KR20080073897A - Software upgrading method, data and delivery method - Google Patents

Abstract

A software upgrading method, and a data and software transmitting method are provided to compare a version of software included into software upgrading data with a version of software of a broadcasting receiver and determine whether to update corresponding software, thereby simply upgrading software which needs upgrading out of software used in the broadcasting receiver. A software upgrading method comprises the following steps of: checking whether software is updated(S600); receiving software upgrading data according to whether the software is updated(S610); comparing the software included into the software upgrading data with the software of a broadcasting receiver to check the updated software(S620); and upgrading the software of the broadcasting receiver with the updated software(S640).

Description

Software upgrade method, data and software delivery method {Software upgrading method, data and delivery method}

1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing the configuration of a cable broadcast receiver as an embodiment according to the present invention;

2 is a schematic diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main part of a cable broadcasting receiver as an embodiment according to the present invention;

3 shows a CVT table;

4 schematically illustrates the structure of software upgrade data as an embodiment according to the present invention.

5 is a diagram showing the format of software upgrade data as an embodiment according to the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of upgrading software as an embodiment according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

100: transceiver 110: cable processing unit

120: POD 130: main processing unit

140: external input / output unit

The present invention relates to a software upgrade method, a data and a software transmission method, and more particularly, to a software upgrade method, a data and a software transmission method of a broadcast receiver.

Users have experienced superiority of HD (High Definition) video and digital sound due to the development of Digital Broadcasting technology, and the better environment is being developed through the continuous development of compression algorithms and high performance of hardware. Will be.

Digital broadcast signals are transmitted to users through satellites, cables, terrestrial waves, and Internet networks. The digital television (DTV) may receive the digital broadcast signal and provide various additional services in addition to video and audio to the user.

The broadcast receiver for receiving and processing the digital broadcast signal incorporates various software in the receiver itself for receiving and processing the broadcast signal.

As the functions and configurations of the broadcast receiver become more complicated and sophisticated, the number of software used in the broadcast receiver increases. The software used in the broadcast receiver should upgrade the contents of the software when the contents are changed or added.

In order to upgrade the software, a user visits a service center of the receiver, or a repair technician of the receiver visits the user and upgrades.

Alternatively, there is a method in which a user downloads the upgrade software of the broadcast receiver from the Internet, and directly upgrades using a serial cable or USB.

However, as the number of software used in the broadcast receiver increases, there is a problem in that the side of distributing the software must distribute and manage each of the plurality of software, and in the user side, the plurality of software must be upgraded separately each time. there was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides an software data including one or more pieces of software to conveniently upgrade software that needs to be upgraded in a broadcast receiver.

Software upgrade method according to the present invention for solving the above problems, the step of checking whether the software is updated, the step of receiving the software upgrade data according to whether the software is updated, the software included in the software upgrade data and Comparing software of the broadcast receiver to identify updated software, and upgrading software of the broadcast receiver with the updated software.

In the software transmission method according to the present invention, software upgrade data including at least one or more software is transmitted to upgrade corresponding software of the broadcast receiver.

The software upgrade data according to the present invention includes a first data area including common information of software, and a second data area including individual information of software and software data by the number of the software.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In addition, the terms used in the present invention was selected as a general term widely used as possible now, but in certain cases, the term is arbitrarily selected by the applicant, in which case the meaning is described in detail in the corresponding description of the invention, It is to be clear that the present invention is to be understood as the meaning of terms rather than names.

The operation of the software upgrade method, the data and the software transmission method according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The digital broadcast signal is transmitted to the user through a satellite, a cable, a terrestrial wave, an internet network, and the like. Hereinafter, the digital broadcast signal will be described based on a broadcast receiver for receiving a broadcast signal transmitted through a cable.

1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a configuration of a cable broadcast receiver as an embodiment according to the present invention.

The broadcast receiver includes a transceiver 100, a cable processor 110, a point of deployment (POD) 120, a main processor 130, and an external input / output unit 140.

The transceiver 100 manages signal transmission and reception of a broadcast receiver. The transceiver 100 is connected to a cable to receive a broadcast signal, and transmits the signal from the broadcast receiver to the cable.

