TWI465077B - Home gateway and tuner sharing method - Google Patents

Description

Home gateway and method for sharing the same

This invention relates to network devices, and more particularly to a home gateway and method of sharing the same.

At present, with the increasing variety of communication products, more and more customer premises equipment (CPE) is widely used, such as Internet Protocol Set-top Box (IP STB), network. Network Attached Storage (NAS), Personal Computer (PC), and Mobile Phone. When these user terminal devices exist in a home network at the same time, they are usually connected to the Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) by the home gateway device, and then the cable data head system Access to the Internet.

Typically, the home gateway includes a limited number of tuner, and each user terminal connected to the home gateway needs to request a tuning to the home gateway if it needs to communicate with the Internet. The tuner is used to modulate the operating frequency to establish a communication connection between the Internet and the user terminal device, and at the same time, one tuner can only receive one frequency, for example, if the home gateway includes four tuners , indicating that the home gateway can only receive four frequencies at the same time, so that if five user terminal devices are connected to the home gateway device and both request the distribution tuner to the home gateway device, As a result, the home gateway cannot meet the needs of the user terminal equipment.

In the prior art, the number of tuners is generally increased in the home gateway to meet the requirements of the plurality of user terminal devices. However, increasing the tuner is bound to increase the cost of the home gateway, and therefore, does not increase the home gateway. In the case of the number of tuners in the device, it is also an urgent need for the industry to meet the needs of a plurality of user terminal devices.

In view of this, it is necessary to provide a home gateway to provide services for more user terminal devices without increasing the cost.

In addition, there is a need to provide a method of sharing a tuner to provide services to more user terminal equipment without increasing the cost.

The home gateway device of the embodiment of the present invention transmits data in the Internet to a plurality of user terminal devices by a cable data head system, and the cable data head system is further connected with other plurality of home gateway devices. The home gateway includes a plurality of tuners, a distribution module, and a transmission module. A tuner is used to modulate the operating frequency of the home gateway to establish a communication connection between the internet and the user terminal device. The distribution module is configured to receive a request to allocate a tuner from the user terminal devices, and assign a tuner to each of the user terminal devices according to the request. The transmission module is configured to send a broadcast packet to other plurality of home gateways connected to the cable data head system when the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting the distribution of the tuner exceeds the number of the tuner to query the Whether the other plurality of home gateways have an idle tuner and receive a response packet from another home gateway having an idle tuner in preparation for receiving data acquired by the idle tuner to the operating frequency, and The received data is transmitted to a user terminal device that is not assigned to the tuner.

Preferably, the broadcast packet includes an operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not allocated to the tuner, and the response packet includes an internet protocol address of the other home gateway device having the idle tuner.

Preferably, the transmission module further receives the data acquired by the idle tuner modulated to the working frequency according to an internet protocol address of the other home gateway of the idle tuner included in the response packet.

The home gateway device of the embodiment of the present invention connects a plurality of user terminal devices and is connected to the Internet through a cable data head system together with other plurality of home gateway devices, the home gateway device comprising a plurality of tuners, Ask the receiving module, the query response module and the data sharing module. A tuner is used to modulate the operating frequency of the home gateway to establish a communication connection between the internet and the user terminal device. The inquiry receiving module is configured to receive from the other home gateways whether there is a broadcast packet of an idle tuner. The query response module is configured to send a response packet to the home gateway that sends the broadcast packet when there is an idle tuner to notify the home gateway that sends the broadcast packet to receive the data. The data sharing module is configured to enable the idle tuner modulation operating frequency to receive data from the internet and send the received data to the home gateway that sends the broadcast packet.

Preferably, the broadcast packet includes an internet protocol address of the home gateway that sends the broadcast packet and an operating frequency of the request modulation, and the query response module is further configured to enable the idle tuner and modulate to the broadcast packet. The included operating frequency of the request modulation is included to receive data from the internet.

Preferably, the data sharing module is further configured to send, according to the Internet Protocol address of the home gateway of the broadcast packet, the data received from the Internet to the home gateway that sends the broadcast packet.

A method for sharing a tuner according to an embodiment of the present invention, in a first home gateway and a second home gateway, each of the first home gateway and the second home gateway respectively and a plurality of user terminals The device is connected and connected to the Internet by a cable modem head end system, wherein the method of sharing the tuner comprises the step of: receiving, by the first home gateway, a plurality of users connected to the first home gateway The terminal device allocates a request from the tuner and assigns a tuner to each user terminal device; the first home gateway goes to the second when the number of user terminal devices requesting the distribution of the tuner exceeds the number of the tuner The home gateway sends a broadcast packet to inquire whether the second home gateway has an idle tuner; the second home gateway receives the broadcast packet sent by the first home gateway, and is in the second home Receiving data from the Internet by the idle tuner when the gateway has an idle tuner; the second home gateway transmitting the received data to the first home gateway; and The first home gateway sends to the tuner is not assigned to the user terminal apparatus from the second information received by the home gateway.

