KR100303087B1 - Session and resource manager and manage method in a video on demand system - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a session and resource manager and an operation method thereof in an on-demand video system supporting a service using a Digital Storage Media-Command and Control (DSM-CC) protocol. Servers of video-on-demand systems operating in a conventional user-to-user environment and a user-to-network environment need to be a high-performance system to store and supply a large amount of information, thus requiring expensive servers. The present invention smoothly loads the on-demand video server system by distributing a plurality of low-cost on-demand video servers instead of a single expensive on-demand video server. Therefore, the manufacturing cost is reduced.

Description

SESSION AND RESOURCE MANAGER AND MANAGE METHOD IN A VIDEO ON DEMAND SYSTEM}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a session and resource manager (hereinafter referred to as SRM) and a method of operation thereof in a video on demand (VOD) system, and more particularly, to a digital storage media (DSM-CC). Command and Control) SRM supporting service with protocol and its operation method.

As is well known, the VOD service immediately provides the requested information to the client when the client wants it when the television viewer, i.e. the client, requests the information. The VOD service is an information provider (IP) consisting of a large server capable of storing and transmitting information, a client who is a television user using real information, and a network that enables the transmission of information between the information provider and the client. (network) operates in conjunction.

There are several services provided by these VOD systems. First, Movies On Demand (MOD) provides program information of a kind such as a movie from a VOD server to a client side through a network. News On Demand (NOD) provides instant information on the title or subject of news and provides services such as news summaries or headlines. Remote shopping provides a video service that shows a video catalog so that a user can purchase a desired product or a user can view a product showcase. The telemedicine diagnosis provides a service for transmitting an X-ray image and an end user to store and analyze the transmitted data and transmit the diagnosis and prescribed data to another end user. Home banking provides games and general banking services. The agreement service provides video conferencing, a service that provides information to the user and allows the user to trade using this provided information. Internet access service provides a service for accessing the Internet.

On the other hand, DSM-CC is an ISO standard for standardizing the VOD system described above, and is a common method for managing bit streams stored in media regardless of what digital storage media are used in a near or far region. Is a set of protocols that define the operational and control functions.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an embodiment of a VOD system operated with a DSM-CC protocol.

In the figure, a user to user directly transmitting and receiving data between a client (or a client user, referred to as a client hereinafter) and a server (or a server user, hereinafter referred to as a server) user, hereinafter referred to as UU), and there is a user to network (hereinafter referred to as UN) for transmitting and receiving data between the network and the client or between the network and the server.

The above-mentioned UN environment is operated by session connection and environment function object types in clients, networks, and servers.

The UU environment operates with object types residing only on clients and servers.

In the above-described UN environment and the UU environment, when a predetermined client or server requests a session set-up request to the network side, the network side transmits session set-up confirmation information to the corresponding client or server to perform a step of activating the corresponding session. The release information (ReleaseRequest) is generated from the client or the server, the session is released, and the confidence information according to the resource request (ServerAddResourceRequest) generated from the server to form a Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) channel between the client and the server is displayed. The steps sent from the server to the corresponding server are each performed in the above-described UN environment. Before the session is activated and the above-mentioned address resource request is generated, and after channel formation for the address resource request, the step of transmitting substantial MPEG data is performed in the UU environment.

Since the server of the VOD system operating in the UU environment and the UN environment described above should be a high performance system to store and supply a large amount of information, an expensive server is required.

The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing, and an object of the present invention is to provide a VOD server according to a predetermined client service request among VOD servers including a plurality of low-cost VOD servers in a video-on-demand system operated by the DSM-CC UN protocol. The present invention provides a SRM and a method of operating the VOD system.

The present invention for achieving the above object, in the SRM performing a connection to a corresponding VOD server providing information according to a specific client service request of a plurality of preset VOD server: the client service request message and the client service A network manager for transmitting a corresponding VOD server address to the client according to a request; A server state data storage unit which stores data for each of the plurality of VOD servers in advance and provides them upon request; A load controller for detecting and providing an address of a corresponding VOD server capable of performing a request of a client service currently requested by data provided from the server state data storage unit; A server address storage unit for storing a VOD server address provided by the load controller and providing a VOD server address request; And a session manager configured to provide a VOD server address provided from the server address storage to the network manager before establishing a session.

