KR101541540B1 - Method and Apparatus for providing content download service - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system for providing a content download service. The present invention includes a step of selecting contents to be transmitted to the user terminal using at least one of the general selection condition and the individual selection condition according to the user's viewing history and transmitting the initial section stream of the selected contents to the user terminal do. According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the content reproduction waiting time by transmitting contents with high selectivity to the user in advance.

Content, download, selection, viewing history, idle time, initial section stream

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING CONTENT DOWNLOAD SERVICE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a content download service, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for reducing a content playback wait time in a download and play service.

Conventionally, a general method of viewing moving picture contents including audio and video is to receive / output a broadcast signal transmitted from a broadcasting station or the like through a television receiver. In the provision of the moving picture comprising such a process, the broadcasting stations transmit the broadcasting signal in one direction only to the predetermined channel and the predetermined time, and the viewer selects the desired broadcasting station and watches the broadcasting program that can be viewed at that time.

With the development of compression technology for moving picture contents and the increase of data transmission speed, various moving pictures can be received through a PC or set-top box and viewed. In particular, a VOD (Video on Demand) service is provided that allows a viewer to select a video to watch based on his / her convenience and preference and to view it without time limitation.

Currently, VOD broadcasting service is provided through RVOD (Real VOD) and Download & Play (D & P).

In particular, the download and play method is a method of playing contents while downloading contents from a server providing video contents and a user terminal connected through a network.

Generally, the download and play method must have a certain amount of stream after the current playback position in the buffer of the user terminal in order to keep the playback even when the network condition is deteriorated. Since it is necessary also at the start of playback, the initial section stream of a certain amount of contents must be downloaded and stored in the buffer before the first playback starts.

Accordingly, according to the conventional D & P VOD broadcasting service, the user has to check the contents that can be provided by the server and request one of them. In addition, since the user must wait until the initial section is received again, .

That is, since the D & P VOD broadcasting service according to the related art transmits contents at the time of the request of the user, there is a problem that the user requires a long playback waiting time.

In order to solve the problems of the related art as described above, the present invention proposes a method and apparatus for providing a content download service that can reduce a content playback latency in providing content in a download and play manner.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing a content download service capable of reducing the playback waiting time of content by transmitting high selectable content in advance.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a content download service in a content server connected to a user terminal through a network, (A) selecting contents to be transmitted to the user terminal in advance using at least one of selection conditions; And (b) transmitting an initial segment stream of the selected content to the user terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for performing the above-described method is recorded.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing content in a download-and-play manner by being connected to a user terminal through a network, the apparatus comprising: a viewing history generating unit for generating a viewing history of a user by using viewing information received from each user terminal; ; And a content selection unit selecting the content to be transmitted to the user terminal in advance using at least one of the general selection condition and the individual selection condition according to the viewing history.

According to the present invention, there is an advantage that the content reproduction waiting time can be greatly reduced by transmitting contents with high possibility of selection by the user in advance.

In addition, according to the present invention, contents to be transmitted are selected in accordance with a general selection condition or an individual selection condition according to a user's viewing history, thereby increasing the efficiency of content transmission.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail.

It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

 Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate a thorough understanding of the present invention, the same reference numerals are used for the same means regardless of the number of the drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a content download system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1, the system according to the present invention may include a content server 100 and a database 102, and the content server 100 is connected to one or more user terminals 104 via a network.

The network may include the Internet, a wired network including a leased line, and a wireless network including a wireless Internet, a mobile communication network, a broadcasting network, and a satellite communication network.

Although the content server 100 is shown as a single server in FIG. 1, it is only for convenience of explanation. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the functions of the content server 100 described above can be implemented by a plurality of servers something to do.

The content server 100 is a server for providing a video-on-demand (VOD) service, and can provide content requested to the user terminal 104 in a download and play manner, and can also provide an application for a user's content request.

The application is executed in the user terminal 104 and can process a process for selecting a channel, selecting a genre (category), and selecting and reproducing a content.

The content server 100 transmits the requested content to the user terminal 104 when requested by the user. At this time, the content server 100 may encode the content stored in the database 102 and transmit the encoded content to the user terminal 104.

Alternatively, the content server 100 may provide only the application for requesting the content to the user terminal 104. If there is a request from the user, a separate file server (not shown) Lt; / RTI >

Hereinafter, the content server 100 extracts the requested content from the database 102 and transmits the extracted content for convenience of explanation, but it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the content server 100 is not limited thereto.

