WO2007098682A1

WO2007098682A1 - Electronic program guide providing method, electronic program guide system and service function unit

Info

Publication number: WO2007098682A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/000555
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xiangyang Wu; Jun Yan; Jincheng Li
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-03-02
Filing date: 2007-02-15
Publication date: 2007-09-07
Also published as: CN101313567A; CN101031059A; CN101313567B; CN100592781C

Abstract

An IMS based electronic program guide providing method is disclosed, it includes the following steps: the terminal is registered with the IMS interactively, the IMS agent terminal is registered with the service function unit interactively as the third party, and/or, the service function unit obtains the presentation information of the terminal; the service function unit determines the time of providing electronic program guide to the terminal; the service function unit provides electronic program guide to the terminal according to the determined time. An IMS based electronic program guide system and a service function unit are also disclosed. In the invention, the terminal need not to send a request, it provides electronic program guide to the terminal in a proper time according to the information such as the status of the terminal, compared to the prior art in which electronic program guide is provided as the request is sent by the terminal, the invention is more flexible.

Description

Electronic program guide providing method, electronic program list system and business function unit. The application is submitted to the Chinese Patent Office on March 2, 2006, the application number is 200610034105.4, and the invention name is "an electronic program list acquisition system and method," Priority of Chinese Patent Application, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical equipment

The present invention relates to IP multimedia technology, and more particularly to an electronic program guide providing technique in an IP multimedia subsystem.

Background technique

With the rapid development of communication and IT technologies, with the emergence of IP (Internet Protocol) technology across the link layer transmission medium, the rapid spread of Internet applications, people are no longer satisfied with a single voice communication method, new The multimedia communication method is also one of the communication methods that people need. In addition, the IP of mobile communication networks and fixed communication networks, as well as the integration of the Internet and telecommunication networks, have undoubtedly become the recognized development direction in the industry. In order to meet the increasing demand for IP multimedia applications, 3 GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) introduced IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) with all-IP service network architecture based on packet bearer network. , IP Multimedia Subsystem), the goal is to shield user access methods according to personalized user data, control the openness of business capabilities, and provide multimedia communication experience.

IMS is a subsystem superimposed on the existing packet domain in the WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) network added in the 3GPP R5 phase. The IMS uses the packet domain as its upper layer control signaling and media transmission. The bearer channel introduces a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) as a service control protocol, and provides a rich multimedia service by separating the service control from the bearer control by utilizing the features of the SIP, the easy-to-expand, and the convenient media combination.

SIP is one of the multimedia communication system framework protocols developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It is used to establish, change or end the application layer protocol of multimedia sessions, and RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol). /RTCP (Real-time Transport Control Protocol), SDP (Session Description Protocol), RTSP (Real Time Stream Protocol), DNS (Domain Name System and Domain Name Service Protocol) , area The name system (service) protocol cooperates to complete the session establishment and media negotiation in the IMS. If a session is established, the media stream will be directly transmitted in the bearer layer using RTP, and multiple media can be flexibly interacted in one session.

Based on the open Internet standard, SIP has advantages in voice and data service integration and interworking. It can implement call control across media and devices, support rich media formats, dynamically add/delete media streams, and easily implement richer service features. At the same time, SIP supports intelligent development to the service and terminal side, thereby reducing the network burden. It supports application layer mobility functions including dynamic registration mechanism, location management mechanism, and redirection mechanism, as well as Presence/Fork/ Subscription features make it easy to expand new business. SIP is simple and has a proven potential for expansion, so it is getting more and more applications in networks such as IMS and NGN (Next Generation Network).

The IMS-based streaming media service or IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service is a new service that has developed rapidly in recent years. The streaming media service uses streaming technology to transmit multimedia files, including video, on a packet-switched network. File content such as audio, which can be played immediately when the user visits without having to download it completely. The key technology for streaming media implementation is streaming technology. Streaming technology refers to the processing of continuous video and audio information to a web server, so that users can watch and listen while downloading, without having to download the entire file. Network transmission technology that can be viewed only after going to your own machine.

