CN103313107B - The EPG server of IPTV - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electronic program guide EPG server of IPTV, comprising: a data import interface for importing program-related data; an EPG editing module for editing the program-related data imported by the data import interface; a multiplexing interface for converting the EPG The data edited by the editing module is multiplexed into the transport stream TS stream for transmission through the network; the electronic program guide template library stores a plurality of electronic program guide templates corresponding to user attributes, which is convenient for the user terminal to edit the electronic program displayed on the screen Single template to choose from. Through the present invention, relevant program information of various program signal sources can be edited into EPG information, and different electronic program guide templates can be set according to different types of users of user terminals. At the same time, the advertisement content in the EPG template can be flexibly set, compatible A variety of program signal sources are provided, which enriches the experience of different users.

Description

EPG server for IPTV

technical field

The invention relates to the IPTV field, in particular to an IPTV electronic program guide (EPG) server.

Background technique

EPG is the abbreviation of Electronic Program Guide, which means electronic program menu. The indexing and navigation of various services provided by IPTV are completed through the EPG system. IPTVEPG is actually a portal system of IPTV. The interface of the EPG system is similar to that of a Web page. The EPG interface generally provides various menus, buttons, links, and other components that users can directly click when selecting a program. The EPG interface can also contain various dynamic or Static multimedia content.

However, my country's IPTV is still in its infancy. Some TV stations, operators and set-top box manufacturers have developed some EPG servers, but they are all EPG servers for a certain network or a set-top box, which lack wide applicability. There are several problems in the following aspects: On the one hand, the EPG content information lacks a unified data format, which brings great complexity to the exchange of EPG between stations and networks. Every digital TV platform must design and develop an EPG server , resulting in a lot of repetitive labor; poor compatibility, set-top box manufacturers have to repeatedly develop EPG servers for each platform; Automatically switch the advertisement content of the column management page of the EPG display template on the user terminal.

Therefore, a highly compatible and intelligent IPTV EPG server is needed, which can meet the program information access requirements of various program manufacturers such as TV stations, adjust the EPG display interface style according to Advertiser needs to automatically switch the advertising content on the EPG display template, so as to facilitate program manufacturers, IPTV operators and users at the same time.

Contents of the invention

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an EPG server for IPTV that receives an EPG request from a user terminal such as an IPTV set-top box STB and adaptively selects an EPG template according to the user type, so that the EPG server has the ability to receive multiple program information sources Compatible interface, to receive related program information from various program information sources to produce EPG content, and at the same time, adaptively change the EPG display template according to the type of user requesting EPG, and switch the advertisement information on the EPG template over time, thereby improving the EPG server. The degree of intelligence.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a kind of EPG server of IPTV is provided, comprise data import interface, import program related data; EPG editing module, edit the program related data that described data import interface imports; The data edited by the editing module is multiplexed into the transport stream TS stream for transmission through the network; the electronic program guide template library stores a plurality of electronic program guide templates corresponding to user attributes, which is convenient for the user terminal to edit the electronic program displayed on the screen Single template to choose from.

