KR20100113758A - Apparatus and method for controlling contents download - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus and a method for controlling contents download are provided to output a guide message through OSD(On Screen Display) by measuring and judging the errors of contents offering server or network. CONSTITUTION: A communication device(18) is connected to a content offering server through a network. A storage unit(15) stores the contents offered from the content offering server. A generating device produces and outputs a guide message for announcing an error of the network or contents offering server. A control device(14) measures the download speed of the received contents as described above. If the download speed is under reference speed, the control device determines the error of the network or the content offering server.

Description

Apparatus and method for controlling contents download}

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling content download in various digital devices, such as a BD-Player with a network function.

Widely used video on demand (VOD) services, also called on-demand video services, include, for example, movies provided by a central content delivery server by a large number of users via a television or computer screen. It is a network content providing service for selecting VOD Titles for immediate viewing.

On the other hand, the V-audio service applies a streaming service method of receiving and playing content downloaded from the content providing server at the same time at the receiving side, and is used to order digitally transmitted movies and educational videos. It can be used for various aspects of network services such as viewing and video conferencing, and provides various functions such as pausing while users watch video, slow speed or repeated watching.

However, in order to normally provide such a VOD service in real time, a network infrastructure capable of transmitting and processing a large amount of video data at high speed is required.

On the other hand, for example, as shown in Figure 1, when the user is watching a video audio title, when a buffer under run (Buffer Under Run) occurs due to network failure, etc., the screen is abnormally paused In addition to being displayed, graphs for guiding the buffering state of video data are displayed for a long time, so that the user has to keep watching the abnormally paused standby screen until the buffer underrun or the network failure is cleared. have.

The present invention, for example, in the various types of digital devices equipped with the network function, by measuring and determining the download speed of the content, the estimated time to complete the download, and whether the network failure or the content providing server failure, and corresponding An apparatus and method for controlling download of content for outputting a guide message of an OSD image is provided.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a content download, the method comprising: measuring a download speed of a content provided from a content providing server, and outputting a guide message corresponding to a content below a preset reference speed; And determining a failure of the network or a failure of the content providing server, and outputting a corresponding guide message.

In addition, the first step, characterized in that for measuring the download rate for the content data of a predetermined packet unit set in advance,

The first step may include calculating a measured download speed and an estimated download completion time of content and outputting a corresponding guide message.

In addition, the step 2, the interface with at least one or more other content providing server to measure the download rate of the other content, if the measured download rate of the other content is less than the reference rate, the network failure If it is determined that the reference speed or more, characterized in that it is determined as a failure of the content providing server,

In addition, in the second step, if it is determined that the network failure or the content providing server is disturbed, a corresponding message is output and a data reproduction operation of the recording medium is performed.

The data reproducing operation of the recording medium may be performed according to a user's selection or automatically performed until the downloading of the content is completed.

In addition, the content download control apparatus according to the present invention, communication means for connecting and connecting to the content providing server via a network; Storage means for storing the content provided from the content providing server; Generating means for generating and outputting a guide message for guiding a failure of the network or a failure of a content providing server; And measuring means for measuring the download speed of the content received from the content providing server, and determining whether the network is broken or the content providing server has a failure when it is less than or equal to a preset reference speed.

In addition, the control means, characterized in that for measuring the download rate for the content data of a predetermined packet unit in advance,

In addition, the control means, after calculating the measured download speed and the estimated download completion time of the content, and the operation means for controlling the generating means, and outputs a corresponding guide message,

In addition, the control unit performs an interface with at least one other content providing server to measure the download rate of other content, and if the measured download rate of the other content is less than or equal to the reference speed, the network may be interrupted. If it is determined that the reference speed or more, characterized in that it is determined as a failure of the content providing server,

In addition, the control means, if it is determined that the failure of the network or the content providing server, the operation means for controlling the generating means, outputs a corresponding message corresponding to the operation, and performing the data reproduction operation of the recording medium. Features,

The data reproducing operation of the recording medium may be performed according to a user's selection or automatically performed until the downloading of the content is completed.

