KR100925042B1 - Method for Providing VOD Information of IPTV - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for providing VOD information of an IPTV is provided to supply various types of VOD information including subscriber customized VOD information to a customized content section when a screen displayed in an IPTV terminal is divided into an AV content section transmitted from an IPTV broadcasting service provider and an additional customized content section, thereby increasing VOD content sales together with increase of subscriber satisfaction. CONSTITUTION: A method for providing VOD information of an IPTV(Internet Protocol TV) comprises the following steps. The entire display screen of an IPTV terminal is divided into at least two content sections(S100). The content section includes an AV content section and a customized content section in which VOD related information is outputted. Divided section information is transmitted to the IPTV terminal(S102). Both text data and image data related to VOD to be outputted in the customized content section are outputted after image rendering(S104). When a user selects VOD content listed in the customized contents section, an IPTV H/E(Head End) is requested to transmit corresponding VOD contents to the IPTV terminal.

Description

Method for providing video information of IPTV {Method for Providing VOD Information of IPTV}

The present invention relates to a method for providing VOD information of an IPTV, and more particularly, a customized content area in which a screen displayed on an IPTV terminal is divided into an AV content area transmitted from a headend of an IPTV broadcaster and a customized content area separate from the AV content area. The present invention relates to a method of providing VOD information of IPTV that provides various VOD information including customized VOD information.

As is generally known, IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television, and refers to a service that provides information service, video content, and broadcasting to a television receiver using high-speed Internet. It's a type of digital convergence in terms of the convergence of the Internet and television. The difference with conventional Internet TV is that it uses a television receiver instead of a computer monitor and a remote control instead of a mouse.

To use the IPTV as described above, only the television receiver, the set-top box, and the Internet line need to be connected. In other words, you can add a set top box (hereinafter referred to as "STB") or a dedicated modem to your television and turn it on just as you would turn on the television. Therefore, even a person who is not familiar with a computer can use the remote control to provide various contents and additional services provided by the Internet such as watching movies, home shopping, home banking, online games, and MP3s as well as searching the Internet.

On the other hand, IPTV, as described above, provides a broadcasting content including video, but there is no difference from general cable broadcasting or satellite broadcasting. Unlike general public broadcasting, cable broadcasting or satellite broadcasting, viewers can see only the programs they want to watch at a convenient time. Therefore, the initiative of TV broadcasting is passed from the broadcasting company or the relay company to the viewers. At present, IPTV services are provided in some countries such as Hong Kong, Italy and Japan, but they are in the early stages worldwide. In Korea, telecom operators are actively providing IPTV in order to enjoy the full range of economic benefits by utilizing the existing infrastructure.

In the case of the IPTV system described above, a broadcaster requires an IPTV Head End (IPTV Head End) system, which is a base system for broadcasting, and a set-top box is required for a receiving subscriber. IPTV H / E is equipped with the infrastructure that transmits after receiving and processing broadcasting contents (encoding and compression multiplexing), and also has various functions such as subscriber information, contract information, organization and receiving authority control. have.

In addition, as described above, the set-top box is a device for watching IPTV broadcasts. The set-top box refers to a device that can directly connect with a subscriber's TV to watch broadcasts. There are functions to control and give viewers only to authorized subscribers, and to store / execute broadcasting applications for two-way broadcasting.

On the other hand, IPTV H / E is divided into central H / E and regional H / E. The central H / E mainly transmits channel broadcasts, and the local H / E transmits VOD broadcasts.

However, according to the conventional IPTV system, the VOD information retrieval method is a top menu method, for example, mega tv main-> large category (MBC, KBS, SBS, etc.)-> medium category (drama, sports, documentary, movie, etc.)-> small category There is a problem in that a lot of effort and time are required to select the VOD desired by the subscriber because it is a uniform method of selecting the desired VOD contents through sequentially.

Therefore, according to the IPTV system according to the prior art, there is a problem that the expansion of sales of VOD contents is limited due to the lack of incentives for VOD viewing of subscribers due to the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and the subscriber display is customized to the customized content area in a state in which the screen displayed on the IPTV terminal is divided into an AV content area transmitted from the headend of the IPTV broadcaster and a customized content area separate from the AV content area. The purpose is to provide a method of providing VOD information of IPTV that can increase subscriber satisfaction and increase sales of VOD contents by providing various VOD information including VOD information.

