KR20000003676A - Service control method in video on demand - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A service control method in video on demand is provided to effectively perform user's demand. CONSTITUTION: The service control method in video on demand comprises: the first step checking the buffering capacity(BN) according to data quantity corresponding to service request if the band width(WA) required to the user's service request is greater than the aligned band width(WB); the second step determining buffering capability according to the comparing result of the buffering capacity(BN) and the buffering capable capacity(BA) checked in the first step; the third step calculating waiting time(t) according to the buffering if the BA is grater than BN; the forth step informing the waiting time(t) to a client; and the fifth step performing the service request if the waiting state is checked from the client.

Description

Service Control Method of Interactive TV System

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a user service in an interactive TV system, that is, video on demand (VOD), and more particularly, to a method of controlling a service of an interactive TV system that can more efficiently use a limited network bandwidth. .

In recent years, with the rapid development of the semiconductor and telecommunications industry, in the case of the rapid expansion of the high-speed ICT infrastructure, which started from the concept of super highway of information, users are using two-way active method rather than simply receiving information passively. The desire to get information is increasing. Commercially available cable television (CATV) is widely used as a means of meeting the needs of the times, and the development of the interactive cable television (I-CATV), which is an advanced form of the cable television, has been developed in Korea, the United States and Japan. In many countries.

On the other hand, video-on-demand (VOD) services, which use digital, interactive cable television service technology instead of analog, to provide television viewers with the information they need (e.g., video information) at the right time. Has become possible. In other words, in order to realize on-demand video service, information provider consisting of a large-capacity server capable of storing and transmitting information, service provider such as a television broadcasting station, and information requested from a service provider through a network There is a need for a delivery system provider and a television user to use (or use) service information provided from a delivery system provider for simultaneous delivery to multiple television users.

Services provided by such on-demand video include, for example, Movies On Demand (NOD), NOD (News), which provides instant access to information by title or field of news, and provides a summary or headline of news. On Demand), remote shopping, X-ray image transmission, and end user, which provides a video catalog for the user to purchase a desired product or a video service for the user to view the product showcase. Telebanking, video conferencing, teleconference, and telemedicine services that provide services for storing or analyzing the transmitted data and transmitting diagnostic and prescribed data to other end users. Agreement services that provide information and services that enable users to trade using this provided information, It provides a number of services such as an internet access service for accessing the Internet. Here, the MOD service is a service such as a home VCR, such as service selection, cancellation, start, stop, pause, fast play, Rewind, etc. are provided.

On the other hand, in order to implement the VOD service, the client side requests the remote VOD server to provide information such as a program desired by the user's operation, for example, a movie or an English conversation program, and the VOD server responds to the client's request. In this way, a bit stream of video, audio, and text for the corresponding program is fetched from the database and provided to the client requesting the service.

At this time, when the service request of the user occurs a lot, the bandwidth required to perform the service requested by the user is greater than the bandwidth that can be guaranteed by the network manager. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a service is requested through the client on the user side. Accordingly, the network manager receives a user service request (step 200), and the network manager proceeds to step 201 to perform user service from the server. Detect the bandwidth required for As a result of the detection, if the bandwidth required to perform the user service is smaller than the realizable bandwidth, the service performance request is accepted (step 203), and if the bandwidth required to perform the user service is larger than the actual bandwidth allocated, for example, The service was refused even if a difference occurred (step 204).

As described above, in the user service in the conventional VOD, when the bandwidth according to the service request of the user is larger than the real bandwidth that can be allocated, the service request of the user is rejected and the satisfaction of the service users is lowered as the probability of the service performance is increased. There was this.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and when a user's service request occurs a lot and the service cannot be performed, the limited network bandwidth can be achieved by performing or canceling the service according to the buffering capacity of the client and the user's opinion. To provide a service control method of an interactive TV system for more efficient use and to increase the satisfaction of service users.

The present invention for achieving the above object is a client requesting a service of the user, a network administrator for detecting the required bandwidth (W _A ) according to the user service request from the client, VOD for providing information corresponding to the user service request In the service control method of the interactive TV system consisting of servo, the network manager buffering capacity according to the amount of information corresponding to the service request if the bandwidth (W _A ) required for the user service request is greater than the bandwidth (W _N ) that can be allocated A first step of detecting (B _N ); A second step in which the network manager determines a buffering possibility according to a result of comparing the buffering capacity B _N and the bufferable capacity B _A detected in the first step; in the second step, the bufferable capacity _A third step of calculating, by the network manager, a waiting time t of the user according to the buffering when (B _A ) is larger than the buffering capacity B _N detected in the first step and the buffering is enabled; A fourth step of informing the client of the waiting time t of the user calculated in the third step and asking whether the network manager waits, and as a result of the fourth step, the network manager detects the waiting intention from the client. A fifth step of performing a service request.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an interactive TV system for performing a service control method of an interactive TV system according to the present invention;

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing a service control method of an interactive TV system according to the prior art;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process for performing a service control method of an interactive TV system according to the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: client 110: network administrator

120: VOD Server

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

1 is a block diagram of an on-demand video for performing a service control method of an on-demand video system, that is, an on-demand video, according to a request of a client 100 and a client 100 for a service request from a user. The network manager 110 detects the bandwidth and provides the client 100 with information corresponding to the request of the client 100, and the video server 120 on demand stores the program information corresponding to the request of the client 100. .