When receiving a broadcast signal, the transceiver 100 selects a broadcast of a channel that the user wants to watch by tuning the received broadcast signal.

The broadcast signal of the selected channel includes a video signal related to broadcast and additional information such as program specific information (PSI) information, program guide (EPG) information, and emergency alert system (EAS) information other than the video signal.

The video signal includes a video signal scrambled for a conditional access system (CAS) and a video signal that is not scrambled because the reception limit is not set.

Signals such as additional information other than the video signal among the broadcast signals are transmitted to the main processor 130 through the cable processor 110. The cable processor 110 receives the additional information using a DOCSIS modem.

The transceiver 100 transmits an unscrambled video signal among the broadcast signals to the main processor 130.

The scrambled video signal must descramble the video signal. The POD 120 receives the scrambled video signal to determine whether descrambling is possible, and descrambles the video signal.

The POD 120 includes subscriber's information such as cable broadcast reception restriction information. The POD 120 descrambles the received video signal and transmits it to the main processor 130.

The main processor 130 processes the received video signal and additional information such as data to be provided to the user.

The image signal processed by the main processor 130 is transmitted to a display unit (not shown) or a speaker (not shown) through an external input / output unit 140, and a user can watch the selected broadcast through the display unit and the speaker. have.

2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a main processing unit of a cable broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The main processor includes a controller 200, a demultiplexer 210, an audio decoder 220, an audio processor 230, a video decoder 240, a video processor 250, a program information decoder 260, and a database ( 270) and an OSD processor 280.

The demultiplexer 210 demultiplexes the data received by the main processor 130 and transmits the data to the corresponding decoder.

The demultiplexer 210 demultiplexes the data so that audio data is transmitted to the audio decoder 220, video data is transmitted to the video decoder 240, and data related to a program such as PSI or Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is programmed. It transmits to the information decoder 260.

The audio processor 230 processes and outputs the audio signal decoded by the audio decoder 220 as an audio signal, and the video processor 250 processes and outputs the video signal decoded by the video decoder 240 as an image signal.

The program related information decoded by the program information decoder 260 is converted into a database and stored in the database 270.

The OSD (On Screen Display) processor 280 processes and outputs various menu screens, EPG screens, and the like. The output OSD screen is mixed with the image output from the video processor 250 and transmitted to the external input / output unit 140.

A system operator (SO) of cable broadcasting receives software used in a broadcast receiver from a manufacturer of the broadcast receiver and provides the cable broadcast subscriber.

The software includes various operating software required for operating the broadcast receiver. For example, the operating software may be operating software for receiving and processing broadcast signals used by the cable processor 110 or the main processor 130, or may be operating software for operation of a broadcast receiver.

When there is more than one software used by the broadcast receiver, the at least one software can be provided at a time.

The cable operator system operator stores the software in a server or the like. Information about the stored software is transmitted to a broadcast receiver in a CVT (Code Version Table).

CVT is a table that transmits information to a receiver, including information about code, which is defined in the OpenCable standard for cable broadcasting.

3 is a diagram illustrating a Code Version Table (CVT) table.

The CVT table is received through the cable processor 110 and transmitted to the main processor 130.

Since the table is described in the specification, only fields related to the present invention will be described. For the sake of simplicity and clarity, the English expression of the syntax is used as it is, but double quotation marks are used together.

"descriptor_tag" includes tag information identifying a descriptor. If the tag value is '0', 'vendor_id' information, '1', 'hardware_version_id' information, '2', 'host_MAC_addr' information, and '3', 'host_ID' information is included in the "descriptor_data" field. .

Among the descriptor information, 'vendor_id' and 'hardware_version_id' must be included (mandatory), and 'host_MAC_addr' and 'host_ID' are optionally included.

The system operator transmits to the broadcast receiver including information on whether software stored in the system operator is updated in the 'host_MAC_addr', that is, full version information.

The full version information is updated when any one of the software stored in the system operator changes.

The receiver uses the version information to compare it with the version information stored therein and to determine whether there is an updated software. If it is determined that the updated software exists, the receiver downloads software upgrade data from the system operator.

The software upgrade data includes one or more software data used by the broadcast receiver and transmitted.