When implementing a streaming media service or an IPTV service, the service system generally needs to provide an electronic program guide or a service with similar functions to the terminal used by the user, and the electronic program guide is used for user navigation, so that the user can understand that the current service system can The business or service provided. The electronic program guide can also guide the user to subscribe to the program, guide the user to trigger the service, and the like.

1 is a schematic structural diagram of a current electronic program guide system. The electronic program guide system can be applied to an IPTV system, wherein the marketing system is configured to provide program information to an electronic program guide unit, and the information can simultaneously include guiding user payment. And accessing information of the program source; the electronic program order unit is configured to generate an electronic program guide according to the information provided by the marketing system, and provide the electronic program guide to the terminal; the service server is configured to provide the service or content, for example, providing the VOD of the video on demand service ( Vidio On Demand, Video on Demand) server. The electronic program guide providing method based on the electronic program guide system shown in Fig. 1 can be realized by the flowchart shown in Fig. 2:

Step S201: The terminal sends a request for providing an electronic program guide to the electronic program unit. Step S202: The electronic program unit unit acquires program information from the marketing system;

Step S203: The electronic program guide unit generates an electronic program guide according to the acquired program information. Step S204: The electronic program guide unit provides the generated electronic program guide to the terminal. The protocol used by the terminal to send the request and return the electronic program guide unit to the electronic program guide may be HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), RTSP (Real Time Stream)

Protocol, real-time streaming protocol) or RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol).

In addition, after obtaining the electronic program guide, the terminal may request the service server to acquire the program content according to the address information in the electronic program guide.

The above electronic program guide providing scheme is suitable for an existing IP network, and can provide an electronic program guide to the terminal. However, in the above scheme, the electronic program guide unit must provide the electronic program guide to the terminal after obtaining the request of the terminal. In practical applications, the user who uses the terminal sometimes wants to get the electronic program list immediately to obtain the program content from the service server as soon as possible. However, due to the network bandwidth and the like, the terminal cannot immediately receive the electronic request after providing the electronic program list. The electronic program list issued by the program unit, so that the user cannot immediately obtain the electronic program list. Therefore, the current electronic program delivery mechanism is relatively fixed and cannot respond flexibly to the needs of users.

Summary of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present invention is to provide an electronic program guide providing method, an electronic program guide system, and a service function unit, so as to implement a more flexible provision of an electronic program guide.