Referring to FIG. 1, when an operation signal for a service request is authorized from a user side, the client 100 generates a service request message and provides the service request message to the network manager 110. At this time, the network manager 110 detects the bandwidth (W _A ) required to perform the service according to the service request message of the user provided from the client 100, so that the network can guarantee the bandwidth (W _N ) that can be actually allocated. Compare with the actual bandwidth present.

That is, the network manager 110 reads information corresponding to the service request from the database of the video-on-demand server 120 when the bandwidth W _A required to perform the service is larger than the actual allocable bandwidth W _N. The network manager 110, and the network manager 110 provides the client 100 with information corresponding to the user service request. In addition, the client 100 displays the information corresponding to the user service request provided by the network manager 110 to the user through the display means.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process for performing an interactive TV system, i.e., a method for controlling a service of video on demand, according to the present invention, and will be described in detail with reference to a configuration block diagram of the video service system shown in FIG.

When the network manager 110 receives the user's service request from the client 100 in step 300, the network manager 110 detects the bandwidth W _A required to perform the service request of the user, in step 302. In step 302, it is determined whether the bandwidth W _A necessary for performing the service request of the user in the network can be allocated. That is, the network manager 110 compares the bandwidth (W _A ) required to fulfill the service request with the bandwidth (W _N ) that can be guaranteed by the network, so that the bandwidth (W _A ) required to perform the service request is determined by the network manager. If the bandwidth (W _N ) is less than that can be guaranteed, the service performs the requested service. If the bandwidth (W _A ) required to fulfill the service request is greater than the bandwidth (W _N ) that can be guaranteed by the network, the process proceeds to step 303. do.

At this time, the network manager 110 detects the amount of information of the program insufficient to perform the service request with the buffer capacity (B _N ) required for the service, that is, the bandwidth (W _N ) that can be guaranteed in the network, and then proceeds to step 304. Proceeds to determine the buffering possibility. At this time, the buffer capacity B _N required for the service is detected by the following equation,

It is detected by B _N = 7.5 · (W _N −W _A ) · T -----.

Here, T is the time taken to perform the service, for example, in the case of a movie program, the time the movie is screened, and 7.5, the unit of B _N is [MB], the unit of W _A, W _N is [Mbps ] Is a value derived to match a unit.

That is, the network manager 110 detects the buffer capacity B _N necessary for the service according to Equation (a), and compares it with the bufferable capacity B _A to determine whether the buffer is possible. At this time, the buffer capacity (B _A) is a program information amount that corresponds to the total amount of information of the program when the service bandwidth insufficient for the requested service that is, lack of bandwidth, and the program running time product, a buffer capacity (B _A ) Is greater than the buffer capacity B _N required for the service detected in step 303, the network manager 110 proceeds to step 305 to determine whether the user intends to wait for the time required for buffering, that is, t hours. Check (step 306).

At this time, the time t required for buffering is

It is calculated by t = B _N /(7.5·(W _A )) ----- (b).

Next, when the network manager 110 determines whether the user intends to wait for the buffering time t calculated by the above formula (B) (step 307), the network manager 110 performs a service according to the user request (second step). In step 309, if it is not confirmed whether the user intends to wait, the service is canceled according to the user's request.

As described above, the present invention provides a buffering capacity of a client and a user when a service request of a user occurs so that a bandwidth required for a user service request is greater than a bandwidth that can be allocated by a network administrator, thereby making the service impossible. By performing or canceling the service according to the opinion of the user, the bandwidth of the limited network can be used more efficiently and the service users can be satisfied.

Claims (2)

_A service control method of an interactive TV system comprising a client requesting a service of a user, a network manager detecting a required bandwidth (W _A ) according to a user service request from a client, and a VOD servo providing information corresponding to a user service request To The network manager detects a buffering capacity B _N according to the amount of information corresponding to the service request if the bandwidth W _A required for the user service request is greater than the bandwidth W _N that can be allocated; A second step of the network manager determining a buffering possibility according to a result of comparing the buffering capacity B _N and the bufferable capacity B _A detected in the first step; In the second step, if the bufferable capacity (B _A ) is larger than the buffering capacity (B _N ) detected in the first step, and the buffering is enabled, the network manager determines the waiting time of the user according to the buffering. a third step of calculating t); A fourth step of the network manager informing the client of the waiting time t of the user calculated in the third step and asking whether to wait; As a result of the fourth step, the network manager comprises a fifth step of performing the service request when the waiting intention is detected from the client. The method of claim 1, wherein the second buffering capacity B _N is detected. Detected by the equation B _N = 7.5 · (W _N −W _A ) · T, where T represents the time taken to perform the service The waiting time t of the user of the third step is calculated. and t = B _N /(7.5·(W _A )).