On the other hand, when the user requests pay content, the content server 100 can perform a billing process for the content, and performs a scheduling function for content and a scrambling function for restrictive reception to prevent other users from accessing the subscriber .

Also, it is possible to receive the audience information of the user from the individual user terminal 104, to calculate the audience rating for each content, and to generate the viewing history of the individual user.

The user terminal 104 receives and executes an application for content selection from the content server 100, and decodes and reproduces the content received from the content server 100.

Here, the user terminal 104 may be a set-top box connected to a TV and decoding content and executing an application, but is not limited thereto. Any terminal capable of communicating with the content server 100 through a network may be used without limitation Can be applied.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the content server 100 transmits content, which is likely to be selected by the user, even if there is no user's request.

Here, the content that the user is likely to select may be determined according to the viewing tendency of the general user or the viewing tendency of the individual user.

According to the present invention, the content server 100 can select content to be transmitted in advance according to a general selection condition such as an audience rating, a popularity ranking of each content, or a period of entering a service.

In addition, the content server 100 can select contents to be transmitted in advance for each of the individual user terminals 104. [

In this case, the content server 100 can use the information about the name, the viewing date, the viewing time, or the favorite category of the content viewed by the individual user, and if the content is a series, .

The load of the network and the content server 100 may increase when the whole content is transmitted to the user terminal 104 because the content is provided with high quality.

To this end, the content server 100 according to the present invention transmits only the initial section stream of the content to be transmitted in advance to the user terminal 104.

Herein, the initial section stream refers to a part of the content included in the initial point of reproduction, and the length of the initial section stream can be determined in various ways.

Preferably, the initial section stream length may be set to a minimum length for reproducing the content at the user terminal 104.

According to the present invention, since the first part of the selected content is transmitted in advance according to the tendency of a general user or an individual user, content can be immediately reproduced if a user requests a previously transmitted content, thereby greatly reducing the waiting time for reproduction.

Hereinafter, a content download system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG.

2 is a detailed block diagram of a content server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the content server 100 according to the present invention includes a content selection unit 200, a network communication unit 202, a viewing history generation unit 204, an encoding unit 206, a content transmission unit 208 ), A terminal status management unit 210, and an idle time determination unit 212.

The database 102 connected to the content server 100 may include a content database 220 and a condition information database 222.

The content selection unit 200 refers to information stored in the condition information database 222 and selects content to be transmitted to the user terminal 104 in advance.

According to the present invention, the condition information for selecting a content to be transmitted in advance may include a general selection condition and an individual selection condition.

The general selection condition is a condition depending on the viewing tendency of the average user, and may include an audience rating, a popularity ranking, a service entry period, and the like.

Here, the audience rating is calculated using the audience information collected from the user terminal 104 subscribed to the service, and may be changed in real time or every preset time period.

The individual selection condition is a condition for selecting contents to be transmitted in advance for each individual user terminal 104, and may be a condition depending on the viewing history of a specific user.

The network communication unit 202 receives the user's viewing information from the user terminal 104. The viewing information of the user includes information about the user terminal identification information, the content identification information currently being viewed, the content reproduction start time, can do.

The viewing history generating unit 204 generates viewing history information for individual users by using the viewing information of the user.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the structure of viewing history information according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the viewing history information may include a content name, a time difference, a viewing date, a viewing time, and a category, and the viewing history information is stored in the condition information database 222 corresponding to an individual user.

The content selection unit 200 according to the present invention can basically select contents to be transmitted in advance according to the general selection condition. However, if there is a request from the user, that is, if the user sets the selection condition of the content to be transmitted in advance as the individual selection condition, the content selection unit 200 selects the content to be transmitted in advance according to the viewing history of the user.

In the case where the individual selection condition is used, the content selection unit 200 according to the present invention determines whether or not the content has been recently viewed by the user, whether the content is composed of a plurality of times, The content can be selected by using whether or not the content has been entered.

For example, the content selection unit 200 determines a content corresponding to the next turn of the content most recently viewed by the user as content to be transmitted in advance.

If the next turn of the most recently viewed content has not yet entered the service, the content selection unit 200 determines the content corresponding to the next turn of the content having the next quickest viewing date as content to be transmitted in advance.

On the other hand, the content selection unit 200 can select the content included in the category determined to be preferred by the user as content to be transmitted in advance through the viewing history.

For example, if the user's preferred category is "action movie ", the content selection unit 200 determines that the content included in the action movie genre is high in viewership or popularity ranking, .

