KR101249784B1 - Apparatus and method for managing services received in a local area network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for managing access to a receiving service of a gateway distributing a service within a local area network. The gateway includes means for receiving a digital service and the ability to distribute the received service to clients on a local area network. To manage conflicts, we use a level of priority among users and a mode for reserving services.

Description

Apparatus and method for managing services received in a local area network {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING SERVICES RECEIVED IN A LOCAL AREA NETWORK}

The present invention relates to the field of digital television, and more particularly, to the distribution of digital television in the home. Broadcasting of digital television services via satellite, cable or even wireless channels is now commonplace, and the distribution of these services through domestic networks is in its infancy. It is recommended to propose a solution that enables the distribution of these digital services over IP networks in the home.

The architecture currently under consideration requires a broadcast gateway that enables the reception of broadcast multimedia services and the distribution of those receptions within the home network. This gateway will have one or more receiving modules, commonly referred to as "tuners". This may involve cable, satellite, wireless or any other receiving module. The broadcast gateway will manage the distribution of these services on the home network. This distribution, for example, using the Digital Video Broadcasting over IP Infrastructures (DVB-IP) standard from the "Phase 1 Specifications Handbook" available from ETSI with reference number ETSI TS 102.034 v1.1.1. Can be performed.

It can be seen that a certain number of clients for this distributed service are connected to the home network. We can find here a television set and a recording device or other device such as a videotape recorder or PVR (Personal Video Recorders).

The service is generally batched, multiplexed and broadcast in a data transport stream. This transport stream is constructed in accordance with the DVB standard published by the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI). These standards are based on MPEG, and above all, the following document: "MPEG-2 system: ISO / IEC, 1994. General-purpose coding of video and related audio: system, (MPEG-2 system specification), November, ISO / IEC 13818-1 "and" MPEG-2 Video: ISO / IEC, 1994, Universal Coding of Video and Related Audio, (MPEG-2 Video Specification), May, ISO / IEC 13818-2 " Can be seen.

In compliance with this standard, services are therefore batched per multiplex in the transport stream. The receiving module may be connected on a transport stream comprising a multiplex to extract one or more services from the transport stream. In anticipation of the distribution of services contained within this multiplex, intended for one of the clients of the home network, once one of the receiving modules is configured to receive one of the multiplexes, at least with the aid of this receiving module, proceed It will no longer be possible to receive a service belonging to another one of the available multiplexes without interrupting the reception of the service.

Therefore, a limited number of receiving modules will place restrictions on the selection of services at any given moment, out of all available services offered to one user according to the selection made by other users of the system.

Service broadcasts in other modes may also result in similar attributes constraints on the choice of service. For example, a broadcast mode on an ADSL line makes it possible to free itself from the problem of multiplexing (i.e., theoretically each server is accessible from moment to time), but other constraints, usually only a certain number of services simultaneously Adds a restriction called bandwidth of a link that allows only broadcasts. For example, a 15 Mbit / s link can support three services of 4 Mbit / s or just one service of 14 Mbit / s.

The present invention aims to define a method for managing access to services available in a system comprising a client accessing a service broadcast in a multiplex via a limited number of receiving modules. The invention also relates to a device for managing the reception of a service, such as the proposed method.

The present invention relates to a method for selecting a digital service via a device called a client connected to a local area network, the local area network comprising a device called a distribution gateway, wherein the distribution gateway is a distribution means on the local area network of a received service. As well as having digital service receiving means, the method comprises at least the following steps at the client level:

Receiving a list of digital services accessible via the distribution gateway,

Sending a query requesting reception of a service from this list,

The query may include a priority level associated with the query.

According to a particular embodiment of the present invention, the priority level associated with the query is a priority level associated with the user at the origin of the query on the client.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the level of priority associated with the query is associated with the device at the origin of the query on the client.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the method displays a list of digital services accessible through the distribution gateway specifying for each service whether a digital service can be selected according to a priority level associated with a user of the client. It further comprises the step.

