WO2011095118A1

WO2011095118A1 - Method, apparatus and system for processing network time shift

Info

Publication number: WO2011095118A1
Application number: PCT/CN2011/070771
Authority: WO
Inventors: 孙兵; 杨佩林
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2010-02-05
Filing date: 2011-01-28
Publication date: 2011-08-11
Also published as: CN102149021A; CN102149021B

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, apparatus and system for processing a network time shift, relate to the communication field, and enable a switch from a unicast transmission manner to a multicast transmission manner after a time shift, so as to reduce the system width cost and improve the system performance. The method of the invention includes the following steps: according to the time and/or location information needed for playing media streams when a time shift occurs in a user terminal, a time shift server determines whether to switch a media stream corresponding to a time shift playing request message from a unicast transmission to a multicast transmission, if yes, increases the unicast transmission rate of sending the media stream to said user terminal, and sends a time shift request response message to said user terminal; said user terminal obtains the rate of playing the media stream according to the response message, and plays the media stream according to said rate; when the unicast transmission progress is consistent with the multicast transmission progress of said media stream, said media stream is switched to a multicast manner and transmitted to said user terminal.

Description

Network time shift processing method, device and system

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, device and system for processing network time shift. Background technique

Video services such as IPTV (Internet TV) are becoming more and more popular. The advantage of these video services is that they can allow users to pause, fast forward, rewind and other functions when receiving video services, and provide users with an interactive feeling. Brought a new video experience. These features are often referred to as Time-Shifted for video services.

At present, there are basically two methods for implementing the time shift function. One is based on the terminal device to implement network time shift processing, and the other is based on network device to implement network time shift processing. The video terminal device has a large-capacity storage space, and the video terminal stores the received video service into a large-capacity storage space, and the user passes through the storage space. Get the video stream to play the normal video service after the time shift function such as pause, fast forward or fast reverse. The network time-shifting processing based on the network device is implemented based on unicast. After the user enters the pause, fast forward or fast rewind, the server needs to establish a unicast transmission channel for each time-shifted user terminal. The unicast transmission mode transmits the corresponding video code stream to the corresponding user terminal, thereby realizing the playback of the normal video service after the time shift function such as pause, fast forward or fast reverse.

In the process of implementing the network time shift described above, the inventors have found that at least the following problems exist in the prior art: When the time shift processing based on the terminal device is adopted, the terminal is required to support a large-capacity storage space first, and the terminal is added. Cost; secondly, the terminal can only time shift the video it has received, that is, if the terminal does not store the video content, it cannot realize time shifting; when using the network device to implement time shift processing, based on unicast transmission Features, as the number of time-shifted users increases, so does the system bandwidth consumption, and system performance is greatly reduced. Summary of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, device, and system for processing network time shift, which solve the terminal The time-shift and unicast network time-shifting defects enable multicast services (such as BTV services) to be switched from unicast transmission mode to multicast transmission mode after time shifting, thereby reducing system bandwidth consumption and improving system performance. It can also realize the time shifting process of seamless switching of media streams of time-shifted services (including unicast time-shifted services and multicast time-shifted services).

In order to achieve the above object, the embodiment of the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

A method for processing network time shifts, including:

Receiving a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the user terminal time shift occurs;

Determining whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift request play message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission according to time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the time shift occurs;

If it is determined that the media stream is switched from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, and according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, The user terminal sends a time-shift playback response message, where the response message includes operation indication information; and the media stream is transmitted to the user terminal by unicast;

And when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, the media stream is transmitted to the user terminal by multicast.

A method for network time shift processing, comprising:

Receiving a time shift play response message sent by the time shift server, where the response message includes operation indication information;

Obtaining a play rate of the played media stream according to the operation indication information;

The media stream is played at the playback rate.

A method for processing network time shifts, including:

Receiving a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the time shift play request message includes a sequence number of the requesting media stream when the user terminal time shift occurs;

Determining, according to the sequence number, a start position of the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message; transmitting the media stream from the serial number to the user terminal by using unicast.

A method for network time shift processing, comprising:

Determining, by the user terminal, whether the time shift time of the user terminal is within a short time shift range when the time shift occurs; And if the time shift time is within the short time shift range, sending a time shift play request message to the short time shift server, and performing network time shift processing by the short time shift server;

If the time shift time exceeds the short time shift range, a time shift play request is sent to the long time shift server, and the network time shift processing is implemented by the long time shift server.

A time-shifting server, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the user terminal time shift occurs;

a determining unit, configured to determine, according to time and/or location information that the media stream needs to be played when the time shift occurs, to determine whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission;

a first adjusting unit, configured to: when the determining unit determines to switch the media stream from a unicast transmission to a multicast transmission, improve a unicast transmission rate of sending the media stream to the user terminal;

a sending unit, configured to send a time shift request response message to the user terminal according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the response message includes operation indication information;

a transmitting unit, configured to transmit the media stream to the user terminal by using unicast;

And a switching unit, configured to: when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, transmit the media stream to the user terminal by using multicast.