The present invention configured to achieve the above object is as follows. That is, in the method of providing VOD information of IPTV according to the present invention, an SSB (Server Side Browsing) server connected to an IPTV H / E of an IPTV broadcaster that transmits AV content for channel broadcasting or VOD broadcasting and having an SSB function is provided. Is performed by the SSB server while the network is connected to the IPTV terminal equipped with the SSB client, and (a) the AV content area and the VOD related information for outputting the AV content transmitted from the IPTV H / E to the entire display screen of the IPTV terminal. Dividing the content into two or more content areas including a customized content area to be output; (b) transmitting the divided area information to the IPTV terminal using the divided area information in step (a); (c) assigning corresponding region information to VOD-related text data or image data to be output to the customized content region and outputting the corresponding region information to the IPTV terminal; And (d) requesting the IPTV H / E to deliver the VOD content to the IPTV terminal when the VOD content listed in the customized content area is selected by the user.

In the step (c) of the present invention as described above, the VOD-related text data or image data to be output to the customized content area may be configured to be output after being rendered together with the image.

The preference content area may be configured such that a preference category search field for searching for VOD content belonging to a category registered by a subscriber as a preference category is arranged.

Meanwhile, in the above-described configuration of the present invention, the preferred category may be configured to register after the subscriber logs in to the subportal of the SSB server through the Internet or directly through the IPTV terminal.

In addition, a tag search field using a tag cloud method may be disposed in the above-described customized content area, and any VOD content tag may be configured by giving a different color, size, or font.

In addition, the above-described customized content area may be configured such that the index search field is further arranged so that the desired VOD content can be searched by inputting a Korean alphabet or an English alphabet.

In addition, the above-described customized content area may be configured such that a ranking search field for searching a predetermined number of popular VOD lists according to the daily, weekly or monthly cumulative number of views is further arranged.

Another feature of the invention is characterized by a computer-readable recording medium having a program for executing the method as described above.

According to the method for providing VOD information of the IPTV of the present invention, VOD information based on subscriber preference categories or VOD information is exposed to a customized content area that is always exposed separately from the AV content area, and also provides a Korean or English index search function. As a result, subscribers can more easily and quickly access the VOD contents and related contents that they want, thereby contributing to increasing sales of VOD contents.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings it will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the method for providing VOD information of the IPTV according to the present invention.

1 is a network diagram illustrating a method of providing VOD information of an IPTV according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the network configuration in which the method for providing VOD information of the IPTV according to the present invention is implemented is largely instructed to divide and display a screen displayed on the subscriber's IPTV terminal 300 into an AV content area and a customized content area. The server side browsing (SSB) server 100 is a technology made by connecting to the IPTV H / E (200) of the IPTV broadcaster for transmitting the AV content for channel broadcasting or VOD broadcasting and cooperate with each other.

In the configuration described above, SSB means Server Side Browser, which is a conventional Internet browser method in which a web surfing is performed by directly inputting a URL of a website using a CPU of a client, for example, a PC and a memory resource. On the other hand, SSB refers to a technology that configures a separate server to enable web surfing even in a low-end client environment such as a set-top box, and processes the resulting information and delivers it to the client after the server performs web surfing instead. In this process, SSB server 100 provides a server-based computing (Full Browsing) service configured to use the web page and content requested by the subscriber, and performs image rendering for various contents. To the IPTV terminal 300.

Meanwhile, in the above-described configuration, the SSB server 100 may specifically operate the renderer module 112 and the SSB server 100 that perform image rendering on various VOD information to be sent to the IPTV terminal 300. It operates based on SSB platform 110 and SSB platform 110, which includes management and management (O & M) module 114 that performs management functions and monitors service response, fault response and statistics. The sub-portal platform 120 may perform a function of registering a VOD category, searching a VOD list, registering a schedule, or providing an index function.

2 is an internal functional block diagram of the subportal platform 120 in the SSB server 100 according to the present invention.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2, the subportal platform 120 is a subportal of an IPTV portal providing various types of information related to IPTV, and provides a personalized VOD configuration information setting function and customizes widgets, scraping, and open API services. Responsible for providing personalized services. Specifically, the subportal platform 120 provides a VOD open API module 121 that performs functions such as providing a VOD open API usage and providing an external VOD list, a VOD tag cloud function, and a VOD providing functions such as an intelligent VOD search. Search module 122, a widget search module 123 that provides search and download interworking function of the widget list, and a User Program Guide Manager module 124 that performs functions such as searching and managing the VOD program list of the user. ), A custom-made module 125 that performs functions such as user-defined service settings and widgets, open APIs, and scraping settings, and a database 126 that stores various information and data collected or set. Can be.

