KR20050065988A - System and method for providing broadcasting streaming service using virtual local area network - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and system for providing a broadcast streaming service to one or more users via a network is disclosed. The system according to the present invention is a broadcast service providing server that prepares to stream and broadcast broadcast content according to a predetermined separation criterion, and a storage unit for storing a matching table for matching the broadcast content separated by the separation criterion to an identifier of a virtual local area network. And a user terminal for subscribing a user using a broadcast service to a virtual local area network having an identifier corresponding to a separation criterion desired by the user. According to the present invention, the same broadcast content is provided to a user who subscribes to the same virtual local area network. According to the present invention, bandwidth of the entire network is saved by separating broadcast traffic generated in a specific virtual local area network into a logical domain so that other virtual local area networks are not affected.

Description

System and method for providing broadcast streaming service using virtual local area network

The present invention relates to data communication, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing a broadcast streaming service using a virtual local area network.

As communication technologies have evolved, the size of data shared through a network has increased and the transmission speed of data has also improved. Therefore, a streaming service for transmitting and playing a large amount of multimedia content to a user's terminal in real time has been developed, as well as a broadcast service using the Internet.

However, even if the hardware performance of the network is improved and a protocol for transmitting data more efficiently is introduced, it requires a lot of system resources to provide a large amount of multimedia services in real time to an unspecified number of users. Therefore, currently provided real-time broadcast content streaming service uses a lot of methods to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted by deteriorating the image quality. It even provides separate high quality streaming service for high quality communication network and low quality streaming service for low quality network.

Nevertheless, when the network is overloaded, the buffering phenomenon frequently occurs when the streaming service is interrupted. In addition, the broadcast service through the Internet according to the prior art is connected to the broadcast server in a point-to-point (P2P) manner based on IP (IP). Therefore, when many viewers receive broadcast service at the same time, a large load is placed on the broadcast server and the network because broadcast streaming data must be transmitted for each viewer. In addition, when changing the transmitted broadcast content (for example, when changing the channel of the stream to be broadcasted) to the broadcast server by sending an IP-based control packet to request the channel change to receive the broadcast streaming, so to change the channel It takes a lot of time. That is, in the prior art, when a user selects a desired channel, the broadcast server receives an IP stream based on an IP-based end-to-end access channel to provide high-definition service. And there is a problem that the connection traffic of the server is overloaded.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a technology that efficiently provides a broadcast streaming service so as to stream high quality multimedia data in real time, so that the streaming service is not interrupted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method for distributing a broadcast channel in order to reduce data traffic transmitted when providing a broadcast service using various networks such as an Ethernet network.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a method for saving bandwidth of the entire network by separating the broadcast content to be transmitted according to a predetermined criterion and logically separating domains so as to separately provide the separated broadcast content. will be.

One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object relates to a method for providing a broadcast streaming service to one or more users through a network, the preparation step of preparing to separate and stream the broadcast content by a predetermined separation criteria, A matching step of matching the broadcast content separated by the separation criterion to an identifier of the virtual local area network, a joining step of the user subscribing to the virtual local area network having an identifier corresponding to the separation criterion desired by the user, and a user subscribed to the same virtual local area network. It includes a broadcast content providing step for providing the same broadcast content. In particular, the criterion of separation of broadcast content is channel information of broadcast content, and the step of providing broadcast content includes streaming the broadcast content corresponding to a specific channel to a user subscribed to a virtual local area network having an identifier matched to the channel. desirable. Alternatively, the broadcast content separation criterion is single streaming data of broadcast content, and the broadcast content providing step includes streaming the broadcast content belonging to the specific streaming data to a user subscribed to the virtual local area network having an identifier matched with the streaming data. It is preferable. In addition, the broadcast streaming service providing method according to an aspect of the present invention is characterized in that it further comprises a withdrawal step of withdrawing from the virtual local area network subscribed when the user terminates the use of the desired broadcast content service.

Another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object relates to a system for providing a broadcast streaming service to one or more users over a network, a broadcast service for preparing to separate and stream the broadcast content by a predetermined separation criteria A server for storing a matching table for matching broadcast content separated by a separation criterion to an identifier of a virtual local area network, and a user who uses a broadcast service to join a virtual local area network having an identifier corresponding to a separation criterion desired by the user. The present invention relates to a broadcast streaming service providing system including a user terminal for making a broadcast. In particular, the broadcast streaming service providing system according to another aspect of the present invention is characterized by providing the same broadcast content to a user subscribed to the same virtual local area network. In addition, the broadcast streaming service providing system according to another aspect of the present invention, in response to the user selecting a broadcast content corresponding to a specific separation criterion at the user's terminal device, matching the separation criterion using the GARP / GVRP protocol. It is preferable to automatically subscribe to the virtual local area network and to automatically withdraw from the virtual local area network corresponding to the existing broadcast content when the user selects new broadcast content different from the existing broadcast content corresponding to the specific separation criteria. Alternatively, in the broadcast streaming service providing system according to another aspect of the present invention, a user may use a specific separation criterion by using a GARP / GVRP protocol between a receiving router connected to a terminal device of a user and a transmitting router providing a broadcasting streaming service. In response to selecting the broadcast content corresponding to the characterized in that the automatic subscription and withdrawal from the virtual local area network.