According to the present invention, one or more contents to be transmitted may be selected in advance, and the contents selection unit 200 may perform a process of selecting contents to be transmitted in advance until the number corresponds to a preset number.

The user may stop watching the content due to various reasons, and in such a case, the user is likely to view the content again.

According to the present invention, the content selection unit 200 can preferentially determine a content whose viewing time is equal to or less than a preset time as content to be transmitted in advance.

Here, the predetermined time can be determined relatively or absolutely.

If relatively determined, content whose viewing time is below a predetermined threshold may be selected as the content to be transmitted in advance, where the threshold may be a ratio of the actual viewing time to the total playing time of the content.

For example, when the total playback time of the content is 100 minutes and the threshold value is set to 5, the content selection unit 200 can determine the content whose actual viewing time is 5 minutes or less to be transmitted in advance.

In the present invention, when an initial section stream of contents is transmitted to all user terminals or individual user terminals at preset intervals, content selected in the next cycle may already be stored in the user terminal.

The network communication unit 202 may communicate with the user terminal 104 to receive identification information about the content stored in the user terminal 104 in order to prevent duplication of the same content, The stored content is excluded from the content to be transmitted in advance.

As described above, a part of the content selected according to the general selection condition and the individual selection condition is converted into a predetermined data format by the encoding unit 206. [

At this time, the encoding unit 206 may convert the audio and video signals into an MPEG2-TS (Moving Picture Experts Group 2-Transport Stream) stream format corresponding to a standard for content transmission and reproduction.

The content transmitting unit 208 modulates the encoded initial section stream according to a standard according to a transmission medium (e.g., terrestrial wave, cable, satellite), upconverts the modulated signal to a desired transmittable frequency And then transmitted through a transmission medium.

When the user terminal 104 is turned on, the network communication unit 202 can receive the on / off information in conjunction with the user terminal 104, and the terminal state management unit 206 manages the on / And the address information of the user.

The content transmitting unit 208 transmits a part of the content to the user terminal 104 that is currently in the on-state using the information stored in the terminal status management unit 210. [

Even if there is no user's request, a part of contents is transmitted to a plurality of user terminals, so that server and network load may occur.

The idle time determining unit 212 according to the present invention checks the load of the server and the network to determine a time slot for transmitting the selected content, and the content transmitting unit 208 transmits an initial section stream of the content in the determined idle time zone To the user terminal 104.

4 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a user terminal 104 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4, the user terminal 104 according to the present invention includes a content receiving unit 400, a content storing unit 402, a video signal processing unit 404, an audio signal processing unit 406, a key input receiving unit 408 A user activity monitoring unit 410, and a network communication unit 412.

The content receiving unit 400 receives an initial section stream of the content from the content server 100.

Here, the content receiving unit 400 may be a tuner that selectively receives a content signal in synchronization with a predetermined frequency.

In addition, the content receiving unit 400 can identify that the received content initial section stream is not currently being played back but is transmitted in advance.

If the content is identified as being transmitted in advance, the received content is stored in the content storage unit 402.

If the user requests playback of the previously transmitted content, the video and audio signals of the initial section stream of the requested content are respectively input to the video signal processing unit 404 and the audio signal processing unit 406 in the content storage unit 402 do.

The video signal processing unit 404 may include a video decoder for decoding the input video signal into a video frame and a buffer (not shown) for temporarily storing the decoded video signal. The buffer may include an initial Temporarily stores the video frames of the interval.

The video signal processing unit 404 analog-converts the temporarily stored video frame and outputs it to the display 420.

The audio signal processing unit 406 may include an audio decoder that decodes an audio signal into an audio frame and an audio DAC that converts an audio frame into an analog signal. The audio converted into the analog signal is output to the speaker 422.

Meanwhile, the content receiving unit 400 according to the present invention may continuously receive the stream corresponding to the next section while the content is played back, and the video signal processing unit 404 and the audio signal processing unit 406 may receive And then processes and outputs the next video and audio signals.

According to the present invention, when a user makes a playback request of previously transmitted content, since the first part of the requested content is stored in advance, playback can be performed immediately, thereby reducing the waiting time of the user.

On the other hand, the key input receiving unit 408 receives a user key signal through a remote controller or the like, and the user behavior monitoring unit 414 monitors the user's viewing behavior through the key signal input.

The monitored user's viewing information is transmitted to the content server 100 through the network communication unit 414, and the content server 100 can generate a viewing history of the individual user through the viewing information.