According to a particular embodiment of the present invention, the method displays a list of digital services accessible through the distribution gateway specifying for each service whether digital services can be selected according to a priority level associated with the client device. It further comprises a step.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the query also includes a reservation mode of the receiving means.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the reservation mode includes a mode in which access to the tuner is exclusive.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the reservation mode is a mode in which access to the service is exclusive, or a service reserved by the client as well as at least a second client of a service transmitted on the same transport stream. Include the mode in which access is authorized.

The invention also relates to a query service method via a device called a distribution gateway connected to a local area network, said distribution gateway receiving on a local area network intended as a means of receiving a digital service and a device called a client connected to said local area network. With means for distributing digital services, the method comprises at least the following steps:

Sending a list of available digital services;

Receiving a query for a digital service comprising a level of priority;

Determining a gateway's ability to perform the query;

The method further comprises, if the gateway is incapable of performing the query because of performing at least one previous query, the received query and the at least one of the received queries, in accordance with the level of priority included in the query. The method may further include selecting a query to be given a privilege among previous queries.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the query further comprises a reservation level of the receiving means, and the step of selecting a query to be privileged between the received query and the at least one previous query is also performed according to this reservation level.

The invention also relates to a client device capable of being connected to a local area network, the client device comprising means for receiving a list of digital devices from a distribution device of a digital service having means for receiving digital services, receiving means for a digital device, received Means for sending a query requesting distribution of at least one digital service among the digital services from the list of services,

The means for sending a query requesting distribution of at least one digital service among the digital services from the list of received services further comprises means for including a level of priority in the query.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the device further comprises means for including in the query a reservation mode of the receiving means of the distribution device.

The invention also relates to a distribution device for a digital service on a local area network, the distribution device comprising: means for receiving a digital service, means for transmitting a list of digital services accessible by the device to a client of the local area network; Means for receiving a query requesting distribution of at least one service among the services,

If the gateway is unable to perform the query because of performing at least one previous query, the device is subject to privilege between the received query and at least one previous query according to the priority level included in the query. It further comprises means for selecting a query to be given.

The invention will be better understood by reading the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which other features and advantages will appear.

1 represents the overall architecture of an embodiment of the invention in its operating environment.

2 is a representation of a hardware architecture of a device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

3 is a block diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the invention.

4 illustrates the architecture of a service and a client in an embodiment of the invention.

In this specification, the term broadcast will be reserved for conventional digital service broadcast by satellite, cable or wireless channel or other channel, while the term distribution will be reserved for distribution of service on an IP network.

An embodiment of the present invention is based on a device called a distribution gateway, which receives an initial conventional offer of broadcasting of digital services, which can be accessed over a local area network, for example for an IP network. Let's do it. The device is equipped with a receiving module called a tuner for receiving satellite, cable, digital, wireless or other types of broadcasts. The device may also provide local area network information for the service provided by the broadcast to draw the user's attention to the service provision. When the user selects a service originating from the broadcast provision, the distribution gateway transmits the broadcast service on the IP network in the same manner as the distribution server of the service on the IP. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the integration of functions can be performed at various speeds of the local area network and within the various devices of the network.

The conventional function of the distribution of services on an IP network involves a service provider to distribute such services. Each service will be distributed by one or more servers using a multipoint distribution address. There are a number of ways in which service providers can provide suggestions to attract user attention. At the user level, the receiver should initially note the service and the address to which it is distributed. The service provider may create a list of such services and subsequently suggest such a list to the user who will select the services that they want to receive. The receiver will then send a subscription query to the distribution address used by the service. This subscription query results in the configuration of an intermediary routing device between the server and the receiver. The latter will route the data packets that make up the stream containing the service from the server to the receiver. When the user wants to stop receiving the service, the receiver will send a query to withdraw the address and then stop receiving the packet.

This complete process is commonly referred to as service discovery and selection, or Service Discovery and Selection (SD & S). There is a standard covering this process called Digital Video Broadcasting over IP Infrastructures (DVB-IP), recorded in the "DVB-IP Phase 1 Specification Guide" available from ETSI with reference number ETSI TS 102.034 v1.1.1.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described. This embodiment is not limiting and one skilled in the art can adapt certain aspects of the invention without departing from the scope of the invention.