A network time shift processing system, comprising:

a user terminal, configured to send a time shift play request message to the time shift server, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the time shift occurs of the user terminal;

a time shift server, configured to receive a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the user terminal time shift occurs; according to the user terminal The time and/or location information of the media stream needs to be played when the shift occurs, determining whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift request play message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission; if it is determined that the media stream is transmitted from unicast Switching to the multicast transmission, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, and the time shift play request message is sent to the user terminal according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where The response message includes operation indication information; transmitting the media stream to the user terminal by unicast; when the unicast transmission process and the media stream are multicasted into the When the processes are consistent, the media stream is transmitted to the user terminal by multicast;

The user terminal is further configured to: receive a time shift play response message sent by the time shift server, where the response message includes operation indication information; and acquire, according to the operation indication information, a play rate of the media stream played by the user terminal; The media stream is played at the playback rate.

After the user equipment is used, after the user terminal moves the video service, the user terminal sends a time shift play request to the time shift server, and the time shift server determines whether the time shift request play message is corresponding. The media stream is switched from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission, and if so, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, The media stream is transmitted to the user terminal through multicast, and the transmission mode of the media stream after the time shift of the multicast service can be switched from unicast transmission to multicast transmission, thereby reducing system bandwidth consumption and improving system performance. And the time shifting server further sends operation indication information to the user terminal, so that the user terminal acquires a play rate of playing the media stream according to the operation indication information, and plays the media stream according to the play rate. Therefore, the normal play of the media stream after the time shift of the user terminal occurs is realized. DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only It is a certain embodiment of the present invention, and other drawings can be obtained from those skilled in the art without any creative work.

1 is a flowchart of a method for time-shift processing of a server-side network in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of a method for time-shift processing of a network on a user terminal side according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a flowchart of operations for time-shifting a network for time-shifted in a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the operation of the network time shift processing of the fast forward or fast reverse time shift; FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the network time shift processing of the pause time shift in the fourth embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is the fourth embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the composition of a server in a fast forward or fast reverse time shift; FIG.

8 is a block diagram showing the composition of another server in Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

9 is a block diagram showing the composition of a user terminal according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention; 10 is a block diagram showing the composition of another user terminal according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

Figure 11 is a block diagram showing the system composition of network time shift processing in Embodiment 5 of the present invention. detailed description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative work are within the scope of the present invention.

Example 1

The embodiment of the invention provides a processing method for network time shifting. As shown in FIG. 1, the method includes:

101. Receive a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information required to play the media stream when the user terminal time shift occurs.

The time and/or location information of the media stream is required to be played when the time shift occurs, and the time and/or location of the media stream requested to be played after the pause is ended in the pause state, or fast forward or fast forward in the fast forward/rewind mode The time and/or location of the media stream requested to be played after the rewinding ends; the time and/or location information required to play the media stream when the time shift occurs may be, but is not limited to, required by the user terminal when the time shift occurs Media time during which media stream is normally played (media time includes relative time or absolute time of media stream playback) and/or media location, or media frame location information, or time of requesting received media stream or location of media stream requesting reception , or the serial number of the media stream that is requested to be received, the serial number may be RTP (Rea l -t ime Transpor t Prot oco l , real-time transport protocol), the serial number 'J number, TCP (Transmi ss ion Cont rol Protocol, transmission control) Protocol) serial number, MPEG2-TS (MPEG2 Transpor t S ream, MPEG2 Transport Stream Protocol) serial number 'J number, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol, Text Transfer Protocol) sequence number or other media stream can be determined the position information and the like.

Further, when the position information of the normal play is a serial number, the media stream starting from the serial number must be capable of being independently demultiplexed and independently decoded, if the media stream starting from the serial number cannot be independently demultiplexed. And independent decoding, should also be able to be demultiplexed and decoded when combined with previously received media streams in the user terminal's storage space. For example, for a video media stream (I 1B2B3P4B5P10B11B12P13B12B15), if the video terminal does not receive the message from the header of the II frame, then from a certain part of the message of the II frame to the B15 frame message, the video The terminal cannot decode properly. That is, if the location information normally broadcasted by the user terminal to the server is the media serial number information, and is any packet from the beginning of a certain part of the II frame to the middle of the B15 frame message. For the serial number, the video terminal must ensure that there is a message from the head of the 11 frames, or there is a reference frame that has been decoded in the video buffer, so that the decoding can be smoothly performed.

102. Determine, according to the time and/or location information of the media stream that is required to play the time when the user terminal moves, to determine whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift request broadcast message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission; If the media stream is switched from unicast transmission to multicast transmission, step 103 is performed, otherwise the requested media stream is sent to the user terminal by unicast.

When the server receives the time and/or location information of the media stream when the time shift occurs, it is determined according to the information whether the media stream needs to be switched from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission after the time shift, that is, It is said that if the time shift range requested by the user terminal is within the time shift range of the server configured to switch from unicast back to multicast, the user is notified to switch back to multicast from unicast, otherwise the media stream is transmitted in unicast mode after time shift. Generally, if the time shift requested by the user terminal is short, it is necessary to switch back to multicast from unicast, which can save bandwidth; if the time shift requested by the user terminal is long, in this case, catch up by unicast. The multicast mode takes a long time, so there is no need to switch back to multicast from unicast mode.

103. The unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, so that the unicast transmission rate of the sending media stream is greater than the multicast transmission rate before the time shift occurs, and is played according to the time shift sent by the user terminal. The request message sends a time shift play response message to the user terminal, where the response message includes operation indication information.

