KR101402155B1 - Media server, communication terminal and its using method for serving media - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a media server, and more particularly, to a media server, a terminal, and a media data providing method using the media server, which can reduce the amount of calculation according to a format conversion process in order to provide media data in a format requested by an external device will be. The media server according to the present invention stores the media data block in which the media data is divided and converts the format of the media data only for the portion where the media data block of the requested format does not exist from the external device, And can efficiently provide the media data.

Media server, media data block, format conversion

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a media server, a terminal, and a media providing method using the media server,

1 is a block diagram of a media server according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a block diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a media providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a memory management method of a media server according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

5 is a diagram illustrating a method of converting media data according to a media providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a media server, a terminal, and a media data providing method using the media server, which can reduce the amount of computation for transferring media data of the requested format when receiving a request for media data of a specific format from an external device.

In a communication environment such as Universal Plug and Play, a media server plays a central role in providing data. Particularly, as the range of an external device connecting to a media server is expanded from a personal computer to a portable device such as a mobile communication terminal, a PDA, etc., the amount of computation burdened by the media server is increasing.

The media server stores media data and transmits the requested media data in the form of a specific format when there is a request from an external device. The format may be MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 in the case of moving pictures, and mp3 or wav in the case of audio. Since the media data formats that can be supported by each external device connected to the media server are limited, the media server must be able to provide media data in all formats in principle.

Generally, a media server stores media data of some specific format, and provides media data of the requested format through a transcoding process of converting a format if there is no media data of a requested format from an external device. However, in this case, the operation of the server may be delayed depending on the amount of calculation according to the transcoding. In particular, when there is a request for media data from a plurality of external devices at the same time, the computational burden of the server is increased.

Meanwhile, the media server may store media data of all formats, and may provide media data by searching for media data in a format requested by an external device and transmitting the media data. However, this method requires sufficient storage space and initial preparation time of the server.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a media server and a terminal capable of effectively providing media data of a format requested from an external device by reducing a computation amount required for a process of converting a format of media data, And a method of providing data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a media server comprising: a memory for storing a media data block; a memory controller for searching for a media data block having the requested format in the storage; And a stream generating unit for generating a data stream using the retrieved media data block and the converted data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal comprising: a data transmitting and receiving unit for requesting a media server to transmit media data for a specific section of a media file and receiving the media data in real time from the media server; .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing media data, the method comprising: retrieving a media data block having a format requested from an external device in a storage unit; , And generating a data stream using the retrieved media data block and the transformed data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the method of providing media data in a computer.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium recording a data field including information on media data provided by the media server.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a media server, a terminal, and a media data providing method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG.

1 is a block diagram of a media server according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a media server 100 according to the present invention includes a memory 110 for storing media data blocks, a memory controller 120 for managing media data blocks stored in the memory 110, A transcoding unit 140 for converting the format of the media data, and a data transmitting and receiving unit 150 for transmitting the media data to the external device.

The external device may be any device capable of requesting media data of a specific format to the media server 100 and receiving and reproducing the media data of the format. In one embodiment, the external device may be a mobile communication terminal, Lt; / RTI > The media server 100 receives a request signal for media data of a specific format from an external device through the data transmitting and receiving unit 150.

The stream generating unit 130 receiving the media data request signal transmits a search command for the media data block to the memory controller 120. Upon reception of the search command, the memory controller 120 searches the memory 110 for a media data block of a format requested by the external device. If the media data block of the format exists as a result of the search, the memory controller 120 retrieves the media data block from the memory 110 and transmits the block to the stream generator 130.

The media data block is media data obtained by dividing media data stored in the media server 100 into blocks. In one embodiment, the block may be a frame unit for dividing media data into time.

