KR101399746B1 - Method and apparatus for providing N-screen image - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses an apparatus and method for providing an N-screen image service. According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a video game system including a check module storage unit for storing a check module for checking status information of a video providing terminal connected through a network; A response information generation unit for generating response information using status information of the image providing terminal provided through the check module; And a communication unit for receiving an image transmitted from the image providing terminal based on the response information and transmitting the received image to an image using terminal.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing an N-screen image service,

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing an N-screen image service, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for verifying a real-time image through various devices.

In recent years, with the development of digital devices and network technologies, it is not too much to say that various devices and media do not have unique traits. As they mutually develop and evolve the merits of each other and evolve into convergence relationship, Ubiquitous, convergence, N-screen play - screen) are getting attention.

Initially N-Screen was defined as 3-screen, and 3-screen was the first advocacy of AT & T's Randall Stephenson at CTIA Wireless 2007, connecting TV, PC and mobile to the Internet, The term " seamless "

The N-Screen strategy is a trivergence model that integrates networks and contents by further advancing the convergence of devices such as TV, mobile, and PC, and captures three major screens at once.

As described above, the N-screen is an integrated concept of devices, networks, and contents in which content is simultaneously broadcasted to a broadcast terminal such as a TV, a mobile (mobile communication terminal), and a personal computer (PC). Therefore, N-SCREEN content should not be understood as the concept of simple digital content reproduction and change, and it should be understood that the network platform that can connect with various devices, the interaction type that uses contents in each device, Should be considered.

The conventional N-screen service is still in a state of being able to simultaneously distribute television contents to mobile or online, or to share the same contents.

Discloses content regarding the transfer of content between different media in the applicant's patent application No. 2010-0018174 (titled "3-screen service providing method and recording medium").

However, in the conventional application, only contents for moving the content through synchronization between the broadcasting terminal and the mobile terminal are disclosed, but no concrete method of transmitting and receiving the video contents in consideration of the characteristics of different devices is presented.

In order to solve the problems of the related art as described above, the present invention proposes a method and apparatus for providing an N-screen image service capable of providing smooth services considering network attributes and characteristics of heterogeneous devices connected to each other through a network.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing an N-screen image service, the apparatus comprising: a check module storage unit for storing a check module for checking status information of a video providing terminal connected through a network; ; A response information generation unit for generating response information using status information of the image providing terminal provided through the check module; And a communication unit for receiving an image transmitted from the image providing terminal based on the response information and transmitting the received image to an image using terminal.

The status information may be system resource information of the image providing terminal, and the response information generating unit may generate the response information using the system resource information and the network status.

The response information generation unit may generate the response information using the time at which the check module is transmitted and the time at which the status information was received.

The response information may be information on the image compression rate of the image providing terminal.

The check module is a virtual machine that allows the image providing terminal to add a predetermined number of images, and the image providing terminal can transmit the result of addition by the check module.

The video service providing apparatus according to the present invention stores at least one of identification information, location information, and explanatory information related to the video providing terminal, and stores at least one of identification information, authority information, and specification information of the video using terminal. register; And an encoding unit encoding the image using specification information of the image using terminal.

Information about a video providing terminal matched to the video using terminal is stored in advance, and when authentication of the video using terminal is completed, a list including information about one or more video providing terminals matched to the video using terminal in advance Can be provided.

An apparatus for providing a video service according to the present invention includes: an object recognition unit for recognizing an object in the image; And an object information extracting unit for extracting object information on the recognized object from the database.

The image may be an image captured by the image providing terminal in real time.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing an N-screen image service, the method comprising: requesting status information from a video providing terminal connected through a network; Transmitting response information according to status information provided from the image providing terminal to the image providing terminal; Receiving an image transmitted by the image providing terminal based on the response information; And transmitting the received image to an image using terminal.

According to the present invention, since the image is received in consideration of the state of the image providing terminal and the network state, the real time property of the image can be guaranteed.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an N-screen image providing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001]
FIG. 3 is a view showing an example screen of a list provided to an image using terminal according to the present embodiment; FIG.
4 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a transmission / reception control unit according to the present embodiment.
5 illustrates a detailed configuration of an object processing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of providing an N-screen image service according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate a thorough understanding of the present invention, the same reference numerals are used for the same means regardless of the number of the drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an N-screen image providing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1, the N-screen image service providing system according to the present embodiment includes an image providing server 100 and a database 102. The image providing server 100 includes a video providing terminal 100 110 and the image using terminal 112. [

The network may include the Internet, a wired network including a leased line, and a wireless network including a wireless Internet, a mobile communication network, a broadcasting network, and a satellite communication network.

The image providing terminal 110 may include a mobile communication terminal and a CCTV as a terminal having an image photographing function, and is not limited thereto. The image providing terminal 110 is connected to the image providing server 100 through a network, Any terminal capable of transmitting can be applied without limitation.

The image providing server 100 receives an image from the image providing terminal 110 at each position.

According to the present embodiment, the image providing server 100 can receive the image photographed in real time, rather than the image recorded from the image providing terminal 110. [

In this embodiment, the real-time image may be a moving image photographed at the current point in the area where the image providing terminal 110 is located.

