KR101197225B1 - Electronic program guide information inserting and extracting apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an EPG information insertion and extraction apparatus and an EPG information insertion and extraction method using the same, comprising: an EPG information extraction unit for extracting EPG information to be inserted into digital content; A watermark generator configured to generate a watermark to be inserted into digital content using the extracted EPG information; A watermark inserting unit to insert the watermark into the digital content; A transcoding unit configured to reformat an image by converting the digital content into which the watermark is inserted; And an EPG information insertion device and an extraction device including an EPG information insertion control unit for controlling operations of the EPG information extraction unit, the watermark generation unit, the watermark insertion unit, and the transcoding unit, and an EPG information insertion and extraction method using the same. .

Description

EP information inserting and extracting device and method of inserting and extracting EP information using the same {ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE INFORMATION INSERTING AND EXTRACTING APPARATUS AND METHOD}

The present invention relates to a device for inserting and extracting EPG information and a method for inserting and extracting EPG information using the same. More specifically, the EPG information is inserted into the content itself as a watermark. The present invention relates to an EPG information insertion and extraction apparatus that can extract and utilize the same, and an EPG information insertion and extraction method using the same.

The development of computers and the Internet has brought about many changes in all areas of politics, economy, society and culture. Among them, the popularization of the Internet has produced a lot of contents, and the technology of the voice and video fields is rapidly developing. In particular, IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) services are fused with the merits of TV and PC to provide multimedia contents more easily and conveniently to satisfy viewers' needs for media. Recently, efforts to implement IPTV services have been made by telecommunication operators, portal operators, and research institutes, and VoD (Video On Demand) and two-way oriented IPTV services have been commercialized. In addition, IPTV services including real-time broadcasting are being provided as IPTV related laws are enforced.

The IPTV service refers to a service that provides various contents (eg, air / wired TV broadcasting, movies, music, interactive quiz shows, TV banking, etc.) to a TV connected to an IP-based communication network. In the IPTV broadcasting service, the content is provided in response to not only video on demand (VOD) streaming and game but also menu selection, command input, channel viewing request, etc. (for example, menu transmission and command execution). , Channel change, etc.), and VOD, unlike over-the-air broadcasting, uses a communication line such as the Internet to view a desired medium at a desired time. The IPTV broadcasting service has a TV connected to a set-top box equipped with an Internet connection function in the home (eg, subscriber side), and a provider that selects a channel for viewing by the subscriber who provides the IPTV broadcasting service. It is provided with a head-end for transmitting the set-top box in the home.

Meanwhile, the development of the multimedia industry with the development of broadband network has led to the proliferation of the digital content market and the development of numerous software for the use of contents. Most of the software is based on playback, encoding, encryption, and networks, and many services are added by the companies. Among these, the content player is the most widely used service, and the representative products include bear player, media player, KMPlayer and Daum pot player.

When playing content through such a content player, most of the information on the content includes video / audio codec information and content properties such as bitrate, frame rate, and number of channels. to be. However, such content attribute information is useful to a developer or an expert than general users, and general users want to see additional information such as content and description of content rather than content attribute.

However, the content player according to the prior art focuses on playing a high quality video content simply by reducing the load on the system, and does not show additional information desired by the general user, but shows only content property information. In addition, in order to display the additional information, a database related to the additional information must exist and there is a problem of managing this.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for research into an EPG information insertion apparatus and an extraction apparatus that inserts EPG information of a content into a content without using a separate database, and thus makes it possible to use such information when playing the content regardless of where it is distributed. .

The present invention is to overcome the above-described problems, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to insert the EPG information in the content itself as a watermark to extract and utilize the EPG information even if there is only the content without a database for EPG information An apparatus for inserting and extracting EPG information and a method for inserting and extracting EPG information using the same are provided.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises: dividing an input image of digital content into blocks; Performing a shuffling operation using the shuffling key value; Dividing the shuffled images into blocks so that they do not overlap; Performing a discrete cosine transform (DCT) operation that is a frequency transform; And determining whether each block is a texture area or a flat area by using a texture block operator, and inserting a watermark into the texture area, wherein the watermark is EPG information to be inserted into the digital content. An EPG information insertion method is provided.

