JPH0622316A - Picture information service system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the inexpensive and high performance picture information service by allowing an exchange to divide given picture data into plural blocks at every program, allowing each terminal equipment to store them separately and making best use of the capability of each component of a picture informa tion service system. CONSTITUTION:When given picture data are stored dispersedly in each terminal equipment, the picture data are divided to blocks having a predetermined size at every program and a program number and a block number are given to the block data. Then a picture data output device 1 and terminal equipments are connected in the order of predetermined terminal numbers and while an address map where program numbers, block numbers and terminal numbers are made correspondent to each other is being generated, block data are sequentially transferred to each terminal equipment and stored therein. When a picture data reproduction request takes place, an exchange connects a line to a terminal equipment making the request, block data stored in a memory 6 of the terminal equipment are saved in a substitute memory 5 in the exchange and the terminal equipment making the request is selected and the block data are transferred to the terminal equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information service system centering on moving images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image information service system is characterized in that it handles a large amount of data and is capable of accepting multiple accesses from a plurality of users in real time, as compared with a normal data service system. As a method to realize multiple access in real time, we compared a staging method that increases the multiplicity by arranging a semiconductor buffer capable of high-speed access and parallel transfer on the output side of the storage device with the transfer speed of the desired image service. A method has been proposed in which the transfer rate of the storage device is sufficiently increased and the multiplicity is increased by time division control.

[0003]

However, in the former case, it is difficult to realize a large-scale buffer suitable for image information because the semiconductor memory used in the staging system is expensive, and in the latter case, The mainstream mechanical memories such as magnetic disks and optical disks have a limitation in improvement of transfer rate and access performance, and thus there is a problem that the multiplicity cannot be sufficiently increased.

Regarding the latter, in order to solve these problems, a technique has been developed in which a magnetic disk or an optical disk is operated in parallel to improve the transfer speed or to conceal the access time, but in this case, Since it is necessary to operate a large number of magnetic disks and optical disks of comparatively small capacity side by side, the reliability of the device is significantly reduced, and since one continuous image data is stored across multiple devices, image data management Had the drawback of being complicated. In addition, a small capacity magnetic disk or optical disk is a flow that goes against the increase in capacity, which is an inherent problem of a storage device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is an inexpensive and high-performance image information service by making the best use of the capabilities of each element (for example, a terminal) constructing the image information service system. The purpose is to enable.

[0006]

FIG. 1 shows the principle of the present invention. Reference numeral 100 in the figure is an exchange, 101, 102, 1
Reference numeral 03 denotes a terminal, respectively.

The image data is divided into a plurality of blocks for each program (for example, TV program). Then, a program number and a block number are given to each block data.

The exchange 100 sends a plurality of block data of a desired program to each terminal 10 as needed.
1, 102, 103 are distributed and stored.

[0009]

For example, if the # 1 terminal 101 issues a request for image data reproduction, the desired block data is transferred to the # 1 terminal 101 from the terminal that stores the block data in the requested program. It

[0010]

FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of FIG. 2 is suitable for a large-scale image information service system, and all the image information is distributed and arranged in the buffer memory of the terminal. In FIG. 2, 1 is an image data output device, 2 is a pointer, 3 is an address map, 4 is a switch, 5 is an alternate memory, and 6 is a buffer memory.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, when the image data given from above in FIG. 2 (or need to be stored) is dispersed and stored in the respective terminals, first, the image data is programmed (for example, a television set). Each program) is divided into predetermined block sizes, and a program number and a block number are given to the block data. Next, assuming that the image data output device and the terminal are stored in the block data now # 1 terminal in the order of predetermined terminal numbers, the next # 2 terminal, # 3 terminal, # 4 terminal, ... As described above, the block data is sequentially connected to each terminal and stored while sequentially generating the address map in which the program number / block number and the terminal number are associated with each other. In the configuration of FIG. 2, there is no image memory that stores all the programs at once, and the work is continuously executed to sequentially update the programs.