The image providing server 100 receives the real time image from the image providing terminal 110 and transmits the real time image to the image using terminal 112 requesting the image at the predetermined position.

Here, the image using terminal 112 is a terminal that can request an image to the image providing server 100 and reproduce the image provided from the image providing server 100 through the network, and includes a mobile communication terminal, a TV capable of interacting, And the like.

According to the present embodiment, the image providing server 100 can store relevant information of the image providing terminal 110 and the image using terminal 112 in the database 102.

The related information of the image providing terminal 110 and the image using terminal 112 will be described later.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image providing server 100 receives images from the image providing terminal 110 in consideration of the network status and the state of the image providing terminal 110 so that real- do.

To this end, the image providing server 100 requests status information of the image providing terminal 110 before receiving the image, and generates response information according to the status information provided from the image providing terminal 110.

The image providing terminal 110 transmits the photographed image to the image providing server 110 based on the response information. Here, the response information may be information generated according to the network state and the state of the image providing terminal 110, and may be information on the image compressing rate of the image providing terminal 110.

According to the present exemplary embodiment, since transmission and reception of images are performed considering the status information between the image providing server 100 and the image providing terminal 110, it is possible to ensure fast transmission / reception of images even in environments where various image providing terminals 110 are provided can do.

2 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a video providing server according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2, the image providing server 100 according to the present embodiment includes a terminal registration unit 200, a communication unit 202, a transmission / reception control unit 204, an encoding unit 206, and an object processing unit 208 can do.

The terminal registration unit 200 registers related information of the image providing terminal 110 and the image using terminal 112 in the database 102. [

The related information of the image providing terminal 110 according to the present embodiment may include identification information of the image providing terminal 110, location information, and connection address information.

Meanwhile, the related information of the image using terminal 112 may include the identification information, the connection address information, and the specification information, and may further include the authority information of the image using terminal 112.

Here, the specification information may be information on the image resolution of the image using terminal 112.

In addition, the authority information may be information (ID / password) for user authentication of the image using terminal 112.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the terminal registration unit 200 can register the matching information of the image providing terminal 110 and the image using terminal 112 in the database 102.

According to the present embodiment, the image providing terminal 110 that can be used by the image using terminal 112 may be specified in advance.

For example, when providing a living monitoring service for a child to a parent, the video using terminal 112 may be a terminal possessed by a parent, and the video providing terminal 110 matched to the parent may be a CCTV or a teacher installed in the corresponding kindergarten And may be a mobile communication terminal possessed by the user.

According to the present embodiment, when the authentication of the user of the predetermined image using terminal 112 is completed, the image providing server 100 transmits the image using terminal 112 of the user to the image using terminal 112 via the communication unit 202, A list of available image providing terminals 110 can be provided. When the user selects one image providing terminal 110, the user receives the real time image from the image providing terminal 110 through the communication unit 202 and transmits the same to the image using terminal 112.

3 is a diagram showing an example screen of a list provided to the image using terminal 112 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the list provided to the image using terminal 112 may include information on the image providing terminals 110 available (matched) by the user of the image using terminal 112 .

For example, when the N-screen image service according to the present embodiment is used for monitoring the life of a child, the list according to the present embodiment may include location information such as kindergarten, school, attending school, And description information of the terminal 110 may be included.

Here, the explanation information of the image providing terminal 110 may be included in the list in the case where the image providing terminal 110 is a device installed in a fixed place such as a CCTV, but a device capable of photographing while moving.

For example, if the video providing terminal 110 is a teacher's mobile communication terminal belonging to a kindergarten, the descriptive information may include the name or half name (belonging information) As shown in FIG.

The user of the image using terminal 112 can directly select the location or the image providing terminal 110 and confirm the real time image at the corresponding location.

The transmission / reception control unit 204 according to the present embodiment checks the network state and the state of the image providing terminal 110 before receiving the real-time image from the image providing terminal 110. [

As shown in FIG. 4, the transmission / reception control unit 204 according to the present embodiment may include a check module storage unit 400 and a response information generation unit 402.

The check module storage unit 400 stores a check module for checking status information of the image providing terminal 110. Here, the status information of the image providing terminal 110 may be system resource information including the CPU and memory capacity of the image providing terminal 110.

The check module is transmitted to the image providing terminal 110 that is shooting the image through the communication unit 202.

The check module according to the present embodiment is a module for allowing the image providing terminal 110 to add a predetermined number, and preferably, any system can be a JAVA-based virtual machine coded in a usable language.

Upon receiving the check module, the image providing terminal 110 adds a preset number and transmits the addition result value.

The response information generation unit 402 generates response information using the received addition result value.

For example, the check module may be a module for adding numbers from 1 to 1 million. After completing the addition operation, the image providing terminal 110 transmits the addition result value to the image providing server 100. Here, the addition result value may be information on the state of the image providing terminal 110.

According to this embodiment, the response information generation unit 402 generates response information using the difference between the time when the check module is transmitted and the time when the addition result value is received (hereinafter, referred to as 'feedback time').