Among the fields of the CVT table, "download_type" includes information on how to transmit data.

When the "download_type" value is "0x00", data is transmitted using an in-band FAT channel, and when "0x01", data is transmitted using a DOCSIS Set-top Gateway (DSG) channel. If the value is '0x02', data is transmitted using DOCSIS Trivial File Transport Protocol (TFTP).

The following fields of the "if (download_type == 00)" field include reception information capable of receiving the data when data is transmitted using an in-band FAT channel.

The following fields of the "if (download_type == 01)" field include access information of an address capable of receiving the data when data is transmitted using a DSG channel.

The following fields of the "if (download_type == 02)" field include connection information of an address capable of receiving the data when data is transmitted using DOCSIS TFTP.

The "code_file_name_byte" field contains file name information for the data.

Software upgrade data can be transmitted from the system operator using the transmission methods. The broadcast receiver receives the software upgrade data according to a data transmission type of "download_type" included in the CVT table.

4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure of software upgrade data as an embodiment according to the present invention.

The software upgrade data is largely divided into a part including information on common items of each software and a part including information of each corresponding software.

In FIG. 4, 'broadcast receiver model information', 'software type' and 'header 1 CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check)' are parts including information on common items of each software, and 'software version' and 'software type' , 'Header 2 CRC', and 'Software Data' are the parts containing the information of each corresponding software.

Portions containing information on the common items of the respective software are included only once, without repeating the contents. However, the structure including the information of each corresponding software is repeated by the number of software included in the software upgrade data.

For example, when three pieces of software are included in the software upgrade data, the structure of the "software version", "software type", "header 2 CRC", and "software data" is repeated three times.

The broadcast receiver model information in the structure of the software upgrade data describes the type of broadcast receiver that can receive the software upgrade data, so that only the receiver of the corresponding model can receive the software upgrade data.

'Software type' includes information on each type of software included in the software upgrade data.

The header 1 CRC includes information for checking an error of header 1, which is a part including information on common items of the respective software.

'Software version' includes version information of the software included in the software upgrade data. It is possible to determine whether the software is upgraded by comparing the software version with the version of the software which is used in the receiver.

'Software Type' includes information about what kind of software the software is.

Therefore, even when one or more pieces of software data are included in the software upgrade data, each of the corresponding software can be distinguished and the purpose of the software can be known.

The header 2 CRC includes information for checking whether there is an error in the part including the information of the corresponding software.

'Software data' includes data of the corresponding software so that the broadcast receiver can upgrade the software.

5 is a diagram showing the format of software upgrade data as an embodiment according to the present invention.

The "model_id" field describes the type of broadcast receiver that can receive the software upgrade data and is 32 bits.

The "upgrade_sw_type" field is a 16-bit field and includes information on the type of each software included in the software upgrade data.

The "crc" field includes information on commonalities of each software, that is, information for checking whether there is an error in the "model_id" field and the "upgrade_sw_type" field. The field is 32 bits.

"sw_version" is a 32-bit field that contains version information about the software.

"sw_type" is a 16-bit field that contains information on the type of the software concerned. The type of software may be distinguished using the field value.

"sw_crc" includes information for checking whether there is an error in the "sw_version" field and the "sw_type" field including information of the corresponding software. The field is 32 bits.

"sw_body" includes data of the corresponding software corresponding to the version value.

The software upgrade data having the above structure is received through the cable processor 110 and transmitted to the main processor 130.

 The demultiplexer 210 of the main processor 130 transmits a packet including the CVT table to the program information decoder 260. The program information decoder 260 parses the table and stores the table in the database 280.

The control unit 200 of the main processing unit 130 analyzes the software upgrade data to check the version of each software included in the software upgrade data.

The controller 200 compares the version of each software included in the software upgrade data with the software version of the broadcast receiver corresponding thereto to determine whether to upgrade each software.

If it is determined that the upgrade is necessary, the corresponding software is upgraded using the received software.

In order to apply the upgraded software to the broadcast receiver, the broadcast receiver must be turned off and the broadcast receiver must be operated again. If the broadcast receiver is not turned off, the broadcast receiver operates under the software before the upgrade.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of upgrading software as an embodiment of the present invention.

