KR20030060449A - Method And Apparatus for exchanging data between external device and TV set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and apparatus for exchanging data between an external device and TV are provided to efficiently manage data stored in a hard disc and prevent indiscreet data exchange. CONSTITUTION: A data input unit(40) receives a command of moving data to an external device. A CP(Copy Protection) judgement unit(41) judges whether the data is capable of being moved to the external device according to the command. An interface(42) moves the data to the external device according to the judgement result. A reproduction format judgement unit(45) parses an inquiry message with respect to transmission of specific data received from the external device through the interface to judge whether the specific data is capable of being moved. A microcomputer(44) controls each of the components.

Description

Method for exchanging data between external device and TV device and device therefor {Method And Apparatus for exchanging data between external device and TV set}

The present invention provides an external device and a TV device for moving data stored in a storage medium of a TV device having a set top box (STB) or a private video recorder (PVR) to an external device to more efficiently manage / operate data. A data exchange method and apparatus thereof are provided.

Recently, a mass storage device such as a hard disk (HDD) is mounted on a TV receiver or an STB, and products for storing digital broadcast streams and other data broadcast data on a large capacity hard disk are on the market.

Unlike conventional TVs and VCR systems, products containing such hard disks can store and use the information desired by users directly or automatically according to user's preference. You can save multiple tapes to your hard disk without any additional user intervention.

However, storing various data in such a large capacity hard disk has a problem in that the information stored in the hard disk can be used only by one device such as a TV receiver or an STB from a user's point of view.

In other words, the user only uses a large hard disk to store three types of data, considering the stream itself, the contents of the data broadcast, and the data linked to the Internet. It is not easy to extract data separately and use it in other external devices, and it is not easy to replace the hard disk by yourself, and there is a problem that it is difficult to store permanent data through data deletion due to the limitation of hard disk capacity.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above problems, by moving the data stored in the hard disk in the TV set or STB to be stored in a storage medium capable of semi-permanent storage, such as a CD-ROM of the external device, An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for exchanging data between an external device and a TV device having a storage medium capable of more efficiently managing stored data.

In order to achieve the above object, a method and apparatus for exchanging data between an external device and a TV device according to the present invention may first determine whether the data can be moved before moving data stored in a hard disk of a TV set or STB to the outside, and move according to a determination result. When only moving data to an external device and moving and storing data of the external device to a hard disk such as an STB, only specific data that satisfies a preset movable condition is allowed.

1 is a diagram illustrating a method of moving data from a TV device to an external device.

2 is a diagram illustrating a data movement method from an external device to a TV device.

3 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a connection between a TV device and an external device;

4 is a diagram illustrating a data exchange device of an external device and a TV device of the present invention.

Description of the main parts of the drawing

40: data input unit 41: CP discriminating unit

42: interface unit 43: encryption processing unit

44: microcomputer 45: playback format determination unit

46: access determination unit 47: data management unit

48: data storage

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the data exchange method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a step of moving corresponding data stored in a storage medium of a TV device to an external device.

As shown in the drawing, the data moving method of the present invention includes a tenth step of receiving a command for moving the corresponding data from a user (S10), an eleventh step of reading the corresponding data from a storage medium according to the received command; (S11), a twelfth step of investigating whether there is copy protection (CP) information of the read corresponding data (S12); and a thirteenth step (S13) of determining whether to allow the copying of the corresponding read data as a result of the investigation; In operation 14, if the copying is not allowed, the user may receive an error message indicating that the data cannot be moved. If the copying is permitted, the fifteenth step of releasing an access code of the data is allowed. Step S15 and the sixteenth step S16 of moving the decrypted data to the external device.

According to the present invention, when a command for moving the data from a user to an external device, for example, a PC or a web pad (Web PAD) is input (S10), the hard disk (HDD) according to the input command is input. A read operation is performed on the corresponding data stored in the storage medium such as S11.

Then, the CP (Copy Protection) information of the data is examined (S12) to determine whether or not to copy the data using this (S13), the "CP information" in advance to prevent indiscriminate copying of the data in advance. Set "Copy Restriction Information", which contains restrictions on whether or not to copy the data or the number of times to allow the data. Also, such information may be stored on the same hard disk (HDD) as the data, or otherwise, It may be stored in memory.

On the other hand, as a result of the determination, if the copying of the corresponding data is limited or the number of times is exceeded, the user is informed that the message cannot be moved (S14). The access code is released (S14) and transmitted to an external device (S16). The access password is encrypted using a password code set in the header field when data is input in order to limit the movement of data.

Next, another data management method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

In particular, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a step of moving specific data from an external device to a TV device such as an STB.

