KR100914256B1 - Network terminal apparatus for ip tv service - Google Patents

Abstract

A network terminal apparatus for an IPTV service is provided to supply an IPTV service as much as a user's desire amount. A management unit(142) manages a channel access list about one or more clients. The channel access list comprises information about a channel registered to be provided to a corresponding client and information about a service allowance condition of the corresponding client. A providing unit(144) provides a requested channel to a client requesting a channel as much as an allowed service amount based on the channel access list. The allowed service amount includes at least one of an allowed period or an allowed data amount.

Description

Network terminal apparatus for IPTV service {network terminal apparatus for IP TV service}

The present invention relates to a network termination device, and more particularly, to a network termination device for IP TV service.

With the development of the Internet technology, the broadcast service method is rapidly changing from the cable based method to the Internet based method. One of the representative Internet-based broadcasting services is IP TV service.

IP TV service is provided as follows. The IP TV server generates a packet (ie, IP TV service data) by encoding (eg, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 based encoding) stream data corresponding to each broadcast channel, and transmits the packet to the multicast network. Multicast routers in a multicast network multicast the packets of each channel to the network end devices belonging to the multicast group of the channel through proper routing. The network end device transmits the received packet to the client, which is the final receiver of the channel. Here, examples of clients include set-top boxes, PCs, and the like.

However, according to the conventional IP TV service method, when the network service provider or the content provider verifies the client's authority to the corresponding channel, only the registration is provided and the service is provided. There is a limitation in that it cannot provide an IP TV service that receives a service fee as much as it receives a service fee.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network termination device capable of providing as many IP TV services as the user desires.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a first aspect of the present invention is connected to a multicast network in which IP TV service data is distributed, and provides at least one client for providing an IP TV service to at least one client. The amount of service allowed for the requested channel (hereinafter referred to as a request channel) to the client (hereinafter referred to as request client) of the client requesting the channel of-the period (hereinafter allowed period) and the amount of data registered to provide the request channel to the requesting client. Provided by the network termination device that is determined by at least one of (hereinafter, the amount of data allowed).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network termination apparatus may include a management unit managing a channel access list for each of the at least one client; And a providing unit providing the requesting channel to the requesting client based on the channel access list, wherein the channel access list includes information on channels (hereinafter, referred to as registered channels) registered to be provided to the corresponding client. A service permission condition for a registration channel, determined by at least one of the permission period and the permission period.

According to an embodiment, the provider determines whether the request channel is a registration channel that satisfies the service permission condition, and then joins an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) for the request channel. Send a message to the multicast router in the multicast network.

According to an embodiment, if a service expiration event occurs while providing the request channel to the request client, the provider stops providing the request channel.

According to an embodiment, the request channel is a channel corresponding to an IGMP participation message received from the requesting client.

According to an embodiment, the network termination device transmits an IGMP leave message for the channel to a multicast router in the multicast network when an unauthorized channel occurs in all of the connected at least one client. .

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a second aspect of the present invention is connected to a multicast network in which IP TV service data is distributed, and the network termination apparatus for providing IP TV service to at least one connected client, the at least one Store and manage a channel access list for each client of the channel access list, and the channel access list provides information about channels (hereinafter referred to as a registration channel) registered to be provided to the client and service permission conditions for each registration channel. It is determined by at least one of the period of registration and the amount of data registered to provide a network end device that includes information on.

According to an embodiment, the network termination apparatus synchronizes with a server managing information on clients of the IP TV service, including information on a registration channel of the client and information on a service permission condition of each registration channel. The change in the registration channel or the service permission condition of the at least one client is reflected in the channel access list.

According to one embodiment, each of the registration channel has a service type of any one of an unlimited type to provide without limitation, a period-based type to provide as long as the allowed period, the usage-based type to provide as much as the allowed data amount, The information on the registration channel includes a service type for each of the registration channel, and for the registration channel belonging to the period-based type and the usage-based type further includes information on the allowed period or the allowed data amount.

Embodiments of the present invention presented above may have an effect including the following advantages. However, all the embodiments of the present invention are not meant to include them all, and thus the scope of the present invention should not be understood as being limited thereto.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an IP TV service network that provides a user with a desired channel for a desired period or data amount may be constructed. As a result, the IP TV viewer can pay only the fee for receiving the service for the desired channel.

