KR101067849B1 - A method of multi-media stream control for providing service mobility in home network environment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for providing a seamless multimedia streaming service regardless of a user's movement in a home network environment including an IP router and a plurality of client terminals, and more particularly, when a user moves to a new client terminal. The present invention relates to a method of switching a multimedia streaming service in use to a mobile terminal and a method of managing a connection tracking reference file of an IP router.

Service mobility support The server agent manages the binding table in the IP router and manages information about the user's location and the service in use. The service mobility support terminal agent mounted on the client terminal used by the user provides the service mobility support server agent with information about the user's location movement and the current situation.

The service mobility support server agent recognizes a change in the binding table and switches the multimedia stream to a new location of the user by referring to the changed information to provide a seamless multimedia streaming service.

In most products of the conventional IP router type, there is a problem that the setting value of the connection tracking reference file for switching the multimedia stream in real time is not set to an appropriate value. Provides a way to search for and change. In addition, it provides a seamless multimedia streaming service regardless of the user's movement by providing a method of recognizing the change of the binding table, retrieving the contents, and switching and transmitting the multimedia stream to the user's new location.

Seamless Services, Service Mobility, Home Networks, Multimedia Streams, Switching

Description

METHOD AND METHOD FOR MULTIMEDIA STREAM CONTROL TO PROVIDE MULTIMEDIA SERVICE MOBILITY IN HOME NETWORK ENVIRONMENT TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a multimedia stream for providing multimedia service mobility in a home network environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multimedia stream seamlessly regardless of a user's movement in a home network environment including an IP router and a plurality of client terminals. When a user moves to a new client terminal to provide a service, the present invention relates to a method of switching a multimedia streaming service, which is being used, to a mobile terminal, and managing a setting value of a connection tracking reference file of an IP router.

Recently, multimedia streaming services such as TV, movies, dramas, music, etc. can be easily enjoyed in the home, and with the development of IPTV, technologies for receiving multimedia streaming services in the home network have been studied. However, referring to the binding table mounted on the IP router with the technology and service mobility support server agent to provide service mobility to users moving in the home network, the high speed switching related to switching the multimedia stream to the user's new location The technology is not being studied.

The conventional IP router type products use the NAT (Network Address Translation) function of the Netfilter Tool of the Linux system to perform the address translation function that enables the use of multiple private IPs using a single public IP. NAT performs the address translation process according to the rules recorded in the NAT table.In order to improve the performance of the system, if one network connection is established, NAT does not search the NAT table for the same path for a certain time and performs the same address translation process. To perform. At this time, the connection holding time is recorded in a specific file (hereinafter referred to as connection tracking reference file).

However, when attempting to provide mobility of multimedia services in a home network environment using a product of an IP router type, there is a problem that the operation of NAT to improve the performance of a system limits the mobility of multimedia services.

Therefore, there is a need for a solution for changing the setting value of the connection tracking reference file to an appropriate value in order to switch the multimedia stream in real time to enable real-time switching of the multimedia service.

In addition, there is a need for a method for switching and delivering a multimedia stream in real time to a user's new location.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the multimedia stream control method for providing multimedia service mobility in a home network environment according to the present invention is to set the setting value of the connection tracking reference file for switching the multimedia stream in real time. The purpose is to enable efficient real-time switching of multimedia streams by searching the connection tracking reference file and changing the setting value of the searched connection tracking reference file to set the appropriate value.

In addition, the present invention aims to provide a seamless multimedia streaming service regardless of the user's movement by providing a method of recognizing a change in the binding table, retrieving its contents, and switching and transmitting the multimedia stream to a new location of the user.

In order to achieve the above object, the method for controlling a multimedia streaming service according to the present invention includes searching for a connection tracking reference file of an operating system file system embedded in an IP router, and enabling the real-time switching of the multimedia stream. Changing the setting value to a predetermined reference value, receiving terminal changes from a terminal to which the user is connected, recording them in a binding table, and controlling a multimedia stream service according to terminal changes recorded in the binding table. It may be characterized by including.

