KR20050043282A - Home gateway processing broadcasting traffic and internet traffic together and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The home gateway apparatus and method for integrating the broadcast traffic and the Internet traffic according to the present invention separate and output a downlink signal mixed with the broadcast traffic and the Internet traffic from an access network, and access the uplink signal input from the home network. A broadcast communication classification unit for converting and outputting at a transmission rate that matches a network; A controller configured to perform protocol conversion to suit the Internet traffic to at least one or more user terminals in the home network, and to perform protocol conversion on the uplink signal to suit the access network; And a user interface unit for outputting a broadcast traffic or an internet traffic to the user terminal, and receiving the upstream signal from the user and outputting the uplink signal to the control unit. Internet HDTV broadcasting and communication of hundreds of Mbps or more by using the broadcasting classification system for filtering and separating the gigabit broadcasting packets and communication packets from the single-line broadcasting convergence channel into the bandwidth required in the home. It can provide a low cost home gateway that can support converged services.

Description

Home gateway processing and internet traffic together and method for integrating broadcasting traffic and internet traffic

The present invention relates to a home gateway device, and more particularly, to a home gateway device and a method for providing a high-speed access function to an access network and a home network to enable a high-speed broadband communication service and an Internet broadcasting convergence service.

In general, a home gateway device is a network point that serves as an entrance to a home network, and data transmitted between the two communication networks using two different data communication protocols is used as data suitable for each communication network. It is a device that performs the function of converting.

Recently, by developing the home gateway device, a network connection between a home network in a home and an external access network can be provided to provide various services in various integrated networks.

In particular, with the development of the Internet, broadcast communication convergence type home gateways and set-top devices that can service not only communication services through the Internet but also existing broadcasting services through a single network can be integrated into a single network. In addition, due to the rapid development of subscriber networks, subscriber network transmission speeds of tens of Mbps are recently provided, and in the future, FTTH (DTH ( Fiber To The Home) and hundreds of Mbps internet HDTV (High Definition TV) broadcasting and communication convergence services are being actively researched.

However, the existing home gateway not only provides the bandwidth of 100Mbps or less like DSL or Fast Ethernet, but also excludes the ability to accommodate broadcasts, and also accommodates high bandwidth services such as multi-channel HDTV services in the home. I could not. In addition, in the case of the existing set-top device, the broadcast-only service such as terrestrial wave or satellite is accommodated through a separate line, and the interface for the Internet is limited to the case of a separate low-speed return channel service. There is no way to accommodate a device.

In addition, since unicast traffic was used to deliver broadcast traffic using the Internet network, when the number of subscribers increased, the performance of the network equipment was unsuitable for HDTV service, and high-speed broadcast traffic could not be processed. In the structure of home gateway device, if FTTH is activated and service of hundreds of Mbps is spread in the future, it should evolve into a structure with optical interface. However, most of them support only 100Mbps DSL or Fast Ethernet interface. Performance does not support this, and even if a network processor having an optical interface is used, since such a processor is expensive, there are many problems in constructing a low-cost home gateway that can accommodate FTTH.

The present invention provides a home gateway device and method capable of integrating and supporting gigabit-class communication services of Internet HDTV broadcasting and Internet traffic from an access network connected to a single-line optical channel while providing various home network interfaces. To provide.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the home gateway apparatus for integrating and processing broadcast traffic and Internet traffic according to the present invention separates and outputs a downlink signal mixed with broadcast traffic and Internet traffic from an access network, and is inputted from a home network. A broadcast communication classification unit for converting and outputting an uplink signal at a transmission rate corresponding to the access network; A controller configured to perform protocol conversion to suit the Internet traffic to at least one or more user terminals in the home network, and to perform protocol conversion on the uplink signal to suit the access network; And a user interface unit configured to output a broadcast traffic or an internet traffic to the user terminal, receive the upstream signal from the user, and output the received upstream signal to the control unit.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a method for integrating a broadcast traffic and an internet traffic according to the present invention is a home gateway system connecting an access network and a home network, wherein a broadcast traffic having a multicast address and an internet traffic are mixed. A downlink signal processing step of receiving a signal and separating the signal into a broadcast traffic and an internet traffic and outputting the signal to at least one or more user terminals in the home network; And an uplink signal processing step of converting a signal requested by the user terminal to the access network into a protocol and a transmission speed suitable for the access network and outputting the converted signal to the access network.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description and the annexed drawings are provided to assist the overall understanding of the present invention, and detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram of a broadcast communication convergence network using a home gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the broadcast communication convergence network configuration includes a central office (CO) device 120, a broadcast server 140, a broadcast communication convergence channel 130, a home gateway device 110, and a user. The terminal 160 is configured. The broadcast server 140 or the user terminal 160 is composed of a plurality, but for convenience of description below it will be one by one.