Preferably, the broadcast packet includes an operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not allocated to the tuner, wherein the step of receiving, by the second home gateway, the data from the internet by using the idle tuner includes: The second home gateway determines whether there is an idle tuner currently; if there is an idle tuner currently, the second home gateway sends a response packet to the first home gateway; and the second home gateway The idle tuner is turned on and modulated to the operating frequency requested by the user equipment device not assigned to the tuner to receive data from the internet.

Advantageously, the response packet includes an internet protocol address of the second home gateway, the first home gateway from the second home gateway based on an internet protocol address of the second home gateway The device receives the data.

The above and many advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of an application environment of a first home gateway 201 and a second home gateway 203 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, each home gateway is connected to a plurality of Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) and is connected to the Internet via a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) 300. 40) Transfer data between multiple user terminal devices.

In the present embodiment, the cable data head system 300 is connected to a plurality of home gateways, such as a first home gateway 201, a second home gateway 203, etc., wherein each home gateway is connected to a plurality of home gateways. The user terminal device, such as the first home gateway 201, connects the user terminal devices 101, 103, 105, etc., and the second home gateway 203 connects the user terminal devices 107, 109 and the like. In this embodiment, the user terminal devices 101, 103, 105, 107, and 109 may be an Internet Protocol Set-top Box (IP STB) or a network attached storage (Network Attached Storage, respectively). NAS), personal computer (PC), mobile phone (Mobile Phone), etc.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of home gateways connected to the same cable data head system 300 can share the tuner with each other, so that the home gateway can temporarily borrow other family gates when its tuner resources are exhausted. The idle tuner of the tracker enables resource sharing and effectively reduces costs. In the following, the sharing is requested when the tuner resource of the first home gateway 201 is exhausted, and the second home gateway 203 shares its tuner resource as an example for detailed description.

Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic structural view of a first home gateway 201 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. As shown in FIG. 2, the first home gateway 201 includes a first processor 202, a first storage medium 204, a distribution module 206, a transmission module 208, and a first tuning module 210. The first processor 202 The distribution module 206 and the transmission module 208 stored in the first storage medium 204 are executed to implement their respective functions.

Referring to FIG. 3, a schematic structural view of a second home gateway 203 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. As shown in FIG. 3, the second home gateway 203 includes a second processor 302, a second storage medium 304, an inquiry receiving module 306, a query response module 308, a data sharing module 310, and a second tuning module 312. The second processor 302 executes the query receiving module 306, the query response module 308, and the data sharing module 310 stored in the second storage medium 304 to implement their respective functions.

In the present embodiment, the first tuning module 210 and the second tuning module 312 each include a complex tuner, each tuner for modulating the operating frequency of the respective home gateway to receive from the Internet 40. Corresponding frequency data.

In the present embodiment, the configuration of each gateway is described by taking the first home gateway 201 as a gateway request for transmission request and the second home gateway 203 as a response requesting gateway. However, this is not limited to the actual situation. Any of the gateways connected to the cable data head system 300 may include the above various functional modules, that is, the same gateway, in addition to the processor, the storage medium and the tuning module, may also include a distribution module. The group 206, the transmission module 208, the query receiving module 306, the query response module 308, and the data sharing module 310 implement a complete function of both sending a request and responding to the request.

The distribution module 206 receives the request of the distribution tuner of the plurality of user terminal devices connected to the first home gateway 201, and assigns a tuner to each of the user terminal devices upon request. In the present embodiment, if the user terminal devices 101, 103, 105 connected to the first home gateway 201 need to receive data from the Internet 40, the user terminal devices 101, 103, 105 firstly go to the first home gate. The tracker 201 requests allocation of a tuner and modulates the operating frequency of the first home gateway 201 to receive data of the corresponding frequency from the internet 40.

The transmission module 208 determines whether the number of complex user terminal devices requesting to allocate the tuner exceeds the number of tuners included in the first tuning module 210. In this embodiment, if the first tuning module 210 includes two tuners, it indicates that the first home gateway 201 can only modulate two working frequencies simultaneously to receive two frequencies from the Internet 40. data. At this time, if three user terminal devices 101, 103, and 105 simultaneously request the first home gateway 201 to allocate the tuner, the transmission module 208 determines that the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting the distribution of the tuner exceeds the first tuning mode. The number of tuners included in group 210.