When an image data reproduction request is issued, as shown in FIG. 3 (step 1 in the drawing), the exchange connects the line with the terminal (eg, # 1) for which the request has been made and saves it in the buffer memory 6 of the # 1 terminal. The stored block data is saved in the alternate memory 5 in the exchange (step 2) (as the buffer memory 6 of the # 1 terminal may be destroyed), and the desired block data of the desired program is saved. The existing terminal (for example, # 2) is selected, and the block data is transferred from the # 2 terminal to the # 1 terminal which has made the request via the exchange (step 3). The pointer 2 is set for each image data reproduction request, and the block number to be reproduced next is sequentially updated. The address map 3 is referred to by the output of the pointer 2 and the transfer source terminal number is switched every decompression cycle. (Step 4, Step 5). In addition,
When the block data stored in the # 1 terminal that issued the image data reproduction request is requested by another image data reproduction request from the # 2 terminal, for example, the block data is directly transferred from the alternation memory 5 of the exchange. It

By the above processing, a series of block data is transferred under the control of the exchange to the # 1 terminal which has issued the image data reproduction request, and the # 1 terminal reproduces continuous images. When the reproduction of the image data is completed, the block data in the alternation memory 5 in the exchange is returned to the # 1 terminal and the image service is completed.

The configuration shown in FIG. 2 requires an enormous number of subscribing terminals to store a huge amount of image data in a distributed manner in all terminals, but an enormous storage for storing the image data collectively. Since image memory that requires a large capacity is not required,
It has the feature that the system can be constructed at low cost. The storage of image data and the reproduction of image data are exactly the same process in the sense that block data is transferred once per decompression cycle to a specific terminal. Therefore, for example, even when 10 channels of image data are stored at the same time, it is equivalent to simply increasing the number of image data reproduction requests by 10, and the load on the exchange is almost the same as in the conventional system.

If the terminal has a memory capacity that is at least twice as large as the predetermined one block data, it is not necessary to save the block data even when reproducing the image data, so that the alternate memory in the exchange is unnecessary.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 4
In the figure, 7 is an image memory, and the elements given the same numbers as in FIG. 2 indicate the same elements. The configuration of FIG. 4 is suitable for a medium-scale image information service system, and only the program for which an image data reproduction request has been generated is distributed and arranged in the buffer memory of the terminal.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 4, only when the terminal (for example, # 1) makes a request for image data reproduction and the requested image data is not stored in any one of the terminals, a desired image data is stored in the image memory 7. Reads the program, divides the program into a predetermined block size, and in the order of a predetermined terminal number, from the terminal next to the terminal that stores the newest block data, the terminal that does not store the block data or the rewritable N terminals are selected, the relationship between the terminal number and the program number / block number is organized for each program and stored in the address map 3, and the block data is transferred to the selected N terminals. Here, N is the number of blocks required to store the requested image data, and is represented by N = Int (Da / Db) +1. However, Int is an integer function, Da is the total capacity of the requested image data, and Db is the block capacity.
For example, one image program is a 2 hour movie,
If the transfer rate of a moving image of 20 MB / S is compressed to 1 MB / S by the image compression technique, the total capacity Da of image data becomes 7200 MB. On the other hand, if the terminal side uses a dozen or more 8MB ICs (64Mb chips) to form a 100MB memory, the block capacity Db is 100M.
B, and in this case N = 73. That is, the program of the moving picture of 2 hours is stored and stored by 73 terminals.

The exchange may asynchronously transfer the block data to the 73 terminals by utilizing the open time of the exchange. In this way, only the program for which the image data reproduction request is generated is blocked and the address map 3
Is transferred to the buffer memories of N terminals under the control of After that, the data is transferred from each terminal to the # 1 terminal.

In the configuration of FIG. 4, when a new image data reproduction request is issued from a terminal that stores block data, a terminal that does not store block data or a rewritable terminal is selected again and the address map 3
The block data is transferred to the terminal where the new image data reproduction request is made, and the block data is transferred from the terminal where the new image data reproduction request is made or the image memory to the buffer memory of the replaced terminal.

Thereafter, it is judged whether or not the program desired by the new image data reproduction request is the program stored in the terminal. If it is a stored program, only the pointer is set, and if it is not a stored program, the corresponding program is fetched from the image memory 7, and N terminals for storing this are selected again. Will be issued. Terminal failures, communication line failures, etc. are processed in the same manner. Therefore, in the case of the configuration of FIG. 4, the relationship between the terminal number on the address map 3 and the program number / block number is dynamically switched.