The access network CO equipment 120 receives the broadcast content from the broadcast server 140, converts the broadcast concentrator 121 into an address corresponding to each broadcast channel, and controls communication through the broadcast communication concentrator / classifier 123. The packet is combined with the packet coming from the device 122 and then transmitted downward to the home gateway device 110 through the broadcasting line converged channel 130 of a single line. When the uplink packet is input from the home gateway device 110, the communication control device 122 separates the Internet and broadcast control signals, and controls the broadcast concentrator 121 through the broadcast control signal to provide only the requested broadcast content. Provide Internet access and classify Internet data.

The home gateway device 110 classifies the broadcast data and the Internet data from the traffic received downward from the CO device 120 and provides them to the user terminal 160 for each service. In addition, in the case of uplink traffic input from the user terminal 160 to the home gateway device, all traffic is delivered to the access network through the control device.

2 is a detailed block diagram of a home gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the access network connection is made in an access network matching device 210 connected to the broadcast communication convergence channel 130 of a single line, and the received broadcast traffic and Internet traffic are transmitted from the broadcast communication classification device ( 220). The broadcast communication classifier 220 classifies the channel and packet address provided from the control device 240 with respect to broadcast traffic of tens to hundreds of Mbps among the received broadcast traffic and Internet traffic by referring to the packet buffer 230 if necessary. After temporarily storing in, and passes directly to the switch 260 connected to the premises Ethernet network without going through the control device. The packet buffer 230 is required for speed correction when converting gigabit-class traffic into hundreds of Mbps traffic in the home, and is dynamically allocated and used according to the traffic amount. By removing the traffic processing processing applied to the control device 240 through this process, it is possible to configure the control device 240 using a low-cost CPU. In addition, the switch 260 can significantly reduce the traffic flow of the premises Ethernet network by delivering only the traffic required for each port to the first user requesting the broadcast traffic through a separate IGMP snooping (Internet Group Management Protocol snooping) function. This enables high-speed multimedia services such as multichannel HDTV services. In addition, the interface such as IEEE1394 or wireless LAN connected to the home network matching device 250, the control unit 240 performs the corresponding protocol processing to service the second user. The home network matching device 250 may access various interfaces except for IEEE1394 and wireless LAN according to the home network environment.

In the case of upstream traffic transmitted from the home network to the access network, all the upstream traffic is transmitted to the broadcast communication classifier 220 through the control device 240, and the broadcast communication classifier 220 separates the upstream traffic. After going through the gigabit conversion only without processing, the network is delivered to the access network matching device 210 to perform the access network matching.

The integrated processing method of the home gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a protocol configuration of a home gateway device which integrates broadcast traffic and internet traffic according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating broadcast traffic and internet traffic according to the present invention in the configuration of devices having the protocol stack of FIG. This is a flow chart showing the flow of how to integrate processing.

As shown in FIG. 3, the protocol stack includes the broadcast server side 140, the CO equipment side 120, the access network matching device 111, and the broadcast communication classifier device 112, the control device 113, and the home network. And a protocol such as the matching device side 114, the switch side 115, and the user terminal side 160. The broadcast server 140 includes a protocol such as RTP and UDP for providing a broadcast application and broadcast content, and is delivered to the CO equipment 120 through an IP and MAC layer. The CO equipment side 120 assigns a new multicast address to the traffic input from the broadcast server 140 using the broadcast channel selection message based on the IGMP protocol, and transmits the new multicast address to the home gateway device 110.

In response to the downlink signal (step 410), the access network matching device 111 and the broadcast communication classification device side 112 of the home gateway device 110 separate the traffic inputted from the access network from the broadcast traffic and the Internet traffic (420). step). Among them, the traffic having the broadcast multicast address requested by the indoor Ethernet network is transferred to the switch side 115 to the first user who requested the broadcast traffic (step 430). The other traffic is delivered to the control device 113 and the home network matching device side 114 to ultimately deliver to the second user who requested the Internet traffic. The address information and the like necessary for traffic classification are supplied from the controller 340. The control unit 113 and the home network matching device side 140 perform protocol processing on the traffic transmitted from the broadcast communication classification device side 112, and then, for the traffic except for the broadcast traffic, the traffic requested from the home Ethernet network. The switch 115 transmits the traffic requested by the home network to the user terminal 160 via the link layer and the physical layer. The user terminal 160 is selectively matched to the switch side 115, the control device 113 and the home network matching device side 114, and delivers traffic to a broadcast application through protocol processing and RTP, UDP, etc. ( Step 440).

Looking at the case of the upstream signal (step 410), the IGMP message according to the broadcast channel change is transmitted from the user terminal side 160 to the switch side 115 or the control device 113 and the home network matching device side 114, The IGMP Proxy collects the IGMP messages coming from the premises Ethernet network or another premises network, constructs an integrated IGMP message (step 450), and delivers them to the CO equipment of the access network via the broadcast communication classification device 112. In addition, all upstream traffic input from the home network to the home gateway device 110 is collected by the control device 113, converted to a transmission rate suitable for the access network, and then transferred to the access network (step 460).

