KR20060124045A - Method and apparatus for receiving electronic program guide - Google Patents

Abstract

An EPG(Electronic Program Guide) receiving apparatus and a method therefor are provided to efficiently judge whether the reception of EPG data whose size is not uniform is completed. A data receiving unit(210) receives partial data of EPG data through a communication network from a certain EPG providing server. A temporary storing unit(220) stores the received partial data of the EPG data. A checksum calculating unit(230) calculates a checksum for the partial data of the EPG data stored in the temporary storing unit(220) at a uniform time interval. A receiving completion judging unit(240) judges whether the checksum calculated for the partial data of the EPG data is identical to a checksum calculated just before the calculation, and judges the receiving completion of the EPG data.

Description

Electronic program guide receiving device and method thereof {Method And Apparatus For Receiving Electronic Program Guide}

1 is a diagram illustrating a network connection relationship of an electronic program guide receiving device according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the internal configuration of the electronic program guide receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of electronic program guide data according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process of receiving an electronic program guide according to the present invention.

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

200: electronic program guide receiving device

210: data receiving unit 220: temporary storage unit

230: checksum calculation unit 240: reception completion determination unit

250: EPG storage unit 260: EPG control unit

270: foreground processing unit 280: background processing unit

The present invention relates to an electronic program guide receiving device and a method thereof, and more particularly, to calculating a checksum for partial data of electronic program guide data received at predetermined time intervals in receiving electronic program guide data. An apparatus and method for determining completion of reception of data.

Various types of broadcasting services, such as satellite DMB services, which provide various multimedia signals such as voice and video to digitally fixed, portable, and vehicle terminals, are being implemented and prepared. Satellite DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) service is a service that allows users to receive a variety of broadcast programs regardless of location by providing a broadcast program through a mobile terminal.

In addition, the digital broadcasting service includes an EPG service, which is an abbreviation of Electronic Program Guide and is called an "electronic program guide." The EPG is a means for assisting the user in selecting a program by providing the user with various additional information about the broadcast program, such as the time and title of the broadcast program. However, in storing the EPG information in the terminal, there is a problem that the completion of the reception of the EPG data is unknown because the data amount of the EPG information is not determined. In addition, when the EPG information is stored, there is a problem that it takes a long time to store in real time. To this end, although the prior art has delivered EPG information to a terminal with a certain size, the size of the EPG information is difficult to predict due to the recent emergence of various broadcasting services, and a more efficient way of delivering EPG information to the terminal. This is required.

In addition, in the related art, when a terminal receiving broadcast data is a mobile terminal, EPG information is stored in a flash memory of the mobile terminal. However, in the case of the flash memory, since it takes a long time to store the data after the reception of the EPG data is completed, there is a problem that the EPG data cannot be stored in real time. Therefore, in this case, there is a problem in that the user must wait without performing other work until the storage of the EPG data is completed.

The present invention has been made to improve the above-described prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method that can efficiently determine whether or not the reception of electronic program guide data whose data size is not constant.

In addition, the present invention allows a user to select a foreground update or a background update when the EPG data is not stored in real time while storing the EPG data in the flash memory of the mobile terminal. It is an object of the user to store EPG data in a flash memory while using other services so that the user can use other services while storing the EPG data.

In order to achieve the above object and solve the problems of the prior art, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus according to the present invention is a data receiving unit for receiving the partial data of the electronic program guide data from a predetermined electronic program guide providing server through a communication network, the receiving A temporary storage unit for storing partial data of the electronic program guide data, a checksum calculator for calculating a checksum for the partial data of the electronic program guide data stored in the temporary storage unit at regular time intervals, and the electronic program guide. And a reception completion determination unit that determines whether the checksum calculated for the partial data of the data is the same as the checksum calculated immediately before, and determines completion of reception of the electronic program guide data.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention;

1 is a diagram illustrating a network connection relationship of an electronic program guide receiving device according to the present invention.