If the time shift range requested by the user terminal is sufficient to switch from unicast to multicast, the operation indication information includes: the user terminal plays the play information of the media stream and/or the server transmits the transmission information of the media stream by using unicast, where The playback information includes a playback rate of the media stream played by the terminal, where the transmission information includes a transmission rate of the media stream by unicast transmission. The transmission rate of the unicast transmission of the media stream depends on the performance of the time shifting server, the network state and the time shift buffer size of the user terminal, the remaining buffer size, and the information that needs to be accelerated. For example, if the remaining buffer is relatively large, the accelerated transmission of the media stream can be used immediately, and the transmission speed can be large. If the remaining buffer is small, the rate of the transmitted media stream is increased to avoid receiving the media stream. Time-lapse buffer is lost; wait until the user terminal accelerates playback and consumes a certain media stream, so that the user terminal has a large time-shift buffer After that, the rate at which the media stream is sent is further increased.

104. The media stream is transmitted to the user terminal by using unicast.

105. When the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, the media stream is transmitted to the user terminal by multicast.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a processing method for network time shifting. As shown in FIG. 2, the method includes:

201. The user terminal receives a time shift play response message sent by the time shift server, where the response message includes operation indication information.

The operation indication information includes: the terminal playing the playback information of the media stream and/or the transmission information of the media stream by the server by using the unicast, wherein the playback information includes a playback rate of the media stream played by the terminal, where The transmission information includes a transmission rate of the unicast transmission of the media stream.

202. The user terminal acquires a play rate of playing the media stream according to the operation indication information.

203. Play the media stream according to the play rate.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the user terminal moves after watching the video service occurs, the user terminal sends a time shift play request to the time shift server, and the schematic server determines whether the time shift request message pair should be played. The media stream is switched from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission, and if so, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, Transmitting the media stream to the user terminal by multicast, and realizing that the multicast service can be switched from the unicast transmission mode to the multicast transmission mode after time shifting, thereby reducing system bandwidth consumption and improving system performance; The time shifting server further sends the operation indication information to the user terminal, and the user terminal acquires the playing rate of the media stream according to the operation indication information, and plays the media stream according to the playing rate, thereby realizing the user. Normal playback of the media stream after the terminal time shift occurs.

Example 2

The embodiment of the invention provides a processing method for network time shifting. In the embodiment of the present invention, when the user watches the multicast video service, the time shift caused by the pause is taken as an example, and the processing method of the network time shift is specifically illustrated, as shown in FIG. 3 . As shown, the method includes:

301. The user terminal sends a pause request message to the server, where the pause request message includes a pause. Time and/or location information. The pause request message may be, but not limited to, PATS-R (Pause Time Shifted Reques t).

If the user terminal pauses for a short time, that is, immediately requests to play immediately after the pause, the user terminal may choose not to send the pause request message, directly skip step 301 and step 302, and proceed to step 303 to send the paused time-shifted play request message. The embodiment of the present invention does not limit this.

The time or location information at the time of the pause may be, but not limited to, the media play time or the media play position when the user terminal is paused when the time shift occurs, or the time when the user terminal receives the media stream or the received media stream. Or the user terminal receives the serial number of the media stream.

302. The time shift server sends a pause response message to the user terminal in response to the pause request message sent by the user terminal, where the response message includes indication information indicating whether the time shift response is successful. The reason why the time shift response fails is that the time shift server is busy, cannot respond to the pause request, or there is no time shift media stream in the time shift server, and the like.

303. When the time shift response of the response message received by the user terminal is successful, the user terminal sends a time shift play request message to the time shift server, where the time shift play request message includes the user terminal. The time and/or location information of the media stream to be played when the time shift occurs, and the time shift buffer size and/or the remaining buffer size; wherein the time shift buffer size may be represented as the user terminal The size of the storage space of the media stream is temporarily stored in the time shifting process, and the remaining buffer size may be expressed as the size of the storage space in which the user terminal may temporarily store the media stream during the current time shifting process. . The time shift play request message may be, but not limited to, a PLMS-R (P l ay Time Shifted Reques t).

The time and/or location information of the media to be played normally when the time shift occurs may be the time and/or location information in Embodiment 1. When the time and/or location information of the media to be normally played when the time shift occurs is the sequence number of the media stream requested to be received, the sequence number is the serial number of the last media stream in the buffer, because the signaling is delayed. For this reason, the buffer will continue to receive some media messages, whether it is unicast pause or leave the multicast group.

Similar to Embodiment 1, when the position information of the normal play is a serial number, it is required that the media stream starting from the serial number must be capable of being independently demultiplexed and independently decoded, if the media stream starting from the serial number cannot Independent demultiplexing and independent decoding should also be satisfied when storing empty with the user terminal The previously received media streams in the middle are combined and demultiplexed and decoded. The serial number can ensure that the user terminal can seamlessly connect between the media stream saved during the pause and the media stream that the server will send, and the server does not send more or less time-shifting media streams.

The time shifting server sends a time shift play response message to the user terminal according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the response message includes operation indication information.

The response message further includes indication information about whether the time shift play request of the user terminal is successful, and the reason why the time delay play request of the user terminal fails is not limited to the following reasons: The time shift range of the time shift server, or the time shift server is busy unable to respond to the time shift play request of the user terminal, or there is no time shift media stream in the time shift server, and the like.

