CN103731371A

CN103731371A - Method for network data receiving channel management for double-module set top box

Info

Publication number: CN103731371A
Application number: CN201210392828.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王劲林; 王皓轮; 孙鹏; 郭志川; 叶晓舟
Original assignee: Beijing Hiliway Digital Systems Co ltd; Institute of Acoustics CAS
Current assignee: Beijing Hiliway Digital Systems Co ltd; Institute of Acoustics CAS
Priority date: 2012-10-16
Filing date: 2012-10-16
Publication date: 2014-04-16
Anticipated expiration: 2032-10-16
Also published as: CN103731371B

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for network data receiving channel management for a double-module set top box. The method comprises the steps that all services needing to receive network data on the set top box are classified according to the use methods of data acceptance channels; when a new service is added, an appropriate data acceptance channel is assigned to the new service by the set top box on the premise that the channel requirements of all the services are satisfied as much as possible according to the current use condition of the data acceptance channels and the classification of the new service. According to the method, the requirements for the network data acceptance channels by different services can be satisfied as much as possible and the efficiency of data transmission is improved.

Description

Network data receiving channel management method for dual-mode set-top box

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of network communication, in particular to a network data receiving channel management method for a dual-mode set top box.

Background

The dual-mode set-top box is characterized in that application layer software based on an IP protocol is loaded on the basis of a hardware structure of the existing digital television set-top box, information processing of digital television signals and IP contents is completed by adopting the same processing chip in a mode of integrating related Ethernet interfaces on the same set-top box, and integration of different services on the same platform is realized by utilizing the same remote controller. In short, the method is a one-machine two-network method, namely, an IP network and a digital television network are simultaneously realized on the same set top box.

The network data receiving channels of the dual-mode set top box mainly include two types: one is a radio frequency signal data receiving channel formed by a tuner and a channel demodulator, and the other is an IP data channel of an Ethernet interface. A dual-mode set-top box is provided with one or more radio frequency signal data receiving channels, and data of an IP network can be converted into radio frequency signals by adopting IPQAM equipment, and the radio frequency signals are transmitted to the radio frequency signal data receiving channels of the dual-mode set-top box through an HFC network. A gateway with data format conversion, data encapsulation and data forwarding functions can be used between a service front-end server and the IPQAM equipment, so that a radio frequency channel of the IPQAM can be used as a downlink channel for bearing IP datagrams, and a channel of the dual-mode set-top box for receiving the IP datagrams can be switched between an IP channel of an Ethernet interface and a radio frequency signal data receiving channel.

The service data transmitted to the set-top box through the IPQAM and the digital television service data in the broadcast mode cannot be transmitted on the same frequency point. Multiple services can be carried on the same frequency point of the IPQAM, including interactive video services such as video on demand and time-shifted television, and IP data services. Because the single frequency point bandwidth of IPQAM is limited, the amount of traffic that can be carried is limited. The number of radio frequency signal data receiving channels of the dual-mode set-top box is limited, so that the number of QAM frequency points which can be locked simultaneously is limited. When the dual-mode set-top box simultaneously bears multiple services, if the radio frequency signal data receiving channel and the IP data receiving channel of the Ethernet interface are not reasonably distributed and scheduled, the waste of data receiving channel resources can be possibly caused, the phenomenon that one type of data receiving channel is inadvisable and the other type of data receiving channel is 'mengkouque' occurs, and the data receiving efficiency of the whole set-top box is influenced.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to overcome the defect that the conventional dual-mode set top box is easy to have unreasonable data receiving channel distribution when bearing various services, thereby providing a relatively fair and efficient data receiving channel distribution method.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a network data receiving channel management method for a dual mode set top box, comprising:

step 1), judging the type of the new service, if the type of the new service is a type A service, executing the next step, if the type of the new service is a type B service, executing step 5), and if the type of the new service is a type C service, executing step 8); wherein,

the class A service is a service which cannot share the same radio frequency channel with other services, the class B service is a service which comes from an IP network and can meet the data format of an IP datagram, and the class C service is a service which needs to use the radio frequency channel except the class A service and the class B service;

