KR20060072023A - Method of handling data at a channel change in data broadcasting - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a data management method for channel conversion in data broadcasting.

The present invention is applied when the data broadcast receiver performs the processing of an object carousel layer, and once the data necessary for data broadcasting such as DSI, DII, SGW, and module data is downloaded, it is stored in a database so as not to be erased even if the channel is converted. When it is stored and converted to another channel and then returned to the corresponding channel, the data broadcasting is executed by using the data stored in the database.

According to the present invention, since there is no need to receive new data every time the channel is changed, process waste can be reduced, and even a viewer can access a faster data broadcast when returning to the same channel after channel conversion.

Data Broadcast, Channel Conversion, DSI, DII, Module, Cache

Description

Method of handling data at channel change in data broadcasting             

1 is an overview of a data broadcasting process in a conventional data broadcasting receiver;

2 is an example of a database in which data for each channel is stored according to the present invention;

3 is an embodiment of a method for managing data during channel conversion according to the present invention;

3 is an example of a step-by-step caching state for explaining the above embodiment.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

11: Application 12: JVM

13: object carousel processing unit 14: data carousel processing unit

30: Database

The present invention relates to a data management method when converting a channel in data broadcasting. In particular, various data that must be newly received each time a channel is converted in the data broadcasting receiver are cached in advance in the object carousel layer, thereby performing data broadcasting during channel conversion. It is about how to improve the service speed.

Currently, researches and standardization on data broadcasting techniques that can transmit data in response to user's request using existing broadcasting networks such as terrestrial, cable, and satellite are being actively conducted. In this regard, in order to develop a system required to realize data broadcasting, standardization of software structures, data transmission techniques, and conditional access methods in a set-top box corresponding to a user terminal is being actively performed.

Representative standards organizations include the Digital Audio Visual Council (DAVIC), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), DTV Application Software Environment (DASE), and the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute (ETSI). In particular, DVB clarifies how the set-top box recognizes and uses the services provided to users along with data transfer techniques.

In data broadcasting, data streaming, data piping, data carousel, and the like have been proposed.

The carousel is a method of periodically transmitting a module. Object carousels make it easy to deliver a group of structured objects from a broadcast server to a user using directory objects, file objects, and stream objects. In addition, the data carousel is a technique for transmitting data required by a user by repeatedly transmitting a module, which is a basic data unit.

The minimum transmission unit of the carousel is a block, and is transmitted through a download data block (DDB) defined in the digital storage media command and control (DSM-CC) specification, and several blocks are combined to form a module. One module forms one data necessary to provide a service. That is, video clips, images, text files, etc. used in an application program provided to the user are transmitted to one module. Descriptors are provided that provide information such as the data type, name, etc. of the modules being transmitted for processing these modules.

These modules come together to form a group. The message describing which modules are included in the group is DII (Download Info Indication), which contains all the information related to modules belonging to one group. In addition, groups related to one service gather to form a super group, and information about the super group is transmitted through a Download Server Indication (DSI) message. The DSI message stores information about groups belonging to the super group.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 1, a process of executing data broadcasting in a conventional data broadcasting receiver will be described. The object carousel processor 13 performing the process of the object carousel layer to execute data broadcasting downloads the DSI and the DII. Receive and interpret When a file request from the application program 11 is received, the module data is downloaded through the data carousel processor 14 that performs the data carousel layer processing, and transferred to the JVM (Java Virtual Machine, 12).

At this time, the object carousel processing unit 13 caches the module data according to the object carousel caching method proposed in the existing specification. However, when the user converts a channel, the object carousel processing unit 13 deletes all the module data that was cached. The module data of the current channel is downloaded and cached again. In other words, in order to perform data broadcasting, DSI, DII, and necessary module data must be downloaded, and the same data must be received again each time even after returning to the same channel after channel conversion.

As such, when data required for data broadcasting is newly received for each channel conversion, it takes a lot of time to download and configure data, resulting in delayed execution time, overhead in data processing, and inefficient process utilization. This can be frustrating for viewers, because when data broadcast viewers run an application and then switch to another channel for a while and then come back to that channel, they have to wait as if they first entered the channel. It can be more inconvenient for viewers.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the data to be newly received each time the channel is converted in the data broadcast and the module data required to execute the application program to the database when processing the object carousel layer It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for improving the data broadcast service speed during channel conversion by storing the data.                         

In order to achieve the above object, the data management method for channel conversion in data broadcasting according to the present invention may be preferably performed in the object carousel processing unit installed in the data broadcasting receiver to perform the process of the object carousel layer, Determining whether data necessary for data broadcasting of the current channel is stored in the database when the channel is converted; If the data necessary for data broadcasting of the current channel is not stored as a result of the determination, downloading the corresponding data to perform processing of the object carousel layer, and storing the downloaded data in the database; And if data necessary for data broadcasting of the current channel is stored as a result of the determination, performing the processing of the object carousel layer by using the stored data.

The data to be stored in the database may include information such as Download Info Indication (DII), Download Server Indication (DSI), Service GateWay (SGW), and module data corresponding to the DII.

The object carousel processing unit may be configured to automatically update whether the data stored in the database is updated or not.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, an object carousel processing unit installed in a data broadcasting receiver and performing an object carousel layer processing may include a DSI required for executing data broadcasting of a corresponding channel when a user selects a channel; Data such as DII and module data are stored in the database 20. When the same channel is selected again after the channel is converted, data broadcasting is performed using the data stored in the database 20.