1 illustrates the overall architecture of an embodiment of the invention in an operating environment. On the one hand you can see the local area network on IP, referred to as 1.3, connecting the clients referred to as 1.4 to 1.6 to the distribution network of services on the IP. Devices that enable us to receive digital data streams containing services originating from IP networks are referred to as clients. Thus, this device is a device capable of receiving and decoding streams over IP. The device typically includes an IP network, a demultiplexer that can separate the data packets corresponding to the service, a decoder that can then decode other elementary streams that make up the service, and finally to restore the service. It will be an IP decoder that will be equipped with an analog-to-digital converter that will allow it to generate analog signals to be sent to a screen, speaker or other device. The device may also be a digital television set that directly integrates all these functions.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the distribution gateway is manufactured on the one hand as a device itself referred to as 1.2, with a receiving module connected to a local IP network and connected to a satellite antenna referred to as 1.1. This receiving module is a satellite module in an embodiment, but may be a cable, wireless or other receiving module as long as it permits the reception of a digital data stream, ie, generally a digital video broadcast (DVB).

For FIG. 2, this figure illustrates the hardware architecture of the distribution gateway, referred to as reference numeral 2.2 of the embodiment. This gateway is connected to an IP network referred to as 2.5 via a network interface referred to as reference number 2.9. This gateway is referred to as reference number 2.3 and has a receiving module, commonly referred to as a person skilled in the art, called a tuner. This tuner allows the reception of a signal originating from a satellite and received by a satellite antenna referred to as 2.1. This tuner can be tuned on a given frequency, receives the signal emitted at this frequency, and reconstructs the digital data packets contained in this signal. This packet, which constitutes the received digital data stream, is subsequently referred to as reference number 2.8 and subsequently processed by a packet filter called demux in patters skilled in the art. This filter or demux can be programmed to extract packets from the stream that meet certain criteria, such as the value of a particular field in the header of the packet. This demux is used, in particular, to extract a given service from the stream or to select information about service proposals contained within the stream. Such information on the proposal is generally called service information by those skilled in the art.

This module interacts under the control of software stored in read-only memory referred to as reference number 2.6 of the device. This service is loaded into a random access memory referred to as 2.7 for the purpose of execution by a processor referred to as 2.4. Details of the main software program entering the function of the distribution gateway are described below.

3 is a block diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention. A gateway, referred to as 3.2, is found in the IP network, referred to as 3.5, and connected to a satellite antenna, referred to as 3.1. The module network interface referred to as 3.9, the tuner referred to as 3.3, and the demux referred to as 3.8 are found in its functional aspect. The interaction between the client of the local area network and the distribution gateway will be managed by the command interpreter referenced as reference number 3.6. Such a command interpreter will receive a command or query from a client via a network interface symbolized by an arrow referenced as 3.11. In order to execute these commands, this interpreter will have to control the tuner (arrow (3.13)). This interpreter will also have to control demux {arrow (3.15)} and the stream player referred to as 3.4 (arrow (3.18)), which will redistribute previously selected services on the IP network.

Under the instruction of the instruction interpreter 3.6, the tuner receives a stream of digital data packets to be sent to the demux (arrows 3.16). Demux will filter packets belonging to a service, for example. These packets are sent to the stream player, which serves to transport these data packet streams on the IP network (arrows 3.17). This transmission on the IP network (arrows 3.19) can be carried out, for example, via the Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) protocol recommended by the DVB-IP standard. The service manager, referred to as 3.7, will be responsible for the management of service information, ie information about accessible service provision. For example, such management may be performed under the control of the command interpreter. The service manager will receive the signal information contained in the stream {arrow (3.14)} as the output of the demux, and {arrow (3.10)} which can be provided to the requestor client on the IP network at the time of the query {arrow (3.12)}. It may be possible to construct a list of available services. Management of the available services will be discussed in more detail below.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the distribution gateway performs the following tasks at its initialization.