More specifically, the EPG server of the IPTV further includes: a data import interface for receiving program-related data imported from the company's website in file form, locally imported in file form, and imported from a third-party independent EPG provider. The information includes program list, current broadcast program, program description information, program classification information, program reservation information and parental grading control information; the EPG editing module is connected to the data import interface to receive program-related data, and the received program-related data is classified and Editing, editing the program-related data into the network information table NIT, business group association table BAT or service information table SDT suitable for the service information SI transmitted in the transport stream TS stream; the multiplexing interface is connected to the EPG editing module, Send the edited table NIT, BAT or SDT to the multiplexer, so that the multiplexer multiplexes the table NIT, BAT or SDT into the TS stream and transmits it through the network. In addition to the EPG server; the electronic program guide template storehouse stores a plurality of electronic program guide templates corresponding to user attributes, each electronic program guide template has a column management page, and the electronic program guide template is converted using an extensible style language XSLT is used to define; the receiving module receives the authentication request sent by the user terminal to the server through the network to obtain the user attribute of the user terminal, and outputs the user attribute; the electronic program bill template analysis module connects the receiving module and the electronic program A single template library, receiving the user attribute and searching the electronic program guide template library corresponding to the user attribute according to the user attribute, and parsing the searched electronic program guide template into an electronic program guide template that can be displayed by the user terminal A data document in the HTML format of the hypertext markup language; an electronic program guide template editing module, which is connected to the electronic program guide template library, so that operators can log in to the server and choose to enter the column management of the electronic program guide template in the electronic program guide template library page to manage the column management page. The items involved in the column management page of the electronic program guide template include recording program management, program review, and operator customized advertisements. Operators can automatically change or manually change recorded programs. Management content, program review content, and operator-customized advertisement content; the advertisement pre-ordering module is connected to the electronic program guide template editing module, and provides pre-ordered operator-customized advertisements for the electronic program guide template editing module content, which is convenient for the operator to automatically change the operator's customized advertisement content, among which the pre-ordered operator's customized advertisement content is the advertisement content pre-ordered by the operator in chronological order according to the needs of each advertiser; the timing module, Connect the electronic program guide template editing module to provide a reference time for the electronic program guide template editing module to automatically change the operator's customized advertisement content through timing; the sending module is connected to the electronic program guide template parsing module to receive the data document in HTML format, and when the user terminal sends an EPG request, the HTM The data file in L format is sent to the user terminal; wherein, the program list includes each program name and broadcast time of each TV station in chronological order; the currently broadcast program refers to the program name being played by each TV station in the current time period and broadcast time; the program description information is the specific description data of the corresponding program, and the specific description data includes user comments and related website links; the program classification information is the category information that classifies the corresponding program into the corresponding category; The program reservation information refers to the related information of the hot programs published in advance in order to facilitate terminal users to look forward to the hot programs that will be played in the future, including the program name, broadcast time, and hot attention content; the parental classification control information refers to It is the level information for classifying each program in order to control children’s viewing of the program content; wherein, the program-related data is edited into the network information table NIT and service group association in the service information SI suitable for transmission in the transport stream TS stream The table BAT or the service information table SDT includes, divides the program-related data into multiple service description information, puts the service description information in the descriptor Descriptor for transmission, puts the descriptor in the section Section for transmission, The segments are transmitted in subtables, and the subtables are transmitted in tables NIT, BAT or SDT.

More specifically, the EPG server of the IPTV further includes: the TS stream is composed of a header and a payload, the header includes a synchronization byte SYNC1 and three other bytes, and the three other bytes are used for service identification , scrambling and control information, the payload includes 184 bytes of MPEG-2 data.

More specifically, the EPG server of the IPTV further includes: the specific distribution of the three other bytes of the TS stream header is: 1 transmission error bit indicating bit, 1 net data unit start indicating bit, 1 1 transmission priority bit, 13 packet identifier PID bits, 2 transmission scrambling control bits, 2 adaptive area control bits and 4 continuous counter bits.

More specifically, the IPTV EPG server further includes: the user terminal is an IPTV set-top box STB.

Description of drawings

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a structural block diagram of an IPTV EPG server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Among them, 1. Data import interface; 2. EPG editing module; 3. Multiplexing interface; 4. Electronic program guide template library; 5. Receiving module; 6. Electronic program guide template analysis module; 7. Electronic program guide template editing module ; 8. Advertising pre-ordering module; 9. Timing module; 10. Sending module.