To solve the above technical problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides an IMS-based electronic program guide providing method, including: a terminal interacts with an IMS to complete registration, and an IMS proxy terminal interacts with a service function unit to complete a third-party registration, and/or a service function. The unit acquires the presentation information of the terminal; the service function unit determines the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal; the service function unit provides the electronic program list to the terminal according to the determined time.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides an IMS-based electronic program guide system, including: a service call session control function CSCF unit, a proxy call session control function CSCF unit, and an AS, where the proxy CSCF unit is used to forward the terminal and the serving CSCF unit. Inter-message; the service CSCF unit is used to complete the registration with the terminal and the proxy terminal and the AS complete the third-party registration; the AS is used to determine the terminal The time of providing the electronic program list, and providing the electronic program list to the terminal through the service CSCF unit and the proxy CSCF unit according to the determined time.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides an IMS-based electronic program guide providing method, including: the terminal interacts with the IMS to complete the registration, and the IMS proxy terminal interacts with the service function unit to complete the third-party registration; after the third-party registration is successful, the service function unit immediately The terminal provides an electronic program guide.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides an IMS-based electronic program guide system, including: a proxy CSCF unit, a serving CSCF unit, and an AS, where the proxy CSCF unit is used to forward a message between the terminal and the serving CSCF unit; After completing the registration with the terminal and completing the third-party registration with the proxy terminal and the AS; the AS is used to complete the third-party registration with the service CSCF unit, and immediately provides a service function unit by using the embodiment of the present invention, including: a third-party registration unit, After the terminal and the IMS interact to complete the registration, the third party registration is completed by interacting with the IMS; the time determining unit is configured to determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal after the third party registration unit and the IMS are completed; the electronic program guide providing unit And for providing an electronic program list to the terminal according to the time determined by the time determining unit.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a service function unit, including: a presence information acquiring unit, configured to acquire presence information of the terminal; and a time determining unit, configured to determine, according to the presence information acquired by the presence information acquiring unit, to provide an electronic program list to the terminal The electronic program guide providing unit is configured to provide an electronic program guide to the terminal according to the time determined by the time determining unit.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a service function unit, including: a third-party registration unit, configured to perform third-party registration with the IMS after the terminal interacts with the IMS to complete registration; and the electronic program guide providing unit is configured to register with the third party. After the unit and the IMS interact, the electronic program list is immediately provided to the terminal.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides an AS, including: a third-party registration unit, configured to perform third-party registration with the IMS after the terminal interacts with the IMS, and the time determining unit is configured to interact with the IMS in the third-party registration unit. After completion, determining the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal; the electronic program guide providing unit for providing the electronic program list to the terminal according to the time determined by the time determining unit.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides an AS, including: a presence information acquiring unit, configured to acquire presence information of the terminal; a time determining unit, configured to obtain, according to the presentation information acquired by the presence information acquiring unit, The time when the directional terminal provides the electronic program list; the electronic program guide providing unit is configured to provide the electronic program list to the terminal according to the time determined by the time determining unit.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides an AS, including: a third-party registration unit, configured to perform third-party registration with the IMS after the terminal interacts with the IMS, and the electronic program guide providing unit is configured to be used in the third-party registration unit. Immediately after the IMS interaction is completed, an electronic program guide is provided to the terminal.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after interacting with the proxy unit that initiates the third-party registration to complete the third-party registration and/or obtain the presentation information of the terminal, determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal, and then provide the electronic program to the terminal according to the determined time. single. It can be seen that the embodiment of the present invention does not require the terminal to make a request, but provides an electronic program list to the terminal according to the state of the terminal and the like, and provides an electronic program list according to the request of the prior art terminal, which is obvious in the embodiment of the present invention. More flexible.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the third party registration is completed by interacting with the agent unit that initiates the registration of the third party, the electronic program list can be immediately provided to the terminal, so that the terminal can query the stored electronic program list at any time without requesting In order to obtain an electronic program guide, the embodiment of the present invention is significantly more flexible. DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic structural view of a current electronic program guide system;

2 is a flow chart of a method for providing an electronic program guide based on the system shown in FIG. 1;

Figure 3 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a flow chart of a second embodiment of the method of the present invention;

5 is a schematic structural diagram of a first embodiment of an electronic program guide system of the present invention;

6 is a schematic structural view of a second embodiment of an electronic program guide system of the present invention;

Figure 7 is a flow chart of a third embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Figure 8 is a flow chart of a fourth embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Figure 9 is a block diagram showing the structure of a third embodiment of the electronic program guide system of the present invention.

detailed description

First, an embodiment of the method of the present invention will be described. An embodiment of the method of the present invention provides a method for providing an electronic program guide, comprising the following steps: the terminal interacts with the IMS to complete registration, the IMS proxy terminal interacts with the service function unit to complete the third party registration, and/or the service function unit acquires the presentation of the terminal. Information; the business function unit determines the time at which the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal; the business function unit provides the electronic program list to the terminal according to the determined time. The third-party registration refers to a process in which a certain functional entity proxy terminal or other functional entity in the IMS registers with another functional entity. In the embodiment of the present invention, it may be a service CSCF (Call Session Control Function) unit. The proxy terminal registers with a functional entity capable of generating an electronic program guide, for example, to an AS (Application Server). After the third party is registered, user service data indicating whether to immediately provide the electronic program ticket to the terminal may be acquired, and the user service data may include time information indicating that the terminal provides the electronic program guide. The presence information may be information such as the online status of the terminal, such as whether the status of the terminal is good or not.

