KR0185916B1 - A video service apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An on-demand video service apparatus according to the present invention comprises an auxiliary recording medium capable of storing data output from a disc array in addition to a disc array consisting of discs storing several movies distributed by the number of discs, and the auxiliary recording medium. An auxiliary recording medium controller for controlling is further provided. The on-demand video service apparatus of the present invention having the above-described configurations stores data output from the disc array on an auxiliary recording medium, and checks the subscriber's request at every subscriber request response time interval set independently of the number of discs on the disc array. If there is the same request as the above, by accessing the auxiliary recording medium and outputting the pre-stored data on the auxiliary recording medium, it is possible to increase the number of subscribers that can be transmitted by distributing one movie. In addition, the present invention by analyzing the subscriber request frequency in a predetermined time unit by deleting the movie data corresponding to the subscriber request with a low frequency from the pre-stored auxiliary recording medium by using a small capacity of the auxiliary recording medium to runaway at a specific time period It provides an effect that can efficiently handle the needs of multiple subscribers.

Description

Video service device with auxiliary recording medium

1 is a block diagram showing a conventional video service apparatus,

2 is a block diagram of a video service apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

10,30: Video Servo 12: Disc Array

14,36: Memory buffer 16,38: Array controller

20,40: High speed switch 32: (Secondary recording medium) controller

34: auxiliary recording medium

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video service apparatus used for a video on demand system. In particular, the present invention further includes a controller for controlling an auxiliary recording medium and an auxiliary recording medium, in addition to a limited array of disk arrays. The present invention relates to a video service apparatus capable of efficiently providing a video service in response to their needs.

On-demand video system is a system for storing a movie or the like in a disk array and supplying the subscriber to a desired movie, etc. from the disk array at the request of the subscriber, one movie is distributed to several disks in the disk array. Thus, when multiple subscribers request for the same movie at different times, the movie can be provided to multiple subscribers.

1 is a block diagram showing a conventional video service device of the prior art in a video on demand system. Referring to FIG. 1, the video server unit 10 includes a disk array 12 composed of several disks, an array controller 16 for controlling the output of the disk array 12 according to a subscriber's request, and a disk. A memory buffer 14 for outputting the signal read out from the array 12 in accordance with the transmission format is provided. Then, the high speed switch 20 shown in FIG. 1 switches the output signal from the memory buffer 14 at high speed and sends it to the desired subscriber.

One movie is distributed in the number of disks constituting the disk array 12 and stored in each disk. For example, if a 100 minute movie is stored in a disc array 12 having 100 discs, movie data of 1 minute length is stored on each disc. In order to deliver a movie, each disc may be accessed sequentially. Distributing and storing one movie is to distribute the movie so that it can be sent to more subscribers. If another subscriber requests the same movie one minute after sending the movie information to the original requester, the latter requester outputs from the disc containing the first part of the movie in the disc array 12, regardless of the original requester. Since the movie information can be provided, the movie can be viewed from the beginning. Therefore, the conventional video service apparatus can output a movie from each disc when there is a request for the same movie at one minute intervals, and as a result, one movie can be sent to 100 people at a one minute interval. have.

On the other hand, one movie can store several movies. Of course, even in this case, each movie is distributed by the number of disks of the disk array 12. If data about 20 movies are stored on one disc, and the data output speed of the disc is 30 Mbps, 20 movies having an output rate of 1.5 Mbps for each movie can be output at the same time.

However, in the above-described conventional general video service apparatus, the time interval for transmitting data contained in each disc for the same movie is limited by the number of discs in the disc array. Therefore, this time interval has a disadvantage in that the number of subscribers that can simultaneously send a movie is limited. In addition, due to the cost and system processing speed of the array controller, it is difficult to infinitely increase the number of disks in the disk array to accommodate subscriber demands congested in a certain time period. Since movies are distributed and stored evenly on each disk in the disk array, there is a problem that it is inefficient in terms of system processing for subscriber demand.

An object of the present invention for solving these problems, by using a separate recording medium without increasing the number of disks on the disk array, a video that can effectively increase the number of subscribers that can be supplied a single movie at the same time In providing a service device.

A video service apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a video service apparatus for video on demand to deliver a number of movies to a plurality of subscribers, the disk comprising a plurality of disks storing the distributed movie data An array; An array controller that checks the subscriber's request at a predetermined time interval set to correspond to the subscriber's request, and controls access to the disks in the disk array if the movie requested by the subscriber is new from the previous one; An auxiliary recording medium storing data output from the disc array; An auxiliary recording medium controller for controlling to output corresponding data previously stored in the auxiliary recording medium under the control of the array controller when it is determined that the movie requested by the subscriber is the same as the previous subscriber request as a result of the check of the array controller; A memory buffer for synchronizing and outputting data output from the disk array and the auxiliary recording medium in accordance with a transmission format; And a high speed switch that switches the output from the memory buffer at a high speed and sends the same to a desired subscriber. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram showing a video service apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The video server unit 30 shown in FIG. 2 includes a disk array 12 made up of disks storing several movies distributed by the number of disks, and an auxiliary storage unit for storing data output from the disk array 12. The recording medium 34, the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 for controlling the auxiliary recording medium 34, and the array controller for controlling the disc array 12 and the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 by checking the subscriber's request. 38) and a memory buffer 36 for synchronizing and outputting data output from the disk array 12 and the auxiliary recording medium 34 in accordance with a transmission format. Then, the high speed switch 40 shown in FIG. 2 switches the output signal from the memory buffer 36 at high speed and sends it to each desired subscriber.