At this time, it is necessary to distinguish which channel the data stored in the database 20 is used for data broadcasting. To this end, the database 20 stores data used for data broadcasting of each channel for each channel identifier used to distinguish each channel. Information to be stored for data broadcasting for each channel may include download information indication (DII), download server indication (DSI), service gateway (SGW) information, module data corresponding to the DII, and the like.

When the user selects the same channel again after converting the channel, the object carousel processor executes data broadcasting of the corresponding channel by using the data stored in the database 20. This eliminates the need to download data necessary for data broadcasting of the corresponding channel every time the channel is converted, so that data broadcasting can be executed quickly.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which information required for data broadcasting of channels 1 to 3 is classified and stored by each channel identifier, and various structures of DSI, DII, module data, etc. may exist according to the type of data broadcasting. Of course.

Referring to FIG. 3, a method of managing data during channel conversion in data broadcasting will be described according to the present invention. For convenience of description, it is assumed that the user first selects channel 1, then selects channel 2, and then selects channel 1, and will be described with reference to the example illustrated in FIG. 4.

First, when the user first selects channel 1, the object carousel processor installed in the data broadcasting receiver and performing the process of the object carousel layer determines whether the current channel is the channel that the user first visited (S30-1). That is, it is a process of determining whether data necessary for data broadcasting of the corresponding channel is already stored in the database.

However, since the user first selects channel 1, as shown in FIG. 4A, the database 30 does not store data for channel 1 data broadcasting. Therefore, the object carousel processing unit downloads and interprets the DSI and DII and stores the downloaded DSI and DII information in a database (S30-2). In addition, the SGW module is downloaded, and the downloaded SGW module is stored in a database (S30-3).

Meanwhile, when a file request from an application program is received (S30-4), the object carousel processing unit downloads the corresponding module data through the data carousel processing unit that performs the data carousel layer processing and then executes the JVM (Java). Virtual machine) and store the downloaded module data in the database (S30-5, S30-6). Steps S30-4 to S30-6 are repeated until the file request in the application program ends (S30-7), and the application program is executed when the file request in the application program ends (S30-11).

On the other hand, if the user views channel 1 and then converts the channel to channel 2 (S30-12), the process returns to step S30-1 again and the object carousel processor determines whether the current channel is the channel that the user first visited (S30-1). ). That is, it is a process of determining whether data necessary for data broadcasting of the corresponding channel is already stored in the database.

However, since the user selected channel 2 for the first time, only data necessary for data broadcasting of channel 1 is stored in the database 30 as in the example shown in FIG. 4B. Therefore, the object carousel processing unit executes data broadcasting by performing steps S30-2 to S30-7 and step S30-11 as described above.

If the user watches channel 2 and then converts the channel to channel 1 again (S30-12), the process returns to step S30-1 again and the object carousel processor determines whether the current channel is the channel that the user first visited (S30-1). ). That is, it is a process of determining whether data necessary for data broadcasting of the corresponding channel is already stored in the database.

At this time, since the user has previously selected the channel 1 and the channel 2, as shown in FIG. 4C, the database 30 stores all data necessary for data broadcasting of the channel 1 and the channel 2.

Therefore, the object carousel processing unit does not download DSI, DII, SGW, module data, etc. again, and when a file request from an application program is received (S30-8), the DSI, DII, SGW previously stored in the database 30 is stored. In response to the file request using data such as module data (S30-9).

Steps S30-8 and S30-9 are repeated until the file request in the application program ends (S30-10), and when the file request in the application program ends, the application program is executed (S30-11).

On the other hand, the object carousel processing unit checks whether the data cached in the database is updated by using the version information of the DII. When the module data is updated, only the corresponding module data is downloaded again to the corresponding channel identifier. Can be configured to automatically update as module data.

In addition, when the remaining space of the database becomes less than a predetermined value due to the channel-specific data, a method of managing the database space may be used. There are many ways to manage the database. For example, it may be configured to delete the data of the channel that has the least access first or to delete the data of the channel that has passed the longest time after access first. For this embodiment, information about the number of accesses or the latest access time is recorded and managed together in the information for each channel.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be variously modified and implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

According to the present invention, since there is no need to receive new data every time the channel is changed, process waste can be reduced, and even a viewer can access a faster data broadcast when returning to the same channel after channel conversion.

Claims (4)

An object carousel processing unit installed in the data broadcasting receiver and performing an object carousel layer processing, determining whether data necessary for data broadcasting of the current channel is stored in a database when a channel is converted; If the data necessary for data broadcasting of the current channel is not stored as a result of the determination, downloading the corresponding data to perform processing of the object carousel layer, and storing the downloaded data in the database; And And as a result of the determination, when data necessary for data broadcasting of the current channel is stored, performing the process of the object carousel layer by using the stored data. . The method of claim 1, The data to be stored in the database is a data management method for channel conversion in data broadcasting, characterized in that the information including the DII (Download Info Indication), DSI (Download Server Indication) and SGW (Service GateWay). The method of claim 2, The data to be stored in the database further comprises module data corresponding to the DII. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And checking whether data stored in the database is updated or not, and automatically updating the data.

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