the same module can be configured to behave differently by varying their arguments.

In addition, the transmitter 100 transmits the following information to the broadcasting network using a signaling message to announce the existence of the application module.

-Module identifier, version

-Acquisition method and time zone in which the module can be obtained: Specify the module acquisition method by URL. Specify the time zone together. Can specify more than one way to get the same module

The receiver 200 stores the application module received from the transmitter 100 in the module database 210. The module database 210 distinguishes modules by identifiers, enables identification of specific modules by identifiers, and keeps track of which application each module is used in and removes modules that are no longer needed.

When the receiver 200 receives an application, it first receives a module specified at the time of application publication, and does not separately receive a module that already exists in the module database 210. Next, when all necessary modules are received and present in the module database 210, the application can be executed. When you run the application, you specify the identifier of each module in the module database 210 to find the modules, collect the modules, and start execution.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for transmitting and receiving an application through a specific embodiment of the present invention will be described.

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 Referring to FIG. 1, an application A 101 includes a module 1 and a module 2, and an application B 102 includes a module 2 and a module 3. Module 2 is shared between two applications A and B, so in the present invention it is transmitted only once by separating into modules and does not occupy the memory of the receiver 200 redundantly.

Each module does not necessarily have to be transmitted in the same way at the same time, and may be transmitted in different time zones using various protocols of a broadcasting network or a communication network if necessary.

When running an application, the modules that make up the application are found by specifying a unique identifier in the module database. Therefore, it does not matter how the module is registered in the module database of the receiver 200. In this embodiment, the module 3 is not received from the broadcasting network but registered in the module database 210 by the bidirectional channel or the receiver 200 user. As such, when the module is inserted into the module database 210, it is not necessary to pass through the broadcasting network. Module 3 can also be supplied from various suppliers as long as they have the same identifier and the same functionality.

The application signaling message described above may be configured with an application (application) information message, a module information message, a service binding message, an application control message, a certificate message, and the like. The details of each message are as follows.

-Application information message: Information about the application, and includes information such as application ID, version, format, executable receiver profile, inter-application dependency, application module list, and electronic signature to prevent forgery of information.

Module information message: information about an application module referenced by an application defined in the application information message, and can be downloaded by application ID, version, module capacity, location where the application module can be downloaded, and application URL for each URL. It includes information about the time zone in which it is located.

In the module information message, a plurality of URLs may be designated for each application module, and in this case, which URL is to be downloaded using the application module may be determined according to a policy inside the receiver.

-Service binding message: Information of applications associated for each service provided in the digital broadcasting network. That is, the receiver can know not only the application that needs to be executed currently but also an application associated with the currently executed application through the service binding message. Therefore, by using the information provided through the service binding message, when the user selects a specific service, the receiver may select and download an application associated with the service.

-Application control message: An application can be specified to be executed when a specific service is selected or can be executed for a specific event in a service when a service is selected, and the application control message means a message for controlling an application to be started or terminated at a specific event in a service. do. Here, an event means that there is a start time and an end time defined by a bundle of one or more media, for example, the first half of a soccer game, breaking news.

-Certificate message: Means authentication information for the electronic signature or application module in the application information message.

2 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a transmitter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a data server 110, a video service encoder 120, an audio service encoder 130, a program service information generator 140, a multiplexer 150, a channel coding and RF transmitter 160, and a content collection and authoring unit 170 are included. do.

The video service encoder 120 encodes video information for an AV-based video service in digital broadcasting, and the audio service encoder 130 encodes audio information for an audio-only service such as digital audio broadcasting (DAB). The program service information generating unit 140 performs a function of generating all information about a program and a service. The data server 110 is connected to a communication network and manages and provides various data services. The content collection and authoring unit 170 collects real-time data or produces an application and provides it to the data server 110.

All the digital streams generated by the video service encoder 120, the audio service encoder 130, the program service information generator 140, and the data server 110 are multiplexed by the multiplexer 150, and the channel coding and RF transmitter 160 Transmits the multiplexed streams after encoding them in various digital broadcasting transmission standards.

The data server 110 is a configuration for efficient application transmission proposed in the present invention, a data scheduler 111, an application signaling message generator 113, a database 115 for storing data such as an application module, a data encoder for encoding with various protocols. It consists of 117.