1, the IPTV terminal 300 includes a TV 310 having an IPTV STB or an IPTV set-top box 314 connected to a user's TV 312, a desktop computer or a notebook computer 320. And a personal portable terminal 330 capable of portable internet.

The IPTV set-top box 314 described above includes a hardware layer 314a composed of various STB hardware such as a CPU, a media processor, a flash RAM, and an Ethernet module, a system software layer 314b including a device driver and an operating system, Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Java Network Interface (JNI), ACAP API (ACAP-J, ACAP-X API), (Java TV, Havi UI, JMF, DAVIC, CA Interface), Reception Restriction System ( Conditional Access System (CAS) module or Digital Rights Management (DRM) interface module, APIs for IP media services (Navigator, Audio streaming API, VOD, Flash player, HDS Client, SSO Client), streaming protocol (RTP) Middle code layer (314c) with built-in, RTSP, etc., and various codecs such as MPEG2, MPEG4, MPEG7, H.264, WMV-9, and other codecs. In cooperation with the SSB server 100 of the invention According to the SSB server 100, the display screen of the IPTV terminal 300 is an AV content area for outputting AV content transmitted from the IPTV H / E 200, and a customized content area for outputting various kinds of information related to VOD. And an application layer 314d including a segmenting SSB viewer (client).

In addition, the above-described IPTV set-top box 314 is used in connection with an ADSL modem or a VDSL modem or in connection with a Fast Ethernet Switch (FES) in a state of being connected with a digital TV, or may be used in connection with a home gateway. The IPTV set top box 314 is assigned an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address. The IPTV set-top box 314 also manages SAID, IP address, MAC address, and terminal model, which are unique IDs assigned to the terminal by the service provider when the service is opened.

Next, the IPTV H / E 200 is largely divided into a baseband system 210, a compression multiplexing system (ENC / MUX: Encoding / Multiplexing) 220, a media management system (MOC: Media Operation Core) 240, and data. It includes various supplementary service systems such as a data broadcasting system (DBS) 250, an automatic program controller (APC) 230, and an IPTV portal that provides various types of information related to IPTV.

In the above-described configuration, the baseband system 210 receives MPEG-2 broadcast signals from various program providers (PPs) or terrestrial waves or analog broadcast signals from terrestrial waves, and converts the received source broadcast signals into SDI ( Serial Digital Interface) converts signals, synchronizes frames, distributes broadcast video and audio signals of up to 100 different broadcast channels through a routine switcher, subtitle generator (CG) and automatic program controller (APC). : Automatic program controller inserts (signal edits and processes) at least one of an advertisement, a logo, or a subtitle into a broadcast video and audio signal and transmits the same to the compression multiplexing system 220. SDI signal is a digital signal standard with a transmission rate of 270 Mbps, which is a composite of composite digital video and four channels of digital audio signal.

In addition, the baseband system 210 is basically a tuner for receiving analog broadcast signals from a program provider (PP) and terrestrial waves through a DS-3 optical end station, a Yagi antenna, and an integrated receiver decoder (IRD), respectively. SDI, such as a frame synchronizer for converting and correcting the received source signal into an SDI signal and synchronizing frames, and an AV router for connecting and centralizing all broadcast signal channels for operation management, SDI Includes a character generator to edit and process the signal by inserting advertisements, logos, and captions into the signal.

Next, the compression multiplexing system 220 compresses the SDI video signal into H.264 by inputting a broadcast video and audio signal to an AV encoder for each broadcast channel (for example, 100 channels), and compresses the audio signal to MPEG. Compressed with -2 AAC, multiplexing data broadcasting data generated by the data encoder and PSI generator together with the compressed broadcasting video and audio, and then IP packetizing the multiplexed MPEG-2 TS by IP packetization. The transport stream is transmitted to the network switch system.