According to the present invention, by dividing the data flow of one switch into a plurality of virtual local area networks, by separating the broadcast traffic generated in each virtual local area network into a logical domain so as not to affect other virtual local area networks, Bandwidth savings across the network.

In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and the contents described in the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For each figure, like reference numerals denote like elements.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a broadcast streaming service using a virtual local area network according to an aspect of the present invention.

The virtual local area network is a technology for integrating and managing terminal devices that share the same information based on information other than the physical location of network components into a virtual local area network. The criteria used to implement a virtual local area network include a connection port unit, a MAC address or an IP address unit, and a protocol unit used. The virtual local area network controller may change or add terminal devices more easily than physical local area networks, and may implement management functions such as load balancing and bandwidth allocation.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of terminals connected to a router having a single logical segment communicate with each other one-to-one. However, if a single logical segment is managed in three virtual local area networks (VLAN1, VLAN2, VLAN3), communication between terminals belonging to the same virtual local area network is regarded as communication within the same network without going through a separate router and managed quickly. Can be. Standards for virtual local area networks are defined in IEEE 802.1Q.

In other words, IEEE 802.1Q was established for the purpose of standardizing the mapping of virtual LANs (VLANs) to LANs. IEEE 802.1Q defines a method for mapping parameters required for group management to the current local area network frame. Specifically, it defines a virtual local area network docking which adds a tag including a virtual local area network information (VLAN-ID) to a medium access control (MAC) frame.

In the present invention, the broadcast content separated based on the same separation criteria (e.g., channel information and single streaming data information) is provided only within the respective virtual local area network. Therefore, in order to receive the desired broadcasting streaming content, the user must subscribe to the virtual local area network (for example, VLAN1) to which the corresponding broadcasting content is matched. In addition, when the user changes the channel being watched, the user withdraws from the existing virtual local area network (VLAN1), newly subscribes to a new virtual local area network (for example, VLAN2), and receives broadcast content corresponding to VLAN2.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a broadcast streaming service providing system according to an aspect of the present invention.

The broadcast streaming service providing system 200 includes a communication broadcast convergence service access system 260, a broadband communication network 250, a lower communication network 220, an Ethernet 240, an IP network 280, and a CATV backbone network 290. . The lower telecommunication network 220 also includes switches 232, 234 and splitters 236, and home gateways 222, 224 connected to the switch 232, and a gateway 226 connected to the switch 234. It includes. The Ethernet 240 includes an L2 / L3 switch 246, and a home gateway 242 and a gateway 244 are connected to the L2 / L3 switch 246. The communications broadcast convergence service access system 260 includes a proxy server 265 for temporary storage.

The broadcasting streaming service providing system refers to a system for providing a broadcasting service based on IP and Ethernet by physically and logically fusing a broadcasting system to an existing communication network. The broadcast streaming service provided by the communication broadcast convergence service access system 260 is delivered to the home gateway or gateway through the lower communication network 220, the Ethernet 240, or the like. In this case, a broadcast streaming service is provided to a plurality of user terminal devices (not shown) connected to each gateway or home gateway.

According to the prior art, it is entirely up to the user which content of the broadcast streaming service is selected by the user terminal device. Therefore, all the content of the broadcast streaming service provided by the communication broadcast convergence service access system 260 is delivered to the home gateway 222, 224, 242 or the gateway 226, 244, and the user wants the desired content among all the delivered content. Select to watch. The data transmitted to the switches such as the home gateways 222, 224, 242, the gateways 226, 244, the splitter 236, and the like are separated and provided according to a predetermined criterion and allocated for each virtual local area network (not shown). For example, broadcast streaming service content delivered to the L2 / L3 switch 246 included in the Ethernet 240 may be allocated to different virtual local area networks for each channel. Then, the user may subscribe to the virtual local area network that supplies the channel that he / she wants in order to watch the broadcast content he / she wants. By applying this method, the reliability of the broadcast service transmitted through the network is greatly improved.

According to the present invention, in providing a broadcast service in an internet network, bandwidth waste when selecting a broadcast channel is minimized. In addition, a passive optical network (PON) structure in an access node is advantageous in broadcasting service because a down stream transmitted from a higher level is copied to a subscriber station by copying the same data streaming using a splitter 236. .