The network communication unit 416 may transmit the content identification information stored in the content storage unit 402 to the content server 100. The content server 100 refers to the content identification information and transmits the content .

Hereinafter, a content download service process according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG.

5 is a flowchart of a content download service providing process according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the content server 100 receives audience information from the user terminal 104 (step 500), and generates a viewing history using the received audience information (step 502).

If a predetermined time has come (step 504), content to be transmitted is selected in advance using the general selection condition or the individual selection condition based on the viewing history (step 506).

In selecting content to be transmitted in advance, the content server 100 may refer to the identification information of the previously stored content of the user terminal 104. [

The content server 100 encodes a portion of the content selected in step 506 (step 508).

The content server 100 checks the server and the network load to determine the idle time (step 510), and transmits the encoded content in the determined idle time zone (step 512).

An initial segment stream of the content is transmitted to the user terminal 104 via step 512, and the user terminal 104 stores the received content (step 514).

Thereafter, when the user requests playback of the content stored in step 514, the user terminal 104 plays the stored content (step 516), and simultaneously requests the content server 100 for the remaining section of the content currently being played back (Step 518).

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of selecting a content to be transmitted in advance in a content server according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process of selecting a content to be transmitted in advance according to an individual selection condition.

Referring to FIG. 6, the content server 100 refers to the condition information database 222 and checks one or more contents that the user has recently watched (operation 600).

Whether or not the user has watched recently can be determined by whether or not the viewing date is within at least one week based on the current time point.

Then, it is determined whether there is a content (series) including a plurality of times of recently viewed contents (step 602).

If there is content corresponding to the series, the content server 100 refers to the content database 220 and determines whether there is content corresponding to the next turn of each content in the order of the latest viewing (step 604) .

If there is a next turn, the content corresponding to the next turn is selected as the content to be transmitted in advance (step 606).

If there is no next turn of the most recently viewed content in step 604, it can be determined whether or not there is a next turn for the content with the next watch date.

On the other hand, if there is no series content in step 602, the content server 100 determines a category preferred by the user (step 608). Then, the content server 100 determines whether the content belongs to the determined category using the audience rating, The content to be transmitted in advance is selected (step 610).

According to the present invention, the content to be transmitted may be one or more, and the above process may be repeated until a desired number of contents is selected.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The appended claims are to be considered as falling within the scope of the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a content download system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

2 is a view showing a detailed configuration of a content server according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view showing a configuration of viewing history information according to the present invention.

4 illustrates a detailed configuration of a user terminal 104 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart of a content download service providing process according to the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of selecting a content to be transmitted in advance in a content server according to the present invention;

Claims (12)

A method for providing a content download service in a content server connected to a user terminal through a network, A general selection condition including at least one of a content rating, a hit rating, and a period of entering a service, and an individual selection condition including at least one of name, turnover, viewing date, (A) selecting content to be transmitted to the user terminal before a user's request using at least one of the selection conditions; And (B) transmitting an initial section stream of the selected content to the user terminal, Wherein the initial segment stream has a minimum length that the user terminal can download and start playing. delete delete The method according to claim 1, Wherein the step (a) determines content corresponding to the next time of the content recently viewed by the user as content to be transmitted in advance. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the step (a) selects the content to be transmitted in advance using at least one of an audience rating, a popularity ranking, and a service entry period of contents included in the category determined to be preferred by the user. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the step (b) comprises transmitting the initial segment stream at a dynamically determined idle time. The method according to claim 6, Wherein the idle time is determined using at least one of the network and the load of the content server. The method according to claim 1, Further comprising receiving content identification information previously downloaded from the user terminal, Wherein the step (b) excludes the content received from the user terminal from the content target to be transmitted in advance. delete The method according to claim 1, And transmitting the stream corresponding to the remaining section of the content excluding the initial section stream to the user terminal when requesting the user's pre-stored content. A computer-readable recording medium recorded in a program for performing the method according to claim 1. 1. An apparatus for providing content via a network, the apparatus comprising: A viewing history generating unit for generating a viewing history of a user including at least one of a name, an age, a viewing date, a viewing time, and a category of each content viewed by the user using the viewing information received from each user terminal; And Selecting content to be transmitted to the user terminal prior to a user's request using at least one of a general selection condition including at least one of a content rating, a popularity rating, and a period of entering the service, and an individual selection condition based on the viewing history, And a selection unit, Wherein the initial section stream has a minimum length that the user terminal can download and start playing.

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