Embodiments of the inventive method can be applied to IMS. The IMS mainly includes the following functional entities: a CSCF that provides functions for controlling user registration and session control, an AS that provides various service logic control functions, an HSS (Home Subscriber Server) that centrally manages user subscription data, and an implementation for MGCF (Media Gateway Control Function) / IM-MGW (IP Multimedia-MGW, IP Multimedia Media Gateway Controller) for interworking between circuit switching networks, users access IMS through the current local proxy CSCF, session and service trigger Control and interaction with the service control of the AS is done by the home domain service CSCF where the user is registered.

Embodiments of the method of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. As shown in Figure 3, a first embodiment of the method of the invention comprises:

Step S301: The AS interacts with the metadata providing unit that provides the metadata constituting the electronic program guide, and acquires metadata information constituting the electronic program guide.

This interaction can take place at any time before the AS generates an electronic program listing. The metadata providing unit can actively provide metadata to the AS according to the request of the AS.

Metadata can be a detailed description of content, access methods, purchase data, and the like. The metadata may contain a plurality of contents, and the content of the items may be simply divided into two types of information, namely, content metadata information and business metadata information, wherein the content metadata information may include:

a. Description of content: information of a certain content, such as content length, content encoding, content type, storage location, etc., there is a link information between the business and the content, and a service may contain multiple content index information;

b. Access method: the protection mode adopted by the service, the codec capability required by the terminal, and the supported copyright access mode;

c Purchase data: Each purchase item is associated with one or more businesses, indicating the purchase channel, pricing letter Interest rate;

d. Preview data: Provide preview information, such as references to images, audio, and video data, and preview the data to introduce the user to the business content.

The content of the business metadata information can be:

a. Basic business description: unique identification of the business, suitable user group, suitable application area, preview data link (URL, Uniform Resource Locator) and other information;

b. Business Plan: The specific time available for the business and/or content.

The above metadata can be derived from a business marketing system or a content management system.

Step S302: The terminal performs a registration process with the IMS.

This registration process is the standard registration process for IMS users. Specifically, the terminal can complete registration with the IMS service CSCF unit. After the registration is completed, the serving CSCF unit may obtain the filtering criterion from the HSS, and the filtering rule may also be referred to as the subscription information. The filtering criterion may include a triggering rule indicating that the terminal successfully registers and initiates a third party registration to the designated AS.

Step S303: The serving CSCF unit determines whether a third party registration is required, and if necessary, performs step S304.

The CSCF unit can query whether the obtained filtering rule contains a triggering rule. If the triggering rule is included, it is determined that a third party registration is required. Otherwise, no third party registration is required.

Step S304: The service CSCF unit initiates a third-party registration with the AS, and performs the third-party registration with the interaction. It should be noted that the third-party registration initiated by the serving CSCF unit to the AS is essentially the registration initiated by the serving CSCF unit proxy terminal to the AS.

Step S305: The AS determines the time when the electronic program ticket is sent to the terminal.

After the AS and the service CSCF unit complete the third-party registration, the AS can check the user service data. The user service data may have a flag indicating whether the electronic program ticket needs to be provided to the terminal immediately; the user service data may also include the time when the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal. User service data can be pre-stored on the AS. The user service data can also be saved in the HSS in advance. After the third-party registration is completed, the AS can obtain user service data from the HSS. The AS can also obtain user service data locally. For example, the AS can Obtain user business data through third-party registration. The terminal can modify the mark or time through the Ut interface with the AS to change the time when the AS provides the electronic program list. When the AS checks user service data, if the user service data has a tag or contains power to the terminal. At the time of the sub-program list, it is possible to determine the time when the electronic program guide needs to be provided to the terminal immediately or the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal. If the user service data does not have a tag or does not include the time to provide an electronic program ticket to the terminal, the AS may determine the time to transmit the electronic program ticket to the terminal based on the local policy.

In summary, if the AS can determine the time to provide the electronic program list to the terminal, step S306 is performed, otherwise, step S307 is performed.

Step S306: The AS provides the electronic program list to the terminal on time.