In addition, the network termination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention has channel reception authority information of each host (ie, a client) and may stop service of a corresponding channel when a predetermined period or a predetermined amount of data is exceeded. This enables service control at each end of the IP TV service network, increasing reliability and scalability.

Since descriptions of embodiments of the present invention are merely illustrated for structural to functional descriptions of the present invention, the scope of the present invention should not be construed as limited by the embodiments described in the present invention. That is, the embodiments of the present invention may be variously modified and may have various forms, and thus, it should be understood that the present invention includes equivalents capable of realizing the technical idea of the present invention.

On the other hand, the meaning of the terms described in the present invention will be understood as follows.

Terms such as "first" and "second" are intended to distinguish one component from another component, and the scope of the present invention should not be limited by these terms. For example, the first component may be named a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be named a first component.

The term “and / or” should be understood to include all combinations that can be presented from one or more related items. For example, "first item, second item, and / or third item" means "at least one or more of the first item, second item, and third item", and means first, second, or third item. A combination of all items that can be presented from two or more of the first, second and third items as well as the third item.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" to another component, it should be understood that there may be other components in between, although it may be directly connected to the other component. On the other hand, when a component is said to be "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that there is no other component in between. On the other hand, other expressions describing the relationship between the components, such as "between" and "immediately between" or "neighboring to" and "directly neighboring to", should be interpreted as well.

Singular expressions described herein are to be understood to include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, and the terms "comprise" or "having" include elements, features, numbers, steps, operations, and elements described. It is to be understood that the present invention is intended to designate that there is a part or a combination thereof, and does not exclude in advance the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features or numbers, steps, actions, components, parts or combinations thereof. .

Each step described in the present invention may occur out of the stated order unless the context clearly dictates the specific order. That is, each step may occur in the same order as specified, may be performed substantially simultaneously, or may be performed in the reverse order.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in the commonly used dictionaries should be construed as having meanings consistent with the meanings in the context of the related art, and shall be interpreted as having ideal or overly formal meanings unless expressly defined in this application. Can't be.

1 shows an IP TV service system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 is divided into a contents provider (CP) domain, a network service provider (NSP) domain, and a subscriber domain for convenience. The system according to the embodiment of FIG. Content Provider (CP) management server 100, IP TV server 110, multicast network (120), network access server (NAS) (130), An access node (hereinafter referred to as AN) 140, which is a network termination device, and clients 150 and 152 are included.

The AN 140 is connected to a multicast network in which IP TV service data flows, and registers the channel requested to the client 150 requesting the service to provide the channel to the allowable service amount-client 150. (Determined by at least one of the following allowable period) and the data amount (hereinafter, allowed data amount).

Referring to FIG. 1, the AN 140 may include a manager 142 for storing and / or managing channel access lists 146 and 148 for each of at least one client 150 and 152 in charge thereof; And a provider 142 that performs conditional access control (CAC) based on the channel access list 146 to provide IP TV service data corresponding to the requested channel to the clients 150 and 152.

Preferably, the channel access list 146, 148 includes information about channels (hereinafter, referred to as registered channels) registered to provide to the corresponding clients 150, 152 and service permission conditions for each registered channel-permission period and allowed data. Determined by at least one of the amounts. Referring to FIG. 1, each of the registration channels may be any one of an unlimited type that provides an unlimited number, a time-based type that provides an allowable period, and a usage-based type that provides an amount of allowed data. With one service type, the information on the service permission conditions includes a service type for each of the registration channels, and additionally, information on the allowed period or the amount of data allowed for the registration channel belonging to the period-based type and the usage-based type. Include. For example, it can be seen that the first client 150 corresponding to the channel access list 146 of FIG. 1 has three registration channels. 225.1.1.1, 225.1.1.2, and 225.1.1.3 are information on a registration channel, and represent IP addresses mapped to respective registration channels. Referring to the channel access list 146 of FIG. 1, a registration channel corresponding to 225.1.1.1 has a service permission condition of allowing a 5-day period only as a period-based service, and a registration channel corresponding to 225.1.1.2 As a usage-based service, it has a service permission condition that only one gigabyte is allowed, and the registration channel corresponding to 225.1.1.3 has a service permission condition of unlimited type.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the management unit 142 manages information on clients of the IP TV service, including information on a registration channel of the client and information on service permission conditions of each registration channel. ), The channel access list 146 reflects that the registration channel and / or service permission condition of the client 150 in charge of the client 150 is changed. Here, examples of the change include the addition / deletion of the registration channel and the change of the service permission condition (for example, the change of the service type, the change of the allowable data amount or the allow period).