The procedure for transferring block data to the terminal which has issued the image data reproduction request is the same as in the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, since the terminal that stores the block data is dynamically relocated to the terminal that does not store the block data or the rewritable terminal, the alternate memory is not arranged.

Unlike the first embodiment, the configuration of FIG. 4 distributes only the program for which an image data reproduction request has been issued to the buffer memory of the terminal, so that it can be applied even when there are not many subscriber terminals, and the switching device The burden is also minimal. Moreover, since the relationship between the terminal and the program number / block number is dynamically switched, it is easy to deal with the failure of the terminal or the communication line.

Further, it is necessary to arrange the image memory 7 for storing all the programs, but the reading of the image data is basically once per program, and the block data is transferred asynchronously regardless of the expansion cycle. it can. Therefore, the image memory is not required to have high access performance, and has a feature that it can be applied with a large capacity and a high transfer rate such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

A third embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 5
The configuration is suitable for a small-scale image information service system, and only a part of the program for which the image data reproduction request is generated is distributed and arranged in the terminal buffer memory.

In the configuration of FIG. 5, when an image data reproduction request is issued, a desired program is selected from the image memory 7 and divided into a predetermined block size as in the embodiment shown in FIG. Try to transfer to the buffer memory of the terminal. However, here, since the system is configured with the minimum number of terminals, M blocks less than one program are transferred. For example, as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4, when a 2-hour moving picture program is divided into 100 MB blocks, 73 (N = 73) terminals are required to store and store one program. In the present embodiment shown in FIG. 5, for example, only 10 terminals (M = 10) are prepared and these terminals are repeatedly used 8 times. Thus, in the configuration of FIG. 5, the number of terminals is about 1 as compared with the embodiment of FIG.
Although it can be applied even when the number of digits is small, since the same program is divided and transferred a plurality of times, the effect of staging of reusing already transferred block data is reduced.

In the configuration of FIG. 5, there are two methods for transferring M block data. The first method is a method of collectively transferring M block data asynchronously. In this case, if a storage device such as an optical disk device that can read continuous image data without access is used, deterioration of multiplicity due to access time can be minimized. However, as a result of asynchronous transfer, in the worst case, all the block data are rewritten at once, so there is almost no effect of staging.

The second method is a method of transferring one block data for each decompression cycle. In the image memory 7, the access operation is carried out for each decompression cycle. For this reason, the multiplicity seems to be reduced as much as the conventional method, but since the block data is rewritten only for one terminal per extension period,
After the image data playback request is issued (M x 1 extension period)
Multiple access to the same program is possible, although limited to the above. That is, the effect of staging can be expected to some extent.

When the above two are compared, the former is advantageous when multiple accesses are dispersed in time, and the latter is advantageous when concentrated at a specific time.
In the configuration of FIG. 5, similarly to the embodiment of FIG. 4, when a new image data reproduction request is issued from a terminal that stores block data, a terminal that does not store block data or a rewritable terminal is restored. Although the relationship between the terminal and the program number / block number is dynamically changed such as selecting and rewriting the address map and block data, the multiplicity is limited because the image memory is accessed during program reproduction. Unlike the embodiment, only a part of the program is distributed in the buffer memory of the terminal, so that the system can be constructed with the minimum terminal.

In the above, the staging method focusing on the number of subscribed terminals has been described in the first to third embodiments, but the use of the program is possible by providing the terminal with a function of temporarily preventing rewriting of block data. The staging method can be selected according to the frequency.

For example, in the case of a hit program, the terminal rewriting prevention function is used to make the program resident as in the embodiment of FIG. 2, and in the case of a program that concentrates at a specific time, as in the embodiment of FIG. In accordance with the access, the program is transferred to a terminal and temporarily made resident, and in the case of a program with a small access, the program is transferred in small pieces as in the embodiment of FIG. 5, and the staging method according to the access frequency for each program. Can be selected, and in this way, the multiplicity can be further increased with a small number of terminals.

In the present invention, the image information is stored in the buffer memory for decompressing the image data, which is indispensable for the terminal from the viewpoint of effectively utilizing the memory of the terminal. Not as long.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the conventional method, the access time of the magnetic disk or the optical disk was a factor limiting the multiplicity, but in the present invention, the distributed staging method is used by using the electronic exchange capable of high-speed switching, the high-speed communication network, and the memory of the terminal. This is achieved, and the multiplicity can be dramatically increased.