step 2), judging whether an idle radio frequency channel exists in the dual-mode set-top box currently, if so, selecting an idle radio frequency channel from the idle radio frequency channels to be used by the new service, then finishing the operation, and if not, executing the next step;

step 3), performing radio frequency channel competition according to the priority of all current services in the dual-mode set top box; if the priority of at least one service in the services carried by each radio frequency channel is higher than the priority of a new service, rejecting the channel application of the new service; if the priority of the new service is higher than the priority of all services on a certain current radio frequency channel, the service on the radio frequency channel gives out the radio frequency channel occupied by the new service for use by the new service, then whether the service giving out the radio frequency channel has the type B service is judged, if yes, the next step is executed, otherwise, the operation is ended;

step 4), for class B service giving way to the radio frequency channel, the IP data channel of the Ethernet interface is used to receive the downlink data, and finally the operation to the new service is finished;

step 5), judging whether a radio frequency channel which is not occupied by the class A service exists in the dual-mode set-top box, if so, executing the next step, otherwise, executing the step 7);

step 6), selecting a radio frequency channel which is not occupied by the class A service from the radio frequency channels of the dual-mode set-top box, then interacting with an external edge resource manager, investigating whether the edge resource manager can distribute enough QAM frequency point bandwidth for the new service, if so, distributing the new service to the radio frequency channel, and then ending the operation, otherwise, executing the next step;

step 7), the new service uses the IP data channel of the Ethernet interface to receive data, and finally, the operation on the new service is finished;

step 8), judging whether a radio frequency channel which is not occupied by the class A service exists in the dual-mode set top box, if not, executing the next step; if the new service exists, selecting a radio frequency channel which is not occupied by the class A service from the radio frequency channels of the dual-mode set top box by the channel management module, then interacting with the edge resource manager, and investigating whether the edge resource manager can distribute enough QAM frequency point bandwidth for the new service, if so, distributing the new service to the radio frequency channel, otherwise, refusing the channel application of the new service;

step 9), judging the following two conditions: firstly, whether a class A service with lower priority than a new service exists in the services occupying a radio frequency channel; secondly, whether the edge resource manager can allocate enough bandwidth for the new service on a certain QAM frequency point or not; if the two conditions are simultaneously satisfied, the class A service with lower priority than the new service gives out the radio frequency channel occupied by the class A service for the new service; and if the two conditions are different, rejecting the channel application of the new service.

In the above technical solution, in the step 9), the class a service with the lower priority than the new service is the class a service with the lowest priority among the services already occupying the radio frequency channel.

The invention has the advantages that:

1. the invention divides all services using network data receiving channels into three types; when the network data receiving channel is allocated, the allocation is performed according to the service class, but in the prior art, all services using the network data receiving channel are not considered comprehensively.

2. The invention switches two data channels (Ethernet interface channel and radio frequency channel) of IP data service as effective method for solving channel conflict of class A and class B service and bandwidth resource conflict of class B and class C service.

3. The invention follows the principle that the class B and class C services share the radio frequency channel as much as possible, thereby saving the number of the used radio frequency channels and providing the maximum opportunity for accepting the class A service.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a dual mode set top box and its network data receiving channel;

fig. 2 is a flow chart of a network data reception channel management method for a dual mode set top box.

Detailed Description

The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

For convenience of description, the radio frequency signal data receiving channel of the dual-mode set-top box is simply referred to as a radio frequency channel.

Before describing the present invention in detail, the characteristics of various services received by the dual-mode set-top box are analyzed. According to the using mode of the service to the network data receiving channel, the service types borne by the dual-mode set top box are divided into three types, namely A, B and C, which are respectively as follows:

class A: any one class a service cannot share the same radio frequency channel with other services. Typical class a services include digital video broadcasting services.

And B: the type B service comes from an IP network, and data in the service meets the data format of an IP datagram. Such services are also IP data transmission services.

Class C: in the services requiring the use of radio frequency channels, the services except the class a and the class b services are classified as class c services. Such as video-on-demand, time-shifted television, video recording services carried by IPQAM.