Another feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is, in the SRM for detecting each load state of a plurality of preset VOD server to connect to the corresponding VOD server according to a specific client service request: User-to-network Config response Detecting a primary VOD server address if the message is provided correctly; Determining whether a service request of the client is performed at the detected default VOD server address when the default VOD server address is detected; A third step of informing the client of the default VOD server address when it is determined in the second step that the service request of the client can be performed at the default VOD server address; And if it is determined that the service request of the client cannot be performed at the default VOD server address in the second step, determining whether to perform a client service request at a next address of the default VOD server address. It is done.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an embodiment of a VOD system operated with a DSM-CC protocol;

2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a VOD system of a DSM-CC UN environment according to the present invention;

3 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a session and resource manager in a VOD system according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing step by step an embodiment of a method of operating a session and resource manager in a VOD system according to the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

200: VOD Server 210: SRM

211: network management unit 212: server address storage unit

213: session management unit 214: load control unit

215: resource management unit 216: server state data storage unit

220: client

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the operation of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a VOD system of the DSM-CC UN environment according to the present invention, and is composed of a VOD server 200, an SRM 210, and a client 220. The VOD server 200 includes first to Nth VOD servers 201 to 204. The client 220 is composed of first to Nth clients 221 to 224.

In the figure, the SRM 210 is on the network side. When a service request is generated from a predetermined client in the client 220, the SRM 210 load-adjusts a connection between the client requesting the service and a predetermined VOD server capable of pumping a required video stream in the VOD server 200.

3 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the SRM 210 in the VOD system according to the present invention. The network manager 211, the server address storage 212, the session manager 213, and the load controller 214 are shown in FIG. , A resource management unit 215, and a server state data storage unit 216. In addition, a VOD server 200, an ATM switch 300, and a client 220 are provided.

In the figure, the ATM switch 300 switches between the VOD server 200, the SRM 210, and the client 220 to enable data communication with each other.

The network manager 211 in the SRM 210 manages a DSM-CC UN message received through the ATM switch 300 from a specific client and a specific VOD server. The network manager 211 processes a message according to a service request from a predetermined client among the plurality of clients 221 to 224, and processes information provided from the corresponding VOD server among the plurality of VOD servers 201 to 204. And manage. As described below, the network manager 211 transmits the corresponding VOD server address according to the client service request to the client requesting the service through the ATM switch 300.

The session manager 213 connected to the network manager 211 creates a session to receive a service between the client 220 and the VOD server 200 and releases the session when the service is finished. For example, the session manager 213 may be provided by a resource allocated from the resource manager 215 to receive a corresponding service from a corresponding VOD server when a message according to a predetermined client service request is provided from the network manager 211. Form a session. After the service is provided, the resource manager 215 releases the allocated resources and releases the session in which the session manager 213 is also formed.

The server state data storage unit 216 includes data for load control of each of the plurality of VOD servers 201 to 204, for example, the address of each VOD server 201 to 204 and the address of each VOD server 201 to 204. The maximum capacity of the video stream pumping, that is, the amount of bit stream of information that can be provided to the maximum and the video stream pumping capability according to the client service request are stored in advance. The data stored in the server state data storage unit 216 is provided at the request of the load control unit 214.

The load adjuster 214 performs an operation of connecting to a server capable of performing a client service request by data necessary for load control provided from the server state data storage 216. For example, the load controller 214 detects the address of the corresponding VOD server according to the client service request based on the data provided from the server state data storage 216. Thereafter, the load adjusting unit 214 provides the detected address of the VOD server to the server address storage unit 212.

The server address storage unit 212 stores the address of the VOD server provided by the load controller 214 and provides the address to the session manager 213. Accordingly, the session manager 213 informs a predetermined client requesting a service through the network manager 211 to inform the address of the corresponding VOD server provided from the server address storage 212, so that the data between the predetermined client and the corresponding VOD server may be changed. Create a UU environment to directly transmit and receive the data.