3 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a broadcast streaming service providing system according to an aspect of the present invention. The system shown in FIG. 3 includes the Internet 350, an L2 / L3 switch 320, an optical network unit (330, 332, 334), a multicast server (360, 370), and a user terminal device (312, 314). 316).

The broadcast streaming service data content generated by the multicast servers 360 and 370 is delivered to the user terminal devices 312, 314, and 316 through the Internet 35. In this case, one channel broadcast content is allocated to one virtual local area network by the L2 / L3 switch 320 that controls data traffic distributed to the ONU.

In order to efficiently distribute the data, a multicasting protocol (PIM, Protocol Independent Multicast), etc. may be used in a backbone (core) network and an IGMP protocol may be used in an access network. IGMP (Internet group management protocol) is a communication protocol for realizing IP multicast, and is defined in RFC 1112. IGMP is used when routers in a local area network distribute multicast packets to PCs with multicast communication capabilities. The router that receives the multicast packet sends the packet to the LAN segment to which the PC connects only if there is a PC that has declared it in IGMP.

As described above, the present invention assigns a broadcast channel to a specific virtual local area network number using a multicasting method in an access network only within a specific domain of a virtual local area network, so that the server can assign a specific VLAN for each channel. The method of broadcasting by assigning a number is used to broadcast a broadcast stream similarly to the method currently performed by a general public broadcasting station and a cable operator.

When a user selects a broadcast channel when they want to watch a desired broadcast from a PC or a set-top box, the user joins a virtual local area network, which is pre-assigned to the channel, and leaves the virtual local area network when not viewing the broadcast. do.

   The router of the access network should basically provide multiple virtual local area network setting functions to subscribe to multiple virtual local area networks at the same time. In the terminal device (PC or set-top box) and the router, the predetermined virtual local area should be provided. It is desirable to support a protocol (eg GVRP) function that can dynamically join / leave a network.

The generic attribute registration protocol (GARP) is inserted in a medium access control (MAC) frame and defines a method for exchanging a frame including a tag defined by IEEE 802.1Q between bridges (LAN switches). In addition, there is a provision for a GVRP (GARP VLAN registration protocol), which is a communication protocol for exchanging corresponding local area network ID and port corresponding information between bridges (LAN switches).

4 is a diagram illustrating a registration and release protocol stack based on a virtual local area network in a broadcast streaming service providing system according to an aspect of the present invention.

4 shows the overall structure of the ONU and terminal devices in each home in the access network. The connection method to the ONU in the access network has a structure similar to broadcasting in a broadcast service because it uses a splitter to distribute down-streaming data equally to all ONUs.

A broadcast server broadcasting or multicasting broadcast content broadcasts a plurality of channels through an existing network (Internet network 450). Then, the backbone network transmits streaming data to the access node through end-to-end IP communication 320 or by using multicasting protocol (PIM).

Then, in the present invention, the terminal device is tagged with a predetermined VLAN number for each channel under the assumption that the terminal device is reached using a method, and the user is broadcast through the splitter. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, traffic propagates only within a specific virtual local area network.

When a subscriber terminal selects a channel to watch, the PC or set-top box joins the corresponding virtual local area network group for each channel. Since this process must be dynamically registered as a virtual local area network group, a procedure for registering a virtual local area network group is performed using a standardized GVRP / GARP protocol. By setting the same group between the user, the broadcasting server, and the intermediate routers, the user can selectively receive the desired channel. The headers 435, 455, 475 assigned to the protocol are interfaced with the frame transmit / receive modules 440, 460, 480 and operate according to standardization.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a broadcast streaming service providing method according to another aspect of the present invention.

As described above, the broadcast content is first divided and streamed for each channel (S510). In addition, the streamed data content is separated on a channel basis or a single file basis, and the separated content information is matched to a specific virtual local area network (S530). Thereafter, the user dynamically joins and leaves the specific virtual local area network in order to receive a desired channel (S550). Since the same broadcast content is provided only in the same virtual local area network (S570), data traffic through the entire network can be significantly reduced.

In particular, when a broadcast streaming channel transmitted from a broadcast server is broadcasted to a specific virtual local area network, the bandwidth is fixed to (one broadcast streaming bandwidth * number of broadcast channels) regardless of the number of users on the network. In addition, since the broadcast range is limited to the corresponding virtual local area network group domain, it does not affect other distribution networks.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. For example, components of a gateway, a home gateway, an L2 / L3 switch, and the like of the broadcast streaming service providing system according to the present invention are not limited to a corresponding device, and all network equipment for controlling data flow may be used.

Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

According to the present invention, when providing a broadcast service using various networks such as an Ethernet network, a method for distributing a broadcast channel based on a virtual local area network saves the bandwidth of the entire network and provides a more efficient use. .