In the above three types of services, the class a service needs to monopolize the radio frequency channel, while the class b and class c services can share the radio frequency channel, i.e., the TS (transport stream) packets of these services can be transmitted on the same QAM frequency point. In addition, class b traffic can be transmitted over the IP data channel of the ethernet interface.

The servers for transmitting various services to the dual-mode set-top box, corresponding to the above classification of various services received by the dual-mode set-top box, can also be classified into three types, namely a type A service front-end server, a type B service front-end server and a type C service front-end server.

In order to allocate a suitable data receiving channel to each service, a module for managing the data receiving channel is needed to be implemented on the basis of the existing dual-mode set top box, which is called a channel management module. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a dual mode set top box loaded with a channel management module and its external environment in one embodiment. Similar to a general dual-mode set-top box, the dual-mode set-top box is provided with an Ethernet card, a tuner, a demodulator and a demultiplexing module. The Ethernet card is used for sending and receiving IP data; a tuner and a demodulator forming a radio frequency channel for receiving data carried by a radio frequency signal; a dual mode set top box has at least one rf channel (only one rf channel is shown in fig. 1). The radio frequency channel is connected to a demultiplexing module, and the demultiplexing module is used for filtering out data streams of various services from the multiplexed code stream and transmitting the data streams of the corresponding services to clients of class A or class C services. The demultiplexing module is also connected to the channel management module, the channel management module is connected with the virtual network card, and the virtual network card is connected to the TCP/IP protocol stack; the TCP/IP protocol stack is connected with the class B service client.

To clarify the function of the channel management module, the external environment of the dual mode set top box is described as follows, as shown in fig. 1:

the class a service front-end server is directly connected to the HFC network, via which data is sent to the tuner of the dual-mode set-top box.

The third-class service front-end server sends service data to IPQAM, the IPQAM packages the service data into a TS (transport stream) format, and the service data is modulated into QAM radio-frequency signals to be transmitted on an HFC (hybrid fiber coax) network and reach a tuner of the dual-mode set-top box.

A gateway with data format conversion, data encapsulation and data forwarding functions is connected between the class b service front-end server and the IPQAM, and the gateway can be called a converged channel gateway, which is referred to as CCGW for short. There are two ways for the CCGW to forward downlink IP datagrams for class b services. The first method is as follows: the CCGW packages the downlink IP datagram into a TS (transport stream) format, sends the TS (transport stream) format to the IPQAM equipment, and reaches a tuner of the dual-mode set-top box through the HFC network in a downlink mode. The second method is as follows: the CCGW takes the downlink IP datagram as the load of the UDP segment (i.e., encapsulates it in a tunnel encapsulation manner), and transmits it to the ethernet card of the dual-mode set-top box via the IP network. When the first mode is adopted, the dual-mode set-top box takes a radio frequency channel as a data receiving channel of the class B service; when the second mode is adopted, the dual-mode set-top box takes the IP channel of the Ethernet interface as the data receiving channel of the class B service. On the premise of signaling negotiation with the dual-mode set-top box, the two modes can be switched with each other. Meanwhile, the dual-mode set-top box sends the uplink IP datagram from the type B service client to the CCGW, and the CCGW forwards the uplink IP datagram to the type B service front-end server.

In order to transmit multiple services on the same QAM frequency point of an IPQAM device, the frequency point bandwidth resource of the IPQAM needs to be allocated, and an edge resource manager (ERM for short) is used to implement the frequency point bandwidth resource allocation of the IPQAM. Whether a plurality of services of one set top box can be transmitted on the same QAM frequency point depends on the load condition of IPQAM and the resource allocation algorithm of ERM. Only when the ERM can allocate enough bandwidth to multiple services of the set-top box at a certain frequency point, the services can share the same radio frequency channel of the set-top box.

The external environment of the dual-mode set-top box is introduced above, and on this basis, the function of the channel management module is described below.