In the apparatus and method for controlling content download according to the present invention, for example, the user can accurately check the download speed of the content, the estimated time to complete the download, the cause of the download error, and the like. You don't have to watch for a long time.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a content download control apparatus and method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention can be applied to various types of digital devices equipped with a network function. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the network video player 100, which is one of the digital devices to which the present invention is applied, Optical disc 10, optical pickup 11, digital signal processor 12, decoder 13, CPI 14, buffer memory 15, OSD generator 16, storage 17, and network module 18 and the like can be configured to include.

Meanwhile, the network module 18 is connected to the content providing server 200 providing content such as a VOD title through a network such as the Internet, and then provided by the content providing server 200. The content is downloaded and temporarily stored in the buffer memory 15.

In addition, the decoder 13 performs a series of decoding operations in which content data temporarily stored in the buffer memory 15 is read, decoded into audio and video data, and reproduced, for example. The decoder 13 may be divided into a first decoder for decoding data read from the optical disc 10 and a second decoder for decoding data downloaded through the network module 18.

As the storage 17, various types of nonvolatile storage such as a hard disk (HDD) or a flash memory may be used, and the OSD generating unit 16 may use the CPI 14. According to the operation control of), the OSD image of various guide messages is generated and output.

For example, the CPI 14 monitors the data amount of the content temporarily stored in the buffer memory 15, and when the buffer underrun is insufficient to perform a normal decoding operation, the network module 18 is disconnected. The download speed of the data amount of a certain packet unit (eg 32 Kbytes) received through is measured.

In addition, based on the measured download speed, the download completion time of the content is calculated, for example, if it takes 10 seconds to download 32Kbyte, the download speed is measured as 3.2Kbyte / sec, After that, if the amount of data to be downloaded is 1536 Kbytes, the estimated time to complete the download is 8 minutes, that is, 480 seconds (= 1536 Kbytes / (3.2 Kbytes / sec)).

In addition, an operation of controlling the OSD generation unit 16 to output an OSD image of a guide message corresponding thereto, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the guide message includes a buffer underrun, A message is displayed that informs you of the download speed, the estimated time to complete the download, and so on.

On the other hand, in the CPI 14, after determining whether the occurrence of the buffer underrun or the like is the disabled of the content providing server or the disabled of the network, the operation control the OSD generating unit 16, and corresponding guidance The OSD image of the message is output, which will be described in detail below.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a content download control method according to the present invention. For example, the CPI 14 operates and controls the network module 18 according to a user's request. After connecting to the content providing server 200 providing the content, the content providing server 200 performs a series of content downloading and reproducing operations for downloading and reproducing the content provided by the content providing server to the buffer memory 15 (S10). ).

On the other hand, in the CPI 14, for example, when the amount of data temporarily stored in the buffer memory 15 is monitored and a buffer underrun occurs or when a predetermined period is set in advance, the network module 18 The download speed of the content data in a predetermined packet unit (for example, 32 Kbytes) received through is measured (S11).

If the measured download speed is equal to or less than a preset reference speed (S12), the CPI 14 downloads the content based on the measured download speed as described above with reference to FIG. 3. The expected completion time is calculated (S13).

In addition, by operating the OSD generator 16 to output an OSD image for guiding the measured download speed and the calculated download completion time, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 3. As described above, a message for guiding a buffer underrun, a download speed, a download completion time, and the like is displayed in the guide message (S14).

On the other hand, in the CPI 14, it is determined whether the occurrence of the buffer underrun or the like is a disability of the content providing server or a disability of the network. For example, the CPU 14 is connected to the first content providing server 200. If so, the CPI 14 operates and controls the network module 18 to connect and connect with any other content providing server, for example, the second content providing server 201.

And, after measuring the download rate for the content data of a certain packet unit provided by the second content providing server 201, if the measured download rate is more than the reference speed, the first content providing server 200 It is determined that there is a disorder (S15).

On the other hand, after measuring the download rate for the content data of a certain packet unit provided by the second content providing server 201, if the measured download rate is less than the reference rate, it is determined that there is a failure in the network ( S16).

That is, if the download rate of the first content providing server 200 is less than or equal to the reference speed and the download rate of the second content providing server 201 is greater than or equal to the reference speed, the first content providing server 200 is not a network failure. You will be judged.