The system operator stores the software of the broadcast receiver provided by the broadcast receiver manufacturer, transmits the software to the broadcast receiver, and upgrades the software.

In order to upgrade the software for broadcast reception, the broadcast receiver checks whether the software stored in the system operator is updated (S600). The update of the software can be known by analyzing the CVT table transmitted from the system operator.

If the software is updated, the broadcast receiver receives software upgrade data for upgrading the software (S610).

Information on the method of receiving the software upgrade data and the receiving address of the data is included in the received CVT table.

The broadcast receiver receives the software upgrade data, checks the version of the corresponding software included in the software upgrade data and the version of the corresponding software used in the receiver (S620), and determines whether to upgrade the corresponding software (S620). S630).

If the version of the received software included in the software upgrade data is high, the corresponding software of the broadcast receiver is upgraded to the received software included in the software upgrade data (S640). If the versions are the same or lower, do not upgrade the software.

The broadcast receiver checks whether the received software upgrade data includes other software that does not check the corresponding software and version of the broadcast receiver (S650).

If there is more software that does not check the version as a result of the check in step S650, the process returns to step S620 to check and upgrade the version of the software and the version of the corresponding software in the broadcast receiver.

If the software no longer checks the version as a result of checking in step S650, the software upgrade is terminated (S660).

In order to apply the upgraded software to the broadcast receiver, the broadcast receiver should be turned off and the broadcast receiver operated again.

The software upgrade data having the structure as shown in FIG. 4 may be transmitted to the broadcast receiver through a cable as described above, or the user may download it from the Internet and input the same to the broadcast receiver.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and as can be seen in the appended claims, modifications can be made by those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention.

As described above, according to the software upgrade method, data and software transmission method of the present invention, there is an effect that can easily upgrade the software that needs to be upgraded among the software used in the broadcast receiver.

Claims (18)

Checking whether the software is updated; Receiving software upgrade data according to whether the software is updated; Comparing the software included in the software upgrade data with software of a broadcast receiver to identify updated software; Upgrading the software of the broadcast receiver with the updated software. The method of claim 1, Checking whether the software is updated, A software upgrade method comprising checking for update using software storage information of a system operator included in a code version table. The method of claim 1, The software upgrade data, A software upgrade method comprising at least one software. The method of claim 3, wherein The software upgrade data, The software upgrade method comprising as many software as the operating software of the broadcast receiver. The method of claim 3, wherein The software upgrade data, A software upgrade method comprising a first data area containing common information of each software, and a second data area containing information and software data of each software. The method of claim 5, wherein The first data area, Software upgrade method comprising the model information of the broadcast receiver, the type information of the software and error check information. The method of claim 5, wherein The second data area is, The software upgrade method comprising the version information of the software, the type information of the software, error check information and the data of the software. The method of claim 7, wherein The second data area is, And repeating the number of software included in the software upgrade data. The method of claim 1, The software upgrade data, Software upgrade method characterized in that received via a cable cable. The method of claim 1, Confirming the updated software, And comparing the software included in the software upgrade data with the version of the software of the broadcast receiver corresponding to the software to confirm the updated software. In a method for transmitting software to a broadcast receiver, And transmitting software upgrade data including at least one software to upgrade the corresponding software of the broadcast receiver. The method of claim 11, wherein The software upgrade data, And software as many as operating software of said broadcast receiver. The method of claim 11, wherein The software upgrade data, And a first data area including common information of each software and a second data area including information and software data of each software. The method of claim 13, The first data area, Software transmission method comprising the model information of the broadcast receiver, the type information of the software and error check information. The method of claim 13, The second data area is, A software transmission method comprising version information of the software, type information of the software, error check information, and data of the software. In data for upgrading the software of the broadcast receiver, A first data area containing information common to software; And And a second data area containing individual information of the software and the software data by the number of the software. The method of claim 16, The first data area, A software upgrade data structure comprising model information of a broadcast receiver, type information of software and error check information. The method of claim 16, The second data area is, A software upgrade data structure comprising version information of the software, type information of the software, error check information, and data of the software.

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