WO2006006219A1

WO2006006219A1 - Content transmitter apparatus and content distributing system

Info

Publication number: WO2006006219A1
Application number: PCT/JP2004/009835
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hiroyuki Kurokawa; Yukio Yokoyama
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
Priority date: 2004-07-09
Filing date: 2004-07-09
Publication date: 2006-01-19
Also published as: JPWO2006006219A1

Abstract

A content transmitter apparatus for transmitting content data to a content receiver apparatus via a digital broadcast, comprising a storage part for storing content data; a data server for editing content data for a digital broadcast; a broadcasting part for transmitting, via the digital broadcast, the content data edited by the data server; and a communicating part for transmitting, via a communication network, the content data. The data server comprises a segment generating part for dividing the content data into one or more segments; a link generating part for generating connection destination information for allowing the content receiver apparatus to acquire the segments of content data via the communication network; and a transmission control part for placing the segments and connection destination information onto one or more transmission layers. The broadcasting part performs the digital broadcast by use of carousel transmission on a transmission-layer-by- transmission-layer basis.

Description

Technical field

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a content transmission device and a content distribution system.

[0002] In recent years, the proliferation of mobile phones has been remarkable, and in addition to the existing voice phone communication functions, video phone functions capable of real-time video communication and various data contents including still images and videos are acquired. · Data communication functions that store and replay data are becoming common.

On the other hand, digital terrestrial broadcasting service was started in Japan at the end of 2003. In digital terrestrial broadcasting, transmission / reception services for mobile terminals such as mobile terminals such as mobile phones and in-vehicle devices are being studied. In broadcast reception services on mobile terminals, a part of the transmission band of 1 channel is used for mobile terminals in consideration of various resource constraints such as processing capacity of mobile terminals and the necessity of low power consumption. A system is being considered that allows video, audio, and data contents to be used by receiving only a part of the bandwidth.

[0003] As an example of a conventional data broadcasting device and receiving device, in the conventional data broadcasting device and data broadcasting receiving device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the data broadcasting device includes a plurality of layered broadcast data, A program organization file that indicates the link relationship between the broadcast data and the broadcast data is constantly distributed. The data broadcast receiving apparatus receives it and reproduces the broadcast data previously received and stored in accordance with the program organization file. Update date and time information is added to the program organization file, and the update status is checked periodically, and if it is updated, the broadcast data is rewritten.

[0004] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-31849

[0005] However, when content is acquired using a mobile phone, generally a communication fee corresponding to the size of the acquired data is required. For this reason, data that contains unnecessary still images and movies Acquiring large-size content is a huge communication cost for viewers.

In addition, as described above, in terrestrial digital broadcasting for mobile terminals, video and audio broadcasting and data broadcasting are performed within a limited band, which is a part of one channel transmission band. For this reason, it is difficult to allocate sufficient bandwidth to data broadcasting services for high-quality video / audio broadcasting. Also, in data broadcasting, data with the same content is transmitted at a constant cycle by carousel transmission, so if the capacity of the content transmitted in the carousel configuration is large, the carousel cycle becomes longer and data reception starts. There is a problem that the time from completion to completion becomes longer.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to efficiently distribute content by digital broadcasting. Disclosure of the invention

[0007] A content transmission apparatus according to the present invention transmits to a content transmission apparatus that transmits content data to a content reception apparatus by digital broadcast, and a storage unit that stores the content data, and transmits the content data by digital broadcast. A communication unit that transmits content data to the content receiving device via a communication network, a segment generation unit that divides the content data into one or more segments, and the content receiving device. A link generation unit that generates connection destination information for acquiring segment content data, and a transmission control unit that arranges the segment and connection destination information in one or more transmission layers. The unit performs digital broadcasting by force loose cell transmission in units of transmission layers. It is.

As a result, it is possible to link digital broadcasting and data communications to achieve efficient content distribution.