The electronic program receiving apparatus 110 checks the electronic program guide data, and when the electronic program guide data is not stored or the electronic program guide data is stored before a predetermined time, the electronic program guide providing server 120 transmits the electronic program to the electronic program guide providing server 120. Send the command to receive the guide data. The electronic program guide (EPG) data is additional information about a broadcast program, and includes time information, a title, a description of a program content, and the like. In addition, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 may be installed and used in various broadcast receiving apparatuses such as a television, a vehicle terminal, and a mobile communication terminal.

The electronic program guide providing server 120 receives an electronic program guide data receiving command from the electronic program guide receiving device 110. In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic program guide providing server 120 to provide electronic program guide data in a satellite or terrestrial DMB service, it may be installed in a satellite or terrestrial transmission station. The electronic program guide providing server 120 stores and manages electronic program guide data in a database. The electronic program guide providing server 120 identifies the electronic program guide receiving device 110 for which the electronic program guide is to be received, and transmits the electronic program guide data to the identified electronic program guide receiving device 110. When transmitting the electronic program guide data, the electronic program guide providing server 110 may divide the electronic program guide data into one or more pieces of partial data and transmit the divided data.

The electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 receives first partial data about electronic program guide data from the electronic program guide providing server 120 through a communication network. The electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 calculates a checksum of the first partial data of the received electronic program guide data and compares the checksum with the checksum of the second partial data stored in the memory. The second partial data is partial data of the electronic program guide data received immediately before the first partial data is received. For example, when the partial data A and the partial data B are sequentially received from the electronic program data, the second partial data becomes the partial data A, and the first partial data becomes the partial data B. Accordingly, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 calculates and stores a checksum for the second partial data, which is received first, in a memory, and receives the first partial data, and then checks the checksum for the first partial data. Calculate and compare with the second partial data. When the checksum of the first partial data and the checksum of the second partial data are not the same, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 may determine that the electronic program guide data to be received remains. Therefore, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 receives the partial data for the remaining electronic program guide data, calculates a checksum, and then repeatedly compares the checksum of the received partial data. That is, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 receives the third partial data of the electronic program guide data from the electronic program guide providing server 120, calculates a checksum, and compares the checksum with the first partial data.

If the compared checksum is the same, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 determines that there is no electronic program guide data to be received anymore, and completes the reception of the electronic program guide data. The electronic program guide receiving apparatus 110 stores the electronic program guide data as a file in a predetermined EPG storage unit.

Therefore, the present invention enables to efficiently determine whether or not the reception of electronic program guide data whose data size is not constant is completed.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the internal configuration of the electronic program guide receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

The electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 may include a data receiver 210, a temporary storage unit 220, a checksum calculator 230, a reception completion determination unit 240, an EPG storage unit 250, an EPG control unit 260, The foreground processor 270 and the background processor 280 are included.

The EPG controller 260 checks the electronic program guide data when the user is selected to use the electronic program guide service. That is, the EPG control unit 260 checks whether the electronic program guide data is stored in the EPG storage unit 250. The EPG controller 260 may instruct the data receiver 210 to receive the electronic program guide data when the electronic program guide data is not stored or when the stored time of the stored electronic program guide data is earlier than the current time. In addition, the EPG controller 260 may query the user whether the reception method of the electronic program guide data is to be performed as a foreground task or a background task. The EPG control unit 260 controls to receive the electronic program guide data by the selected reception method.

When the EPG controller 260 receives the foreground reception method from the user, the EPG controller 260 controls to receive the electronic program guide data from the electronic program guide providing server 120 through the foreground processor 270. The foreground processor 270 may display the reception state of the electronic program guide data on a screen in real time, so that the user may check the reception state of the electronic program guide data. Therefore, the user can confirm completion of reception of the electronic program guide data through the screen.

On the other hand, when the user wants to receive the electronic program guide data while using the electronic program guide service or while using another service, the EPG controller 260 controls to receive the electronic program guide data through the background processor 280. do. The background processor 280 controls to perform the operations of the data receiver 210, the temporary storage unit 220, the checksum calculator 230, and the reception completion determiner 240 in the background. That is, the background processor 280 is not visible on the screen, but controls to receive the electronic program guide data from the electronic program guide providing server 120 and store the received electronic program guide data in the temporary storage unit 220. do. If it is determined by the reception completion determination unit 240 that the reception of the electronic program guide data is completed and the service currently being used by the user is not terminated, the background processing unit 280 waits for the termination of the service and then ends the service. If not, the user is notified of the update of the electronic program guide data.