In the apparatus of FIG. 2, the disk array 12 includes several disks, each of which is stored scattered in part over all the disks contained in the disk array. In this case, the disc array 12 is the same movie for each 'play time interval' of the disc array 12, which is determined by the number of discs included in the disc array 12 and / or the number of movies contained on the discs. Can be output repeatedly. Here, the 'play time interval' is a time interval for the disc array 12 to continuously play one movie data from each disc. The array controller 38 checks the subscriber's request to receive the movies stored in the disk array 12 at each predetermined 'subscriber request response time interval'. Here, the subscriber request response time interval, which is preset at a predetermined time interval to correspond to the subscriber's request, is determined independently of the above-described playback time interval, and the subscriber to which the array controller 38 wants to receive movie information is provided. The time interval to check the request. In addition, it is preferable to set the subscriber request response time interval to be smaller than the reproduction time interval.

If there is a subscriber's request to receive movie information, the array controller 38 controls the disc array 12 to output the corresponding movie data stored on the disc, and at the same time, the data output from the disc array 12 is auxiliary recorded. The secondary recording medium controller 32 is controlled to be stored in the medium 34. The signal output from the disk array 12 under the control of the array controller 38 is input to the memory buffer 36 and stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34 under the control of the auxiliary recording medium controller 32.

The array controller 38 also checks whether there is a new subscriber request for every subscriber request response time interval. If there is a new subscriber request, it is determined whether the first recording data of the movie corresponding to the new subscriber request is contained in the auxiliary recording medium 34. This determination is made based on a signal supplied from the auxiliary recording medium 34, or whether a subscriber request for the same movie has been made before. If it is determined that the initial data of the movie corresponding to the new subscriber request is contained in the auxiliary recording medium 34 (or the subscriber request for the same movie has been previously), the array controller 38 determines that the auxiliary recording medium controller ( 32), and thus the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 controls the corresponding data previously stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34 to be output to the memory buffer 36. On the other hand, if the initial partial data of the movie corresponding to the new subscriber request is not contained in the auxiliary recording medium 34 (or if the subscriber request for the same movie has not been previously provided, i.e., the subscriber request for the new movie), ), The array controller 38 directly controls each disk of the disk array 12 so that the corresponding data is output. In particular, the array controller 38 controls the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 such that when the first part data of each movie is reproduced from a specific disc, the first part data is stored on the auxiliary recording medium 34, and then the other disc. Subsequent data from the movie also controls the secondary record carrier controller 32 to be stored on the secondary record carrier 34. The auxiliary recording medium 34 may be accessed only at the above-described subscriber request response time intervals, and may be implemented by employing a disk or a DRAM.

However, when data for each movie is stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34 in this manner, the larger the number of movies output from the disc array 12, the larger the memory capacity of the auxiliary recording medium 34 is required. There is a problem. In order to solve this problem, the array controller 38 stores information about movies with high subscriber demands (movies with high subscriber demand), that is, popular movies, and thus the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 Is designed to control. When several pieces of movie data are simultaneously output from the disk array 12 by the control of the array controller 38 thus designed, the movies having high subscriber demand are preferentially stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34. In order to more effectively reduce the memory capacity of the auxiliary recording medium 34, the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 responds to a movie without a subscriber's request from among data stored in the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 even after a predetermined time elapses. Data is deleted from the auxiliary recording medium 34. That is, the data stored on the secondary recording medium 34 by the first request or new request thereafter is deleted from the secondary recording medium 34 when there is no further recall for a predetermined time after the data is stored. do. As a result, the sub recording medium 34 stores only the popular movie data with high subscriber demands. Therefore, the sub recording medium controller 32 performs sub recording at the subscriber request response time interval according to the subscriber request check of the array controller 38. By accessing the medium 34, the popular movie among the data stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34 can be transmitted.

The memory buffer 36 synchronizes and outputs data supplied from the disk array 12 and the auxiliary recording medium 34 to match the transmission format, and the high speed switch 40 outputs each data output from the memory buffer 36. Switch to high speed and send to the subscriber line.