Media data block information File information Weight information Format information Identification information Source file information

Referring to Table 1, the memory 110 may store at least one of file information, format information, identification information, weight information, and original media file information of the media data block, As information on the time period, the block may indicate a corresponding position in the entire media data. The memory controller 120 transfers the information stored in the memory 110 to the stream generator 130 together with the media data block when the media controller 120 fetches the media data block and transmits the block to the stream generator 130. [

The stream generating unit 130 compares the received media data block with the requested media data to determine whether the media data block corresponds to the requested media data. As a result of the comparison, if the media data block is all of the requested media data, the stream generating unit 130 generates a data stream for the requested media data using the media data block. The stream generating unit 130 transmits the data stream to an external device via the data transmitting and receiving unit 150.

If it is determined that the media data block is a part of the requested media data, the transcoder 140 notifies the stream generating unit 130 of a portion of the requested media data that does not exist as the media data block And converts the received format into the requested format.

The transcoding unit 140 transmits the media data portion converted into the format to the stream generating unit 130. The stream generating unit 130 generates a data stream of media data requested by an external device using the media data portion converted by the transcoding unit 140 and the media data block received from the memory controller 120. [ The data stream is transmitted to an external device through the data transmitting and receiving unit 150.

2 is a block diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2, the terminal 200 according to the present invention includes a data transmission / reception unit 210 for requesting media data to the media server 100 and receiving the requested media data, an input unit for inputting a media data request command A playback unit 230 for playing back media data received from the media server 100 and a data request command to the data transmission and reception unit 210 and for receiving the media data from the playback unit 230, And a control unit 240 for transmitting the control signal to the control unit 240. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the terminal 200 may be a mobile communication terminal or a PDA.

The user inputs desired media data through the input unit 220 of the terminal 200. The input unit 220 transmits a command inputted by the user to the control unit 240 and the control unit 240 analyzes the command received from the input unit 220 and transmits the analyzed command to the data transmitting and receiving unit 210.

The data transmission / reception unit 210 requests the media server 100 to transmit the media data according to the command. Upon requesting the media data, the controller 240 analyzes the format of the media data that can be played back by the playback unit 230, and transmits the format information to the media server 100 together. Meanwhile, the data transmission / reception unit 210 may request transmission of media data for a specific section of the entire media files according to an instruction of the control unit 240. [ The media data of the specific period may include a media data block obtained by dividing a media file by a predetermined time unit.

The media server 100 transmits the media data of the requested format to the terminal 200 based on the information received from the terminal 200. The transmitted media data may include at least one of format information of the media data block, identification information, original media file information, and media file information to which the media data block belongs.

The data transmitting and receiving unit 210 receives the media data transmitted by the media server 100 in real time and transmits the received media data to the controller 240. The control unit 240 sends the received media data to the playback unit 230, and the playback unit 230 receives the media data, reproduces the media data in real time, and outputs the media data to the user.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a media data providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the method of providing media data according to the present invention starts with requesting media data of a specific format from the external device to the media server 100 (S300). In one embodiment, the external device may be a portable terminal 200.

When the data transmission / reception unit 150 of the media server 100 receives the media data request signal from the external device, the memory control unit 120 stores the media data of the requested format in the memory 110 of the media server 100 It is checked whether a block is stored (S310). The media data block is media data obtained by dividing media data stored in the media server 100 into blocks. In one embodiment, the block may be a frame unit for dividing media data into time.

In operation S320, the memory controller 120 determines whether the requested format of the media data block is stored in the memory 110 (S320). If it is determined in step S320 that the media data block of the requested format is not present in the memory 110, the stream generating unit 130 may instruct the transcoding unit 140 to convert the media data into the requested format Lt; / RTI >

In accordance with the conversion command, the transcoding unit 140 converts the media data into a format requested by the external device (S330), and transmits the converted media data to the stream generating unit 130. [ The stream generating unit 130 generates a data stream for the converted media data (S360), and transmits the data stream to an external device (S380).

If it is determined in step S320 that the media data block of the requested format exists, the memory controller 120 fetches the media data block of the format from the memory 110 (S340).

The memory 110 may store at least one of file information, format information, identification information, weight information, and original media file information of the media data block. In step S340, the memory controller 120 extracts the information together with the media data block from the memory 110, and transmits the information to the stream generator 130. [

The stream generator 130 compares the media data block fetched by the memory controller 120 with the media data requested by the external device and determines whether the block of the media data is for the requested media data in operation S350.