[0008] A content distribution system according to the present invention is a content distribution system in which a content reception device receives content data transmitted by digital broadcasting from a content transmission device. The content transmission device includes a storage unit that stores content data; A broadcasting unit that transmits content data by digital broadcasting, a communication unit that transmits content data to a content receiving device via a communication network, and content data A segment generation unit that divides the segment into one or a plurality of segments, a link generation unit in which the content reception device generates connection destination information for acquiring the content data of the segment via the communication network, a segment and a connection destination A transmission control unit that arranges information in one or more transmission layers is provided, the broadcasting unit performs digital broadcasting by carousel transmission in units of transmission layers, and the content reception device receives received connection destination information. The content data is obtained through the communication network.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content distribution system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a hierarchical structure of content according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of arrangement of content in a transmission layer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission control method when content is broadcast by a carousel transmission method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of arrangement of content in a transmission layer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, in order to describe the present invention in more detail, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content distribution system 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the content distribution system 100 includes a content transmission device 200 and a content reception device 300.

The content transmission device 200 has a digital broadcast function and a data communication function, and can transmit the content as a data broadcast by superimposing the content on the digital broadcast wave, or can transmit the data by data communication via the communication network 20. . The content receiving device 300 is a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone terminal, and has functions for receiving, storing, and reproducing broadcast data and receiving and reproducing TV program data by normal television broadcasting. In addition, content can be received and played back via wireless communication via the base station 21.

The content transmission device 200 includes a storage unit 201, a data server 202, a broadcast unit 203, and a communication unit 204. The data server 202 includes a segment generation unit 205, a link generation unit 206, and a transmission control unit 207.

The storage unit 201 is a part that constitutes an internal memory or an external storage device of the content transmission device 200. The storage unit 201 stores content data, and the contents are associated with each other by a hierarchical structure. Figure 2 shows an example of the hierarchical structure of content. In the figure, A, Bl, CI, C2, D1, E1 E4, F1 F5, and G1—G8 represent the entries of the contents, respectively, and the contents are simply shown. For example, the specific content of the content of entry A is “opening”, and there are the content of entries B1 and C2 under it. The specific content of entry B1 is “CM (advertisement)”, and there is content of entry C1 with “city guide” as subordinates. The content of entry C1 is the content of entry D1 that contains “CM” and the content E2 that contains “Yokohama”, and the content of entry C2 that contains “shopping” contains “clothing”. The contents of entry E3 and the contents of entry E4 containing “furniture” are subordinate.

The content receiver 300 includes a broadcast receiving antenna 301, a tuner 302, a demodulator 303, an MPEG-TS separator 304, a selector 305, an MPEG-AV decoder 306, a video RAM 307, a video synthesizer 308, a CPU 309, a memory 310, a FIFO. It includes a nofer 311, disk 1 / O 312, hard disk drive 313, audio output device 314, display device 315, cellular phone antenna 316, wireless communication unit 317, and protocol processing unit 318.

Next, the operation will be described.

First, content transmission / reception processing by broadcasting will be described.

First, in the content transmission apparatus 200, the data server 202 acquires content data from the storage unit 201. The data server 202 divides the content data acquired by the segment generation unit 205 into a plurality of segments. Further, the link generation unit 206 generates link destination information (connection destination information) indicating a connection destination when content of each segment is acquired from the content reception device 300 via wireless communication.

[0013] Transmission control section 207 arranges each generated segment and its link destination information in a plurality of layers (transmission layers).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of arrangement of contents in layers according to the first embodiment. Here, all contents are placed in a total of N + 1 layers.

The segment generation unit 205 divides each content into segments according to the hierarchical structure in ascending order of data capacity. Segment 1 (307) contains entry A, segment 2 (308) contains entries Bl, CI, C2, segment 3 (309) contains entries Dl, El E4, and segment 4 (310) contains entries F1-F5, G1 G8 Including. Similarly, N segments up to segment N (311) are generated and processed.