After the AS generates the electronic program guide, the electronic program list can be encapsulated in the SIP message, sent directly by the AS to the terminal, or sent to the terminal through the serving CSCF unit and the proxy CSCF unit. Specifically, the SIP message body type can be extended to encapsulate the electronic program ticket in messages such as MESSAGE, INFORMATION, or Publish.

Under the premise that the terminal pushes the electronic program list when the terminal does not use the streaming media service, if the terminal starts to use the related service in the subsequent process, the terminal can quickly call the electronic program list, thereby conveniently browsing or selecting the program content.

Step S307: The AS provides the terminal with description information of an action that needs to be performed to acquire the electronic program guide. If the AS does not determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal, the terminal may be provided with a description information, which may be a trigger that can be understood by the terminal, and the description information may include an indication to the terminal, that is, the terminal needs to obtain The action that needs to be performed when the electronic program is displayed. The terminal performs an action according to such an instruction, and an electronic program guide can be obtained. Description information can also be encapsulated in SIP messages, such as MESSAGE, INFORMATION, or Publish. The delivery of the message can also be followed by the standard routing mechanism of the IMS, that is, sent to the terminal by the serving CSCF unit and the proxy CSCF unit. The above description information may be an instruction described in an xml-based (Extensible Markup Language-based) scripting language for instructing the terminal to perform a specified action when it is required to acquire an electronic program guide, such as The file transfer mode acquires an electronic program guide or the like from the specified address. In addition, the description information provided by the AS to the terminal may include multiple service entry information of the luxury business, and the service VIP may include the service entry address and the service description letter, etc., and the user may select to use different service operators based on the description information. The service entry information may be directly configured to the AS or obtained by the AS from other network entities. Certainly, the service portal information may also exist independently of the description information, and the AS may provide the service portal information together when providing the electronic program guide or the description information to the terminal. It should be noted that step S307 may also be a step in which the AS waits until the terminal requests the acquisition of the electronic program list, and then provides the electronic program list to the terminal according to the request. Step S307 may also be a step in which the AS randomly or arbitrarily determines the time at which the electronic program guide is provided. Of course, in step S305, if the AS does not determine the time when the electronic program ticket is sent to the terminal, the description information may not be provided to the terminal, that is, step S307 is not performed.

It should also be noted that since the interaction between the AS and the metadata providing unit can be performed at any time before the AS generates the electronic program guide, step S301 can be performed at any time prior to step S306.

In the first embodiment of the above method, the AS determines the time for providing the electronic program guide according to the user service data. In practical applications, the AS can also determine the time according to many factors.

4 is a flow chart of a second embodiment of the method of the present invention, and the second embodiment includes:

Step S401: The AS interacts with a metadata providing unit that provides metadata constituting the electronic program guide, and acquires metadata information constituting the electronic program guide. This step is the same as step S301 of Fig. 3.

Step S402: The terminal performs a registration process with the IMS. This step is the same as step S302 of Fig. 3.

Step S403: The AS requests the presence server to obtain the user state information according to the local policy.

The user status information may be information such as a user registration event, a terminal type, a terminal location, etc., and the subscription mechanism may follow a standard user status subscription mechanism, such as SIP's Subscribe/Notify mechanism.

Step S404: The presence server provides user status information to the AS.

The presence server can actively query the user status information to one or all of the terminals, and can also query the other functional entities that store the user status information. In addition, the terminal may also actively report the information to the presenting server. Further, each time the terminal updates the information, the terminal actively reports the updated information to the presenting server. Certainly, the terminal can actively modify the user state information of the terminal stored on the server by using a Ut interface with the AS. After the presence server receives the request from the AS, it returns the obtained user status information to the AS.

Step S405: The AS determines the time when the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal.

The AS can determine the time for providing the electronic program ticket to the terminal according to the acquired user status information. For example, the AS checks the user status information to determine the current online status of the terminal, if the terminal is online. If the state is good or in an idle state, it can be determined that the electronic program list is immediately provided to the terminal, otherwise, it is determined that the electronic program ticket is delayed from being provided to the terminal. The AS may determine the time of the delay, or may be uncertain, but further determine to provide the electronic program ticket to the terminal according to the local policy.