The operation indication information includes the playback information of the media stream played by the terminal and/or the transmission information of the media stream by the server by unicast, wherein the playback information includes a playback rate of the media stream played by the terminal, and the playback rate. Including normal playback information (such as the time shift of V0D service, will not switch from unicast to multicast; long pause, will not switch from unicast to multicast) or speed up playback of information (such as

The BTV service also needs to switch back to multicast from unicast. For accelerated playback, the number of frames that need to be accelerated or the time that needs to be accelerated is further included; the transmission information includes a current transmission rate, an accelerated transmission rate, or an accelerated transmission time, etc., the acceleration The sending rate is determined by the server according to the location information when the user terminal time shift occurs, the position information of the normal playing, the size of the time shift buffer, and the size of the remaining buffer, and the acceleration is sent to catch up with the multicast, so as to be The broadcast process is switched to the multicast process; the transmission information further includes information about frame dropping, time of joining the multicast group, and/or duration of unicast.

The method for speeding up playback of the media stream includes a method for speeding up the playback of the media stream, where the method for speeding up the playback of the media stream includes: a method of fast forward video or a method of hiding a video frame; wherein the user terminal accelerates playing media by fast forward video. The flow is as follows:

Video fast-forward playback refers to playback that is faster than normal playback, that is, the frame rate per second is faster. For example, if the normal playback is 1x speed, fast forward playback is played at 1. X speed. For example, if the frame rate per second of the video is FPS = 30, a total of 3300 video frames (3300/ 30=1 10 seconds) need to be played, and the frame rate of fast forward playback is greater than 30, for example, the frame rate of playback is 33 ( At this time, fast forward playback is 33/ 30=1. 1 times of normal playback, then the actual playback time is 3300/ 33=1 00 seconds, which is 110 _ 100 faster than normal. The user terminal accelerates the playing of the media stream by hiding the video frame, as follows: The method of hiding the video frame refers to skipping the next video frame to be played immediately after playing some video frames, and directly playing the next video frame. Video frame, the frame rate per second is unchanged. For example, if the video frame rate per second is

FPS = 30, there are a total of 3000 video frames (3000/30=100 seconds). If you hide 3 frames every 30 frames, the actual playback frame rate is still 30, but only 3000 - 3*3000/30=2700 frames are played. The total playing time is 90 seconds, which is 100 - 90 = 10 seconds faster than normal.

If the video stream contains non-reference frames (such as B frames), because the terminal needs to hide some video frames, the server may choose not to send video frames that need to be hidden, so that less network transmission can be performed. Traffic, reducing the bandwidth required to send media streams.

Further, the transmission rate of the media stream depends on the time shift buffer size, the remaining buffer size, and the rate of accelerated playback. If the remaining buffer is relatively large, the accelerated transmission is immediately used. If the remaining buffer is small, The rate of sending the media stream is increased to prevent the received media stream from being lost due to exceeding the time shift buffer; and after the user terminal accelerates playback and consumes a certain media stream, the user terminal is compared with the time shift buffer. After the big time, the rate of sending the media stream is further increased.

305. When the time shift server successfully responds to the time shift play request, the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message is transmitted to the user terminal by unicast; and step 306 is performed.

306. The user terminal receives a time shift play response message sent by the time shift server, where the response message includes operation indication information, and acquires a play rate of playing the media stream according to the operation instruction information, and according to the The playback rate of the media stream is used to play the media stream. When the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, step 307 is performed.

When the operation indication information includes the unicast transmission rate of the media stream, the acquiring the playback rate of the media stream by the user terminal according to the operation indication information includes: according to the user terminal buffer The size and the size of the remaining buffer and the transmission rate of the media stream by the unicast transmission determine the playback rate of the media stream to be played.

307. After the user terminal joins the multicast group, the time shift server switches the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission, and transmits the media stream to the multicast transmission. The user terminal.

Further, before the user terminal joins the multicast group, the server can notify the user to join the multicast group. The multicast stream is obtained by the user terminal. The user terminal can obtain the time of joining the multicast group and join the multicast group to obtain the multicast stream.

The foregoing message may be implemented by using an existing or extended RTCP message or an RTSP message or an RTP message, or may be implemented by other messages, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, when the user terminal moves after watching the video service pause, the user terminal sends a time shift play request to the time shift server, and the time shift server determines whether the time shift request play message is corresponding. The media stream is switched from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission, and if so, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, so that the unicast transmission process can be associated with the media stream group after being transmitted for a certain time by unicast. The broadcast transmission process is consistent. When the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, the media stream corresponding to the time shift request message is switched to multicast transmission to the user terminal, thereby reducing the system. The consumption of the bandwidth is increased, and the system is configured to send the operation indication information to the user terminal, so that the user terminal acquires the playback rate of the media stream according to the operation indication information, and according to the Playing the media stream at a playback rate, thereby realizing normal playback of the media stream after the time shift of the user terminal occurs .

Example 3

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for processing a network time shift. In the embodiment of the present invention, when a user watches a multicast video service television, a time shift from multicast to unicast is caused by a fast forward or fast reverse operation. Specifically, the processing method of the network time shift is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 4, the method includes:

401. The user terminal sends a fast forward (fas t forward) or a fast rewind (rewind) play request to the time shift server.

The time shifting server receives the fast forward or fast reverse play request sent by the user terminal, and transmits the media stream corresponding to the fast forward or fast reverse play request to the user terminal by using unicast.

403. After the media stream fast forwards or rewinds to a location that is required by the user, the user terminal sends a time shift play request message to the time shift server, where the time shift play request message includes the user terminal fast. The time and/or location information of the media stream to be played normally when entering or rewinding, and the time shift buffer size and/or the remaining buffer size.