As described above, the video service apparatus of FIG. 2 can reproduce the movie data from the disc array 12 by accessing the disc array 12 only at the reproduction time interval set in response to the subscriber request. On the other hand, the video service apparatus of FIG. 2 checks the subscriber's request for each set subscriber response time interval, and if there is a subscriber's request for a specific movie for a predetermined time, the corresponding video data stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34 is stored. At the same time, if there is no subscriber's request for a particular movie, the corresponding movie data stored in the disc array 12 is transmitted to the subscriber lines. As a result, the conventional video service apparatus shown in FIG. 1 can transmit a maximum of N movies to subscribers, while the video service apparatus of FIG. 2 according to the present invention delivers more movies than the aforementioned N episodes to a plurality of subscribers. The advantage is that it can be provided at about the same time efficiently.

In order to help the understanding of the video service device proposed by the present invention, a concrete example is described as follows.

It is assumed that the disk array 12 is composed of 100 disks and stores 20 100-minute films. In other words, each movie is stored by one minute in length. The subscriber request response time interval in the video service apparatus is set to 3 seconds, and a predetermined time unit for deleting the movie data of the auxiliary recording medium 34 that is not recalled according to the frequency of subscriber requests is set to 1 minute. . Therefore, the auxiliary recording medium 34 should be accessible at three second intervals.

As soon as the service is started by the video service device and there is a subscriber request for movies 1 to 15, the array controller 38 controls to output data sequentially from the first disk of the disk array 12, and at the same time, the auxiliary recording medium. The control signal is output to the controller 32, and the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 controls to store data output from the disk array 12 on the auxiliary recording medium 34. Therefore, the auxiliary recording medium 34 stores data for movies 1 to 15. Further, the movie data output from the disk array 12 is synchronized by the memory buffer 36 to match the transmission format, and is switched by the fast switch 40 to be sent to the subscriber who requests each movie data.

If there is a subscriber request for films 1 to 5 after 3 seconds of 'subscriber request response time', the array controller 38 transmits a control signal to the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 since the movies have been subscribed to before. The auxiliary recording medium controller 32 controls to output the corresponding movie data previously stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34.

After six seconds, if there is a subscriber request for movies 1 to 5 and movie 17, the array controller 38 controls the auxiliary media controller 32 so that movies 1 to 5 are previously subscribed. Since the films were requested, they are output from the auxiliary recording medium 34, and the new movie 17, which previously had no subscriber request, is controlled to be output directly from the disc array 12 and simultaneously stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34. .

The array controller 38 checks the subscriber's request at 3 second intervals and repeats the above-described process depending on whether the movie is re-requested within 1 minute, and analyzes the frequency of the subscriber's demand to support the low-frequency movie as an auxiliary recording medium ( Since the predetermined time unit to be deleted from 34 is set to 1 minute, the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 is required to re-require one minute of the data already stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34 under the control of the array controller 38. The missing data is deleted from the auxiliary recording medium 34.

As described above, the video service apparatus according to the present invention further includes the auxiliary recording medium 34 and the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 described above in the video service apparatus having the disc array 12 having a limited capacity. Under the control of the controller 38 and the sub recording medium controller 32, the movie data output from the disc array 12 is stored in the sub recording medium 34. Then, the array controller 38 checks the subscriber's request for each subscriber request response time interval set independently of the number of disks in the disk array 12, and if there is the same subscriber request as before, the auxiliary recording medium controller 32 By outputting the corresponding movie data pre-stored in the auxiliary recording medium 34, it is possible to effectively increase the number of subscribers that can be distributed by sending a single movie without increasing the capacity of the disk array (12) Provide effect. In addition, the present invention analyzes the subscriber demand for a predetermined time period and deletes the pre-stored movie data having low or no required frequency from the auxiliary recording medium 34 so as to congest at a specific time with only a small capacity of the auxiliary recording medium 34. It provides an effect that can efficiently handle the needs of multiple subscribers for a particular popular movie without increasing the capacity of the disk array (12).

Claims (3)

(Correction) A video service apparatus for video on demand for sending a plurality of movies to a plurality of subscribers, the apparatus comprising: a disk array comprising disks for storing distributed movie data; An array controller that checks the subscriber's request at a predetermined time interval set to correspond to the subscriber's request, and controls access to the disks in the disk array if the movie requested by the subscriber is new from the previous one; An auxiliary recording medium storing data output from the disc array; An auxiliary recording medium controller for controlling to output corresponding data previously stored in the auxiliary recording medium under the control of the array controller when it is determined that the movie requested by the subscriber is the same as the previous subscriber request as a result of the check of the array controller; A memory buffer for synchronizing and outputting data output from the disk array and the auxiliary recording medium in accordance with a transmission format; And a high speed switch for switching the output from the memory buffer at a high speed to transmit to a desired subscriber. (delete) (Correction) The method according to claim 1, wherein the array controller checks a subscriber's request frequency in predetermined time units, and if the subscriber request frequency is low as a result of the check, the auxiliary recording medium controller writes to the auxiliary recording medium under the control of the array controller. And deleting the stored low frequency movie data.