In addition, in the above-described configuration, the terminal change recorded in the binding table may include a type in which a specific user initially accesses a terminal in a home network, a type in which a specific user moves to another terminal in the home network, and changes a location. A connection termination type for terminating the connection to the terminal in the home network;

When a specific user initially accesses a terminal in the home network, the multimedia server requests a multimedia streaming service and transmits it to the user. When a specific user changes the access location to another terminal in the home network, the multimedia stream in service is transmitted. When switching, and when a specific user terminates the access to the terminal in the home network, the multimedia server may request to stop the multimedia streaming service and end the multimedia streaming service.

In the above-described configuration, the searching of the connection tracking reference file may include searching the connection tracking reference setting file by changing a search parameter and re-searching the connection tracking reference file when the connection tracking reference file is not found. Will,

When the connection tracking reference file is found, the file name and path of the connection tracking reference file may be stored in a temporary file, and the setting value of the connection tracking reference file may be changed to 0, which is a predetermined reference value, using the temporary file.

In addition, in the above-described configuration, the binding table includes a user ID (USER ID), the IP address of the terminal connected to the user and the MAC address information of the terminal connected to the user, and the specific user ID is first generated in the binding table. The initial access by the specific user and the change of the IP address or MAC address information of the terminal to which the specific user ID is connected mean that the user moves to the changed IP address or MAC address and accesses the entry including the specific user ID. The deletion of the information may be characterized in that the specific user terminates the access.

In the above configuration, for each packet of the multimedia stream received from the multimedia server, the IP router transmits the multimedia stream packet to the access terminal of the user recorded in the binding table at the time of receiving each packet. Can be.

In addition, the real-time multimedia stream switching device for receiving a message from the service mobility support terminal agent according to the present invention to update the information in the binding table, the user ID (User ID), IP of the terminal is installed the service mobility support terminal agent connected to the user A binding table including an address and a MAC address, and a connection tracking reference file may be searched to change a setting value of the connection tracking reference file in order to switch multimedia streams between terminals in a home network in real time, and change information of the binding table. A service mobility support server agent for controlling to request, switch or terminate the multimedia streaming service according to the information change type of the binding table.

The service mobility support server agent may transmit each packet of the multimedia stream to the access terminal of the user, which is recorded in the binding table at the time of receiving each packet, for each packet of the multimedia stream received from the multimedia server. have.

According to the present invention, by realizing the service mobility that can seamlessly receive the multimedia streaming services such as movies, TV, dramas, music, etc. through the terminal existing in the home network in the service mobility support terminal agent existing in other areas of the home network It is effective to receive multimedia streaming service more conveniently and quickly by constructing user-oriented network that service follows user's location.

In addition, in order to set the setting value of the connection tracking reference file for switching the multimedia stream in real time to the appropriate value, it is possible to perform efficient real-time switching of the multimedia stream by searching the connection tracking reference file and changing the setting value of the connection tracking reference file. There is this.

In addition, by providing a method of recognizing a change in the binding table, retrieving its contents, and switching and transmitting the multimedia stream to a new location of the user, a seamless multimedia streaming service can be provided regardless of the user's movement.

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

1 is a flowchart illustrating a multimedia stream processing procedure according to a binding table modification form according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Service Mobility Support Server Agent is a module that controls the multimedia streaming service installed in the IP router (real-time multimedia stream switching device). After changing the setting value of the connection tracking reference file to switch the multimedia stream in real time, Wait for the change to occur. When the binding table is changed, the service mobility support server agent recognizes the change in the binding table and responds to user initial access, user location change, and user access termination according to the table change type.

The service mobility support terminal agent is a module for a multimedia streaming service installed in a terminal in a home network, and when a user accesses a service mobility support terminal agent of a specific terminal to receive a multimedia service, information such as a user ID and an IP address of the terminal To change the information in the binding table by sending it to the IP router.

2A is an overall configuration diagram of a home network using a multimedia service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the home network according to the present invention creates, deletes, maintains, modifies, and binds the service mobility support terminal agent 104 and the binding table 101 managing the location information of the user. It includes a service mobility support server agent 103 in charge of the switching function of the stream and the multimedia server 102 for providing a multimedia stream service.