In summary, if the AS can determine the time at which the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal, step S406 is performed, otherwise, step S407 is performed.

Step S406: The AS provides an electronic program guide to the terminal on time. This step is the same as step S306 of Fig. 3.

Step S407: The AS provides the terminal with description information of an action that needs to be performed to acquire the electronic program guide. This step is the same as step S307 of Fig. 3. Of course, in step S405, if the AS does not determine the time to transmit the electronic program ticket to the terminal, the description information may not be provided to the terminal, that is, step S407 is not performed.

In the first and second embodiments of the above method, the AS can determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal based on the user service data and the user status information. In addition, the order of execution of step S402 and step S403 can also be adjusted.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a method for providing an electronic program guide, comprising: the terminal interacts with the IMS to complete the registration, and the IMS proxy terminal interacts with the service function unit to complete the third party registration; after the third party is successfully registered, the service function unit immediately provides the electronic device to the terminal. Program list.

The difference between the embodiment of the method and the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 is that, in the embodiment of the method, the AS does not need to determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal, as long as the service CSCF unit completes the After the three parties register, the electronic program list can be provided to the terminal.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides an electronic program guide system. First, the overall technical solution of the electronic program guide system will be described. The electronic program guide system includes: a serving CSCF unit, a proxy CSCF unit, an AS, and/or a presence server, wherein the proxy CSCF unit is configured to forward a message between the terminal and the serving CSCF unit, and the serving CSCF unit is used for the terminal Completing the registration and the agent terminal and the AS complete the third party registration, the presence server is used to provide the AS with the presence information of the terminal, and the AS is used to determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal, and pass the service CSCF unit and the proxy CSCF unit according to the determined time. Provide an electronic program guide to the terminal.

The electronic program guide system may further include: a home subscriber server HSS for providing a filtering criterion to the serving CSCF unit indicating whether to initiate a third party registration. The serving CSCF unit may include: a download filtering criterion unit, configured to download a filtering criterion; a determining filtering criterion unit, configured to determine whether the filtering criterion indicates to initiate a third party registration; and a proxy registration unit, if the filtering criterion indicates that the third party registration is initiated, the proxy terminal Initiate a third party registration with the AS.

The AS may include: a subscription presentation information unit, configured to send a request to the presence server to subscribe to the presentation information of the terminal, and receive the presence information returned by the presence server.

The AS may include: a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the user service data obtained by the third party registration or the pre-configured user service data and/or the presence information, a time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal; and providing the electronic program unit unit for The determined time provides an electronic program guide to the terminal. If the AS or the decision unit does not determine the time to provide the electronic program ticket to the terminal, the time to provide the electronic program ticket to the terminal is determined according to the local policy.

The AS may include: a description information unit for providing description information for the action required to acquire the electronic program guide to the terminal, wherein the description information is provided to the terminal if the determination unit does not determine the time at which the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal.

The electronic program guide system may further include: a metadata providing unit for providing the AS with metadata constituting the electronic program guide.

The AS may include: at least one acquisition metadata unit for acquiring metadata constituting the electronic program guide; and an electronic program guide unit for generating an electronic program guide based on the acquired metadata.

The AS may encapsulate at least one of the electronic program guide, the description information, and the service portal information in a SIP message and provide the terminal to the terminal.

The terminal can modify user service data and/or presence information through an interface with the AS.