4 is a flowchart showing step by step an embodiment of a method of operating SRM in a VOD system according to the present invention.

First, the session manager 213 determines whether the UN Config request message of the client provided through the network manager 211 is correct (step 400).

As a result of the determination of step 400, the session manager 213 notifies the load controller 214 of the correct UN Config request message if the UN Config request message is correct. In step 204, a default VOD server address is detected (step 401).

The load conditioner 214 determines whether to provide a service according to a client's request at the VOD server address detected in step 401 (step 402). For example, the load controller 214 determines whether the service request of the client can be performed by the video stream pumping capability of the basic VOD server address detected in step 401. More specifically, it is determined whether the video stream can be pumped according to the service request of the client by subtracting the video stream from the video stream pumping at the base VOD server address.

If the load controller 214 determines that the service can be provided as a result of the determination of step 402, that is, the service request of the client can be performed with the maximum capability of pumping the video stream at the default VOD server address detected in step 401. The VOD server address detected in step 401 is provided to the session manager 213 (step 405).

The session manager 213 transmits the address of the VOD server capable of receiving the service according to the client request and the UN Config confirmation message to the network manager 211 through the ATM switch 300. The network manager 211 transmits to the client 220 through the ATM switch 300 (step 407).

If the load controller 214 determines that the service cannot be provided as a result of step 402, that is, it is determined that the client cannot perform a service request with the maximum capacity of the video stream pumping at the default VOD server address detected in step 401. The next VOD server address is detected (step 403).

When the next VOD server address is detected in step 403, it is determined whether the client service request can be performed at the detected VOD server address (step 404). That is, it is determined whether the client service request can be performed with the maximum capacity of video stream pumping at the next VOD server address.

As a result of the determination in step 403, if the client service request can be performed, the above-described step 405 is performed, whereas if the client service request cannot be performed with the maximum capacity of video stream pumping at the next VOD server address, the next VOD server address is performed. Detect.

The load conditioner 214 generates an error code for not being able to perform the client service request if the next VOD server address is not detected in step 403 and provides it to the session manager 213 (step 406).

The session manager 213 transmits the address of the VOD server capable of receiving the service according to the client request and the UN Config confirmation message to the network manager 211 through the ATM switch 300. The network manager 211 transmits to the client 220 through the ATM switch 300 (step 407).

As described above, the present invention smoothly adjusts the load of the VOD server system by distributing a plurality of low-cost VOD servers instead of a single expensive VOD server in the VOD system. Therefore, the manufacturing cost is reduced.

Claims (2)

In the SRM performing connection to a corresponding VOD server providing information according to a specific client service request among a plurality of preset VOD servers: A network manager configured to transmit the client service request message and a corresponding VOD server address according to the client service request to the client; A server state data storage unit which stores data for each of the plurality of VOD servers in advance and provides them upon request; A load controller for detecting and providing an address of a corresponding VOD server capable of performing a request of a client service currently requested by data provided from the server state data storage unit; A server address storage unit for storing a VOD server address provided by the load controller and providing a VOD server address request; And a session manager configured to provide the network manager with a VOD server address provided from the server address storage before the session is established. In the on-demand video system, the data previously stored in the server state data storage unit are data on the address of each of the plurality of VOD servers, the maximum capacity of the video stream pumping capability, and the video stream pumping capability according to the client service request. Resource manager. In the SRM that detects each load state of a plurality of preset VOD servers and connects to a corresponding VOD server according to a specific client service request: Detecting a default VOD server address if a user-to-network Config response message is correctly provided; Determining whether a service request of the client is performed at the detected default VOD server address when the default VOD server address is detected; A third step of informing the client of the default VOD server address when it is determined in the second step that the service request of the client can be performed at the default VOD server address; In the second step, if it is determined that the service request of the client cannot be performed at the default VOD server address, a fourth step of determining whether to perform a client service request at a next address of the default VOD server address, The determination of whether or not to perform the service request of the client of the second step, if it is possible to provide the video stream pumping capability according to the client service request with the maximum capacity of the video stream pumping at the base VOD server address; A method for operating a session and resource manager in an on-demand video system, characterized in that it is determined that a client service request can be performed.