The tuner is started and ready to receive commands. This tuner is a common tuner such as can be found in satellite or cable or wireless decoders. Therefore, this can perform the routine work of the tuner. Among the above operations, a browsing function of a frequency band for searching a frequency band used for broadcasting of a service stream may be mentioned. The function of locking a given frequency is performed using a given polarity, a given modulation and all current parameters. The tuner may also provide a digital data packet stream transmitted on the frequency.

A list of services that can be received by the tuner is made. This list is called a list of DVB services, and the services in this list will be called DVB services. The broadcast link is organized in the following manner. This link is usually shared by multiple broadcasters. Each broadcaster provides a set of digital services, for example audio and / or video, in the form of a set of services. This set is broadcast by one or more transport streams. In the early stages, it is common to make a list of broadcasters that share a broadcast link. In a second step, a list of used transport streams is made, and finally a list of services included in this stream can be made.

More specifically, in DVB, each broadcaster is identified by a single identifier, and the network identifier (network ID) and information about it can be found in one table, which is an information table on the network, that is, a network information table (NIT). have. This table can generally be found in each transport stream and contains a list of streams used by each broadcaster, among others.

For each stream, a list of parameters will be found, such as frequency, modulation, polarization, and other essentials for the tuner to lock and receive the stream. A list of services broadcast in the stream can also be found in each stream.

For each service, a certain number of information will be found, such as a service name, an identifier called a DVB triple pair, and a list of identifiers (PIDs for program identifiers) of the basic audio and video streams.

Complementary service information may be available in the stream according to the specification of the DVB-SI standard for service information.

Therefore all this information makes it possible to construct a list of available services. This information involves knowledge of the broadcast transport stream so that it can lock the broadcast transport stream and extract useful information from the stream.

The initial way of proceeding is to browse the band of potentially used frequencies in the same way as to detect the frequency band used to emit the stream. Each time a stream is detected, relevant information is extracted from this stream to construct a list of available services. This is a useful function of the tuner. This method is long and monopolizes a tuner that cannot be used in the reception of the service during this time.

It is also possible to construct a list of available services, for example in accordance with configuration files stored elsewhere on the distribution gateway or local area network. This file can be in XML format or any other format. The XML format has the advantage of being a format maintained by the DVB-IP standard for this coding of service information during the distribution of DVB services on an IP network. This way of progress is much faster, but provides a risk of obsolescence of stored information compared to the reality of broadcast services.

It is also possible to mix both of these techniques by storing a list of services in a file, but by authorizing the update of this file on a regular basis or upon request for its update through a frequency browsing operation.

Once a list of available sources on the broadcast link has been constructed, this list should be made available on the local area network. To accomplish this, one possibility is to use a solution recommended by the DVB-IP standard. This standard proposes to consider a list of IP services as a collection of objects. Each of these objects owns the following information, among others: the identifier, which may be a DVB triple pair, the service name, the service identifier (PID) of the basic audio and video stream of the service, and the multipoint distribution to which the service is distributed. address. This list will be accessible to the client, for example via Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) queries.

4 illustrates how a service is distributed to a client. The clients, referred to as 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6, are connected to the local area network, referred to as 4.3. An unshown distribution gateway equipped with a tuner is also connected to this local area network. This tuner also makes it possible to receive p transport streams referred to as M1, M2 and Mp. This is p streams available. Each of these streams is distributed by, for example, a satellite transponder on a given frequency. The tuner can lock to a frequency that makes it possible to receive the transport stream emitted at this frequency. Therefore, at any given time, the tuner can only receive a single transport stream from the available streams. Each transport stream contains a certain number, for example n services. This service is referred to as Pij, where i represents the reference number of the transport stream from 1 to P, and j represents the reference number of the service in the stream from 1 to n. In the case of a gateway comprising a number of tuners not shown, each tuner can lock its own frequency and receive a corresponding stream. Therefore, the gateway may receive the number of transport streams corresponding to the number of tuners it includes.