The time or location information of the normal playing media stream is required when the fast forward/reverse time shift occurs, and the time or location information in Embodiment 1 may be used. . Further, the time or location information that needs to be played normally should be the starting position of a video GoP (Group of Picture). For example, for a video media stream GOP (I 1 B2B 3P4B5B6P7B8B9P 1 0B1 1B12P 1 3 B14B15), it should be the starting position of the II frame. If the video terminal does not receive the message from the header of the II frame, the video terminal cannot decode normally from the beginning of the message of a certain part of the II frame to the B1 5 frame message. When the position information of the normal play is a serial number, it is required that the media stream starting from the serial number must be capable of independent demultiplexing and independent decoding, if the media stream starting from the serial number cannot be independently demultiplexed and independent. The decoding should also be able to be demultiplexed and decoded when combined with previously received media streams in the user terminal's storage space. That is, if the normal broadcast location information reported by the user terminal to the server is the media serial number information, and is any packet from the beginning of a certain part of the II frame to the middle of the B15 frame message. For the serial number, the video terminal must ensure that there is a message from the head of the II frame, or there is a reference frame that has been decoded in the video buffer, so that the decoding can be smoothly performed.

404. The time shift server sends a time shift play response message according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the response message includes operation indication information.

The reason why the time-shifting play request of the user terminal fails is not limited to the following reasons: the time shift of the user terminal exceeds the time shift range of the time shift server, or the time shift server is busy unable to respond to the user terminal. Time-shift playback request, or no time-shifted media stream in the time-shifting server, and the like.

405. When the time shift server successfully responds to the time shift play request, the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message is transmitted to the user terminal by unicast; and step 406 is performed.

406. The terminal user acquires a play rate of the play media stream according to the received operation indication information, and plays the media stream according to the acquired play rate. When the unicast transmission process and the media stream are When the multicast transmission process is consistent, go to step 407.

The operation indication information includes the playback information of the media stream played by the terminal and/or the transmission information of the media stream by the server by unicast. The play information includes a play rate of the media stream played by the terminal, and the play rate includes normal play information or accelerated play information, and the accelerated play further includes the number of frames to be accelerated or the time required for acceleration; the accelerated play information includes fast forward by video. The mode plays or hides the video frame. For details, refer to the content of the corresponding part of Embodiment 2.

407. After the user terminal joins the multicast group, the time shift server sends the time shift play request. The media stream corresponding to the message is switched from unicast transmission to multicast transmission, and the media stream is transmitted to the user terminal through multicast.

Further, before the user terminal joins the multicast group, the server may notify the user to join the multicast group to obtain the multicast stream. The user terminal may obtain the time of joining the multicast group and join the multicast group to obtain the multicast stream. The embodiment of the invention does not limit this.

The foregoing message may be implemented by using an existing or extended RTCP message or an RTSP message or an RTP message, or may be implemented by other messages, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, when the user terminal moves after watching the video service fast forwards or rewinds, the user terminal sends a time shift play request to the time shift server, and the time shift server determines whether the time shift request is to be performed. The media stream corresponding to the play message is switched from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission, and if so, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, so that the unicast transmission process can be performed after the unicast transmission for a certain time. The multicast transmission process of the media stream is consistent. When the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, the media stream corresponding to the time shift request message is switched to multicast transmission to the user terminal. The operating time is further reduced, and the time shifting server sends the operation indication information to the user terminal, so that the user terminal obtains the playing rate of the media stream according to the operation indication information. And playing the media stream according to the play rate, thereby realizing the media stream after the user terminal shifts time Often playing.

Example 4

The embodiment of the invention provides a processing method for network time shifting, wherein the short time shifting server realizes a short time shift range, and processes a short time shifting process to switch from a unicast transmission mode to a multicast transmission mode. The long-term shifting server implements a long time-shifting range and handles long-distance time-shifting times, usually using unicast mode, but does not rule out switching from unicast transmission mode to multicast transmission mode. The embodiment of the present invention sends a time shift play request message to the long time shift server if the time interval between the time shift play time and the current multicast stream time exceeds the short time shift range, and if not exceeded, the short time time shift server Sending a time-shifted play request message is an example, and the processing method of the network time shift is specifically explained.

When the timeout is short, the short time shifting server can implement the switching of the media stream from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission. Therefore, when the pause time shift occurs, the pause time shift is generally sent to the short time shift server. Requesting to obtain a time shift range in which the short time shift server can provide services. But the invention is implemented For example, the user terminal may also send a pause time shift request to the long time shift server when the pause time shift occurs, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, when the user terminal sends the pause time shift, the short time shift server sends the pause time shift request as an example, and the network time shift processing method is specifically described in conjunction with FIG. 5, where the method includes:

501. The user terminal sends a pause time shift request to the short time shift server, where the pause time shift request carries time and/or location information when the user terminal pauses time shift transmission.

502. The short time shifting server sends a pause time shift response message to the user terminal according to the timeout request, where the response message includes an indication message for notifying whether the time delay request of the user terminal is successful. The time shifting time range of the short time shifting server.

The reason for suspending the time shift response failure is usually: the time shift server is busy, unable to respond to the pause time shift request, or there is no time shift media stream in the time shift server, and the like.

503. The user terminal receives a pause time shift response message sent by the short time shift server, and when the indication information indicates that the pause time shift request is successful, the user terminal further determines whether the pause time is short. Within the shift range, if the pause time is within the short time shift range, step 503a is performed; if the pause time exceeds the short time shift range, step 503b is performed.