According to an embodiment, the provider 144 checks whether the requested channel (hereinafter, referred to as a request channel) is a registration channel that satisfies the service permission condition, and then provides an Internet Group Management Protocol (hereinafter referred to as Internet Group Management Protocol) for the request channel. Send an IGMP join message to a multicast router (not shown) in the multicast network 120. Thereafter, the provider 144 receives IP TV service data corresponding to the request channel from the multicast router (not shown), and provides the requesting client with an allowable amount of service (for example, period and amount of data).

In addition, according to an embodiment, if a service expiration event occurs while providing the request channel to the requesting client (eg, 150), the provider 144 stops providing the request channel. For example, the provider 144 is a channel (hereinafter, referred to as channel 1) corresponding to the channel currently provided to the requesting client 150 (hereinafter, referred to as channel 1 1), and at the moment 5 days have elapsed since the service providing for channel 1 started. , Service of channel 1 is stopped. As an example of determining whether a service expiration event has occurred, a method in which the AN 140 monitors whether a used service amount (duration, data amount, etc.) has reached a service permission condition after starting service for a corresponding channel by using a timer or a counter. But it is not necessarily limited thereto.

Hereinafter, embodiments in which the AN 140 acquires the channel access lists 146 and 148 will be described.

The CP management server 100 obtains detailed items of an IP-based broadcast service that the requesting client 150 wants to receive and performs user authentication. Here, examples of the detailed items may include an identifier for a channel that a user for the client 150 wants to register as a service channel, a desired service permission condition, and information for user authentication. If the user authentication passes and the registration channel and / or service permission conditions change, the changed information (hereinafter, registration change information) is transmitted to the NAS 130. Here, examples of the registration change information may include an identifier for a registration channel to be added / deleted and a changed service permission condition (for example, change of service type, allowable data amount, and allowable period).

As an example of how the CP management server 100 obtains the detailed items of the IP-based broadcast service, the CP delivers the detailed items of the IP-based broadcast service provided from the user of the client 150 to the CP management server 100. The method may include a method in which the client 150 directly provides the CP management server 100 with detailed items of the IP-based broadcast service through the communication path shown in FIG. 1, but is not limited thereto.

In addition, as an example of a method for delivering registration change information to the NAS 130, a method for transferring registration change information received from the CP management server 100 to the NAS 130 by the NSP, the CP management server 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1. A method of directly providing the NAS 130 through the communication path shown in FIG. 6 may be provided, but is not necessarily limited thereto.

2 illustrates an IP-based broadcast service registration / deregistration process and a service change process for a specific channel according to an embodiment of the present invention, which are mainly related to the operation of the management unit 142 of FIG. 1.

When the client makes a request for registration / cancellation to the CP management server, the CP management server performs user authentication if necessary, and then informs the NAS of the registration / cancellation result according to the authentication result. In this case, when receiving a registration request, the CP management server acquires the detailed items of the above-described IP-based broadcast service, and performs user authentication on the basis of this. According to one embodiment, the billing process may be performed together in the user authentication process.

When the user authentication passes and the registration channel is added / deleted, the registration change information is notified to the NAS. As notified, the NAS updates its DB (which stores information about the clients of the IP TV service, including information about the registration channel of the client and information about the service permission conditions of each registration channel). After that, the updated contents (hereinafter, updated information) are provided to the corresponding AN. Here, an example of updating may include adding a registration channel or deleting a registration channel.

When the AN receives the update information from the NAS, the AN updates the channel access list for the client corresponding to the update information received from the clients in charge of the AN.

According to an embodiment, after updating the channel access list, the CP management server may explicitly notify the corresponding client of the result of the registration / cancellation request.

The same applies to the case where the authority for the specific channel (that is, the service permission condition) is to be changed after the IP TV service is already registered and applied to the CP management server.

