KR100686878B1 - Method for providing electronic program guide information in digital multimedia broadcasting, method for constructing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for providing EPG(Electronic Program Guide) information in DMB(Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and a configuring method therefor are provided to immediately configure broadcasting programming information. An MOT(Multimedia Object Transfer) object having time zone classified NPI(Near Program Information) of each service in a certain ensemble is additionally configured in EPG information. A transmission period of the MOT object including the time zone classified NPI is shorter than a transmission period of an MOT object including PI(Program Information) of an one-day quantity. The time zone is one among a plurality of time zones which is divided by 24 hours.

Description

Method for providing electronic program information in DMB and its construction method {Method for providing Electronic Program Guide Information in Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, method for constructing the same}

1 is a view for explaining an aspect for providing general EPG information;

2 is a diagram illustrating an XML EPG structure used in the present invention;

3 is a view for explaining a method for providing EPG information according to the present invention;

4 is a diagram illustrating a transport frame of an MOT object related to EPG information according to the present invention;

5 is a diagram showing identification information of an MOT object related to EPG information according to the present invention;

6 is a diagram illustrating an EPG information transmission system according to the present invention;

7 is a block diagram showing a DMB receiver to which an EPG configuration method according to the present invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

801: DMB tuner 802: OFDM demodulator

803: MSC Demultiplexer 804: MOT Decoder

805: EPG Engine 806: EPG DB

807: TP Demultiplexer 808: PSI Decoder

809: Video Decoder 810: Audio Decoder

811: second audio decoder

According to the present invention, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) information provider provides program information for a predetermined time interval of each channel constituting one ensemble, and the program information is provided using the program information provided by the DMB receiver. The present invention relates to a method for providing EPG information in a DMB configured immediately and a method of configuring the same.

In general, DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) extends the general DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) standard for providing clear audio quality audio information and traffic information, and also provides video information.

The current DMB can contain three ensembles in the frequency band (6 MHz) corresponding to one channel of analog TV, and within each ensemble, broadcast web site (BWS) information and traffic information (TPEG: Transport) Protocol Experts Group).

Ensemble refers to the entire information transmitted in one physical frequency. In addition to the above-mentioned information, the ensemble includes EPGs such as broadcast program information, start / end time information, and summary information of channels. (Electronic Program Guide) information may be included.

FIG. 1 is provided to explain an aspect of providing such general EPG information. As shown in FIG. 1, EPG information is generally referred to as service information (SI) information, group information (GI) information, and program information (PI) per day. Each program is collected from binary-encoded information and configured as a MOT (Multimedia Object Transfer) object and provided to the DMB receiver 300.

Then, the DMB receiver receives the MOT object and parses the SI information, PI information, etc. contained therein to configure program organization information. The MOT object has one multimedia content in accordance with the MOT protocol prepared to support data services in the DMB. It is composed of files

It should be noted that in order for the DMB receiver to configure the program programming information, as shown in FIG. 2, all of the MOT objects 200, 201, and 202 of each channel must be received to configure the program programming information. will be.

However, MOT objects of each of these channels are individually transmitted for each channel, and the DMB receiver cannot immediately configure broadcast program organization information until all of these MOT objects are received. Therefore, in some cases, for example, when the EPG information display request is input from the outside when the MOT object containing the program information of a predetermined channel is not received, the program programming information can be immediately provided to the user. There will be no.

The present invention was developed to solve the above problems,

A first object of the present invention is to provide an electronic program guide (EPG) information providing method in DMB for providing program information for a predetermined time interval of each channel constituting one ensemble.

The second object is to provide a method for organizing electronic program guide (EPG) information in DMB for immediately constructing program information.

The electronic program guide (EPG) information providing method of the present invention for this purpose is

The EPG information is divided into service information (SI) information, group information (GI) information, and program information (PI: program information) per day, and generated by providing a single MOT object for each electronic program guide (EPG) information providing method. The method may further generate and provide a MOT object having program information (NPI: Near Program Information) for each service in an ensemble.

In addition, the MOT object including the program information for each time zone is characterized in that the transmission period is shorter than the transmission period of the MOT object containing the program information (PI) of the day value.

The time zone is any one of a plurality of time zones having the same time interval by dividing the 24 hours by a set time unit. For example, 24 hours may be divided into 3 hour units and set to a plurality of time zones including 0 to 3 hours, 3 to 6 hours, 6 to 9 hours, and the like.