The data scheduler 111 controls data transmission of the application module and the like through scheduling for each time zone. In particular, the application signaling to control the application module and data is sent from the database according to the set time and data protocol, and to perform the operation of the application associated with each application and its associated module information, and services such as video and audio, Control to generate the message in the application signaling message generator 113. In addition, the program and service information generation unit 140 controls to generate various service information related to the data service and signaling information for informing the user terminal of the various service information.

3 is a view showing a detailed configuration of a receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The reception of the data broadcasting service through the download of the application module and the execution of the application is possible by the data broadcasting middleware. Referring to FIG. 3, the receiver equipped with the data broadcasting middleware is composed of three layers. That is, the receiver includes various applications 310, middleware API 320, middleware execution engine unit 330, Java virtual machine 340, porting layer 350, device driver / OS / terminal hardware 360, and display unit 370. . The various applications 310, the middleware API 320, the middleware execution engine unit 330, the Java virtual machine 340, and the porting layer 350 are software modules, which are stored in a storage device of the receiver to store various hardware of the receiver. It is organically linked with a device to provide a data broadcasting service to a user. The RF signal of the data broadcast transmitted through the digital broadcast network (or the data broadcast network) is received by the tuner of the device driver / OS / terminal hardware 360 and channel demultiplexed by the channel demultiplexer. In the channel demultiplexed signal, an AV signal, service information, and various data are extracted by the data decoder unit and the AV decoder unit of the media decoder unit.

The middleware API 320 defines various functions for executing an application and means a collection of APIs for interfacing the application with middleware execution engines.

The middleware execution engine unit 330 is the most important component for the execution and control of an application composed of modules, which is a basic principle of the present invention.

The middleware execution engine unit 330 controls a low level device of the receiver and performs a function of processing an application composed of application modules, processing various data broadcast protocols, a user interface, hardware, and software resources.

The middleware execution engine unit 330 controls a tuner and an AV decoder, a channel / AV processing unit 331 for managing service selection, a data broadcasting protocol processing unit 333 for processing various data broadcasting protocols, and manages reception of application modules and performs application processing. And an application processor 335, a resource manager 337 for managing hardware and software resources, and a user interface 339 for accessing a user.

The application processor 335 performs functions such as reception control and storage of an application, execution control of a stored application, and the like, and includes an application signaling processor, an application manager, a module download manager, and a storage device manager. After receiving the application signaling message through the file decoder in the data broadcasting protocol processor 333, the application signaling processor performs functions such as application and module related information defined by the signaling message, binding to other services, and control of execution time of the application. To perform. The application manager performs functions such as storing / managing information of the application, installing / updating / removing the application, managing the life cycle of the application, controlling and communicating with the application, and signaling signaling of the application. In particular, the installation / update / removal function of the application includes download request / storage management of the module constituting the application, installation of the application when the module is completed download, update of the application when the version of the module changes, application of the application when the application is deleted Performs the same function as uninstall. The module download manager performs a function of managing a list of modules requiring download, download management of the corresponding module, performing module download through the broadcasting network or communication network, and reporting module download completion. The storage manager provides an interface that allows the application manager to control the file system provided by the terminal hardware so that application-related information may be stored internally or used by a running application.

The Java virtual machine 340 provides an environment for interpreting and executing an application written in Java code, and the porting layer 350 is a layer for interfacing the execution engine of the middleware with the interface of the OS of the terminal and various device drivers. In other words, it is a layer necessary to increase portability of middleware even in different terminal environments such as various chip architectures of terminals to provide broadcast reception functions, various types of OSs, and various types of device drivers.

The display unit 370 finally displays the data broadcast by superimposing the graphics executed by the application on the AV decoded video screen.

As described above, the method of the present invention may be implemented as a program and stored in a recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.) in a computer-readable form. Since this process can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art will not be described in detail any more.

While the invention has been described above based on the preferred embodiments thereof, these embodiments are intended to illustrate rather than limit the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, or adjustments to the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be construed to include not only the appended claims but also all of the above changes, modifications or adjustments.

In the efficient application transmission and reception method and apparatus using the module concept in the digital broadcasting network of the present invention, by transmitting the application and data for each module using the above-described method and apparatus, the transmission efficiency can be increased by reducing the bandwidth compared to the conventional method. In terms of implementing the terminal, the memory burden can be reduced. In addition, some program codes and data constituting the application can be easily updated, and modules can be installed using a bidirectional channel and a receiver external device in addition to the broadcasting network.