The feedback time may vary depending on the network conditions and the system resources of the image providing terminal 110.

The response information generation unit 402 generates response information using the feedback time. The response information may include information about the compression rate of the image providing terminal 110.

That is, the image providing server 100 controls the image providing terminal 110 to transmit images at different compression ratios according to the network status and system resources.

For example, if the feedback time is short, the image providing server 100 may generate the response information regarding the compression ratio of 256 bps and transmit the response information to the image providing terminal 110. If the feedback time is long, Information to the image providing terminal 110.

Accordingly, the image providing terminal 110 encodes the image using the compression rate provided from the image providing server 100, and transmits the encoded image to the image providing server 100.

When the network condition is poor or the system resources are insufficient, the image quality is lowered and the real time image is transmitted. This ensures that the image captured by the image providing terminal 110 is transmitted to the image using terminal 112 within a short period of time.

The image provided from the image providing terminal 110 may be stored in the database 102 of the image providing server 100.

The encoding unit 206 encodes the received image according to specification information of the image using terminal 112.

The specification information of the image using terminal 112 may be stored in advance in the database 102 at the time of registration.

Meanwhile, the object processing unit 208 according to the present embodiment allows the user of the image using terminal 112 to easily identify the object included in the image.

5 is a detailed block diagram of an object processing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5, the object processing unit 208 according to the present embodiment may include an object recognition unit 500 and an object information extraction unit 502.

The object recognition unit 500 recognizes an object in the image received from the image providing terminal 110.

For example, in the case of a child monitoring service, the object recognition unit 500 detects a child in an image.

The object information to be recognized (for example, facial feature point information) may be stored in advance in the database 102, and the object recognizing unit 500 recognizes a predetermined object in the image using the object related information.

Preferably, the object recognition unit 500 may perform the object recognition process when the amount of change between the frames of the image is small.

The object information extracting unit 502 extracts object information recognized in the database 102.

Here, the object information may be the name of the object.

According to the present embodiment, when there are a plurality of objects in the real-time image, only the object information matched to the image-using terminal 112 can be selectively extracted.

That is, when the user of the image using terminal 112 is a parent, object information on the child of the parent is extracted in the image.

The extracted object information may be arranged at the position of the corresponding object in the image, and the encoding unit 206 encodes the object information and the image together.

Accordingly, the user of the image using terminal 112 can easily check the desired object in the provided image.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of providing an N-screen image service according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, the image providing server 100 registers the image providing terminal 110 and the image using terminal 112 in the database 102 (step 600).

If a video request is received from the video using terminal 112 (step 602), the video providing server 100 transmits the check module to the video providing terminal 110 (step 604).

The image providing terminal 110 performs an add operation according to the check module and transmits the addition result value to the image providing server 100 (step 606).

The image providing server 100 generates response information using the difference between the time when the check module is transmitted and the time when the addition result is received, and transmits the response information to the image providing terminal 110 (step 608).

The response information according to the present embodiment may include information about the compression rate in the image providing terminal 110 in which the image should be provided.

The image providing terminal 110 encodes the captured or previously stored image based on the received response information and transmits it to the image providing server 100 (step 610).

The image providing server 100 encodes the received real time image according to the specification information of the image using terminal 112 (step 612), and transmits the encoded image to the image using terminal 112 (step 614).

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The appended claims are to be considered as falling within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (10)

An apparatus for providing an N-screen image service,
A check module storage unit for storing a check module for checking system resource information of a video providing terminal connected through a network;
A response information generation unit for generating response information using the system resource information of the image providing terminal and the status of the network provided through the check module;
And a communication unit for receiving an image transmitted from the image providing terminal based on the response information and transmitting the received image to an image using terminal,
Wherein the response information generating unit generates the response information using the time of transmitting the check module and the time of receiving the system resource information. delete delete The method according to claim 1,
The response information includes:
Screen video service providing apparatus according to claim 1, The method according to claim 1,
The check module is a virtual machine for allowing the image providing terminal to add a predetermined number,
And the image providing terminal transmits the result of addition by the check module. The method according to claim 1,
A terminal registration unit storing at least one of identification information, location information, and explanatory information related to the image providing terminal and registering at least one of identification information, authority information, and specification information of the image using terminal; And
And an encoding unit encoding the image using specification information of the image using terminal. The method according to claim 1,
Information about a video providing terminal matched to the video using terminal is stored in advance, and when authentication of the video using terminal is completed, a list including information about one or more video providing terminals matched to the video using terminal in advance Screen video service providing apparatus. The method according to claim 1,
An object recognition unit for recognizing an object in the image; And
And an object information extracting unit for extracting object information on the recognized object from the database. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the video is a video shot by the video providing terminal in real time. A method for providing an N-screen image service,
Requesting system resource information to a video providing terminal connected through a network;
Transmitting system resource information provided from the image providing terminal and response information according to a state of the network to the image providing terminal;
Receiving an image transmitted by the image providing terminal based on the response information; And
And transmitting the received image to an image using terminal,
Wherein the response information is generated using a time of transmitting a check module for checking system resource information of the image providing terminal and a time when the system resource information is received.

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