The detailed description and drawings of the present invention disclose a preferred embodiment to help understand the present invention, and do not limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is determined by the above detailed description. Rather, it should be determined in the appended claims.

The method for integrating broadcast traffic and Internet traffic according to the present invention may also be embodied as computer readable codes on a computer readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, hard disk, floppy disk, flash memory, optical data storage device, and also carrier wave (e.g. transmission over the Internet). It is also included to be implemented in the form of. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over computer systems connected over a computer network so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Also, the font ROM data structure according to the present invention can be read by a computer on a recording medium such as a computer readable ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, hard disk, floppy disk, flash memory, optical data storage device, and the like. It can be implemented as code.

As described above, the home gateway apparatus and method for integrating and processing broadcast traffic and Internet traffic according to the present invention provide a high speed broadcast communication convergence service by providing an optical access network access function of 100 Mbps or more in terms of access network access. do. In terms of indoor network access, various home network interfaces such as IEEE1394 and wireless LAN are provided through the home network matching device, and a plurality of Ethernet interfaces are provided using Ethernet switches. In addition, apart from the conventional method of using separate broadcasting and communication lines, a broadcasting communication classification apparatus for filtering and separating gigabit broadcasting packets and communication packets from a single line broadcasting convergence channel into a bandwidth required at home It can provide a low-cost home gateway that can support Internet HDTV broadcasting and telecommunication convergence service over hundreds of Mbps.

In addition, the switch delivers only the traffic required for each port through a separate IGMP snooping function, which can significantly reduce the traffic flow of the Ethernet network in the home, thereby enabling high-speed multimedia services such as multi-channel HDTV service.

The above detailed description and contents disclosed in the drawings are not intended to limit the present invention, and it is apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. will be.

1 is a block diagram of a broadcast communication converged network to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a home gateway apparatus for integrating broadcast traffic and Internet traffic according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a protocol configuration of a home gateway apparatus for integrating broadcast traffic and Internet traffic according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart showing the flow of a method for integrating broadcast traffic and Internet traffic according to the present invention.

Claims (10)

A broadcasting communication classification unit for separating and outputting a downlink signal mixed with a broadcast traffic and an internet traffic from an access network, and converting an upstream signal input from a home network to a transmission rate that matches the access network; A controller configured to perform protocol conversion to suit the Internet traffic to at least one or more user terminals in the home network, and to perform protocol conversion on the uplink signal to suit the access network; And A home interface for outputting broadcast traffic or internet traffic to the user terminal and receiving the upstream signal from the user and outputting the uplink signal to the controller; and a home gateway integrating and processing broadcast traffic and internet traffic. Device. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface unit A switch for outputting the broadcast traffic to a first user terminal; And A home gateway matching unit for outputting the protocol-converted Internet traffic to a second user terminal; Home gateway device for integrating a broadcast traffic and Internet traffic comprising a. According to claim 1, wherein the broadcast communication classification unit And an access network matching unit configured to perform optical signal / electrical signal or electrical signal / optical signal conversion with the access network. According to claim 1, wherein the broadcast communication classification unit And a packet buffer dynamically allocated according to the size of the broadcast traffic and sequentially storing and outputting the broadcast traffic. According to claim 1, wherein the broadcast communication classification unit A home gateway device that integrates broadcasting traffic and internet traffic by selectively filtering and outputting only traffic required by a home network. The method of claim 1, wherein the switch A home gateway that integrates broadcast traffic and internet traffic by performing Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping to deliver only broadcast traffic required by each user terminal for at least one port connected to the switch. Device. The method of claim 1, wherein the control unit And at least one user terminal performs an IGMP proxy function to change IGMP messages requiring a change of a broadcast channel into one IGMP message. (a) a downstream signal processing step of receiving a mixed signal of a broadcast traffic and internet traffic given a multicast address, separating the broadcast traffic and the internet traffic, and outputting the signal to at least one or more user terminals in the home network; And (b) an uplink signal processing step of converting a signal requested by the user terminal to an access network into a protocol and a transmission rate suitable for the access network and outputting the signal to the access network; How to integrate Internet traffic. The method of claim 8, wherein step (a) (a1) buffering the filtered broadcast traffic and performing IGMP snooping to select and output only the broadcast traffic required by a first user terminal; And and (a2) converting the protocol to be suitable for a second user terminal with respect to the internet traffic. The method of claim 8, wherein step (b) (b1) converting the IGMP messages received from the at least one user terminal requiring the change of the broadcasting channel into a single integrated IGMP message; and integrating and processing the broadcast traffic and the Internet traffic of the home gateway; Way.