The EPG information insertion method may include performing an inverse DCT operation; And generating an image including the watermark by performing an inverse shuffling operation using a shuffling key value.

The inserting the watermark may include performing a DCT operation to obtain a coefficient value X (i, j ); Calculating an average E (i, j) after obtaining an absolute value of a component of X (i, j)> th (threshold value) among all coefficient values in the block; Calculating a texture block operator T (i, j) by calculating the following equation; T (i, j) = X (i, j)-E (i, j) .

Inserting the watermark may include determining whether the texture block operator T (i, j) is greater than a threshold; If the texture block operator is larger than the threshold, classifying the block into a texture region; and if the texture block operator is smaller than the threshold, classifying the block into a flat region; And inserting the watermark only into a block classified into the texture area, and displaying a watermark embedding display bit.

The EPG information includes content additional information including a channel, a service ID, a start time, an end time, and program information.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the EPG information extraction unit for extracting the EPG information to be inserted into the digital content; A watermark generator configured to generate a watermark to be inserted into digital content using the extracted EPG information; A watermark inserting unit to insert the watermark into the digital content; A transcoding unit configured to reformat an image by converting the digital content into which the watermark is inserted; And an EPG information insertion control unit for controlling operations of the EPG information extraction unit, watermark generation unit, watermark insertion unit, and transcoding unit.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the step of dividing the watermark-inserted image in units of blocks; Performing a shuffling operation using the shuffling key value; Dividing the shuffled images into blocks so that they do not overlap; Performing a discrete cosine transform (DCT) operation that is a frequency transform; And extracting a watermark using a texture block operator, wherein the watermark is EPG information.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the watermark extraction unit for extracting the watermark from the digital content in which the watermark is inserted; An EPG information display unit which displays the watermark extracted by the watermark extractor through a user interface so that the user can utilize the EPG information; And an EPG information extraction control unit for controlling operations of the watermark extraction unit and the EPG information display unit, wherein the watermark is EPG information.

According to the present invention, the EPG information is inserted into the digital content itself as a watermark, and even if there is only a content without a database for the EPG information, the EPG information can be extracted and used.

When the watermark is inserted, the blind watermark can be inserted to maintain the robustness, and the watermark can be extracted without the original image.

In addition, since shuffling is used, it may serve as an encryption function such as DRM, and a watermark is inserted into a low frequency part to maintain watermark robustness, thereby exhibiting a strong effect on post-processing.

1 is a schematic diagram of an IPTV service system to which an EPG information insertion apparatus and an EPG information extraction apparatus of the present invention are applied.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a content providing and playing process of the IPTV service system shown in FIG. 1.
3 is a schematic functional block diagram of an EPG information insertion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of inserting EPG information using the EPG information insertion apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart illustrating a process of inserting a watermark in a texture area of an image of the process illustrated in FIG. 4.
6 is a schematic functional block diagram of an EPG information extraction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of extracting EPG information using the EPG information extraction apparatus.
8 is a flowchart illustrating a watermark extraction process shown in FIG. 7 in detail.

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

1 is a schematic diagram of an IPTV service system to which an EPG information insertion apparatus and an EPG information extraction apparatus of the present invention are applied.

1 includes a channel server 100, an IP-based communication network 200, a set-top box 300, a content player 400, an EPG information insertion apparatus 500, and an EPG information extraction apparatus 600.

The channel server 100 and the set-top box 300 are interconnected to the IP-based communication network 200 and transmit and receive data through the IP-based communication network 200.

The channel server 100 stores various digital contents and transmits the stored digital contents to the set top box 300 according to a content download request of the set top box 300. The channel server 100 includes an EPG information insertion apparatus 500, and the EPG information insertion apparatus 500 inserts EPG information into digital content to reconstruct the digital content. At this time, the EPG information insertion apparatus 500 inserts the EPG information into the digital content as a watermark, and transmits the digital content into which the watermark is inserted, to the set-top box 300.