detailed description

The implementation of the IPTV EPG server of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a structural block diagram of an IPTV EPG server according to an embodiment of the present invention. Wherein receive the EPG request of user terminal such as IPTV set-top box STB and adaptively select the EPG server of IPTV of EPG template according to user type and comprise: data import interface 1, import program relevant data; EPG editing module 2, import 1 interface to described data The imported program-related data is edited; the multiplexing interface 3 multiplexes the data edited by the EPG editing module 2 into the transport stream TS stream for transmission through the network; the electronic program list template library 4 stores a plurality of data corresponding to user attributes The electronic program guide template is convenient for the user terminal to select the electronic program guide template displayed on the screen. Wherein, the EPG server of the IPTV also has a data import interface 1 for receiving program-related data imported from the company website in the form of files, imported in the form of files locally, and imported from a third-party independent EPG provider. The information includes program list, current broadcast program, program description information, program classification information, program reservation information and parents' hierarchical control information; EPG editing module 2 is connected to data import interface 1 to receive program-related data, and the received program-related data is processed Classify and edit, edit the program-related data into the network information table NIT, service group association table BAT or service information table SDT in the service information SI suitable for transmission in the transport stream TS stream; multiplex interface 3, connect EPG The editing module 2 sends the edited table NIT, BAT or SDT to the multiplexer, so that the multiplexer multiplexes the table NIT, BAT or SDT into the TS stream and transmits it through the network. The multiplexer is outside the EPG server; the electronic program guide template library 4 stores a plurality of electronic program guide templates corresponding to user attributes, and each electronic program guide template has a column management page, and the electronic program guide template uses Extensible style language conversion XSLT to define; receiving module 5, receiving the authentication request sent by the user terminal to the server through the network to obtain the user attribute of the user terminal, and output the user attribute; electronic program guide template parsing module 6 , connect the receiving module 5 and the electronic program guide template library 4, receive the user attribute and search the electronic program guide template corresponding to the user attribute in the electronic program guide template library 4 according to the user attribute, and use the searched The electronic program guide template is parsed into a data file in the hypertext markup language HTML format that can be displayed by the user terminal; the electronic program guide template editing module 7 is connected to the electronic program guide template library 4, which is convenient for the operator to log in to the server and choose to enter the electronic program guide template library. The column management page of the electronic program list template in the program list template library 4 is used to manage the column management page. The items involved in the column management page of the electronic program list template 4 include recording program management, program review, operator To customize advertisements, the operator can automatically or manually change the recording program management content, program review content, and operator customized advertisement content; the advertisement pre-ordering module 8 is connected to the electronic program list template editing module 7, and provides The electronic program list template editing module provides pre-ordered operator-customized advertisement content, which is convenient for operators to use when they automatically change operator-customized advertisement content. Advertisements that need to be pre-ordered sequentially in chronological order; the timing module 9 is connected to the electronic program guide template editing module 7, and provides a time for the electronic program guide template editing module 7 to automatically change the operator's customized advertisement content through timing Reference time; Sending module 10, connects described electronic program bill template parsing module 6 to receive the data file of described HTML format, and sends in user terminal When an EPG request is made, the data file in HTML format is sent to the user terminal through a network connection; wherein, the program list includes the titles and play times of each program played in chronological order by each TV station; the currently played program refers to It is the name and broadcasting time of the program being played by each TV station in the current time period; the program description information is the specific description data of the corresponding program, and the specific description data includes user comments and links to related websites; the program classification information will correspond to The program is classified into the category information of the corresponding category; the program reservation information refers to the relevant information of the hot program announced in advance for the convenience of the end user to look forward to the hot program to be played in the future, including the program name, broadcast time, hot spot Pay attention to the content; the parental grading control information refers to the level information for grading each program in order to control children’s viewing of the program content; wherein, the program-related data is edited into business information suitable for transmission in the transport stream TS stream Included in the network information table NIT, business group association table BAT or service information table SDT in the SI, the program-related data is divided into multiple service description information, and the service description information is transmitted in the descriptor Descriptor, and the The descriptor is transmitted in a section Section, the section is transmitted in a subtable, and the subtable is transmitted in a table NIT, BAT or SDT.

Among them, the main function of EPG is that users can use the menu provided by EPG to choose their favorite multicast channel; order their favorite video programs; sing their favorite songs online; find various information provided by IPTV, including life information, entertainment, etc. Information, education information, sports information, etc.; users can also use the menu provided by EPG to order their favorite programs; they can even pay water bills, electricity bills, and conduct e-commerce transactions through the menu provided by EPG; users can also use EPG View the additional information of the program through the menu, such as the introduction of the program content, the introduction of actors and directors, etc.; at the same time, through the parental control function provided in the EPG menu, parents can restrict certain programs and not open all viewing rights to their children.