In this embodiment, if the transmission module 208 determines that the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting to allocate the tuner exceeds the number of the tuner included in the first tuning module 210, the connection to the cable data head system 300 is connected. All of the home gateways send a broadcast packet asking the other home gateways whether there is an idle tuner to apply to the other home gateway for the distribution tuner, wherein the broadcast packet includes the first home gateway 201 An Internet Protocol (IP) address and an operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not assigned to the tuner in the first home gateway 201.

For example, referring to FIG. 1, if the user terminal devices 101, 103, and 105 receive data of the corresponding frequency from the Internet 40 at operating frequencies of 100 MHz, 108 MHz, and 116 MHz, respectively, and in the first home gateway 201, The first tuning module 210 includes only two tuners. At this time, if the user terminal devices 101, 103, and 105 both request the first home gateway 201 to allocate a tuner, this will cause the plurality of users requesting the distribution of the tuner. The number of terminal devices exceeds the number of tuners included in the first tuning module 210, resulting in an insufficient number of tuners in the first home gateway 201. In this way, the distribution module 206 of the first home gateway 201 sends a broadcast packet to all the home gateways (including the second home gateway 203) connected to the cable data head system 300. Other home gateways request a distribution tuner, wherein the broadcast packet includes the IP address of the first home gateway 201 and the work requested by the user terminal device not assigned to the tuner in the first home gateway 201 The frequency (such as the operating frequency 100MHz requested by the user terminal device 101, or the operating frequency 108MHz requested by the user terminal device 103, or the operating frequency 116MHz requested by the user terminal device 105).

The inquiry receiving module 306 in the second home gateway 203 receives the inquiry from the first home gateway 201 whether there is a broadcast packet of the idle tuner.

The query response module 308 determines whether there is an idle tuner currently in the second tuning module 312. In this embodiment, if there is an idle tuner currently in the second tuning module 312, the query response module 308 receives the IP address of the first home gateway 201 included in the broadcast packet. The first home gateway 201 transmits a response packet to inform the first home gateway 201 to receive the data, wherein the response packet includes the IP address of the second home gateway 203.

The data sharing module 310 turns on the idle tuner and modulates to the operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not included in the tuner in the first home gateway 201 included in the received broadcast packet. The operating frequency of the first home gateway 201 that is not assigned to the tuner by the user terminal device is modulated to receive data from the Internet 40, and the received data is transmitted by the cable data head system 300. The first home gateway 201 is given.

For example, if the user terminal device 101 is not assigned to the tuner in the first home gateway 201, the broadcast packet sent by the first home gateway 201 includes the operating frequency requested by the user terminal device 101 (ie, 100 MHz), after receiving the broadcast packet sent by the first home gateway 201, the data sharing module 310 turns on the idle tuner and modulates the operating frequency to 100 MHz to receive data from the Internet 40, and receives the received data. The data is sent to the first home gateway 201 by the cable modem head end system 300.

The transmission module 208 in the first home gateway 201 receives the response packet from the second home gateway 203 having the idle tuner, and starts receiving according to the IP address of the second home gateway 203 included in the response packet. The data transmitted from the second home gateway 203 and transmits the data received from the second home gateway 203 to the user terminal device (such as the user) that is not assigned to the tuner in the first home gateway 201 Terminal device 101) to achieve the purpose of sharing a tuner.

4 is a flow chart of a common tuner shared by a plurality of home gateways according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method is used in the first home gateway 201 and the second home gateway 203 shown in FIG. 1 and is completed by the functional modules shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

In step S400, the distribution module 206 in the first home gateway 201 receives the request of the distribution tuner of the plurality of user terminal devices connected to the first home gateway 201, and allocates each user terminal device according to the request. A tuner. In the present embodiment, if the user terminal devices 101, 103, 105 connected to the first home gateway 201 need to receive data from the Internet 40, the user terminal devices 101, 103, 105 firstly go to the first home gate. The tracker 201 requests allocation of a tuner and modulates the operating frequency of the first home gateway 201 to receive data of the corresponding frequency from the internet 40.

In step S402, the transmission module 208 of the first home gateway 201 determines whether the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting to allocate the tuner exceeds the number of tuners included in the first tuning module 210. In this embodiment, if the first tuning module 210 includes two tuners, it indicates that the first home gateway 201 can only modulate two working frequencies simultaneously to receive two frequencies from the Internet 40. Data, at this time, if three user terminal devices 101, 103, and 105 simultaneously request the first home gateway 201 to allocate a tuner, the transmission module 208 determines that the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting the distribution of the tuner exceeds the first The number of tuners included in the tuning module 210.