The data receiving unit 210 receives partial data of the electronic program guide data from the electronic program guide providing server 120 through a communication network in response to the electronic program guide data receiving command transmitted to the electronic program guide providing server 120. The data receiver 210 receives the first partial data of the electronic program guide data divided into one or more partial data for the electronic program guide data from the electronic program guide providing server 120.

The temporary storage unit 220 stores partial data of the received electronic program guide data. Hereinafter, the electronic program guide data will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of electronic program guide data according to the present invention.

The electronic program guide data 300 may be divided into one or more pieces of partial data 301 and 302. The second partial data 301 is earlier than the first partial data 302. The electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 receives the partial data 301, 302 of the electronic program guide data 300 divided into one or more partial data 301, 302, thereby checking the sums of the partial data 301, 302. In this way, it is possible to efficiently check the completion of the reception of the electronic program guide data (300).

The checksum calculator 230 calculates a checksum of the partial data of the electronic program guide data stored in the temporary storage unit 220 at regular time intervals. For example, the checksum calculator 230 calculates a checksum of the second partial data 301 of the electronic program guide data. A checksum calculates the number of bits of the received data and detects an error of the received data. According to the present invention, the checksum of the second partial data 301 received immediately before is compared with the checksum of the first partial data 302 received next. 1) The checksum of the second partial data 301 and the first partial data ( If the checksum of 302 is not the same, it is determined that data to be continuously received is left. 2) If the checksum of the second partial data 301 and the checksum of the first partial data 302 are the same, the data to be received next is It is judged that there is no and used to judge the completion of data reception. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the checksum may use a CRC 32 checksum. Therefore, the checksum calculator 230 may continuously calculate the checksum for the partial data in the partial data temporarily stored in the temporary storage unit 220.

The reception completion determination unit 240 determines whether the checksum calculated for the first partial data 302 of the electronic program guide data 300 is the same as the checksum of the second partial data 301 calculated immediately before, and then determines the electronic program guide. The reception of the data 300 is determined. The reception completion determination unit 240 determines the electronic program when the checksum calculated for the first partial data 302 of the electronic program guide data 300 is not the same as the checksum of the second partial data 301 calculated immediately before. Still other data of the electronic program guide data 300 is received from the guide providing server 120. However, when the checksum of the first partial data 302 is the same as the checksum of the second partial data 301 calculated immediately before, the reception completion determination unit 240 determines the reception completion of the electronic program guide data 300. . The reception completion determination unit 240 may notify a user whether the reception of the electronic program guide data 300 is completed through a predetermined display module.

The EPG storage unit 250 stores the electronic program guide data 300 as a file when the reception completion determination unit 240 determines that the reception of the electronic program guide data 300 is completed.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process of receiving an electronic program guide according to the present invention.

First, in step 401, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 receives an electronic program guide service from a user and checks the electronic program guide. That is, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200, in response to the selection, when the time information associated with the electronic program guide data stored in the EPG storage unit 250 is earlier than the current time, the electronic program guide providing server 120 To receive the electronic program guide data.

In operation 402, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 transmits the electronic program guide data receiving command to the electronic program guide providing server 120. The electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 may receive a selection from the electronic program guide providing server 120 to receive the electronic program guide data in the foreground or in the background.

In step 403, the electronic program guide providing server 120 transmits first partial data for the electronic program guide data.

In step 404 and step 405, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 stores first partial data 302 for the electronic program guide data received from the electronic program guide providing server 120 in a memory. A checksum is calculated for the first partial data of the electronic program guide data.

In operation 406, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 receives the first partial data 302 and compares it with a checksum of the second partial data 301 stored in the memory. If the checksum of the first partial data 302 and the checksum of the second partial data 301 are not the same, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 repeatedly performs steps 403 to 406. Perform.

In operation 407, when the checksum of the first partial data and the checksum of the second partial data are the same as the comparison result, the electronic program guide receiving apparatus 200 completes the reception of the electronic program guide data and completes the reception. The electronic program guide data is stored in the EPG storage unit 250.