In addition, the EPG server of the IPTV further includes: the TS stream is composed of a header and a load, the header includes a synchronization byte SYNC1 and three other bytes, and the three other bytes are used for service identification, adding scrambling and control information, the payload includes 184 bytes of MPEG-2 data.

In addition, the EPG server of the IPTV further includes: the specific distribution of the three other bytes of the TS flow header is: 1 transmission error bit indicating bit, 1 net data unit start indicating bit, 1 transmission bit Priority bits, 13 packet identifier PID bits, 2 transmission scrambling control bits, 2 adaptive area control bits and 4 continuous counter bits.

In addition, the IPTV EPG server further includes: the user terminal is an IPTV set-top box STB. The full English name of STB is SetTopBox. Set-top box STB refers to a kind of information equipment used to enhance or expand the function of TV. Because people usually put it on the TV, it is also called set-top box or set-top box. It can receive satellite broadcasts and programs delivered by cable, and can provide additional services, such as choosing movies you want to watch on the Internet, enjoying satellite VOD (on-demand) services, and conducting e-commerce transactions such as home banking.

Among them, the HTTP protocol is used to interact between STB and IPTVEPG server EPGServer, EGPSerter is used as the server side, STB is used as the client side, and the request data of STB is reflected in the URL. The interface between IPTVEPG and the set-top box mainly realizes the following functions: the acquisition function of the program list, the set-top box can obtain the list of all released movies on the EPGServer through the interface, the program type and movie name information; the acquisition function of movie data, the set-top box can obtain it through the interface Specific information of a specific film, such as film introduction, actor and director and other specific information; customer self-service functions, including program reservation, bill query and other functions; set-top boxes send authentication requests and service requests to the EPG server, and receive from the EPG server Authentication Response and Service Response.

Among them, IPTV is interactive Internet TV, which is a brand-new technology that uses broadband cable TV network and integrates Internet, multimedia, communication and other technologies to provide home users with a variety of interactive services including digital TV. Users can enjoy IPTV services in two ways at home: (1) computer, (2) set-top box + ordinary TV. He can well adapt to the rapid development trend of today's network and make full and effective use of network resources. IPTV is not only different from traditional analog cable TV, but also different from classic digital TV. Because both traditional and classic digital TV have the characteristics of frequency division system, timing, and one-way broadcasting. Although classic digital TV has many technological innovations compared with analog TV, it only changes the signal form and does not touch the transmission of media content. Way. IPTV utilizes the infrastructure of the broadband cable television network, uses the home TV as the main terminal electrical appliance, and provides a variety of digital media services including TV programs through the Internet protocol. The characteristics are as follows: 1) users can get high-quality (close to DVD level) digital media services; 2) users can have a very wide range of freedom to choose video programs provided by various websites on the broadband IP network; 3) realize media providers and media Substantial interaction with consumers. The playback platform adopted by IPTV will be a typical representative of the new generation of home digital media terminals. It can configure a variety of multimedia service functions according to the user's choice, including digital TV programs, video IP phones, DVD/VCD playback, Internet browsing, and e-mail. , and a variety of online information consultation, entertainment, education and business functions; 4) provides a broad emerging market for network developers and program providers. At present, China's communication industry is developing rapidly, and users have higher and higher requirements for information services, especially broadband video information. It can be said that China has basically possessed the technical and market conditions to vigorously develop IPTV.

Adopting the EPG server of IPTV of the present invention greatly improves the internal structure of the original inflexible EPG server, and fully considers compatibility with different program signal sources in the transmission and reception of digital TV signals of IPTV, and can receive signals from various programs The relevant program information of different signal formats from the source is packaged in the EPG server for multiplexing and network transmission. At the same time, according to the type of user requesting the EPG information, the EPG template display interface of the user's preference can be adaptively changed, and the EPG template display interface can be changed over time. Automatically switch the advertising content in the EPG display interface, while improving compatibility and intelligence, it also meets the needs of the program producer, IPTV operator and user.