If the transmission module 208 determines that the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting to allocate the tuner exceeds the number of the tuner included in the first tuning module 210, then in step S404, the transmission module 208 is directed to the cable data head. All home gateways connected to system 300 send a broadcast packet asking other home gateways for an idle tuner to apply for a distribution tuner to other home gateways, wherein the broadcast packet includes the first home gateway. The Internet Protocol (IP) address of the device 201 and the operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not assigned to the tuner in the first home gateway 201.

In step S406, the inquiry receiving module 306 in the second home gateway 203 receives the inquiry from the first home gateway 201 whether there is a broadcast packet of the idle tuner.

In step S408, the query response module 308 in the second home gateway 203 determines whether there is an idle tuner currently in the second tuning module 312. In this embodiment, if there is an idle tuner currently in the second tuning module 312, the query response module 308 receives the IP address of the first home gateway 201 included in the broadcast packet. The first home gateway 201 transmits a response packet to inform the first home gateway 201 to receive the data, wherein the response packet includes the IP address of the second home gateway 203.

In step S410, the data sharing module 310 turns on the idle tuning according to the operating frequency requested by the user terminal device that is not allocated to the tuner in the first home gateway 201 included in the received broadcast packet. And modulating the operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not allocated to the tuner in the first home gateway 201 to receive data from the Internet 40.

In step S412, the data sharing module 310 transmits the data received from the Internet 40 to the first home gateway 201 via the cable modem head end system 300. In the present embodiment, after the transmission module 208 in the first home gateway 201 receives the response packet from the second home gateway 203 having the idle tuner, the second home gateway included in the response packet The IP address of 203 begins to receive the data transmitted from the second home gateway 203, and transmits the data received from the second home gateway 203 to the unassigned to the tuner in the first home gateway 201. User terminal equipment (such as user terminal equipment 101) to achieve the purpose of sharing a tuner.

The first home gateway 201, the second home gateway 203, and the method for sharing the tuner in the plurality of home gateways according to the embodiments of the present invention can share the tuner with each other, so that the home gateway can be When the tuner resources are exhausted, the idle tuner of other home gateways can be temporarily borrowed to achieve resource sharing and effectively reduce the cost of the home gateway.

In summary, the present invention complies with the requirements of the invention patent and submits a patent application according to law. The above description is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and equivalent modifications or variations made by those skilled in the art will be included in the following claims.

101, 103, 105, 107, 109. . . User terminal equipment

201. . . First home gateway

202. . . First processor

204. . . First storage medium

206. . . Distribution module

208. . . Transmission module

210. . . First tuning module

203. . . Second home gateway

302. . . Second processor

304. . . Second storage medium

306. . . Inquiry receiver module

308. . . Inquiry response module

310. . . Data sharing module

312. . . Second tuning module

300. . . Cable data head system

40. . . Internet

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application environment of a first home gateway and a second home gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic structural view of a first home gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a schematic structural view of a second home gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flow chart of a common tuner shared by a plurality of home gateways according to an embodiment of the present invention.

201. . . First home gateway

202. . . First processor

204. . . First storage medium

206. . . Distribution module

208. . . Transmission module

210. . . First tuning module

Claims (10)