In the ensemble, 'dabID' of each service having time zone program information is inserted into 'scope' in 'epg.schedule', and 'dabID' to which each 'programme' belongs is 'location' It is characterized in that it is inserted into .bearer.id '.

The electronic program guide (EPG) information configuration method in the DMB of the present invention according to another object is

Receiving a plurality of MOT objects associated with the EPG information through the antenna, Service information (SI) in the received plurality of MOT objects and program information (NPI) for each service in each ensemble (NPI): And extracting Near Program Information, and configuring program organization information using the extracted Service Information (SI) information and the program information for each time zone.

The extracting of time zone program information (NPI) may include checking whether there is an identification value of a content type and a content sub type identifying a MOT object having time zone program information. ; And if there is an identification value, extracting program information (NPI) for each service in a predetermined ensemble from the MOT object having the identification value.

The configuring of the program schedule information may include program information (PI), service information (SI) information, and program information (NPI) for each time slot of a daily value of each service transmitted from the outside. Program organization information can be configured.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in more detail the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates EPG information used in the present invention, and in particular, EPG information of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is illustrated.

The illustrated SI element contains various information related to the SI (Service Information) information constituting the EPG information, the ensemble information below, the frequency information of the ensemble, and the service information of each service constituting the ensemble It includes information such as service ID, genre, and "epglanguage".

In addition, the epg element contains various information related to PI (Program Information) and GI (Group Information) information constituting the EPG information, in particular, the schedule information under the epg element related to the PI (Program Information) information And start and end time information (scope) of the program, detailed information (program) of the broadcast program, and ID information (location) of a channel to which each broadcast program belongs.

Meanwhile, the XML EPG information is encoded into binary for transmission, and then divided into service information (SI) information, group information (GI) information, and program information (PI: program information) per day, and then each one. It is composed of MOT object of and provided to DMB receiver.

3 is a diagram illustrating a basic structure for converting an EPG document expressed in XML and an EPG document expressed in XML to a binary EPG for transmission of EPG information used in the present invention.

The EPG document expressed in XML is in accordance with TS 102 818 (Digital Audio broadicasting; XML Specification for DAB Electronic Program Guide) v1.2.1, which is a standard set by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

3 illustrates, in particular, an element of 'epg.schedule' containing EPG information required when constructing a new MOT object according to the present invention. In addition, a basic structure for converting an EPG document expressed in XML into a binary EPG is shown as an example. The EPG document of XML and a basic structure for the conversion thereof are general and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The present invention reads out the necessary information from binary EPG information using XML EPG document and transformation structure to construct a new MOT object having program information for each time zone.

The specifics are as follows.

First, the present invention sets a plurality of time zones having the same time interval by dividing the 24 hours by a predetermined time unit. For example, by dividing the 24 hours by 3 hours, 0 to 3 hours, 3 to 6 hours, 6 hours Set multiple time zones consisting of ~ 9 o'clock, ...

Then, the time zone to which the current broadcast time belongs is found among the binary encoded EPG information according to the above transformation rule, and the binary-encoded program information of each service in a predetermined ensemble included in the time zone ( Read PI: Program Information.

For example, when the current broadcast time is 2:30, program information (PI) in the time zone of 0 o'clock to 3 o'clock, which belongs to 2:30, is read out of the EPG information of the encoded binary. For example, all program information of KBS1, KBS2, and KBS FM between 0 o'clock and 3 o'clock of each service in an ensemble belonging to the same time zone are read.

The MOT object having the program information (PI) encoded in a predetermined time zone of each service in the predetermined ensemble and the program configuration information for each time zone is distinguished from other MOT objects. The MOT object, which includes an identification value of a predetermined content type and a content sub type, is formed, that is, the MOT object of the present invention having program organization information for a predetermined time zone.

The MOT object inserts 'dabID' of each service belonging to one ensemble to 'scope' in 'epg.schedule' so that it can know what channel is included in itself. In order to be able to know which channel each of the plurality of program organization information included in the MOT object corresponds to, the 'dabID' to which each 'programme' belongs is inserted into 'location.bearer.id'.

The MOT object configured as described above is transmitted to a DMB receiver as a MOT object constituting EPG information, and the DMB receiver can obtain program programming information for each channel in an ensemble even if only one transmitted MOT object is received. For example, EPG information can be quickly configured and provided to the user.