As shown therein, the present invention provides a data management method according to a twentieth step (S20) of receiving a message for querying whether a specific data can be moved from an external device, a twenty-first step (S21) of parsing a received query message, and In operation 22, the controller 22 determines whether the specific data can be reproduced according to its own playback format using the parsing result, and if the specific data is not reproducible, an error message indicating that the specific data cannot be moved. The twenty-third step (S23) of transmitting to the device and the twenty-fourth step (S24) of determining whether there is access inhibited information on the specific data when the specific data can be reproduced; A twenty-fifth step (S25) of calculating a storage capacity; and using a calculation result to determine whether specific data can be stored in an available storage capacity; Step 27, transmitting the response message indicating that the movement of the specific data is possible when the determination result can be stored (S27) and receiving the specific data moved from the external device according to the transmitted response message 28 th step (S28), the 29 th step (S29) for encrypting the received specific data with an access code, and the thirtieth step (S30) for storing the encrypted specific data in its own storage medium Is done.

The present invention thus achieved first receives a message inquiring whether specific data can be moved from an external device (S20), and the query message includes information on specific data to be moved, for example, data reproduction format information of the external device itself. The information on access prohibition information and specific data size of specific data is recorded.

On the other hand, when the query device receives the TV set, for example, a TV set having an STB or a PVR (S20), the received query message is parsed (S21) and the data reproduction format of the external device and the data of the TV device itself. The playback format is compared to determine whether the specific data can be played back according to its own data playback format (S22).

As a result of the determination, when it is determined that the specific data cannot be reproduced, an error message indicating that the specific data cannot be moved is transmitted to an external device (S23). Alternatively, the reproduction format is identical or compatible to reproduce the specific data. If it is determined that the access data can be determined, it is determined whether the specific data has an access code (S24).

The access code is a serial number which is assigned to a header of the data when the data is first stored. The access code is a STB which is a TV device to solve a copyright problem that may occur due to the movement / exchange of data. This is a unique code given to the user, and the STB can limit external access by recording data header, for example MPEG data, in the additional information field of MPEG data header when the data is first stored. In the case of the data to which the STB's access code is assigned, the movement cannot be allowed, and thus the presence or absence of recording of the access code of the specific data is determined as described above.

On the other hand, if the determination result (S24), it is determined that the specific data has an access code, and transmits an error message that the movement of the specific data to the external device (S23), otherwise, if it is determined that there is no access code TV The available storage capacity of the device itself is calculated (S25).

Then, it is determined whether the specific data can be stored by comparing the calculated storage capacity with the size of the specific data (S26).

If it is determined that the specific data cannot be stored in the available storage capacity (S26), an error message indicating that the specific data cannot be moved is transmitted to an external device (S23). If it is determined that the specific data is sent to the TV device itself to send a response message to the external device (S27), the determination step and the sequence as described above, such as the characteristics of the TV device device or the specification of the query message Modifications and omissions are possible accordingly.

Meanwhile, when the external device transmits specific data to the TV device according to the transmitted response message, the TV device receives this (S28), encrypts (S29), restricts free movement to the outside, and then encrypts the specific data encrypted. The storage medium may be stored in a hard disk (HDD), for example (S30).

Next, another data moving apparatus of a TV device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 is a diagram illustrating a data exchange device between an external device and a TV device according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface unit and an external device applied to the present invention.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, the data operation apparatus of the present invention includes a data input unit 40 that receives a command to move data to an external device, and CP (Copy Protection) of the corresponding data stored according to the received command. CP discrimination unit 41 for determining whether or not to move to an external device using the presence or absence of information, an interface unit 42 for transmitting the data to the external device according to the determination result, and before storing the data An encryption processing unit 43 for encrypting in advance and releasing it when moving to an external device, and a microcomputer 44 for controlling each unit.

In order to process the data moved from the external device, a query message regarding whether the specific data received from the external device can be transmitted through the interface unit 42 is parsed under the control of the microcomputer 44 to reproduce the data. A reproduction format determining unit 45 for determining whether the specific data can be reproduced according to the data format, an access determining unit 46 for determining whether the specific data has access prohibition information, and a storage area available according to the determination result. The apparatus further includes a data management unit 47 for calculating a capacity and determining whether the specific data can be stored, and a data storage unit 48 for storing the specific data.

As shown in FIG. 3, the interface unit 42 applied to the present invention is a USB, LAN port, serial port, memory stick for data transmission with an external device, for example, a PC or a web pad. It is preferable to use the apparatus which consists of one or more of these.

The data moving device of a TV device described above first describes a process in which a TV set, for example, an STB or a PVR-embedded TV set moves corresponding data stored in an HDD, which is its storage medium, to an external device.

First, when a command for moving the data from an user to an external device, for example, a PC or a web pad, is input to the data input unit 40, the microcomputer 44 responds to the HDD and the HDD according to the input command. A read operation is performed on the corresponding data stored in the same data storage unit 48, and the result is output to the CP discriminating unit 41.

Then, the CP output unit 41 examines CP (Copy Protection) information of the corresponding data under the control of the microcomputer 44 and determines whether to allow copying of the corresponding data using the CP information. Preset "Copy Restriction Information" to prevent indiscriminate copying of data, including restrictions on whether or not to copy the data or the number of times that the data is allowed to be copied. This information also includes the same hard disk (HDD) as the data. The data may be stored in, or alternatively, may be stored in a separate memory.