Corresponding N pieces of link destination information (link to segment 1-link to segment N) are generated for the N segments.

The data server 202 sends both the segment 1 N and the link destination information to the layer 1 (302), layer 2 (303), layer 3 (304), layer 4 (305), layer N ( 306) Place in N layers up to.

Further, the data server 202 provides layer 0 (301) in addition to the N layers up to layer 1 (302) force layer N (306). In layer 0 (301), only link destination information corresponding to N segments up to segment 1 (307) force segment N (311) is arranged.

[0014] The broadcast unit 203 broadcasts the content held in the data server 202 by the carousel transmission method according to the layer arrangement shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission control method when the broadcast unit 203 broadcasts content using the carousel transmission method.

As shown in the figure, the broadcast unit 203 performs carousel transmission at different periods for each layer. Here, for example, layer 0 has a period T, layer 1 has a period of 2 mm, layer 2 has a period of 3 mm, layer 3 has a period of 4 mm, layer 4 has a period of 5 mm, and layer Ν has a longer period. Cell transmission. Also, all broadcast bandwidths allocated to each layer shall be equal.

Content receiving device 300 receives broadcast radio waves from content transmitting device 200 by broadcast receiving antenna 301. Further, the tuner 302 selects a radio wave corresponding to a broadcast station desired by the viewer.

Demodulator 303 demodulates the selected broadcast radio wave, and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts

Group) system transport stream (hereinafter referred to as MPEG-TS). Next, the MPEG-TS separator 304 separates the video / audio information multiplexed in the MPEG-TS and the data broadcast information.

The separated video / audio information is supplied to the MPEG-AV decoder 306 via the selector 305 and decoded. The decoded audio information is supplied to the audio output device 314 and reproduced. The decoded video information is combined with a menu screen or the like held on the video RAM 307 by the video combining unit 308 and reproduced by the display device 315. On the other hand, the data broadcast information separated by the MPEG-TS separation unit 304 is stored in the memory 310, and after the hierarchical structure of the content is analyzed by the processing of the CPU 309, it is sent to the hard disk drive 313 via the disk 1/0312. It is stored as a file with a hierarchical structure as shown in Figure 2.

Next, a description will be given of the broadcast data playback processing in the content receiving device 300. When the viewer selects the use of the data broadcast service, the CPU 309 enters the entry corresponding to the top layer of the hierarchized file from the hard disk drive 313. A Get the “Opening” file, analyze the contents under it, and then get the selectable entry B1 “CM” and entry C2 “Shopping” files from the hard disk drive 313. In addition, the menu screen of entry A having choices for entry B1 and entry C2 is configured in video RAM 307, and is played back by display device 315.

When the viewer selects, for example, entry B1 “CM” according to the menu screen of entry A displayed by display device 315, playback of the target file of entry B1 starts.

CPU309 plays the file of entry B1 stored in hard disk drive 313 Therefore, the input of the selector 305 is switched to the FIFO buffer 311, the file of the entry B1 is acquired from the hard disk drive 313 via the disk 1 / O 312 and stored in the FIFO buffer 311 while performing flow control. The information stored in the FIFO buffer 311 is supplied to the MPEG-AV decoder 306 via the selector 305, decoded in the same way as a normal television program, separated into video information and audio information, and each audio is recorded. It is reproduced by the output device 314 or the display device 315.

In this way, when the reproduction of the content of entry B1 “CM” is completed, entry C1 “city guide” under entry B1 is reproduced. In addition, the menu screen of the entry C1 having options to the entries D1 “CM” and E2 “Yokohama” under the entry C1 is configured in the video RAM 307 and is played back by the display device 315. In the same manner, content is reproduced according to the hierarchical structure.

[0017] When content is played back on the content receiver 300, the content capacity is large, so it takes time to acquire the content by broadcasting, or because the radio wave condition is poor, the transmission quality by broadcasting deteriorates and content acquisition is performed. It may happen that the content to be played back is not acquired by the content receiving device 300 due to failure.