Claims (26)

As a digital broadcast receiver, Receives a signaling message including information on an application composed of modules divided by identifiers as transmission and reception and storage units, and information on the module, and receives the application on a module basis using information included in the signaling message. A receiving unit; A database unit for classifying and storing the received module based on the identifier; And An application processor that controls execution of the application by reading the stored module based on the identifier Digital broadcast receiver comprising a. The method of claim 1, The signaling message, An application information message; Module information message; Service binding message; Application control messages; And at least one of a certificate message Digital broadcast receiver comprising a. The method of claim 2, The application information message, Information about an application including at least one of application identifier information and application configuration module information. Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 2, The module information message, At least one of module identifier information, module position, and module obtainable time information. Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 2, The service binding message, Application information associated with each service provided in the digital broadcasting network Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 2, The application control message, Contains information that controls the application to start or end at a specific event in the services provided by the digital broadcasting network. Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 2, The certificate message, Digital signature or authentication information about the application in the application information message Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 1, The application processing unit, By using the information included in the signaling message to control the associated operation with other services and the execution time of the application Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 1, The application processing unit, To manage the installation, removal, update, and run cycles of applications Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 1, The application processing unit, When receiving the application module, it is determined whether the application module exists in the database, and if the application does not exist, controlling to download the application module through the broadcast network Digital broadcast receiver. The method of claim 1, The module, Can be transmitted and received through any medium, including digital broadcast networks. Digital broadcast receiver. As a digital broadcast transmitter, Database unit for storing the application consisting of modules separated by identifiers as a transmission and reception unit and a storage unit; A signaling message generator configured to generate a signaling message including information about the application and information about the module; And A data encoder which encodes and transmits the signaling message and encodes and transmits the application in a module unit. Digital broadcast transmitter comprising a. The method of claim 12, The signaling message, An application information message including information about an application including at least one of application identifier information and application configuration module information; The module information message including at least one of module identifier information, module position, and module obtainable time information; A service binding message including application information associated with each service provided by a digital broadcasting network; An application control message including information for controlling an application to be started or terminated at a specific event in a service provided by a digital broadcasting network; Certificate message including authentication information for the electronic signature or application in the application information message Digital broadcast transmitter comprising a. As a digital broadcast reception method, Receives a signaling message including information on an application composed of modules divided by identifiers as transmission and reception and storage units, and information on the module, and receives the application on a module basis using information included in the signaling message. The first step to do; A second step of classifying and storing the received module based on the identifier; And A third step of controlling execution of the application by reading the stored module based on the identifier Digital broadcast receiving method comprising a. The method of claim 14, The signaling message, An application information message; Module information message; Service binding message; Application control messages; And at least one of a certificate message Digital broadcast receiving method comprising a. The method of claim 15, The application information message, Information about an application including at least one of application identifier information and application configuration module information. Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 15, The module information message, At least one of module identifier information, module position, and module obtainable time information. Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 15, The service binding message, Application information associated with each service provided in the digital broadcasting network Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 15, The application control message, Contains information that controls the application to start or end at a specific event in the services provided by the digital broadcasting network. Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 15, The certificate message, Digital signature or authentication information about the application in the application information message Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 14, The third step, By using the information included in the signaling message to control the associated operation with other services and the execution time of the application Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 14, The third step, To manage the installation, removal, update, and run cycles of applications Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 14, The third step, When receiving the application module, it is determined whether the application module exists in the database, and if the application does not exist, controlling to download the application module through the broadcast network Digital broadcast reception method. The method of claim 14, The module, Can be transmitted and received through any medium, including digital broadcast networks. Digital broadcast reception method. As a digital broadcast transmission method, A first step of generating a signaling message including information on the application and information on the module, which are configured as modules, each of which is transmitted and received and stored as an identifier; And A second step of encoding and transmitting the signaling message and encoding and transmitting the application in a module unit Digital broadcast transmission method comprising a. The method of claim 25, The signaling message, An application information message including information about an application including at least one of application identifier information and application configuration module information; The module information message including at least one of module identifier information, module position, and module obtainable time information; A service binding message including application information associated with each service provided by a digital broadcasting network; An application control message including information for controlling an application to be started or terminated at a specific event in a service provided by a digital broadcasting network; Certificate message including authentication information for the electronic signature or application in the application information message Digital broadcast transmission method comprising a.

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