If it is determined in step S350 that the media data block is the entire media data requested by the external device, the stream generating unit 130 generates a data stream for the requested media data using the media data block (S360 ). The stream generating unit 130 transmits the data stream to the external device through the data transmitting / receiving unit 210 (S380).

If it is determined in step S350 that the media data block is a part of the media data requested by the external device, the stream generating unit 130 may transcode the format conversion of the media data of the part where the media data block does not exist (140). In response to the request, the transcoding unit 140 converts the media data of the portion where the media data block does not exist into the format requested by the external apparatus (S370).

The transcoding unit 140 transmits the converted media data portion to the stream generating unit 130. The stream generating unit 130 uses the received media data portion and the media data block fetched from the memory 110 And generates a data stream for the media data requested by the external device (S370).

In one embodiment, the data stream generation step of step S370 is as follows. Assume that a media data block fetched from the memory 110 stores data for one minute to two minutes for media data having a total of five minutes of reproduction time. In this case, the stream generating unit 130 transmits the media data portion from the start to the 1 minute and the media data portion from 2 minutes to 5 minutes that are not stored in the media data block to the transcoder 140 request.

The transcoding unit 140 converts the format of a part of the media data according to a request of the stream generating unit 130 and transmits the converted media data part to the stream generating unit 130. [ The stream generating unit 130 combines the media data blocks from 1 minute to 2 minutes, the media data portion from the start of the format conversion to 1 minute, and the media data portion from 2 minutes to 5 minutes, And generates a data stream. The stream generating unit 130 transmits the generated data stream to an external device through the data transmitting and receiving unit 210 (S380).

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a memory 110 of the media server 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 4, a method of managing a memory 110 of a media server 100 according to the present invention includes converting a media data into a format requested by an external device by the transcoding unit 140 of the media server 100 (S400). In one embodiment, the external device may be a portable terminal 200.

As a result of the conversion in step S400, if media data that is not stored in the media server 100 is generated, the memory controller 120 determines whether the converted media data should be updated in the memory 110 (S410) . If it is determined in step S410 that the converted media data need not be updated, the operation of managing the memory 110 is terminated without any action.

If it is determined in step S410 that the converted media data needs to be updated, the memory controller 120 determines whether there is an available storage space in the memory 110 in step S420. If it is determined in step S420 that there is an available storage space in the memory 110, the memory controller 120 stores the converted media data in the memory 110. [ In one embodiment, the media data may be divided into frames and stored as media data blocks.

If it is determined in step S420 that there is no storage space available for updating in the memory 110 or there is insufficient storage space for the memory data to be updated, the memory controller 120 stores A weight for the media data block is calculated (S430). In one embodiment, the weights may be computed from the storage time and the frequency of the media data blocks contained in the metadata for the media data blocks stored in the memory 110.

After calculating the weights for the media data blocks stored in the memory 110, the memory controller 120 deletes the media data blocks in order of decreasing weight, in order to secure the storage space required for the update (S440). The media data block deletion may be performed as much as the storage space required for the update.

If the storage space is secured in step S440, the memory controller 120 divides the media data to be updated into blocks and stores the divided blocks in the memory 110 to complete the update operation (S450).

5 is a diagram illustrating a method of converting media data according to a media providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5A shows an original file before the format is converted according to a request from an external device. In one embodiment, it is assumed that the original file is a moving picture file of the mpeg4 format, and the format requested by the external apparatus is mpeg2.

FIG. 5B shows a file whose format has been converted by the transcoding unit 140 of the media server 100. FIG. Referring to FIG. 5B, it can be seen that format conversion has been performed for the portions 510 and 520, not for the entire file, because the external device has requested only the portions 510 and 520 of the media data. In one embodiment, the transcoding unit 140 converts the format of a portion (510, 520) of the media data requested by the external apparatus to mpeg2 and transmits the mpeg2 to the stream generating unit 130. [ The stream generating unit 130 receives the converted media data to generate a data stream, and transmits the data stream to an external device through the data transmitting and receiving unit 150.