The service mobility support terminal agent 104 and the binding table 101 are included in an IP router (real-time multimedia stream switching device) together with an IP sharing module (not shown) that provides an IP sharing function.

By sending a message to the IP router through the service mobility support terminal agent, the multimedia service usage information of the specific user is recorded in the binding table in the IP router.

2B illustrates the format of a binding table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the binding table format includes user location information, user ID information, service information, and the like. For example, information of the IP address 203, MAC address 204, User ID 205, Service ID 206, Time 207, and Reserved 208 of the user is stored and managed.

Such information is stored in units of entries constituting the access information of the user whenever each user identified by the User ID 205 connects.

That is, each entry includes the user's IP address 203, MAC address 204, User ID 205, Service ID 206, Time 207, and Reserved 208 information. On the other hand, when a specific user accesses the service mobility support terminal agent, the terminal connected to the user transmits User ID information to the IP router. An entry including the same User ID as the User ID received in the binding table is already recorded. If it is present, the entry is updated. If no entry including the same User ID as the received User ID is recorded, a new entry is added according to the received information.

The IP address 203 and the MAC address 204 are the IP address 203 and the MAC address 204 of the terminal equipped with the service mobility support terminal agent which receives the service when the user first accesses or moves to the mobile terminal. This can be used as a means for determining the location of the user in the service mobility support server agent.

User ID 205 is a unique ID of a user who is receiving a service and is assigned when the user initially accesses a terminal equipped with a service mobility support agent. The assigned User ID 205 distinguishes between an initial connection or a mobile connection when the user moves to another terminal equipped with a service mobility support terminal agent program in another home network. If a user's unique User ID is not registered in the binding table, it is recognized as an initial connection, and if already registered, it can be determined as a mobile connection.

The service ID 206 serves as a criterion for determining the service type of the user who is receiving the service. The service ID 206 executes a program suitable for the service in the service mobility support terminal agent.

Time 207 stores the holding time of each entry so that the binding table does not overflow. When the Time 208 value is zero, the entry is deleted. The problem may be that the entry is deleted immediately, resulting in a disconnection of the service. To compensate for this, the service mobility support server agent may check whether the entry is normally deleted before the entry is deleted or update the Time (208) value. have.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a service mobility support server agent searching for a connection tracking reference file and changing a setting value of the connection tracking reference file according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The service mobility support server agent first searches for a connection tracking reference file using a search word (S310). If the search result exists, the file name and path of the searched connection tracking reference file are stored in a temporary file (S330). Next, the setting value (connection tracking reference value) of the connection tracking reference file searched using the temporary file is changed to 0 (S340).

The procedure for changing the setting value of the connection tracking reference file by searching the connection tracking reference file will be described in more detail as follows.

Service Mobility Support In order for the server agent to switch the multimedia stream, the configuration value of the connection tracking reference file related to the multimedia stream referenced by the system kernel must be changed. To do this, the initial operation can search the connection trace reference file referenced by the system kernel and change the settings of the connection trace file. The search can be performed using a plurality of preset search terms. If a search cannot be performed using a single search term for a predetermined time, the search parameter is changed to search the next search term.

When the IP router is configured as a Linux-based system, by performing the address translation of packets through the Netfilter tool, many home network terminals can receive Internet services including multimedia services through one public IP.

This address translation is performed through the network address translation (NAT) of Netfilter, which uses the NAT function to switch the multimedia stream to the terminal of the home network to deliver the packet received from the multimedia server to the IP router. Will translate the address.

Netfilter manages network connections by checking the rules set in the NAT table, tracking network connections, and changing the packet's destination address. To track the network connection status, you need to refer to the settings in the connection tracking reference file. The configuration value of the connection tracking reference file contains information on how to check the status of the network connection and is a necessary factor for maintaining and canceling the network connection. For example, there is a reference value for storing the number of transmission / reception of the current packet, a reference value for storing the network connection state checking period (ip_conntrack_buckets, ip_conntrack_count, ip_conntrack_generic_timeout, ip_conntrack_tcp_timeout, etc.).