First, when the client requests the CP management server to change the authority for a specific channel, the CP management server authenticates the user, and then changes the changed authority information (ie, information on the changed service condition), that is, registration change information to the NAS. Inform. The NAS updates its DB according to the provided authority information and then provides the update information to the AN. The AN updates the channel access list based on the provided update information.

According to an embodiment, after updating the channel access list, the CP management server may explicitly notify the corresponding client of the result of the channel authority change request.

Through this process, the client can select how long (time-based) or how long (usage-based) the service is to be provided for a particular channel.

3 illustrates a process of providing a time-based service according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is mainly related to the operation of the providing unit 144 of FIG. 1.

A client with the authority of a time-based channel makes an IGMP join for that channel. That is, the client sends an IGMP join message corresponding to the channel (ie, request channel) to be serviced to the AN.

The AN receives this IGMP join message. In other words, if the AN determines that the client is authorized to the channel, it passes the IGMP join and otherwise denies it. Upon passing, the AN sets a timer so that the service is blocked after the channel expires. As a result, the client is guaranteed service for the privileged period, and if the service expires during the service period, the AN blocks the service for that channel.

On the other hand, if there is no client to receive the channel among the clients in charge, the AN sends an IGMP leave to the top (that is, multicast router) to prevent the reception of the channel.

In the usage-based service, instead of determining whether the AN is expired in FIG. 3, the AN is mainly different in determining whether the amount of data expires, and in the unlimited type of service, the AN determines whether the service is blocked or blocked. Mainly different from not performing the authority verification, the rest of the process is similar to the principle of Figure 3, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Such a method and apparatus of the present invention have been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings for clarity, but these are merely exemplary, and various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible to those skilled in the art. Will understand. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the appended claims.

Embodiments of the present invention presented above may have an effect including the following advantages. However, all the embodiments of the present invention are not meant to include them all, and thus the scope of the present invention should not be understood as being limited thereto.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an IP TV service network that provides a user with a desired channel for a desired period or data amount may be constructed. As a result, the IP TV viewer can pay only the fee for receiving the service for the desired channel.

In addition, the network termination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention has channel reception authority information of each host (ie, a client) and may stop service of a corresponding channel when a predetermined period or a predetermined amount of data is exceeded. This enables service control at each end of the IP TV service network, increasing reliability and scalability.

1 illustrates an IP-based broadcast service system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 shows an IP-based broadcast service registration / cancellation process and a service change process for a specific channel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 shows a process of providing a time-based service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (9)

A network termination device connected to a multicast network in which IP TV service data is distributed to provide IP TV service to at least one connected client, A management unit for managing a channel access list for each of the at least one client, including information about a channel registered to be provided to the client and information about a service permission condition of the corresponding client for each registered channel; And A provision unit configured to provide the requested channel to the client requesting the channel among the at least one client as the allowable service amount, including at least one of an allowable period and an allowable data amount, based on the channel access list, And the service permission condition is determined by at least one of an allowance period and an allowable data amount. delete The method of claim 1, wherein the providing unit After confirming that the requested channel is a registered channel that satisfies the service permission condition, the multicast network transmits an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) join message for the requested channel. A network terminator for an IP TV service, characterized in that transmitting to a multicast router. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing unit If a service expiration event occurs while providing the requested channel to the requesting client, the network termination apparatus for the IP TV service, characterized in that to stop providing the requested channel. The method according to any of claims 1, 3, and 4, wherein the requested channel is And a channel corresponding to an IGMP participation message received from the requesting client. The method according to claim 1, 3, and 4, wherein the providing unit, When an unauthorized channel occurs to all of the at least one connected client, an IGMP leave message for the channel is transmitted to a multicast router in the multicast network. Device. delete The method of claim 1, The management unit is synchronized with a server managing information on the clients of the IP TV service, reflecting the change in the registered channel or service permission conditions of the at least one client in the channel access list, And the information on the clients includes information on each registered channel of the client and information on service permission conditions of each registered channel. The method of claim 8, Each of the registered channels has a service type of any one of an unlimited type provided without limitation, a period based type providing as much as an allowable period, and a usage based type providing as much as an allowed data amount. The information on the service permission condition includes a service type for each of the registered channels, and further includes information on an allowed period or an allowable data amount for registered channels belonging to the period-based type and the usage-based type. A network terminator for an IP TV service.

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