The channel management module has multiple functions including: (1) recording all service types currently running, and distributing radio frequency channels for class A or class C services; (2) when there exists IP data service (i.e. class b service), the channel management module is responsible for negotiating with an external Converged Channel Gateway (CCGW) to determine the channel type used by the IP data service (as described above); when a radio frequency channel is used, the CCGW packages downlink IP datagrams of the class B service into a TS (transport stream) format, sends the TS format to the IPQAM, converts the TS format into a radio frequency signal, transmits the radio frequency signal through the HFC network, and reaches a radio frequency channel of the dual-mode set top box, and the channel management module receives the IP datagrams from the demultiplexing module and writes the IP datagrams into the virtual network card; when an IP channel of an Ethernet interface is used, the CCGW packages a downlink IP datagram of the class B service in a tunnel packaging mode, sends the downlink IP datagram to an IP network, transmits the downlink IP datagram to an Ethernet card of the dual-mode set-top box, enters a TCP/IP protocol stack through the Ethernet card, is read out from an application layer of the TCP/IP protocol stack by a channel management module and is written into a virtual network card; adopting any one of the two modes, the IP datagram written into the virtual network card is read out from the application layer of the TCP/IP protocol stack by the class B service client; (3) the client of the class B service sets the source IP address as a virtual IP address, so that an uplink IP datagram sent by the client reaches a virtual network card when passing through a TCP/IP protocol stack, is read out from the virtual network card by a channel management module and is used as the load of a UDP message segment, and is sent to an IP network from the Ethernet card through the TCP/IP protocol stack, and the load (namely the uplink IP datagram) is sent to a network layer of a CCGW local TCP/IP protocol stack by the CCGW and is forwarded to a class B service front-end server; (4) when a plurality of class B or class C services are simultaneously operated on the dual-mode set-top box, the channel management module applies for bandwidth to an external Edge Resource Manager (ERM), if enough bandwidth can be applied to a frequency point to bear the services, the services are enabled to share a radio frequency channel, otherwise, the radio frequency channel is preferentially distributed to the class C service, and the class B service may need to receive data through an IP channel of an Ethernet interface.

As can be seen from the above description, the CCGW cooperates with the channel management module, so that the IP data transmission and reception process of the class b service is transparent to the application layer. In other words, the CCGW and the channel management module cooperate to implement the function of transmitting the IP datagram by using the radio frequency channel or the ethernet interface channel, but the client and the server program of the class b service do not need to care about the transmission channel of the IP datagram.

The following describes the workflow of the channel management method of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 2, the network data reception path management method of the present invention includes:

step 1), judging the type of the new service, if the type of the new service is a type A service, executing the next step, if the type of the new service is a type B service, executing step 5), and if the type of the new service is a type C service, executing step 8);

step 6), selecting a radio frequency channel which is not occupied by the class A service from the radio frequency channels of the dual-mode set-top box, then interacting with the ERM, investigating whether the ERM can distribute enough QAM frequency point bandwidth for the new service, if so, distributing the new service to the radio frequency channel, and then ending the operation, otherwise, executing the next step;

step 8), judging whether a radio frequency channel which is not occupied by the class A service exists in the dual-mode set top box, if not, executing the next step; if the new service exists, selecting a radio frequency channel which is not occupied by the class A service from the radio frequency channels of the dual-mode set top box by the channel management module, then interacting with the ERM, and investigating whether the ERM can distribute enough QAM frequency point bandwidth for the new service, if so, distributing the new service to the radio frequency channel, otherwise, rejecting the channel application of the new service;

step 9), judging the following two conditions: firstly, whether a class A service with lower priority than a new service exists in the services occupying a radio frequency channel; secondly, whether the ERM can distribute enough bandwidth for the new service on a certain QAM frequency point or not; if the two conditions are simultaneously satisfied, the class A service with lower priority than the new service gives out the radio frequency channel occupied by the class A service for the new service; and if the two conditions are different, rejecting the channel application of the new service. As a preferred implementation manner, the class a service with the lower priority of the newer service is the class a service with the lowest priority among the services already occupying the radio frequency channel.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used for illustrating the technical solutions of the present invention and are not limited. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A network data receiving channel management method for a dual-mode set-top box comprises the following steps:

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in step 9), the class a service with lower priority of the newer service is the class a service with the lowest priority among the services already occupying the radio frequency channel.