The digital content transmitted to the set top box 300 is played on the set top box 300 or downloaded to a content player 400 such as a PC.

The content player 400 performs a function of downloading and playing digital content from the set top box 300. The content player 400 includes an EPG information extracting apparatus 600. Since the content player 400 does not separately manage additional information such as EPG information in a database, the content player 400 uses a EPG information extracting apparatus 600 to generate a watermark. Extracts the watermark from the inserted digital content and utilizes it as EPG information.

As in the present invention, when the digital content is extracted from the EPG information to be inserted into the digital content, inserted into the watermark format, and the digital content containing the watermark is transmitted, the PC does not manage the additional information as a database. In the case of the same content player, the watermark can be extracted from the digital content in which the watermark is inserted and used as EPG information. As a result, additional information can be utilized without a database.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a content providing and playing process of the IPTV service system shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, an EPG information insertion apparatus of a channel server extracts additional information to be inserted into digital content among EPG information, and generates a watermark using the extracted EPG information (S10).

The process of inserting the generated watermark into the digital content is performed (S20).

Then, a process of transcoating digital content having a watermark inserted therein is performed (S30).

When receiving a download request for digital content from the set-top box, the channel server transmits the digital content in which the EPG information is inserted into the watermark to the set-top box through the IP-based communication network (S40). In the set-top box, the EPG information of the transmitted digital content may be displayed using a separate database related to the EPG information, or the watermark embedded in the digital content may be extracted and used as the EPG information as in the content player to be described later. . Meanwhile, in order to extract EPG information, the set-top box may include an EPG information extracting device similar to a content player.

When digital content is downloaded from the set-top box to the content player (S50), the content player plays the downloaded digital content, extracts the watermark inserted in the downloaded digital content using the EPG information extraction device, and extracts the extracted watermark. Process to utilize the EPG information (S60).

3 is a schematic functional block diagram of an EPG information insertion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the EPG information insertion apparatus 500 may include an EPG information extraction unit 510, a watermark generator 520, a watermark insertion unit 530, a transcoding unit 540, and an EPG information insertion control unit ( 550).

The EPG information extracting unit 510 extracts additional information to be inserted into digital content from the EPG information.

The watermark generator 520 generates a watermark using the EPG information to be inserted into the digital content. In the present embodiment, the watermark generator 520 generates the watermark by making the EPG information into a text-based unique sequence in a 16-bit Unicode format. At this time, the EPG information includes additional information such as a channel, a service ID, a start time, an end time, and program information.

The watermark inserting unit 530 inserts the generated watermark into a low frequency region of a discrete cosine transform (DCT), and performs a blind water marking algorithm that does not require an original image when watermark is extracted. In addition, shuffling is performed before the DCT operation, thereby exhibiting strong characteristics against various types of attacks. The method of inserting the watermark in the watermark inserting unit 530 will be described in more detail below.

The transcoding unit 540 performs a function of reconstructing an image by format converting digital content having a watermark embedded therein. The EPG information insertion control unit 550 is a component of the EPG information insertion apparatus 500, that is, the EPG information extraction unit 510, the watermark generation unit 520, the watermark insertion unit 530, and the transcoding unit 540. Function to control the operation of the.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of inserting EPG information using the EPG information insertion apparatus, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of inserting a watermark in a texture area of an image in the process illustrated in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, a process of dividing an input image into blocks is performed (S410). In this example, the input reverse phase was divided in units of 64 × 64 blocks without overlapping.

A shuffling operation is performed using the shuffling key value (S420).

Thereafter, a process of dividing the shuffled image into blocks without overlapping is performed (S430). In the present embodiment, the shuffled images are divided in 8 × 8 block units without overlapping.

A discrete cosine transform (DCT) operation, which is a frequency transform, is performed (S440).

Using the texture block operator, it is determined whether each block is a texture region or a flat region, and a process of inserting a watermark in the texture region of the image is performed (S450).