In addition, the media management system 240 is a system for managing various business process information (program programming information, location information, contract information, product information, etc.) for operating a broadcasting business. The media management system 240 manages broadcast program organization information, content and media management information, contract information or product information of a program provider (PP) and a content provider (CP), and manages each system in the center of a broadcasting center. It acts as a coordinator that integrates and manages information flow through organic integration. The media management system 240 manages contracts in terms of acquisition, manages media and content metadata, acquires / manages EPG information, which is broadcast schedule information, manages real-time broadcasting and VOD channel formation in terms of operation, and each subsystem. In the aspect of agent management, VOD catalog generation management, various product management, analysis in terms of analysis, marketing analysis reporting such as settlement of CP / CA, subscriber viewing propensity, monitoring broadcasting transmission in terms of delivery, It provides video server transmission management and VOD subscriber authentication, recording and management of transmission results for settlement with CP / CA, and data synchronization with each subsystem.

Next, the data broadcasting system 250 described above authors, verifies, organizes, and transmits data for data broadcasting, and generates data for data broadcasting by a data server / data encoder and program-related information (PSI) by a PSI generator. The data broadcasting system 250 also includes a data agent manager for managing data encoding, a PSI generator for generating program related information (PSI), an SI generator for generating service information (SI), and data for data broadcasting. And a multiplexer manager (MM) and a scheduler user interface (MM) for managing a multiplexing function of data broadcasting data and PSI information.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of processing a division of a customized content area for providing an AV content area and VOD information in an IPTV screen according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the SSB server 100 performs as a subject. As shown in FIG. 3, first, in step S100, the SSB server 100 displays the entire display screen of the IPTV terminal 300 in the AV content area to which the AV content transmitted from the IPTV H / E 200 is to be output, and various VOD-related items. The information is divided into two or more content areas including a customized content area in which information is output, and in step S102, the divided area information is transmitted to the IPTV terminal 300.

Next, in step S104, image rendering of various information related to VOD to be output to an area other than the AV content area, for example, a customized content area, for example, text data or image data, and finally in step S106, the rendered image The area information is given to the data and output to the IPTV terminal 300.

Then, the IPTV terminal 300 outputs the AV content transmitted from the IPTV H / E 200 to the AV content area instructed by the SSB server 100 and the corresponding content area from the SSB server 100 in the customized content area. Various information related to VOD instructed to output is outputted.

4 is an exemplary view of a screen divided by the method according to the present invention.

In the example screen of FIG. 4, the display screen of the IPTV terminal 300 is divided into a total of four screens, and the AV content area is disposed so as to occupy the entire center so as to occupy the largest area. It provides a customized content area that outputs various VOD-related information that subscribers can watch, and a linked content area that outputs advertising text or images related to AV content currently broadcast in two stages at the bottom of the AV content area and the customized content area. Fixed advertisement areas are arranged respectively.

5 is a diagram illustrating various VOD information constituting the customized content area in the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, when looking at the configuration of the customized content area of the present invention, a category search field for providing VOD information for a preferred category registered by a subscriber is disposed at the top, and a tag cloud is directly below. ) Tag search column is applied to the bottom and index search column based on Korean consonant or English alphabet is placed at the bottom, and TOP VOD information column is provided at the bottom of the list to provide the most popular VOD information for daily, weekly and monthly. do.

In the configuration as described above, the category search field is provided with various VOD information on the preferred category registered by the customer, for example, information such as a favorite channel, a recommendation channel, and a popular channel, and the subscriber provides the SSB server 100 through the Internet. Enter the ID (SAID) of the own IPTV terminal 300 in the sub portal to log in and register the preferred category or through the setting menu provided by the IPTV terminal 300 to register the VOD of interest as the preferred category. have.

Next, the tag search field is applied with a tag cloud method to enhance the ease of search. This field provides tags such as popularity, frequency, or latest work. Intentional emphasis such as queen, bat, and Queen Seondeok's writing (such as bat) can also lead to active purchase of recommendations.

Next, in the index search column, an index search function is provided to ensure the ease of content search. In the first step, an index search is provided by a consonant search and a second search by a vowel search. Here, there are two index search methods, the first is a method of searching the VOD list by searching like a normal web page, and the second is a small screen keyboard that can be seen on the mobile touch phone on the IPTV terminal 300. If you click the consonant and vowel buttons assigned to the remote control in the state shown, the corresponding text is automatically entered in the search box. In this state, the search is finally made by clicking the image button "Search" with the remote control.

In addition, through the TOP VOD search column, accessibility of subscribers to VOD information is strengthened by providing ranking information of various criteria, for example, providing TOP 10 VOD information of daily, weekly and monthly.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing VOD information of an IPTV according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, when a subscriber requests registration of a preferred category through a subportality of the SSB server 100 or through an IPTV terminal (step S300), the SSB server 100 registers the preferred category of the subscriber in a database ( Step S302). Next, the SSB server 100 renders an image of various kinds of VOD-related information to be output to the customized content area based on the registered information and transmits it to the IPTV terminal 300 (step S304). The received information is output to the customized content area (step S306).