The method for providing an electronic program guide according to the present invention may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer means and recorded in a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. Program instructions recorded on the media may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, and magnetic disks, such as floppy disks. Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. The medium may be a transmission medium such as an optical or metal wire, a waveguide, or the like including a carrier wave for transmitting a signal specifying a program command, a data structure, or the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention, and vice versa.

The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention.

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described so far, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the claims below, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently determine whether the reception of the electronic program guide data whose data size is not constant is completed.

According to the present invention, when the EPG data is not stored in real time while the EPG data is stored in the flash memory of the mobile terminal, the user may select the foreground update or the background update. In this case, by storing the EPG data in the flash memory while the user uses another service, the user can use the other service while storing the EPG data.

As described above, the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which can be variously modified and modified by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Modifications are possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only by the claims set forth below, and all equivalent or equivalent modifications thereof will belong to the scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

In the electronic program guide receiving device, A data receiving unit for receiving partial data of electronic program guide data from a predetermined electronic program guide providing server through a communication network; A temporary storage unit storing partial data of the received electronic program guide data; A checksum calculator configured to calculate a checksum of the partial data of the electronic program guide data stored in the temporary storage unit at regular time intervals; And A reception completion determination unit for determining whether the checksum calculated for the partial data of the electronic program guide data is the same as the checksum calculated immediately before, to determine the reception completion of the electronic program guide data; Electronic program guide receiving device comprising a. The method of claim 1, An EPG storage unit for storing the electronic program guide data in a file when the reception completion determination unit determines that the electronic program guide data has been received; Electronic program guide receiving device further comprises. The method of claim 2, EPG control unit for instructing reception of electronic program guide data in the data receiving unit when the electronic program guide data is not stored in the EPG storage unit or the electronic program guide data stored in the EPG storage unit is stored before a predetermined time. Electronic program guide receiving device further comprises. The method of claim 3, And the EPG control unit inquires of a user whether to receive the electronic program guide data as a foreground task or a background task. The method of claim 1, The operation of the data receiving unit, the temporary storage unit, the checksum calculating unit and the reception completion determining unit is performed in the background, and the reception completion determining unit determines that the reception of the electronic program guide data is completed and is currently used by the user. If the service is not terminated, the background processing unit waits for the termination of the service and notifies the user of the update of the electronic program guide data when the service is terminated. Electronic program guide receiving device further comprises. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the checksum calculated by the checksum calculator is a CRC32 checksum. In the electronic program guide receiving device, A data receiver configured to receive first partial data and second partial data of electronic program guide (EPG) data from an electronic program guide providing server; A checksum for the first partial data of the received electronic program guide data is calculated and stored in a predetermined memory, a checksum for the second partial data of the received electronic program guide data is calculated and a first portion stored in the memory A checksum calculator for comparing the checksum of the data; A reception controller configured to complete reception of the electronic program guide data when a checksum of the first partial data and a checksum of the second partial data are the same as a result of the comparison; And EPG storage unit for storing the received electronic program guide data Electronic program guide receiving device comprising a. In the method for receiving an electronic program guide, A first step of receiving first partial data on the electronic program guide (EPG) data from the electronic program guide providing server; A second step of calculating a checksum of the first partial data of the received electronic program guide data and comparing the checksum of the second partial data stored in the memory; Repeatedly performing first to second steps when the checksum of the first partial data and the checksum of the second partial data are not the same as a result of the comparison; When the checksum of the first partial data is the same as the checksum of the second partial data, completing the reception of the electronic program guide data; And Storing the received electronic program guide data in a predetermined EPG storage unit. Electronic program guide receiving method comprising a. The method of claim 8, Receiving an electronic program guide service from a user; And In response to the selection, when the time information associated with the electronic program guide data stored in the EPG storage unit is earlier than a current time, receiving first partial data about the electronic program guide data from the electronic program guide providing server. step Electronic program guide receiving method comprising a. The method of claim 8, And a reception method of receiving the electronic program guide (EPG) data in the foreground or the background from the electronic program guide providing server by the user. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of claims 8 to 10.

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