Further, according to the present invention, there is a feature that it can be realized with the same device configuration as that of the conventional image information service system, and the memory arranged at each terminal, which has not been fully utilized in its capability, has a high speed. It is cheap and highly reliable because it can effectively utilize the electronic switching system with high switching capacity and the high-speed communication network using optical fibers, and conversely eliminate the burden of mechanically operated storage devices that have been overused until now. An image information service system can be constructed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of timing of data transfer.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Switch 101, 102, 103 Terminal 1 Image data output device 2 Pointer 3 Address map 4 Switch 5 Alternate memory 6 Buffer memory 7 Image memory

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takaya Tanabe 1-1-6 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Kikuji Kato 1-1-6 Uchisai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (72) Inventor Kazutoshi Nishimura 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image information service system that divides image data into predetermined blocks and distributes and stores them in subscriber terminals, and an image data output device and block that outputs image data by dividing the image data into predetermined blocks. A switch that can transfer data between arbitrary subscriber terminals including exchanges, an address map that stores the number of the terminal that stores the block data, an alternate memory that can save the block data of the terminal, and the predetermined block data that can be stored When storing image data with at least a subscriber terminal having a memory, connect the image data output device and the terminal in the order of a predetermined terminal number from the terminal next to the terminal that stored the newest block data. , Image data is divided into a predetermined block size and the program number / block number and terminal number are While storing the address map corresponding to each of them in order, each terminal stores the image data, and when there is a request for image data reproduction from the terminal, the block data stored in the requesting terminal is saved in the alternate memory and By sequentially reading the terminal number of the data transfer source required for reproducing the continuous image data from the map, connecting the terminal of the transfer source and the terminal of the request source according to the order, and sequentially transferring the block data, continuous An image information service system characterized in that image data can be reproduced. 2. An image information service system that divides image data into predetermined blocks and distributes and stores them in subscriber terminals. The image information service system stores all image data collectively and the image data is stored in predetermined blocks. An image data output device that divides into blocks and outputs, a switch that can transfer the block data between arbitrary subscriber terminals including the image memory, an address map that stores the number of the terminal that stores the block data, and a predetermined It is composed of a subscriber terminal having a memory that can store block data, and only when there is a request for image data reproduction from the terminal and the requested image data is not stored in the terminal, the desired image data from the image memory is Is read, the image data is divided into a predetermined block size, and the newest block is created in the order of a predetermined terminal number. The next terminal of terminals to store the Kkudeta, N (N ≧ showing storage to the terminal or rewritable terminal not the block data to the following equation
(Integer of 1) selected, while generating the address map in which the program number / block number and the terminal number are associated with each other, the image data requested by the N terminals are dispersed and stored, and the image data is reproduced from the terminals. Request, the terminal numbers of the data transfer source necessary for reproducing the continuous image data are read in order from the above address map, the transfer source terminal and the request source terminal are connected in accordance with the order, and the block data is sequentially transferred. Image information service system characterized by being able to reproduce continuous image data by transferring N = Int (Da / Db) +1 where Int is an integer function and Da is the total of the requested image data. Capacity, Db is block capacity. 3. In the above image information service system, only when there is a request for image data reproduction from the terminal and the requested image data is not stored in the terminal.
From the terminal next to the terminal that stores the newest block data in order of a predetermined terminal number, M (M
<N integer) is arbitrarily selected, and while generating an address map in which program numbers / block numbers and terminal numbers are associated with each other, desired image data for each of the M terminals is [M × 3. The image information service system according to claim 2, wherein the image information service system is sequentially stored in a cycle of [1 block data reproduction time]. 4. In the above image information service system, when an image data reproduction request is issued from a terminal that stores block data, the terminal next to the terminal that stores the newest block data in order of a predetermined terminal number. From the terminal of, select a terminal that does not store block data or a rewritable terminal again, and replace the number of the terminal that generated the request for image data reproduction with the number of the selected terminal on the above address map, 4. The image information service system according to claim 2, wherein the block data stored in the terminal that has issued the image data reproduction request is stored and replaced in the selected terminal. 5. In the above image information service system, the terminal has a function of temporarily preventing the block data from being rewritten, and the terminal in which the rewriting is prevented is in a missing number state only when storing the image data. The image information service system according to claim 1, 2 or 3 or 4.