FIG. 5C is a block diagram showing a block that divides the converted media data in FIG. 5B and stores the divided media data in the memory 110. FIG. 5 (b) and 5 (c), the media data block 530 (FIG. 5) stored in the memory 110 of the media server 100 and the portions 510 and 520, ~ 550) do not match. This is because the boundary of the media data block actually requested by the external device does not coincide with the boundary of the media data block stored in the memory 110. The memory controller 120 blocks the media data regardless of the size of the media data portion requested by the external device And stores it in the memory 110. [

5D shows a data stream of the media data requested by the external device using the media data blocks 530 to 550 stored in the memory 110 and the media data portion converted by the transcoding unit 140 in real- FIG. In FIG. 5D, shaded portions 530 to 550 are media data blocks stored in the memory 110. When an external device requests media data, the media data blocks are fetched from the memory 110 without performing a format conversion operation. It is a part that can be done. The remaining parts except for the blocks 530 to 550 stored in the memory 110 are converted in real time by the transcoding unit 140 and the media data parts 550 to 590 converted in real- And stored as a new media data block.

The method of providing media data according to the present invention may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium that is manufactured as a program to be executed by a computer. In addition, a data field including information on media data provided by the media server may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of storage devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like, and may be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission via the Internet) . The computer readable recording medium may also be distributed over a networked computer system so that computer readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. Functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the user tracking method can be easily inferred by programmers of the art to which the present invention pertains.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a media server needs to provide media data in a format that is not previously stored in response to a request from an external device, a media data block stored in a separate memory in the format conversion process There is an effect that the amount of computation burdened by the media server can be reduced.

The media server calculates a weight of the media data block based on the frequency and storage time requested from the external device, deletes the media data block according to the weight when the storage capacity of the memory is insufficient, By updating the converted media data block, the efficiency of service provision of the media server can be increased.

Claims (20)

A media server for providing media data having a format requested from an external device, A memory for storing a block of media data; A memory controller for retrieving a block of media data having the requested format from the memory; A transcoding unit for converting a portion of the requested media data that does not exist in the memory into the requested format; And And a stream generation unit for generating a data stream using the searched media data block and the converted data, Wherein the media data block is a media file divided into predetermined time units. delete 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory control unit And stores the converted data in the memory. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transformed data comprises Is stored in the memory in the form of a media data block divided by a predetermined time unit. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the media data block has a weight, The memory control unit And updates the data stored in the memory according to the weight. 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein the media data block is calculated according to the storage time of the media data block and the frequency of the request. 6. The method of claim 5, If the storage space of the memory is insufficient, Wherein the memory controller deletes a block having the smallest weight among the media data blocks stored in the memory. The method according to claim 1, And a data transmission / reception unit for transmitting the generated data stream to the external device in real time. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory Wherein the media server stores at least one of file information, format information, identification information, weight information, and original media file information of the media data block. 10. The method according to claim 9, Wherein the media information is information on a time interval of the media data block. A data transmitting and receiving unit for requesting a media server to transmit media data for a specific section of the media file and receiving the media data in real time from the media server; And And a playback unit for playing back the transmitted media data, Wherein the transmitted media data includes a media data block in which the media file is divided by a predetermined time unit. delete 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmitted media data comprises Wherein the format information includes at least one of format information of the media data block, identification information, original media file information, and media file information to which the media data block belongs. A method for providing media data having a format requested from an external device, Retrieving a block of media data having the requested format in memory; Converting a portion of the requested media data that does not exist in the memory into the requested format; And Generating a data stream using the retrieved media data block and the transformed data, Wherein the media data block is a media file divided into predetermined time units. delete 15. The method of claim 14, And storing the converted data in the memory. 15. The method of claim 14, And updating the data stored in the memory according to the weight of the media data block. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the updating comprises: Wherein when the storage space of the memory is insufficient, the block having the smallest weight among the media data blocks stored in the memory is deleted. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 14 to 18. delete

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