503a. Send, by the user terminal, a time shift play request to the short time shift server, and execute step 504a.

503b. Send, by the user terminal, a time shift play request to the long time shift server, and execute step 504b.

504a, the short time shift server responds to the time shift play request, improves a unicast transmission rate of sending a media stream to the user terminal, and plays a request message according to the time shift sent by the user terminal to the user. The terminal sends a time-shift playback response message, where the response message includes operation indication information, and step 505 is performed.

The improving the unicast transmission rate for sending the media stream to the user terminal may be determined according to information provided by the user terminal, performance of the server, and network status. The information provided by the user terminal includes time and/or location information, time shift buffer size, remaining buffer size, and the like, which are normally played when the user terminal moves time.

504b, the long-term server responds to the time-shifted play request, and passes the unicast at a normal rate. The media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message transmits the user terminal, and instructs the user terminal to play the media stream at a normal rate until the end.

505. The short time shifting server unicasts the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message to the user terminal, and performs step 506.

506. The user terminal acquires a play rate of playing the media stream according to the received operation indication information, and plays the media stream according to the play rate. For details, refer to step 306 in Figure 3, and details are not described herein. When the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process, step 507 is performed.

507. The user terminal joins a multicast group, and switches the media stream corresponding to the time-shifted playback request message from a unicast transmission to a multicast transmission, and transmits the media stream to the user terminal by multicast.

The embodiment of the present invention specifically sends a fast forward or fast reverse time shift request to the long time shift server when the user terminal sends the fast forward or fast reverse time shift, and the method for network time shift processing is specifically described in conjunction with FIG. 6 . Includes:

601. The user terminal sends a fast forward or fast reverse time shift request to the long time shift server.

602. The long time shift server transmits, by using a unicast, the media stream corresponding to the fast forward or fast reverse request to the user terminal.

603. After the media stream fast forwards or rewinds to a location that is required by the user, the user terminal determines whether the fast forward/reverse time shift time is within a short time shift range, if the fast forward or fast backward If the time shift time is within the short time shift range, step 603a is performed; if the fast forward or fast reverse time shift time exceeds the short time shift range, the step is performed.

603a. The user terminal sends a request to terminate the fast forward or fast rewind media stream to the long time shift server, and sends a time shift play request message to the short time shift server, and step 604a is performed.

603b, the user terminal sends a time shift play request message to the long time shift server, and performs step 604b.

The short time shift range is a time shift range in which the short time shift server provides a service, and the long time shift is performed when the user terminal sends a fast forward or fast reverse time shift request to the long time shift server. Sending, by the server, the notification message to the short time shifting server, and notifying the short time shifting server to send a short time shift range to the user terminal; after receiving the notification of the long time shifting server, the short time shifting server receives the notification Transmitting the short time shift range to the user terminal, and the user terminal obtains the short time shift range.

604a, the short time shifting server increases a unicast transmission rate of the media stream to the user terminal, and sends a time shift playback response message to the user terminal according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal. The operation response message is included in the response message, and step 605 is performed.

604b, the long-term server responds to the time-shifted play request, and transmits the media stream corresponding to the time-shifted play request message to the user terminal by using a unicast at a normal rate, and indicates that the user terminal is normal. The media stream is played at the rate until the end.

605. The short time shifting server unicasts the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message to the user terminal, and performs step 606.

606. The terminal user acquires a play rate for playing the media stream according to the received operation indication information, and plays the media stream according to the play rate. For details, refer to step 306 in Figure 3, and details are not described herein. When the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process, step 607 is performed.

607. The user terminal joins a multicast group, and switches the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission, and transmits the media stream to the user terminal by multicast.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the user terminal pauses or fast forwards or rewinds while watching the video service, the user terminal determines whether to send the time shift play request message to the long time shift server according to the time shift time, or is short The time shift server sends a time shift play request message, and when it is determined that the time shift play request message is sent to the short time shift server, the short time shift server implements the time shift by providing a rate of sending the media stream to the user terminal. The media stream corresponding to the play request message is switched from the unicast transmission mode to the multicast transmission mode, thereby reducing system bandwidth consumption and improving system performance; and the short time shifting server further sends operation indication information to the user terminal, so that The user terminal acquires a play rate of the time-shifted media stream according to the operation indication information, and plays the media stream according to the play rate, thereby realizing normal play of the media stream after the time shift of the user terminal occurs. Example 5

The embodiment of the present invention provides a time shift server. As shown in FIG. 2, the time shift server includes: a receiving unit 71, a determining unit 72, a first adjusting unit 73, a sending unit 74, a transmitting unit 75, and a switching unit 76.

The receiving unit 71 is configured to receive a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information that the user terminal normally plays.

The determining unit 72 is configured to determine whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift request play message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission according to time and/or location information of normal play when the user terminal time shift occurs;

The first adjusting unit 73 is configured to: when the determining unit 72 determines to switch the media stream from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission, improve a unicast transmission rate of the media stream sent to the user terminal, so that After the transmission of the media stream, the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, thereby implementing switching of the media stream from unicast transmission to multicast transmission.

The sending unit 74 is configured to send a time shift play response message to the user terminal according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the response message includes operation indication information, where the operation indication information is The broadcast information including the playback media stream of the terminal and/or the transmission information of the media stream by the server by unicast, wherein the broadcast information includes a playback rate of the media stream played by the terminal, where the transmission information includes a unicast transmission. The transmission rate of the media stream.