The MOT object, i.e., a MOT object having time-based program organization information, has a transmission cycle faster than that of other MOT objects constituting EPG information, for example, a MOT object having a daily program amount of program organization information (PI). In this case, the receiving side can quickly receive program programming information within a time zone close to the current broadcast time.

For reference, the EPG information included in the MOT object is basic information constituting a general 'Basic Profile', and detailed information is transmitted in an 'Advanced Profile'.

4 is a diagram illustrating a transport frame including an EPG-related MOT (Multimedia Object Transfer) object according to the present invention.

The transmission frame illustrated in FIG. 4 is divided into "Header" of "7 bytes" and "Body" of "variable size", and "Header" is divided into "Core Header (CH)" and "Extension Header (EH)". do.

The "Core Header" has a Content Type and a Content Sub Type that identifies a plurality of MOTs related to EPG information, Content Length information, and the like. The "Extension Header" is a version. (version) and "priority" information.

"Body" has any one of a plurality of MOTs that divide EPG information, and the plurality of MOTs include a MOT including a service information (SI), a MOT including a group information (GI), and a program information (PI). Included MOT, the MOT includes any one selected from the MOT including the program information (NPI: Near Program Information) of the same time zone of each service in the newly added predetermined ensemble according to the present invention.

The above-mentioned "NPI: Near Program Information" is separately defined in the present invention, and program programming information in a time zone close to the current broadcast time, for example, in a certain ensemble from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock when the current broadcast time is 12 o'clock. Represents program organization information of each service.

The MOT object including "NPI: Near Program Information" is updated at a set time (for example, 3 hours), and when program programming information is changed, "NPI: Near Program Information" information is also modified and transmitted immediately. It is preferable to be.

In particular, the MOT object including the NPI is set so that the transmission period is faster than the transmission period of the MOT object having a program amount of information (PI) per day, so that the program side quickly sets the program organization information within a time zone close to the current broadcast time. Can be provided to the user.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a content type and a content subtype identification value used to distinguish an EPG related MOT object in the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the present invention, the EPG related MOT object includes four MOT objects, that is, a MOT object including SI (Service Information) and Group Information (GI) as described above. MOT object, MOT object including PI (Program Information), MOT including the program configuration information (NPI: Near Program Information) of the same time zone of each service in the new ensemble newly added according to the present invention Consists of objects.

These four MOT objects are set to have different Content Type / Content Sub Type values, for example, 7/0, 7/1, 7/2, and 7/3. .

The above '7/0', '7/1', and '7/2' are ordinary MOT objects, that is, a MOT object including a service information (SI) and a MOT object including a group information (GI). An identification value of a content type / content subtype that identifies a MOT object including a PI (Program Information) of a day's worth of services belonging to an ensemble of.

And, '7/3' is a newly added MOT object according to the present invention, as shown, for example, each of the services (services), 'KBS1', 'KBS2', 'KBS FM' from 15:00 to 18 An identification value of a content type / content subtype that identifies a MOT object having program organization information up to the time.

6 illustrates EPG information to the DMB receiver 300 via the DMB in detail according to the present invention. In particular, the MOT objects 200 and 201 constituting the EPG information are newly generated according to the present invention. A diagram for describing a system for transmitting the added MOT object 600.

The EPG information provider (not shown) transmits a MOT object having program information (PI) of each service in a predetermined ensemble belonging to a predetermined time zone, and in particular, of each service in a predetermined ensemble. It is sent with a shorter period than MOT object with daily program information (PI).

For example, as shown, the EPG information provider has an NPT MOT having program organization information from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock of each service KBS1, KBS2, and KBS FM constituting a predetermined ensemble on May 7. Send 600.

Separately, the PI1 MOT 200 having the daily program amount of information on May 7 of KBS1 and the PI2 MOT 201 having the program amount information on the May 7 day of KBS2 are transmitted. At this time, the NPT MOT transmits with a shorter period than other PI MOTs such as the PI1 MOT 200 and the PI2 MOT 201.

As a result, even if the DMB receiver receives only the NPT, the DMB receiver may configure the EPG information using the program programming information of a predetermined time zone belonging to the NPT, including the program currently being broadcast, and provide the same to the user.

7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a DMB receiver according to the present invention.

The DMB receiver shown in FIG. 7 includes a DMB tuner 701, an OFDM demodulator 702, an MSC demultiplexer 703, a MOT decoder 704, an EPG engine 705, and an EPG DB (related to the EPG configuration of the present invention). 706). In addition, an additional configuration further includes a TP demultiplexer 707, a PSI decoder 708, a video decoder 709, an audio decoder 710, and a second audio decoder 711.