A solution allowing the selection of a service will now be described. Certain problems arise here. In fact, the standard presupposes that the services provided are played on the network on a permanent basis. Therefore, all these services are always accessible and this is done in a completely independent manner from each other. In contrast to this situation, in the case of a distributed gateway, it is clear that not all available services can be played simultaneously. This is due to the fact that only one transport stream of the available streams can be received by the tuner. Therefore, if a distributed gateway is not equipped with more than two tuners, it will always be impossible to play two services belonging to two different streams at the same time. However, even by mounting multiple tuners in the gateway, there will always be constraints if the number of available streams exceeds the number of tuners.

The distribution of services over IP is performed by using real time transport protocol RTP. In the conventional manner, when a client wants to receive a distributed RTP stream in a multipoint distribution, he sends a subscription query called 'join' for the multipoint distribution address. This query is interpreted by the routing device between the server and the client to distribute packets emitted by the server to the client. This works well in situations where the server permanently replays the service. In our case where the server truly replays the service only on request, this technique is not sufficient.

To solve this problem, DVB-IP proposes the use of Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) queries that enable the server to be informed that one of the server's services is being requested by the client. This command is known as the command name 'setup'. The use of this 'setup' command is used to allow a distributed gateway to manage the distribution of services. At the same time, a 'teardown' command will be sent when the client stops interested in receiving the service. This command contains a reference that allows the gateway to identify the service involved by the command.

First of all, let us explain the selection of the first service by the first client. The client requests and constructs a list of all available services. Of all these services, the client selects one service. The 'setup' command is sent to the gateway and interpreted by the command interpreter to lock the tuner to the stream containing the requested service. The demux is programmed to filter the requested service in the stream, so this service will be played by the stream player on the network at the distributed address assigned to the stream player. By subscribing to this distributed address, the client will therefore be in a state to receive the requested service.

In addition, the gateway is obliged to know which client requested the reception of the service being played on the network, so that the distribution of the service can be stopped when no client is interested in receiving anymore. One way to do this is to manage, for each service being played, a list of clients that have received a 'setup' command for that service. Therefore, upon receipt of a 'setup' command, under the condition that this command can be satisfied, the client at the source of the command is added to the list of clients requesting the reception of this service (which is not always the case). You will know When the distributed gateway receives a 'discard' command from this client associated with this service, the client will withdraw it.

For example, to manage access to services for various users of systems in the home, it is possible to define priority levels between users (the same type of technique can also be used within a company). To do this, it is necessary for each user of the system to identify itself. This identification can be performed in a number of ways. For example, in a family situation, it provides the user with a choice between multiple profiles and is satisfied by selecting the relevant profile. In more sensitive situations where one wants to implement parental control, a user may be required to enter a password to enable his or her identification. Of course, many other solutions can be considered in this respect, such as identification cards or biometric parameters.

Application of this priority level makes it possible to manage conflicts that occur between users. In fact, once the user has requested to receive the service, the tuner is locked to the frequency at which the corresponding transport stream is sent. When the second user requests the second service, a number of situations can occur. The situation may in this case relate to the same service where the second user enjoys the distribution of the service. The situation may also relate to a service transmitted in the same transport stream as the first service. In this case, simple programming of the demux makes it possible to extract both services from the received stream and distribute them over the internal network. Conflicts arise when a second service is broadcast on a transport stream different from the first service. In this case, reception of the second service means locking the tuner at the frequency of the second transport stream. Therefore, we know that the reception of the second service is exclusive to the reception of the first service. Therefore, it is necessary to choose which users are given privileges. To make this choice, we will use the priority level.

 In case the distributed gateway includes multiple tuners, this problem is finally the same. It is possible to satisfy all queries until all tuners are locked to the reception of the transport stream and the user requests for a service sent in the stream that has not yet been received.

Therefore, we know that this allocation of priority levels can lead to conflict resolution. However, this may also be useful to allow the user to specify multiple reservation levels when the user requests a service. In fact, it may happen that the user wants to receive the service in an exclusive manner, or even the user may want to use the resources of the tuner exclusively.