It can be understood that although the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, the above embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention. For any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the present invention, the technical content disclosed above can be used to make many possible changes and modifications to the technical solution of the present invention, or be modified to be equivalent to equivalent changes. Example. Therefore, any simple modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments according to the technical essence of the present invention, which do not deviate from the technical solution of the present invention, still fall within the protection scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims (1)

1. an electronic program guide EPG server of Internet TV IPTV, it is characterized in that, described EPG server comprises: Data import interface, import program-related data; EPG editing module, edits the program-related data imported by the data import interface; Multiplexing interface, multiplexing the data edited by the EPG editing module into the transport stream TS stream for transmission through the network; The electronic program guide template library stores a plurality of electronic program guide templates corresponding to user attributes, which is convenient for the user terminal to select the electronic program guide template displayed on the screen; Also includes: The data import interface also receives program-related data imported from the company's website in the form of files, locally imported in the form of files, and imported from a third-party independent EPG provider. The program-related data includes program lists, currently playing programs, and program descriptions. information, program classification information, program reservation information, and parental rating control information; The EPG editing module is also connected to the data import interface to receive program-related data, classify and edit the received program-related data, and edit the program-related data into service information SI suitable for transmission in the transport stream TS stream In the network information table NIT, business group association table BAT or business information table SDT; The multiplexing interface is also connected to the EPG editing module, and the edited table NIT, BAT or SDT is sent to the multiplexer, so that the multiplexer multiplexes the table NIT, BAT or SDT into the TS stream and transmission through the network, the multiplexer is outside the EPG server; The electronic program guide template library also stores a plurality of electronic program guide templates corresponding to user attributes, each electronic program guide template has a column management page, and the electronic program guide template is defined using Extensible Style Language Transformation XSLT; The receiving module receives the authentication request sent by the user terminal to the EPG server through the network to obtain the user attributes of the user terminal, and outputs the user attributes; An electronic program guide template parsing module, connected to the receiving module and the electronic program guide template library, receives the user attribute and searches the electronic program guide template library corresponding to the user attribute according to the user attribute template, and parse the searched EPG template into a data file in HTML format that can be displayed by the user terminal; The electronic program guide template editing module is connected to the electronic program guide template library, which is convenient for the operator to log in to the server, select and enter the column management page of the electronic program guide template in the electronic program guide template library to manage the column management page , the items involved in the column management page of the electronic program list template include recorded program management, program review and operator customized advertisements, operators can automatically or manually change recorded program management content, program review content, operator subscription make advertising content; The advertising pre-ordering module is connected to the electronic program guide template editing module, and provides pre-ordered operator-customized advertisement content for the electronic program guide template editing module, which is convenient for the operator to use when automatically changing the operator-customized advertisement content , where the pre-ordered operator-customized advertisement content is the advertisement content pre-ordered by the operator in chronological order according to the needs of each advertiser; The timing module is connected to the electronic program guide template editing module, and provides a reference time for the electronic program guide template editing module to automatically change the operator's customized advertisement content through timing; The sending module is connected to the electronic program guide template parsing module to receive the data file in HTML format, and sends the data file in HTML format to the user terminal through a network connection when the user terminal sends an EPG request; Wherein, the program list includes the titles and play times of the programs played by each TV station in chronological order; the currently played program refers to the name and play time of the programs being played by each TV station in the current time period; the program description information is The specific description data of the corresponding program, the specific description data includes user comments and related website links; the program classification information is the category information that classifies the corresponding program into the corresponding category; the program reservation information refers to the information for the convenience of the terminal The relevant information of the hot program announced in advance by the user in anticipation of the hot program that will be played in the future, including the program name, broadcast time and hot attention content; Level information for grading each program; Wherein, editing the program-related data into the network information table NIT, service group association table BAT or service information table SDT suitable for transmission in the service information SI in the transport stream TS includes dividing the program-related data into A plurality of business description information, the business description information is transmitted in the descriptor Descriptor, the descriptor is transmitted in the section Section, the section is transmitted in the sub-table, and the sub-table is placed in the table NIT , BAT or SDT transmission.