Optionally, the playing information may further include a number of frames that need to be accelerated to be played, a time when the media stream needs to be accelerated, an indication information indicating that the user terminal accelerates playing the media stream, and a manner of speeding up playing the media stream. The manner in which the accelerated playback of the media stream is performed includes a method of fast forward video or a method of hiding a video frame.

Optionally, the transmitting information may further include a time for accelerating the transmission of the media stream.

The transmitting unit 75 is configured to transmit the media stream to the user terminal by using a unicast, and the switching unit 76 is configured to: when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, The media switches from unicast transmission to handover of multicast transmission, and transmits the media stream to the user terminal by multicast.

Further, the time shift play request message further includes the user terminal requesting to receive the media stream. a sequence number for determining a starting location of the media stream before transmitting the media stream to the user terminal by unicast.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the time shifting server further includes: a second adjusting unit 77, configured to: when the time shift play request message further includes the size of the user terminal buffer and the size of the remaining buffer, Adjusting a unicast transmission rate of the media stream to the user terminal according to the size of the time shift buffer of the user terminal and the size of the remaining buffer. For example, if the remaining buffer is relatively large, the accelerated transmission media stream can be used immediately, and the transmission speed can be large; if the remaining buffer is relatively small, the rate of the transmission media stream is increased to avoid receiving. The media stream is lost due to the time-shifting buffer; after the user terminal accelerates playback and consumes a certain media stream, the time-shift buffer of the user terminal is relatively large, and then the rate of sending the media stream is greatly increased. .

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a user terminal, which may be a video terminal device. As shown in FIG. 9, the terminal includes: a receiving unit 81, an obtaining unit 82, and a playing unit 83.

The receiving unit 81 is configured to receive a time shift play response message sent by the server, where the response message includes operation indication information, where the indication information includes the play information of the terminal playing the media stream, and/or the server transmits by using the unicast The transmission information of the media stream, where the playback information includes a playback rate of the media stream played by the terminal, where the transmission information includes a transmission rate of the media stream by unicast transmission.

The obtaining unit 82 is configured to obtain a play rate of the play media stream according to the operation indication information, where the acquiring unit 82 obtains the play rate of the play media stream according to the indication information, and includes: if the receiving unit 81 receives The indication information includes the playing speed of the media stream played by the user terminal, and the obtaining unit 82 parses the indication information, so that the playing rate of the media stream played by the user terminal can be obtained from the indication information. If the indication information received by the receiving unit 81 includes only the transmission information, the acquiring unit 82 needs to parse the indication information first, and obtain, from the indication information, a transmission rate of the unicast transmission of the media stream. And determining, according to the size of the storage space of the user terminal, the size of the remaining storage space of the user terminal, and the transmission rate of the media stream by the unicast, determining a play rate of the played media stream. The rule for determining the rate at which the user terminal plays the media stream is: ensuring that there is no media stream in the storage space of the user terminal, and the total amount of the media stream cannot exceed the size of the storage space. If the size of the remaining storage space of the user terminal is relatively small, the rate at which the user terminal plays the media stream may be accelerated, so that the user The terminal has enough remaining storage space.

The playing unit 8 3 is configured to play the media stream according to the playing rate acquired by the acquiring unit 82.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the user terminal further includes: a sending unit 84; the sending unit 84 is configured to send a time shift play request message to the time shift server. The time shift request playback message includes time and/or location information of normal play when the user terminal time shift occurs. The time shift play request message may be, but not limited to, PATS-R (Paus e T ime Sh i ted Reque s t , time shift pause request).

Further, the time shift play request message may further include a size of the buffer of the user terminal and a size of a remaining buffer. The time shift buffer size may be represented as the user terminal at the current time. During the shifting process, the size of the storage space of the media stream is temporarily stored, and the remaining buffer size may be expressed as the size of the storage space of the media stream that the user terminal may temporarily store during the current time shift.

When the playback unit 83 speeds up the playback of the media stream by the user terminal, so that the user terminal has a sufficiently large remaining storage space, the sending unit 84 can also be configured to send to the server again. Transmitting the request, updating the size of the remaining storage space of the user terminal, so that the server further adjusts the rate of the unicast transmission media stream, thereby speeding down the unicast to the multicast process, thereby further reducing the unicast transmission. The problem of wasted network resources.

The embodiment of the invention provides a system for network time shift processing. As shown in FIG. 11, the system includes: a user terminal 91 and a time shift server 92.

The user terminal 91 is configured to send a time shift play request message to the time shift server 92, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the user terminal time shift occurs.

The time shift server 92 is configured to receive a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal 91, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the time shift occurs of the user terminal; Determining whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift request play message from the unicast transmission to the multicast transmission when the time shift occurs normally and/or the location information occurs; if it is determined that the media stream is transmitted from the unicast Switching to the multicast transmission, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, and the time-shift playback response message is sent to the user terminal 91 according to the time-shifted playback request message sent by the user terminal. The operation message includes operation indication information; and the media is The stream is transmitted to the user terminal 91 by unicast; when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, the media stream is transmitted to the user terminal 91 by multicast.