Next, an inverse DCT operation is performed (S460). After inserting a watermark into the texture area, an inverse DCT operation is performed to obtain a shuffled image.

Thereafter, an inverse shuffling operation is performed on the shuffled image using a shuffling key value to generate an image having a watermark inserted in the texture region of the image (S470).

Referring to FIG. 5, referring to a process of inserting a watermark into a texture area of an image, a process of obtaining a texture block operator value T (i, j) is performed (S451).

The process of obtaining the texture block operator value is as follows.

First, a DCT operation is performed to obtain a coefficient value X (i, j ), and through [Equation 1], X (i, j)> th (threshold) of all coefficient values in a block (8x8 block in this embodiment). After calculating the absolute value of the component (value), the average value E (i, j) is obtained. In this example, the threshold value th is set to three.

[Formula 1]

In order to find a textured block in an 8x8 block in the frequency domain, the value of E (i, j) in [Equation 1] is subtracted from the coefficient value X (i, j) . This is defined by the texture block operator T (i, j) that determines the texture block.

That is, the texture block operator T (i, j) is as shown in Equation 2 below , where a sequence representing positions i and j where T (i, j)> th is a C array T [k] .

[Formula 2]

T (i, j) = X (i, j)-E (i, j)

After obtaining the texture block operator value T (i, j) through the process S451, a process of determining whether the texture block operator value T (i, j) is greater than the threshold value is performed (S452).

As a result of the determination, when the texture block operator value is larger than the threshold value, the corresponding block is classified into a texture area (S453). When the texture block operator value is smaller than the threshold value, the corresponding block is classified into a flat area (S454).

On the other hand, the EPG information to be used as a watermark in the present embodiment is produced as a text-based unique sequence of 16-bit Unicode (Unicode) format. This is represented by the binary stream as W [k] . The EPG information includes content additional information such as channel, service ID, start time, end time, and program information.

When W [k] = 1 if T watermark coefficient value is increased in proportion to the frequency count value X (i, j) corresponding to a [k], and W [k] = 0 frequency corresponding to T [k] The watermark embedding coefficient value decreases in proportion to the coefficient value X (i, j) .

[Equation 3]

Where X _{i, j} ′ represents the magnitude of the watermark-embedded signal, X _{i, j} represents the magnitude of the original signal, and α represents the embedding strength of the watermark.

After classifying whether the corresponding block is a texture area or a flat area through the above process, the watermark is inserted only in the block classified as the texture area, and the watermark insertion display bit is displayed (S455).

6 is a schematic functional block diagram of an EPG information extraction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, a data transceiver 610, a watermark extractor 620, an EPG information display 630, and an EPG information extraction controller 640 are included.

The data transceiver 610 transmits and receives data with an external device such as the set top box 300. The EPG information extraction apparatus receives the digital content in which the watermark is inserted from the set top box 300 through the data transmission / reception unit 610.

The watermark extractor 620 extracts a watermark from the digital content in which the watermark is inserted. The operation of the watermark extractor 620 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 below.

The EPG information display unit 630 performs a function of displaying the watermark extracted by the watermark extractor 620 through the user interface so that the user can utilize the EPG information.

The EPG information extraction controller 640 controls the components of the EPG information extraction apparatus 600, that is, the operations of the data transceiver 610, the watermark extractor 620, and the EPG information display unit 630. .

7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of extracting EPG information using the EPG information extraction apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a watermark extraction process shown in FIG. 7 in detail.

Referring to FIG. 7, first, a process of dividing an image into which a watermark is inserted in units of blocks is performed (S710). In the present embodiment, the watermark embedded image is divided into 64 × 64 block units without overlapping.

A shuffling operation is performed using the shuffling key value (S720).

Thereafter, a process of dividing the shuffled image into blocks does not overlap (S730). In the present embodiment, the shuffled images are divided in 8 × 8 block units without overlapping.

A DCT operation, which is a frequency transform, is performed (S740).