In the case of the Linux file system, the link tracking reference file is typically stored in the following location:

                           Below

/ proc / sys / net / ipv4 / netfilter /

Connection tracking reference file settings that need to be changed for real-time multimedia switching include settings for the connection keep-alive time (ip_conntrack_udp_timeout_stream) for network connections that send and receive streaming packets using the UDP protocol and for network connections that use UDP. There is a setting value (ip_conntrack_udp_timeout) for the connection keep-alive time. The settings of these connection tracking reference files are set to values that are not suitable for real-time multimedia switching.

One of the characteristics of NAT is to perform address translation according to the rule that only the first packet is set in the NAT table for the packet with the same basic information necessary for forwarding the packet such as the sending and receiving address, protocol, and port number. The packet performs the same address translation process without checking the address translation rule. That is, switching the real-time multimedia stream is difficult because the existing connection does not check the rules of the NAT table.

Assuming that the setting ip_conntrack_udp_timeout is set to 30 minutes by default, Netfilter does not check the NAT table for address translation because it remains in this connection for 30 minutes after the network connection using UDP has been established. Perform the process.

The terminal in the home network is connected to the external multimedia server using the IP sharer's unique IP, and this connection does not change the network connection with the IP router on the multimedia server side even if there is a movement between the terminals in the home network. Movement between terminals cannot be recognized. As a result, it is recognized that there is no change in the network connection, and thus, Netfilter continuously transmits the multimedia packets to the terminal address that was previously accessed even if the user moves to another terminal in the home network.

To solve this problem, the configuration file (ip_conntrack_udp_timeout_stream) that maintains the connection status for the stream service that uses UDP for a certain period of time in the connection tracking reference file and the connection state maintenance time for the network connection that uses UDP By setting the setting value of the configuration file (ip_conntrack_udp_timeout) to 0, the network connection holding time using UDP is 0 minutes, so that all the multimedia stream packets received by the IP router are always recognized as a new connection. If there is a change, the multimedia stream packet can be switched in real time by changing the information in the NAT table in real time and referencing it.

In addition, the file name of the connection tracking reference file may vary depending on the file system version. Therefore, the service mobility support server agent stores a plurality of preset search terms in order to retrieve the connection tracking reference file.

For example, if the file name of the connection tracking reference value to be searched is ip_conntrack_udp_timeout_stream and ip_conntrack_udp_timeout, the search term can be set as * udp_timeout * to search all files including the string udp_timeout in the file name.

The search word may be sequentially searched using a plurality of preset search words, and the file name and path searched using the search word may be stored in a temporary file.

Next, the setting value of the connection tracking reference file is changed to a predetermined value so that the real-time multimedia streaming service can be switched using the file name and path of the connection tracking reference file stored in the temporary file. In this case, the setting value to be changed is preferably set to zero.

In the case of Linux systems, this can be written using a shell script, one of which is as follows.

                            next

#! / bin / ash

find / -name * udp_timeout *> ./CONNTRACK

temp = $ (cat ./CONNTRACK)

if ["$ temp" = ""]; then # (run if no search results)

echo "0"> / proc / sys / net / ipv4 / netfilter / ip_conntrack_udp_timeout

echo "0"> / proc / sys / net / ipv4 / netfilter / ip_conntrack_udp_timeout_stream

echo "0"> / proc / sys / net / ipv4 / netfilter / nf_conntrack_udp_timeout

echo "0"> / proc / sys / net / ipv4 / netfilter / nf_conntrack_udp_timeout_stream

else # (execute if file path exists)

for line in $ (cat ./CONNTRACK)

do

echo "0"> $ line

done

fi

echo "1"> / proc / sys / net / ipv4 / ip_forward

exit 0

You can change the configuration of the connection trace reference file by setting the above shell script file to run when the ip router's operating system boots.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation corresponding to a user initial access among modification forms of a binding table by a service mobility support server agent according to another embodiment of the present invention.

If the binding type is changed in the initial connection (S410), the service mobility support server agent requests the multimedia service to the multimedia server with reference to the contents of the binding table (S420), and the service mobility of the user accesses the service streamed by the multimedia server. Delivery to the support terminal agent (S430).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation corresponding to a user location change among changes of a binding table by a service mobility support server agent according to another embodiment of the present invention.