However, in the above-described SSB server 100, the entire web content (page) is regarded as one image so as to confirm the content selected by the subscriber, and after splitting the small image set, the IPTV terminal 300 The SSB viewer will then combine these image sets and display them in a custom content area. At this time, each divided small image will have a corresponding coordinate (position) value.

Next, the IPTV terminal 300 determines whether there is any index request from the subscriber (step S308), and if so, delivers the requested index information to the SSB server 100 (step S310), and the SSB server. In step 100, the database is queried and the list of the requested index information is transmitted to the IPTV terminal 300 (step S312). Then, the IPTV terminal 300 outputs the index list thus received to the customized content area (step S314).

Then, the IPTV terminal 300 determines whether there is any VOD content request from the subscriber (step S316). If so, the requested VOD content information is transmitted to the SSB server 100 (step S318). Then, the SSB server 100 determines whether the requested VOD content is a paid product, i.e., a product that requires payment (step S320). If it is not necessary, the SSB server 100 transmits the corresponding VOD content to the IPTV H / E 200. While requesting to send to the IPTV terminal 300 (step S324), if payment is necessary, the payment process is first performed (step S322) and then step S324 is performed.

Meanwhile, the IPTV H / E 200 that has received the request as described above sends the requested VOD content to the subscriber's IPTV terminal (step S326), and the IPTV terminal 300 that received the request displays the content on the AV content area. (Step S328).

The method of providing VOD information of the IPTV according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

1 is a network diagram illustrating a method of providing VOD information of an IPTV according to the present invention.

2 is a functional block diagram of a subportal platform for providing VOD information in the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of splitting a content content area for providing AV content area and VOD information on an IPTV screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view of a screen divided by the method of FIG. 3. FIG.

5 is a diagram showing various VOD information constituting a customized content area in the present invention by way of example.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing VOD information of an IPTV according to the present invention.

[Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawing]

100.SSB Server 110.SSB Platform

112. The Renderer 114. O & M

120.Subportal Platform 121.VOD Open API Module

122. VOD search module 123. Widget search module

124. User Program Guide Manager Module

125. Custom Made Modules

200. IPTV H / E 210. Baseband System

220. Compression Multiplexing System 230. Automatic Program Controller

240. Media management system 250. Data broadcasting system

300. IPTV terminal 310. IPTV receiver

312.TV Receivers 314. IPTV Set Top Box

320. Personal computer 330. Personal digital assistant

Claims (8)

SSB (Server Side Browsing) server connected to IPTV H / E of IPTV broadcaster that transmits AV contents for channel broadcasting or VOD broadcasting and has SSB function is connected to network to IPTV terminal equipped with SSB client On the SSB server, (a) dividing the entire display screen of the IPTV terminal into two or more content areas including an AV content area to output AV content transmitted from IPTV H / E and a customized content area to output VOD related information; (b) transmitting the divided area information to the IPTV terminal using the divided area information in step (a); (c) assigning the corresponding region information to the VOD-related text data or image data to be output to the customized content region and outputting the same to the IPTV terminal, and outputting the VOD-related text data or image data to be output to the customized content region together after image rendering Doing; And and (d) requesting IPTV H / E to deliver the VOD content to the IPTV terminal when the VOD content listed in the customized content area is selected by the user. delete The method of claim 1, wherein a preference category search field for searching for VOD content belonging to a category registered by the subscriber as a preference category is arranged in the customized content area. [4] The method of claim 3, wherein the preference category is registered after the subscriber logs in to the subportal of the SSB server through the Internet or directly through the IPTV terminal. [5] The method of claim 4, wherein a tag search field using a tag cloud method is arranged in the customized content area, and an arbitrary color, size, or font is assigned to an arbitrary VOD content tag. [6] The method of claim 5, wherein an index search field is further disposed in the customized content area to search for desired VOD content by inputting a Korean alphabet or an English alphabet. The method of claim 6, wherein a ranking search field for searching a predetermined number of popular VOD lists according to daily, weekly or monthly cumulative number of views is further disposed in the customized content area. A computer-readable recording medium having a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 and 3 to 7.

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