For example, we say that there are three priority levels within the home, the highest level of priority managers for people who are responsible for the configuration of the system, and 'adults' for access to services by adults in the home. You can consider defining the priority at the lower level, which is authorized as 'children', for the children at the middle level, which are authorized. Quite obviously, this example is not limiting, and we can define as many levels of priority as there are people in the home, and imagine all sorts of policies for this level of allocation.

It may also be possible to assign a priority level according to the client device, not depending on the user. Due to the fact that it is no longer necessary to have the identification phase of the user, this makes it possible to give privileges to certain devices in comparison with others. Thus, it is possible to give privilege to, for example, a recording device or a main television in a parlor, compared to a television set that is considered secondary in the kitchen.

At the time of service selection, the user may also use multiple reservation modes of the receiving means of the gateway.

The first mode, entitled 'my-tuner' mode, determines exclusive access of the tuner. In this mode, once a user has received his service, no other user can use the tuner. In other words, even if a service is transmitted on the same transport stream with the help of a tuner, no one will be able to receive it.

The second mode, entitled 'my-service', determines exclusive access to the service. In this mode, the second user will be authorized to receive other services transmitted by the same transport stream, but not the first service reserved by the first user.

A third mode authorized as a 'shared' mode will authorize the second user's access to the service reserved by the first user as well as the service transmitted on the same transport stream.

A fourth mode, authorized as a 'guest' mode, allows a second user to access a service transmitted by a transport stream already received by the first user in a 'my service' mode or a 'shared' mode. There will be a mode to reserve.

The fifth mode, authorized as the "without reservation" mode, would be the mode in which no special reservation was requested.

Such a reservation system allows users to sensitively specify how they want to share the requested service, but does not allow them to avoid conflicts between users. Therefore, it is possible to mix a reservation system with a system of priorities already described, in a manner to resolve conflicts that may occur within this system.

In order to allow construction of a list containing reservation status associated with information about accessible services, the tuner must provide the following information:

At the tuner level, its reservation status

At the service level, the access mode as well as the reservation mode of the service.

It is possible to consider that the gateway does not maintain information about who reserved what. In this case, the gateway only verifies that the reservation level and the selection operation are valid to accommodate the service. Then, managing priority and reservation mode will be under the application category on the client. This approach simplifies the development of broadcast gateways.

In addition, a gateway that includes multiple tuners will have to distinguish between these various tuners and provide clients with multiple lists of accessible services. The client will decide whether or not to combine these services at the level of the user interface it provides. Another possibility is a gateway that manages a single list by combining the information of each tuner.

Therefore, it is possible to always provide a user with an available service indicating an accessible state, or else an updated list of each service. This list can be updated as soon as the selection operation is used by the event management technique.

The selection of the program will cause a command to be sent from the client to the gateway, including the user's priority level as well as the identifier of the service and the reservation level if the reservation scheme is used.

Although the embodiment of the present invention describes the situation of a tuner that enables the reception of multiplexes, the present invention can also be generalized in the case of a module of reception of a stream transmitted on an IP network, wherein the limitation here is no longer a transport. It is not the emission frequency of the stream, but the bandwidth between the broadcast gateway and the broadcast server of the service. Whatever technology is used for the broadcast of services, physical limitations generally limit the number of services that can be received simultaneously compared to the total accessible services. Therefore, it is possible to apply the present invention to all types of broadcast modes of service.

Similarly, the priority levels as well as the reservation modes described are for illustrative purposes, and we can define reservations in other modes and other policies of application of priority levels without departing from the scope of the present invention. Similarly, the policy applied to resolve conflicts between users with the same priority is free, and it is possible to apply the rules of first-come-first-served service or vice versa, or any other policy without departing from the scope of the present invention. .

Although the embodiment describes the distribution of services over the IP network in the home, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention works in the same manner regardless of which distribution network of services behind the broadcast gateway. The present invention may relate to a home network conforming to the IEEE 1394 standard, or any other type of network that allows for the distribution of multimedia services.