The DMB tuner 701 receives a DMB carrier transmitted from the outside through an antenna and outputs it to an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) demodulator.

The OFDM demodulator 702 OFDM demodulates the DMB carriers output from the DMB tuner 701 and outputs frequency deinterleaved OFDM symbols. The frequency deinterleaved OFDM symbols are classified into a fast information channel (FIC) and a main service channel (MSC) according to their characteristics.

OFDM symbols output from the OFDM demodulator 702 are time deinterleaved through a time deinterleaver (not shown) and rearranged in units of CIF (Common Interleaved Frame), which is a logical frame unit. 703).

The MSC demultiplexer 703 divides the output data divided into MSCs from the OFDM demodulator 702 into additional data such as EPG information, data such as video and audio, and additional data such as EPG information related to the present invention. Outputs to the MOT decoder.

The MOT decoder 704 receives the data distributed by the MSC demultiplexer 703 and performs MOT decoding.

The EPG engine 705 parses SI (Service Information) information from the MOT decoded data and program information (NPI) belonging to a predetermined time zone of each service in an ensemble and stored in the EPG DB 706. It is inserted into the corresponding field of the EPG table, so that the program organization information of the time zone is configured.

That is, the EPG engine 705 checks the identification values (eg, 7/0) of the content type and the content sub type, finds a MOT object having SI information, and loads the MOT object on the MOT object. Parse each service information including channel names such as KBS1, KBS2, and KBSFM.

Then, the MOT object having the program information for each time zone is found by identifying the identification values (for example, 7/3) of the content type and the content sub type, that is, the NPI information contained in the MOT object. Parse program information (NPI: Near Program Information) of a predetermined time zone of each service in an ensemble.

The NPI information includes program information such as a program name belonging to a predetermined time zone (eg, 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock) of each service KBS1, KBS2, and KBSFM, and a program start time and end time.

Service information such as channel names such as KBS1, KBS2 and KBSFM parsed by the SI information by the EPG engine 705, and predetermined time zones of KBS1, KBS2 and KBSFM in the NPI (e.g., 3 to 6 o'clock) Program information, such as a program name belonging to the program, a start time and an end time of the program, is inserted into a corresponding field of the EPG table stored in the EPG DB, thereby configuring program organization information of the time zone according to the present invention.

The EPG engine 705 parses the program information of the daily service amount of each service from the PI MOT object including the program information of the service value of each service separately from the service. The program organization information can be extended because it is inserted into the corresponding field of the EPG table configured in the EPG DB of the.

As described in detail above, the present invention has an effect of promptly configuring broadcast program programming information belonging to a time zone close to the current broadcast time, including a program currently being broadcast, and promptly providing the user.

Claims (7)

EPG information is divided into SI (Service Information) information, GI (Group Information) information, and program information (PI: Program Information) per day, and each program is composed of one multimedia object transfer (MOT) object. In the information providing method, And providing a MOT object having program information (NPI: Near Program Information) of each service in an ensemble in addition to the EPG information. The method of claim 1, The MOT object including the program information for each time zone has a transmission period shorter than the transmission period of the MOT object containing the program information of the day amount (PI) information. The method of claim 1, The time zone is any one of a plurality of time zones having the same time interval by dividing the 24 hours by a set time unit. Receiving a plurality of MOT objects associated with EPG information via an antenna; Extracting SI (Service Information) information and Near Program Information (NPI) of each service in each ensemble from the received MOT objects; And configuring program organization information from the extracted service information (SI) information and the program information for each time zone. According to claim 4, Before the step of configuring the program information, Extracting program information (PI: program information) of a day's worth of each service from the plurality of received MOT objects; Comprising the program programming information, And program programming information comprising the extracted program information (PI), the service information (SI) information, and the program information for each time slot (NPI). The method of claim 4, wherein Extracting the program information for each time zone, Checking the presence or absence of an identification value of a content type and a content sub type identifying a MOT object having program information for each time slot; If there is an identification value as a result of the check, the step of extracting the program information (NPI) for each service of each service in a predetermined ensemble (MPI) object with the identification value in DMB characterized in that How to Organize EPG Information. The method of claim 4, wherein The time zone is any one of a plurality of time zones having the same time interval by dividing the 24 hours by a set time unit.

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