A process of extracting a watermark is performed by using a texture block operator (S750). Since the extracted watermark includes EPG information, it is used as additional information.

In addition, a process of evaluating performance by checking whether a watermark display bit is changed (S760) is performed.

Referring to FIG. 8, a process of extracting a watermark (S750) will be described in detail. First, a DCT operation is performed, and then a texture block operator value of each block is calculated (S751). The texture block operator T (i, j) is obtained through [Equation 1] and [Equation 2] described above.

After the texture block operator value T (i, j) is obtained through the process of S751, a process of determining whether the texture block operator value T (i, j) is greater than the threshold value is performed (S752).

As a result of the determination, when the texture block operator value is larger than the threshold value, the corresponding block is classified into a texture area (S753).

Then, the watermark is extracted as shown in Equation 4 below, and the extracted watermark display bit b _{i, j} '= 1 or 0 is represented (S754).

[Formula 4]

What has been described above is merely an exemplary embodiment of the EPG information insertion and extraction apparatus and the EPG information insertion and extraction method using the same, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, in the claims below As claimed, any person having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention will have the technical spirit of the present invention to the extent that various modifications can be made.

100: channel server
200: communication network
300: set top box
400: content player
500: EPG information insertion device
600: EPG information extraction device

Claims (13)

In the EPG information insertion method,
Dividing the input image of the digital content into blocks;
Performing a shuffling operation using the shuffling key value;
Dividing the shuffled images into blocks so that they do not overlap;
Performing a discrete cosine transform (DCT) operation that is a frequency transform; And
Determining whether each block is a texture area or a flat area by using a texture block operator, and inserting a watermark into the texture area, wherein the watermark is EPG information to be inserted into the digital content,
The EPG information insertion method may include performing an inverse DCT operation; And performing an inverse shuffling operation using a shuffling key value to generate an image to which the watermark is inserted.
Inserting the watermark,
Performing a DCT operation to obtain a coefficient value X (i, j ); Calculating an average E (i, j) after obtaining an absolute value of a component of X (i, j)> th (threshold value) among all coefficient values in the block; Calculating a texture block operator T (i, j) by calculating the following equation;
[expression]
T (i, j) = X (i, j)-E (i, j)
EPG information insertion method comprising a.
delete delete The method of claim 1,
Inserting the watermark,
Determining whether the texture block operator T (i, j) is greater than a threshold;
If the texture block operator is larger than the threshold, classifying the block into a texture region; and if the texture block operator is smaller than the threshold, classifying the block into a flat region; And
And inserting the watermark only into a block classified into the texture area, and displaying a watermark embedding display bit.
The method according to claim 1 or 4,
The EPG information includes the EPG information insertion method, characterized in that the content additional information including the channel, service ID, start time, end time, program information.
delete delete delete In the EPG information extraction method,
Dividing the image into which the watermark is inserted in units of blocks;
Performing a shuffling operation using the shuffling key value;
Dividing the shuffled images into blocks so that they do not overlap;
Performing a discrete cosine transform (DCT) operation that is a frequency transform; And
Extracting a watermark using a texture block operator, wherein the watermark is EPG information,
Extracting the watermark using the texture block operator,
Performing a DCT operation to obtain a coefficient value X (i, j );
Calculating an average E (i, j) after obtaining an absolute value of a component of X (i, j)> th (threshold value) among all coefficient values in the block; And
Calculating a texture block operator T (i, j) by calculating Equation 1 below;
[Formula 1]
T (i, j) = X (i, j)-E (i, j)
Determining whether the texture block operator T (i, j) is greater than a threshold;
Classifying the block as a texture area when the texture block operator is larger than a threshold; And
Extracting a watermark as shown in Equation 2 below and indicating the extracted watermark display bit b _{i, j} '= 1 or 0;
[Formula 2]

EPG information extraction method comprising a.
delete 10. The method of claim 9,
The EPG information extraction method,
And evaluating performance by checking whether the watermark display bit is changed.
delete delete

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