The user terminal 91 is further configured to receive a time shift play response message sent by the time shift server 92, where the response message includes operation indication information, and acquire a play rate of playing the media stream according to the operation indication information; The media stream is played at the playback rate.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the user terminal moves after watching the video service pauses, the user terminal sends a time shift playback request to the time shift server, and the time shift server determines whether to correspond to the time shift request play message. The media stream is switched from unicast transmission to multicast transmission, and if so, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, so that the unicast transmission process can be associated with the media stream after being transmitted for a certain time by unicast. The multicast transmission process is consistent. When the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, the media stream corresponding to the time shift request message is switched to multicast transmission to the user terminal, thereby reducing The system bandwidth is consumed to improve system performance; and the time shifting server further sends operation indication information to the user terminal, so that the user terminal acquires a play rate of playing the media stream according to the operation indication information, and according to the Playing the media stream at the playback rate, thereby realizing the normal playback of the media stream after the time shift of the user terminal occurs

The time-shifting server in the embodiment of the present invention may be a single-ended server, or may be merged with other network function devices, which may be network aggregation devices, network access devices, metropolitan area network devices, or fast. The retransmission server (Re ransmi ssi on Server) of the channel switching function (R pid Acciu isiti on of Mu 1 1 i ca st RTP Ses s ions );

Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present invention can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general hardware, and of course, by hardware, but in the case of more than 4, the former is better. Implementation. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, which is essential or contributes to the prior art, may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk of a computer. A hard disk or optical disk or the like includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention.

The above description is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to Therefore, any person skilled in the art can easily conceive changes or substitutions within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

Claim

A method for processing a network time shift, comprising:

Determining whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission according to time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the time shift occurs;

The method according to claim 1, wherein the time shift play request message further includes a size of the time shift buffer of the user terminal and a size of a remaining buffer; the method further includes: The size of the time shift buffer of the user terminal and the size of the remaining buffer are adjusted, and the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the time shift play request message further includes a sequence number of the user terminal requesting to receive the media stream, to transmit the media stream to the unicast The user terminal previously determines a starting location of the media stream.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the operation indication information comprises: the user terminal playing the play information of the media stream and/or the server transmitting the transmission information of the media stream by unicast, where The playback information includes a playback rate of the media stream played by the terminal, where the transmission information includes a transmission rate of the media stream by unicast transmission.

The method according to claim 4, wherein the playing information further includes indication information indicating that the user terminal accelerates playing of the media stream, and a method for speeding up playing of the media stream, where The way to speed up the playback of media streams includes the way the video fast forwards or the way the video frames are hidden.

6. A method for network time shift processing, characterized in that: Receiving a time shift play response message sent by the time shift server, where the response message includes operation indication information;

The media stream is played at the playback rate.

The method according to claim 6, wherein the operation indication information comprises: the user terminal playing the play information of the media stream and/or the server transmitting the transmission information of the media stream by unicast, where The playback information includes a playback rate of the media stream played by the terminal, where the transmission information includes a transmission rate of the media stream.

The method according to claim 7, wherein when the operation indication information only includes the transmission rate of the media stream by unicast, the acquiring the user terminal according to the operation indication information The playback rate of the media stream includes:

And determining, according to the size of the buffer of the user terminal and the size of the remaining buffer, and the transmission rate of the media stream by the unicast transmission, determining a play rate of playing the media stream.

9. A method for processing a network time shift, which is characterized by comprising:

The method according to claim 9, wherein the time shift request message further includes time information of the media stream to be played when the time shift occurs, the method further comprising:

And determining, according to the sequence number and the time information, a start position of the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message.

A method for network time-shift processing, characterized in that:

Determining, by the user terminal, whether the time shift time of the user terminal is within a short time shift range; if the time shift time is within the short time shift range, sending a time shift play request message to the short time shift server , the network time shift processing is implemented by the short time shift server;

The method according to claim 11, wherein the processing of implementing network time shift by the short time shifting server comprises:

The short time shifting server receives a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, and improves a unicast transmission rate of the media stream sent to the user terminal, and according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, to the The user terminal sends a time shift play response message, where the response message includes operation indication information;

And transmitting, by the unicast, the media stream to the user terminal by using the media stream; when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, transmitting the media stream by multicast To the user terminal.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the processing of implementing network time shift by the long time shift server comprises:

The long time shifting server receives the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, and transmits the media stream corresponding to the time shift play request message to the user terminal by using unicast.

14. A time shifting server, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a time shift play response message to the user terminal according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the response message includes operation indication information;

The time shift server according to claim 14, wherein the time shift server further comprises: a second adjusting unit, configured to: when the time shift buffer size of the user terminal and the size of the remaining buffer are further included in the time shift play request message, according to the size of the time shift buffer of the user terminal And the size of the remaining buffer, adjusting the unicast transmission rate of the media stream sent to the user terminal.

A system for network time-shift processing, comprising:

a time shift server, configured to receive a time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where the time shift play request message includes time and/or location information of the media stream that needs to be played when the user terminal time shift occurs; according to the user terminal The time and/or location information of the media stream needs to be played when the shift occurs, determining whether to switch the media stream corresponding to the time shift request play message from unicast transmission to multicast transmission; if it is determined that the media stream is transmitted from unicast Switching to the multicast transmission, the unicast transmission rate of the media stream is sent to the user terminal, and the time shift play request message is sent to the user terminal according to the time shift play request message sent by the user terminal, where The response message includes operation indication information; transmitting the media stream to the user terminal by unicast; and when the unicast transmission process is consistent with the multicast transmission process of the media stream, multicasting the media stream Transmitting to the user terminal;