If both the download rate of the first content providing server 201 and the download rate of the second content providing server 201 are equal to or less than a reference rate, the OS generation unit 16 is determined to be a network failure. The operation is controlled to output the OSD image of the corresponding guide message (S17).

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the guide message includes a message indicating whether a content server has failed (CP Server Error) and a network OK (Network OK). Inquiries may be displayed.

On the other hand, the playback of the video, in response to the failure of the content providing server, inquires whether to play the data recorded on the video while waiting, by the user's system environment settings, the data playback or storage ( 17) can be variably adjusted by data reproduction.

And, as shown in Figure 6, the guide message, along with a notice indicating that the normal (CP Server OK) of the content providing server and the network error (Network Error), inquiring whether or not to play BD (BD Play) A phrase may be displayed, and whether to play the video may be automatically determined by the user's selection or by the user's system configuration.

On the other hand, in the CPI 14, for example, when a video reproduction operation is requested in response to a user's key input (S18), the digital signal processor 12 and the decoder 13 are operated to control the video. In addition to performing a series of operations of reproducing the recorded data, the network module 15 is operated to perform the operation of downloading the contents (S19).

In the CPI 14, when the download operation is completed through the above process (S20), the data play operation of the video is stopped, and then the downloaded content is played back (S21). The video playback stop and content playback operations are performed by a user's key input or automatically performed according to a user's system environment setting.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. , Alteration, substitution, addition, or the like.

1 illustrates an embodiment of a general buffering standby screen.

Figure 2 shows the configuration of an embodiment for a network video player to which the present invention is applied,

3 illustrates an embodiment of a screen displaying a guide message of a download speed and completion time according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a content download control method according to the present invention;

5 and 6 illustrate an embodiment of a screen displaying a guide message for determining a failure according to the present invention.

[Description of Drawings]

10: optical disc 11: optical pickup

12 digital signal processor 13 decoder

14: CPI 15: Buffer Memory

16: OSD generation unit 17: storage

18: network module 100: network video player

200: content providing server

Claims (12)

Measuring a download speed of the content provided from the content providing server, and outputting a guide message corresponding to the preset speed below the preset reference speed; And And determining a failure of the network or a failure of the content providing server, and outputting a guide message corresponding thereto. The method of claim 1, The first step is the content download control method, characterized in that for measuring the download rate for the content data of a predetermined packet unit set in advance. 3. The method of claim 2, In the step 1, the download rate and the estimated download completion time of the content is calculated, and the content download control method, characterized in that for outputting a corresponding guide message. The method of claim 1, In step 2, an interface with at least one other content providing server is performed to measure a download speed of another content, If the measured download rate of the other content is less than the reference speed, it is determined that the network failure, and if it is above the reference speed, it is determined that the failure of the content providing server. The method of claim 4, wherein The second step, if it is determined that the network failure or the content providing server failure, outputs a guide message corresponding to the content download control method, characterized in that to perform the data reproduction operation of the recording medium. The method of claim 5, The data reproducing operation of the recording medium is performed according to a user's selection or automatically performed until the downloading of the content is completed. Communication means for connecting to a content providing server via a network; Storage means for storing the content provided from the content providing server; Generating means for generating and outputting a guide message for guiding a failure of the network or a failure of a content providing server; And And a control means for measuring a download speed of the content received from the content providing server and determining whether a network failure or a content providing server fails when the content rate is less than or equal to a preset reference speed. Download control unit. The method of claim 7, wherein The control means is a content download control device, characterized in that for measuring the download rate for the content data of a predetermined packet unit set in advance. The method of claim 8, The control means, after calculating the measured download rate and the estimated download completion time of the content, the operation means for controlling the generating means, and outputs a guide message corresponding thereto. The method of claim 7, wherein The control means performs an interface with at least one other content providing server to measure a download speed of other content, If the measured download rate of the other content is less than the reference speed, it is determined that the network failure, and if it is above the reference speed, it is determined that the content providing server failure. The method of claim 10, The control means, if it is determined that the failure of the network or the content providing server, the operation means for controlling the generating means, and outputs a corresponding guidance message, and characterized in that for performing the data reproduction operation of the recording medium. Content download control device. The method of claim 11, The data reproducing operation of the recording medium is performed according to a user's selection or automatically performed until the download of the content is completed.

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