In this case, content receiving apparatus 300 can acquire desired content by wireless communication using link information for each segment included in layer 0 (301).

[0018] The content reception device 300 receives the content that is carousel-transmitted from the content transmission device 200. However, as described above, the broadcast unit 203 performs carousel transmission at different periods for each layer. The time taken from the start of content reception by the device 300 to completion is different for each layer. In other words, in the example shown in FIG. 4, for example, for layer 0, the waiting time until reception is completed is T, for layer 1, 2 km, and for layer 2, 3 mm.

First, the content receiving device 300 acquires layer 0 content that is carousel-transmitted from the content transmitting device 200. As shown in Fig. 4, layer 0 is repeatedly transmitted in the shortest cycle of Τ, and reception can be completed with a waiting time Τ. [0019] After the content receiving device 300 acquires layer 0 content by broadcasting, when the viewer gives an instruction to acquire content by wireless communication, the CPU 309 acquires layer 0 information from the hard disk drive 313, and the display device 315 To display the link destination information from segment 1 to segment N.

Here, when the viewer selects a communication link to segment 4, for example, the protocol processing unit 318 and the wireless communication unit 317 for terminating the communication protocol are activated, and the base station 21, the mobile phone antenna 316, A content acquisition request for segment 4 is notified to the content transmission device 200 via the communication network 20.

When the communication unit 204 of the content transmitting device 200 receives the segment 4 content acquisition request, the data server 202 acquires the content of the segment 4 from the storage unit 201 and transmits the content to the content receiving device 300 by the communication unit 204. Is done. The content receiver 300 receives the segment 4 content via the communication network 20 and the base station 21 via the mobile phone antenna 316, and the segment 4 content data is extracted by the wireless communication unit 317 and the protocol processing unit 318. And stored in the memory 310 and stored as a file in the hard disk drive 313 via the disk 1/0312 by the processing of the CPU 309.

[0020] In addition, the content reception device 300 accesses the content transmission device 200 via communication by wireless communication by using link information from the segment 1 to the segment N arranged in the layer 1 to the layer N, respectively. Alternatively, an acquisition request for a desired content (segment) may be transmitted.

For example, when content from Layer 1 to Layer N is acquired by broadcasting, the content capacity is large, so it may take time S to complete content acquisition by broadcasting, or transmission quality by broadcasting deteriorates due to radio wave conditions Therefore, if content acquisition fails and some data is lost, the content is acquired via wireless communication using the link information arranged in each layer.

As described above, according to Embodiment 1, content transmitting apparatus 200 divides content into segments, generates link destination information for accessing each segment through data communication, The link destination information corresponding to the segment content data is It is arranged in a carrier and performs carousel transmission in units of layers. Also, the content receiving device 300 uses the link destination information to each segment received by broadcasting when the content reception by broadcasting takes time S or fails to receive the content of the desired segment via wireless communication. Therefore, it is possible to effectively distribute digital broadcast contents to mobile terminals.

[0022] In the first embodiment, the power of arranging a segment and link destination information corresponding to the segment in each layer. In addition, the link destination information corresponding to a related segment other than the segment may be arranged. Yo! For example, in the example shown in Figure 3, you can place links to segment 3 and segment 4 on layer 1. As a result, when content is played back by the content receiving device 300, it becomes possible to directly access the contents of the segments 3 and 4 from the entry 1 of the segment 1 without going through the contents of the segment 2. Efficient access to

Also, for segments whose segment data size exceeds a certain size, the segment (content) itself is not distributed by broadcasting, and only the link destination information corresponding to the segment is transmitted in a carousel. Anyway. The content receiving apparatus 300 can acquire content data via wireless communication using link destination information acquired by broadcasting.