If there is a change in the binding table information (S510) and the change form of the binding table is the user location change (S520), the multimedia stream transmitted to the existing location is switched to the current user location by referring to the user location information in the binding table. (S530).

6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation corresponding to termination of a user connection among modification forms of a binding table by a service mobility support server agent according to another embodiment of the present invention.

When the user terminates the connection to the service mobility support terminal agent, the service mobility support terminal agent sends a connection termination message to the IP router and requests to delete the entry in the binding table (S610). If the change type of the binding table is the end of the user connection, the service mobility support server agent transmits the multimedia stream stop request (S620), stops the transmission of the multimedia stream, and deletes the multimedia stream transmission information (S630).

The service mobility support server agent changes the setting value of the connection tracking reference file referenced by the system kernel to 0 to switch the multimedia stream when it is running. The service mobility support agent performs the real-time processing of the multimedia packets received from the multimedia server by the IP router. You can switch. If the binding table is changed through the message exchange between the IP router and the service mobility support terminal agent, the service mobility support server agent can switch in real time to the multimedia packet transmitted after the change of the binding table. Accordingly, the present invention provides a seamless multimedia streaming service irrespective of the user's movement through a process of switching and transmitting the multimedia stream to the user's new location.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a multimedia stream processing procedure according to a binding table modification form according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is an overall configuration diagram of a home network using a multimedia service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2B illustrates the format of a binding table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of retrieving and changing a connection tracking reference setting value by a service mobility support server agent according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation corresponding to a user initial access among modification forms of a binding table by a service mobility support server agent according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation corresponding to a user location change among changes of a binding table by a service mobility support server agent according to another embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation corresponding to termination of a user connection among modification forms of a binding table by a service mobility support server agent according to another embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

101: binding table

102: multimedia server providing a multimedia service

103: service mobility support server agent

104: service mobility support terminal agent

Claims (7)

In the multimedia streaming service control method performed by the IP router, Searching for a connection tracking reference file of an operating system file system embedded in the IP router, and changing a setting value of the searched connection tracking reference file to a predetermined reference value to enable real-time switching of a multimedia stream; Receiving terminal changes from a terminal to which the user is connected and recording them in a binding table; And Controlling the multimedia stream service according to the terminal change recorded in the binding table; The searching of the connection tracking reference file may be performed by searching the connection tracking reference setting file by changing a search factor and re-searching the connection tracking reference file when the connection tracking reference file is not found. When the connection tracking reference file is found, the file name and path of the connection tracking reference file are stored in a temporary file, and the setting value of the connection tracking reference file is changed to 0, which is a predetermined reference value, by using the temporary file. Multimedia streaming service control method. The method of claim 1, The terminal change recorded in the binding table includes a type in which a specific user initially accesses a terminal in a home network, a type in which a specific user moves to another terminal in the home network and changes its location, and a specific user is connected to a terminal in the home network. Contains the type of disconnection that terminates the connection of, When a specific user initially accesses a terminal in the home network, the multimedia server requests a multimedia streaming service and transmits it to the user. When a specific user changes the access location to another terminal in the home network, the multimedia stream in service is transmitted. Switching, and when a specific user terminates access to a terminal in a home network, requests the multimedia server to stop the multimedia streaming service and terminates the multimedia streaming service. delete The method of claim 2, The binding table includes a user ID (USER ID), the IP address of the terminal connected to the user and the MAC address information of the terminal connected to the user, The first generation of a specific user ID in the binding table is the initial access by the specific user, and the change in IP address or MAC address information of the terminal to which the specific user ID is connected is performed by the user with the changed IP address or MAC address. And the entry information including the specific user ID is deleted when the specific user terminates the connection. The method of claim 4, wherein For each packet of the multimedia stream received from the multimedia server, the IP router transmits the multimedia stream packet to the access terminal of the user recorded in the binding table at the time of receiving each packet. . A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for executing the streaming service control method of any one of claims 1, 2, 4 and 5 is recorded. delete

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