Indeed, the present invention uses resources for access to multiple accesses, where all access resources have a limit in the number of services that these resources can provide simultaneously to the user among all services that provide access. Can be generalized to

The present invention is applicable to the field of digital television, and more specifically, to the distribution of digital television in the home.

Claims (17)

A method of selecting a digital service via a device called a client connected to a local area network, the local area network comprising a device called a distribution gateway, the distribution gateway comprising means for receiving a digital service, and receiving the received service from the local area network. Means for distributing on a mobile device and selecting the digital service, Write down at the client level: Receiving a list of digital services accessible via the distribution gateway, Transmitting a query requesting reception of a service from this list, the method of selecting a digital service, the method comprising: The query includes a priority level associated with the query, The query further includes a reservation mode, wherein the distribution gateway uses the priority level to adjust conflicts that may occur when selecting a query to be privileged according to the reservation mode. How to choose. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the priority level associated with the query is a priority level associated with a user at the origin of the query on the client. The method of claim 1 wherein the level of priority associated with the query is a priority level associated with a device at the origin of the query on the client. 4. The method of claim 2 or 3, further comprising: displaying a list of digital services accessible through the distribution gateway specifying for each service whether digital services can be selected according to a priority level associated with a user of the client. Further comprising, a method of selecting a digital service. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying a list of digital services accessible through the distribution gateway specifying for each service whether digital services can be selected according to a priority level associated with the client device. How to choose a digital service. 4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the reservation mode includes a mode in which access to the receiving module is exclusive to the user such that no other user can use the receiving module during the reception of a service. A method of selecting a digital service, characterized in that. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the reservation mode includes a mode in which access to the service received by the receiving module is exclusive to the user such that no other user can access the service. A method of selecting a digital service, characterized in that. 4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the reservation mode is for at least one second client of a service reserved by the client as well as of a service for which access to the service is sent on the same transport stream. A method for selecting a digital service, characterized in that it comprises an authorized mode. A method of query service through a device called a distribution gateway connected to a local area network, the distribution gateway comprising: means for receiving digital services and means for distributing digital services received on a local area network intended as a device called a client connected to the local area network. The query service method has at least: Sending a list of available digital services; Receiving a query for a digital service comprising a level of priority; Determining a gateway's ability to perform the query, wherein the capability depends on a number of receiving modules included in the gateway; In the query service method comprising: If the gateway is incapable of performing the query due to servicing at least one previous query, according to the level of priority included in the query and according to the reservation mode included in the query; Selecting a query to be privileged between the query and the at least one previous query, The distribution gateway uses the priority level to adjust for conflicts that may occur when selecting a query to be privileged according to the reservation mode. Characterized in that the query service method. A client device capable of connecting to a local area network, comprising: Means for receiving a list of digital services from a distribution device for digital services having means for receiving digital services, Receiving means for a digital service comprising a receiving module for receiving a digital service, Means for sending a query requesting distribution of at least one digital service among the digital services from the list of received services; A client device comprising: The means for sending a query requesting distribution of at least one digital service among the digital services from the list of received services further comprises means for including a level of priority and a reservation mode in the query, The distribution device uses the priority level to adjust for conflicts that may occur when selecting a query to be privileged according to the reservation mode. A client device, characterized in that. The client device of claim 10, wherein the priority level is associated with a user of the device. The client device of claim 10, wherein the priority level is related to the device itself. A distribution device for digital services on a local area network, Means of receiving digital services, Means for transmitting a list of digital services accessible by the device to a client of the local area network, Means for receiving a query requesting distribution of at least one service among the accessible services, If the distribution device of the digital service cannot perform the query due to servicing at least one previous query, the device may: Means for selecting a query to be privileged between the received query and at least one previous query, according to a priority level included in the query, and according to a reservation mode included in the received query and the previous queries, The distribution gateway uses the priority level to adjust conflicts that may occur when selecting a query to be privileged in accordance with the reservation mode; Means for performing the selected query Further comprising: a distribution device for digital services. delete delete delete delete

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