[0023] Also, in the first embodiment, a layer (layer 0) composed only of link destination information to each segment is provided, and the power of carousel transmission by broadcasting is configured. Only such link destination information is configured. For layers, the carousel transmission period may be less than a certain time. Specifically, for example, the cycle is adjusted by increasing the transmission bandwidth of the layer.

In this case, all segments may be acquired via wireless communication without performing carousel transmission by broadcasting. By transmitting via wireless communication that can take a wider band than broadcasting that can use only a limited bandwidth, it is possible to distribute content efficiently, especially when the content data size is large. it can

In addition, the content transmission device 200 is connected via wireless communication from the content reception device 300. Broadcast carousel transmission may be controlled based on the access history to each segment.

For example, a layer composed only of link destination information corresponding to frequently accessed segments may be provided for carousel transmission by broadcasting.

Alternatively, a layer composed of segments with a high access frequency may be provided to transmit power loosely by broadcasting. Or, a layer composed of frequently accessed segments and link destination information corresponding to the segments may be provided to transmit power through the broadcast.

In Embodiment 1, the bandwidths allocated for carousel transmission by broadcasting of each layer are all equal, but the bandwidths may be controlled as necessary as shown in FIG. .

As another example, control may be performed so that the cycle of carousel transmission by broadcasting of a specific layer is within a certain time. Specifically, for example, the cycle is controlled by increasing the transmission bandwidth of a specific layer or adjusting the amount of information arranged in each layer. Industrial applicability

As described above, the content transmitting apparatus according to the present invention is suitable for effectively delivering content to mobile terminals.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] In a content transmission device that transmits content data to a content reception device by digital broadcasting,

A storage unit for storing the content data;

A broadcasting unit for transmitting the content data by digital broadcasting;

A communication unit that transmits the content data to the content receiving device via a communication network;

A segment generation unit that divides the content data into one or a plurality of segments, and a link generation unit that generates connection destination information for acquiring the content data of the segment via the content reception device power and the communication network When,

A transmission control unit that arranges the segment and the connection destination information in one or a plurality of transmission layers;

The content transmitting apparatus, wherein the broadcasting unit performs digital broadcasting by carousel transmission in units of the transmission layers.

2. The content transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control unit arranges connection destination information for other segments in one transmission layer in addition to the segment and connection destination information for the segment. .

[3] The content transmission device according to claim 1, wherein a segment exceeding a certain amount of data is not broadcasted digitally, and only the connection destination information for the segment is transmitted by carousel.

4. The content transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control unit includes a transmission layer including only connection destination information of each segment.

[5] The content transmission according to claim 4, wherein the broadcasting unit controls the transmission layer including only the connection destination information of each segment so that the period of power loose cell transmission is equal to or less than a certain time. apparatus.

6. The content transmission apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the segment does not perform digital broadcasting but performs carousel transmission of only segment connection destination information.

[7] The transmission control unit transmits a communication network from the content receiving device to each segment. 2. The content transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a method for arranging each segment and connection destination information in a transmission layer is determined based on a connection frequency through a work.

8. The transmission control unit includes a transmission layer that includes only connection destination information for a segment having a connection frequency from the content receiving device through a communication network of a predetermined value or more. Content transmission device.

9. The content transmission device according to claim 7, wherein the transmission control unit provides a transmission layer including only a segment whose connection frequency from the content reception device via a communication network is a predetermined value or more. .

[10] The broadcast unit according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast unit controls a carousel transmission bandwidth so that a certain transmission layer has a period of carousel transmission within a certain time. Content transmission device.

[11] In a content distribution system in which a content reception device receives content data transmitted from a content transmission device by digital broadcasting,

The content transmission device

A storage unit for storing the content data;

A broadcasting unit for transmitting the content data by digital broadcasting;

The broadcasting unit performs digital broadcasting by carousel transmission in units of the transmission layer,

The content receiving system, wherein the content receiving device acquires the content data via the communication network using the received connection destination information.