A home gateway device transmits data in an internet network to a plurality of user terminal devices by a cable data head system, and the cable data head system is further connected with other plurality of home gateways, the family gate The tracker includes a complex tuner and a distribution module, wherein the tuner is configured to modulate an operating frequency of the home gateway to establish a communication connection between the Internet and the user terminal device, and the distribution module is configured to The user terminal device receives a request to allocate a tuner, and assigns a tuner to each user terminal device according to the request, the home gateway further comprising a transmission module for distributing the user terminal device of the tuner at the request When the number exceeds the number of tuners, a broadcast packet is sent to other plurality of home gateways connected to the cable data head system to ask whether the other home gateways have idle tuners and are free from existence. Receiving a response packet in another home gateway of the tuner to receive data acquired by the idle tuner modulated to the operating frequency, and to receive Data transmission to the tuner is not assigned to the user terminal device. The home gateway of claim 1, wherein the broadcast packet includes an operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not allocated to the tuner, the response packet including the other home brake having the idle tuner The Internet Protocol address of the router. The home gateway device of claim 2, wherein the transmission module further receives the idle tuning according to an internet protocol address of the other home gateway device of the response tuner including the idle tuner. The device acquires the data obtained by the operating frequency. A home gateway connected to a plurality of user terminal devices and connected to the Internet via a cable modem head end system together with other plurality of home gateways, the home gateway comprising a plurality of tuners for modulating the The operating frequency of the home gateway is to establish a communication connection between the Internet and the user terminal device, and the home gateway further includes:
Querying a receiving module, configured to receive, from the other plurality of home gateways, a broadcast packet asking whether there is an idle tuner;
The query response module is configured to send a response packet to the home gateway that sends the broadcast packet when the idle tuner is provided, to notify the home gateway device that sends the broadcast packet to receive the data; and the data sharing module is used to enable The idle tuner modulates the operating frequency to receive data from the internet and transmits the received data to the home gateway that transmits the broadcast packet. The home gateway according to claim 4, wherein the broadcast packet includes an internet protocol address of the home gateway for transmitting the broadcast packet and an operating frequency for requesting modulation, and the query response module further uses The idle tuner is turned on and modulated to an operating frequency of the request modulation included in the broadcast packet to receive data from the internet. The home gateway according to claim 5, wherein the data sharing module is further configured to receive data from the Internet according to the Internet Protocol address of the home gateway that sends the broadcast packet. Send to the home gateway that sent the broadcast packet. A home gateway device that connects a plurality of user terminal devices and is connected to the Internet through a cable modem head end system, including a plurality of tuner and distribution modules, together with other plurality of home gateway devices. The tuner is configured to modulate an operating frequency of the home gateway to establish a communication connection between the Internet and the user terminal device, and the distribution module is configured to receive a request for distributing a tuner from the user terminal devices, and And assigning a tuner to each user terminal device according to the request, the home gateway further comprising:
a transmission module, configured to send a broadcast packet to other plurality of home gateways connected to the cable data head system when the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting the distribution of the tuner exceeds the number of the tuner Whether the other plurality of home gateways have an idle tuner and receive a response packet from other home gateways having an idle tuner to receive data acquired by the idle tuner to the operating frequency, and The received data is transmitted to a user terminal device not assigned to the tuner, wherein the broadcast packet includes an operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not allocated to the tuner, the response packet including the other family having the idle tuner The internet protocol address of the gateway;
Querying a receiving module, configured to receive, from the other plurality of home gateways, a broadcast packet asking whether there is an idle tuner;
Querying a response module, configured to send the response packet to a home gateway that sends the broadcast packet when the number of the plurality of user terminal devices requesting the distribution of the tuner does not exceed the number of the tuner, to determine that an idle tuner is present Notifying the home gateway of the broadcast packet to receive the data; and the data sharing module, configured to enable the idle tuner modulation operating frequency to receive data from the internet, and according to the presence of the idleness included in the response packet The Internet Protocol Address of the other home gateway of the tuner transmits the received data to the home gateway that sent the broadcast packet. A method for sharing a tuner for use in a first home gateway and a second home gateway, each of the first home gateway and the second home gateway being connected to a plurality of user terminal devices, respectively, and The cable tuner system is connected to the Internet by a cable modem system, and the method for sharing the tuner includes:
Receiving, by the first home gateway, a request for distributing a tuner by a plurality of user terminal devices connected to the first home gateway, and allocating a tuner for each user terminal device;
The first home gateway sends a broadcast packet to the second home gateway to query whether the second home gateway is idle when the number of user terminal devices requesting the distribution of the tuner exceeds the number of the tuner tuner;
Receiving, by the second home gateway, the broadcast packet sent by the first home gateway, and receiving the data from the internet by using the idle tuner when the second home gateway has an idle tuner;
The second home gateway transmits the received data to the first home gateway; and the first home gateway sends the data received from the second home gateway to the unassigned to the tuner User terminal equipment. The method of sharing a tuner according to claim 8, wherein the broadcast packet includes an operating frequency requested by the user terminal device not allocated to the tuner, wherein the second home gateway utilizes the idle The steps for the tuner to receive data from the internet include:
The second home gateway determines whether there is an idle tuner currently;
If there is an idle tuner currently, the second home gateway sends a response packet to the first home gateway; and the second home gateway turns on the idle tuner and modulates to the unassigned to the tuner The user terminal device of the device requests the modulated operating frequency to receive data from the internet. The method of sharing a tuner according to claim 9, wherein the response packet includes an internet protocol address of the second home gateway, and the first home gateway is based on the second home gateway The Internet Protocol address of the device receives data from the second home gateway.