In addition, according to the present invention, since broadcasting traffic is propagated only within a specific virtual local area network, broadcast streaming data can be efficiently transmitted and managed as compared with the case where the same broadcast content is transmitted to all switches.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a broadcast streaming service using a virtual local area network according to an aspect of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a broadcast streaming service providing system according to an aspect of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a broadcast streaming service providing system according to an aspect of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a registration and release protocol stack based on a virtual local area network in a broadcast streaming service providing system according to an aspect of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a broadcast streaming service providing method according to another aspect of the present invention.

<Reference numerals for major parts>

260: communication broadcast convergence service access system

250: broadband network 220: sub-network

240: Ethernet 280: IP network

290: CATV backbone 236: splitter

350: Internet 320: L2 / L3 Switch

330, 332, 334: Optical Network Unit (ONU)

360, 370: multicast server

312, 314, and 316: user terminal device

Claims (12)

In the method for providing a broadcast streaming service to one or more users through a network, A preparation step of preparing to separate and stream the broadcast content by a predetermined separation criterion; A matching step of matching the broadcast content separated by the separation criterion to an identifier of a virtual local area network; Subscribing to a virtual local area network having an identifier corresponding to a separation criterion desired by the user; And And a broadcast content providing step of providing the same broadcast content to a user who has subscribed to the same virtual local area network. The method of claim 1, wherein the separation criteria, Channel information of the broadcast content, and the providing of the broadcast content includes: And streaming the broadcast content corresponding to a specific channel to a user subscribed to the virtual local area network having an identifier matched to the channel. The method of claim 1, wherein the separation criteria, The single streaming data of the broadcast content, the step of providing the broadcast content, And streaming the broadcast content belonging to a specific streaming data to a user subscribed to a virtual local area network having an identifier matched to the streaming data. According to claim 1, The broadcast streaming service providing method, And a withdrawal step of withdrawing from the virtual local area network to which the user ends when using the broadcast content service desired by the user. According to claim 1, The broadcast streaming service providing method, In response to the user selecting broadcast content corresponding to a specific separation criterion at his or her terminal device, a virtual matching the user with the separation criterion using a generic attribute registration protocol (GARP) / GAV VLAN registration protocol (GVRP) protocol. Automatically subscribing to a local area network; And If the user selects a new broadcast content different from the existing broadcast content corresponding to a specific separation criterion, the step of automatically withdrawing from the virtual local area network corresponding to the existing broadcast content further comprises using a virtual local area network How to provide broadcast streaming service. The method of claim 5, wherein the broadcast streaming service is provided. From the virtual local area network in response to the user selecting broadcast content corresponding to a specific separation criterion, using a GARP / GVRP protocol between a receiving router to which the user's terminal device is connected and a transmitting router providing the broadcast streaming service. A method of providing a broadcast streaming service using a virtual local area network further comprising the step of automatically subscribing and withdrawing. In the system for providing broadcast streaming service to one or more users through a network, A broadcast service providing server that prepares to stream broadcast content separately by predetermined separation criteria; A storage unit for storing a matching table that matches the broadcast content separated by the separation criterion to an identifier of a virtual local area network; And And a user terminal for subscribing a user using the broadcast service to a virtual local area network having an identifier corresponding to a separation criterion desired by the user, wherein the broadcast service providing server includes: A system for providing a broadcast streaming service using a virtual local area network, wherein the same broadcast content is provided to a user who has subscribed to the same virtual local area network. The method of claim 7, wherein the separation criteria, Channel information of the broadcast content, the broadcast content providing server, And broadcasting the broadcast content corresponding to a specific channel to a user subscribed to a virtual local area network having an identifier matched with the channel. The method of claim 7, wherein the separation criteria, Single broadcast data of the broadcast content, the broadcast content providing server, And broadcasting the broadcast content belonging to a specific streaming data to a user subscribed to a virtual local area network having an identifier matched with the streaming data. The system of claim 7, wherein the broadcast streaming service providing system includes: When the user ends the use of the broadcast content service desired by the user, the broadcast streaming service providing system using a virtual local area network, characterized in that withdrawing the user from the virtual local area network. According to claim 7, The broadcast streaming service providing system, In response to the user selecting broadcast content corresponding to a specific separation criterion at the terminal device of the user, automatically joining to a virtual local area network that matches the separation criterion using a GARP / GVRP protocol; And When the user selects a new broadcast content different from the existing broadcast content corresponding to a specific separation criterion, the broadcast streaming service providing system using the virtual local area network, characterized in that automatically withdrawal processing from the virtual local area network corresponding to the existing broadcast content. . The system of claim 11, wherein the broadcast streaming service providing system comprises: Virtual local area network in response to the user selecting broadcast content corresponding to a specific separation criterion using a GARP / GVRP protocol between a receiving router to which the user's terminal device is connected and a transmitting router providing the broadcast streaming service. Broadcast streaming service providing system using a virtual local area network, characterized in that the automatic subscription and withdrawal processing from.