On the other hand, when the CP discriminating unit 41 determines that copying of the data is limited or exceeds the number of times, an error message indicating that the movement of the data is impossible under the control of the microcomputer 44 is notified to the user. On the contrary, when copying of the data is allowed, the result of the permission is output to the encryption processing unit 43.

Then, the encryption processing unit 43 releases the access code of the data under the control of the microcomputer 44, and the interface unit 42 transmits the data of which the access encryption is released to the external device.

The following describes the operation process when moving specific data from an external device.

First, the interface unit 42 receives a message for querying whether or not specific data can be moved from an external device. The query message includes information about specific data to be moved, for example, data reproduction format information of the external device itself, Information on access prohibition information and specific data size of specific data is recorded.

On the other hand, when the interface unit 42 receives the query message, the playback format determination unit 45 parses the received query message under the control of the microcomputer to convert the data playback format of the external device and the data playback format of the TV device itself. By comparison, it is determined whether the specific data can be reproduced according to its own data reproduction format.

If it is determined that the specific data cannot be reproduced as a result of the determination by the reproduction format determination unit 45, an error message indicating that the specific data cannot be moved under the control of the microcomputer 44 is provided through the interface unit 42. If it is determined that the specific data can be reproduced because the reproduction format is the same or compatible, otherwise, the result is output to the access determination unit 46 (S23).

Then, the access determining unit 46 determines whether an access code exists in the specific data under the control of the microcomputer 44, and when it is determined that the access code exists in the specific data, the control of the microcomputer 44 The error message indicating that the specific data cannot be moved is transmitted to the external device through the interface unit 42 (S23). Otherwise, if it is determined that there is no access code, the result is output to the data management unit 47.

The data manager 47 calculates the storage capacity of the data storage unit 48 available under the control of the microcomputer 44, and then determines whether the specific data can be stored in the calculated storage capacity.

Therefore, when it is determined that the specific data cannot be stored in the available storage capacity, an error message indicating that the specific data cannot be moved is transmitted to the external device through the interface unit 42 under the control of the microcomputer 44. In contrast, when it is determined that the data can be stored in the available storage capacity, a response message indicating that the specific data can be moved to the TV device itself is transmitted to the external device through the interface unit 42. The order may be modified or omitted depending on the characteristics of the TV apparatus or the specification of the query message.

Meanwhile, when the external device moves the specific data to the interface unit 42 of the TV device according to the transmitted response message, the encryption processing unit 43 encrypts the specific data moved under the control of the microcomputer 44 to external device. After restricting free movement to the device, specific encrypted data is stored in the data storage unit 48 through the data management unit 47.

As described in detail above, a data exchange method of an external device and a TV device according to the present invention and a device are semi-permanent, such as a CD-ROM of an external device by moving data stored in a hard disk in a TV set or an STB. By storing the data in a storage medium that can be stored in the library, it is possible to operate the data stored on the hard disk more efficiently. Also, by restricting the movement of the data, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of copyright-related problems in advance. There is.

Although the invention has been described in detail only with respect to the specific examples described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations are possible within the spirit of the invention, and such modifications and variations belong to the appended claims.

Claims (10)

A tenth step of receiving an inquiry message regarding whether the specific data received from the external device can be moved; Parsing the received query message to determine whether the specific data can be moved; Transmitting a corresponding response message to the external device according to the determination result; And a 40th step of receiving specific data transmitted from the external device according to the corresponding response message. The method of claim 1, wherein the twentieth step comprises: And determining whether to play the specific data according to the playback data format of the TV device. The method of claim 1, wherein the twentieth step comprises: And determining whether the unique access prohibition information included in the specific data is present. 4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: between the twentieth and thirtieth steps; Calculating whether there is an available storage capacity capable of storing the specific data according to the determination result; In the thirtieth step, data of the external device and the TV device are transmitted according to a determination result of whether the specific data can be moved and a determination result of whether the specific data can be stored. Exchange method. A data input unit for receiving a data movement command of an external device; A first transmission determining unit determining whether the corresponding stored data can be moved to an external device according to the received command; An interface unit for moving corresponding data to an external device according to the determination result; A second transmission determining unit which parses a query message regarding whether the specific data received from the external device can be transmitted through the interface unit and determines whether the specific data can be moved; And a microcomputer for controlling the respective units. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first transmission discrimination unit; The data moving device of the external device and the TV device, characterized in that the CP discriminating unit to determine using the presence of CP (Copy Protection) information of the data. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the second transmission determining unit; And a reproduction format determination unit for determining whether the specific data according to its own reproduction data format can be reproduced. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the second transmission determining unit; And an access determining unit through the presence or absence of unique access prohibition information included in the specific data. The method according to any one of claims 5 or 8, And an encryption processing unit for encrypting the data in advance before storing the data under the control of the microcomputer and decrypting the data when moving to an external device. The method according to any one of claims 5 or 8, And a data management unit for determining whether the specific data can be stored by calculating the capacity of the available storage area under the control of the microcomputer according to the determination result. Device.