The electronic program guide system will be described in detail below with reference to Figs. 5 and 6, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 5, the first embodiment of the electronic program guide system of the present invention includes an AS 501, a proxy CSCF unit 505, a serving CSCF unit 502, an HSS 504, and a metadata providing unit 503, wherein the proxy CSCF unit 505 forwards the terminal and the serving CSCF unit. a request and response message between the 502; the serving CSCF unit 502 downloads a filtering criterion from the HSS 504, the filtering criterion includes a triggering rule, the serving CSCF unit 502 performs a third party registration with the AS 501 according to the triggering rule; the HSS stores the user subscription information, That is, the filtering criteria; the AS 501 generates an electronic program guide and provides the electronic program guide to the terminal; the metadata providing unit 503 provides the AS 501 with metadata for generating an electronic program guide, the metadata including the content, the access method, the purchase data, and the like. description. The first embodiment may further include presenting The presence server 506, the presence server 506 can receive the request for subscribing user status information sent by the AS 501, and when the presence server 506 obtains the user status information, the information is provided to the AS 501. The presence server 506 can also receive and manage presentation information published from other functional entities, such as the online status of the terminal, and the presence server 506 can also compose the information of a certain functional entity into a single presentation information document. The presence server 506 can also receive a presence information subscription request from any one of the functional entities and provide the presence information to the functional entity.

In the system shown in Fig. 5, the provisioning process of the electronic program guide can be implemented in at least two ways. The two methods are described below.

The first mode: The AS 501 interacts with the metadata providing unit 503 that provides metadata constituting the electronic program guide, and acquires metadata information constituting the electronic program guide. The terminal and the IMS perform the registration process. The service CSCF unit 502 determines whether a third party registration is required, and if necessary, initiates a third party registration with the AS 501 to complete the third party registration. The AS 501 determines the time at which the electronic program ticket is transmitted to the terminal based on the user service data. If the AS 501 can determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal, the electronic program list is provided to the terminal on time. Otherwise, the terminal can provide the description information of the action that needs to be performed to obtain the electronic program list. When the terminal needs to obtain the electronic program list, the terminal needs to follow The description information performs the specified action, and the electronic program ticket can be obtained. Of course, the AS501 can also provide the description information to the terminal. In addition, if the AS 501 does not determine the time to provide the electronic program ticket to the terminal, the electronic program list can be provided to the terminal according to the request issued by the terminal, or the time for providing the electronic program ticket can be randomly or arbitrarily determined.

The second mode: The AS 501 interacts with the metadata providing unit 503 that provides metadata constituting the electronic program guide, and acquires metadata information constituting the electronic program guide. The terminal and the IMS perform the registration process. The AS 501 requests the presence server 506 to acquire user status information according to the local policy. The presence server 506 provides user status information to the AS 501. The AS 501 determines the time when the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal based on the acquired user status information. If the AS 501 can determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal, the electronic program list is provided to the terminal on time; otherwise, the terminal is provided with description information of the action that needs to be performed to obtain the electronic program list, and the terminal needs to obtain the electronic program list according to the description. The information can perform the specified actions to obtain the electronic program guide. Of course, the AS501 can also provide the description information to the terminal. In addition, if the AS 501 does not determine the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal, the electronic program list may be provided to the terminal according to the request sent by the terminal, or the time for providing the electronic program list may be randomly or arbitrarily determined. It should be noted that, in the first embodiment, multiple ASs 501 may simultaneously provide different electronic program guides to the terminal, and the terminal may display the corresponding electronic program list according to a certain policy.

A second embodiment of the system of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the electronic program guide system includes a first AS 5011, at least one second AS 5012, a proxy CSCF unit 505, a serving CSCF unit 502, an HSS 504, and a metadata providing unit 503, wherein the first AS 5011 is configured to generate an electronic program guide. And providing the electronic program list to the terminal, the metadata of the generated program list may be derived from the metadata providing unit 503 or the second AS 5012; the second AS 5012 provides other services than the electronic program list, such as a VOD server, a TV server, and the like.

In a second embodiment of the system of the present invention, the first AS 5011 can obtain metadata information for generating an electronic program guide based on two ways:

The first mode: the metadata providing unit 503 supplies the metadata constituting the electronic program guide to the second AS 5012, and the first AS 5011 acquires the information from the second AS 5012. The electronic program guide is provided by the first AS5011. The interface between the second AS 5012 and the first AS 5011 may adopt a Diameter; the second mode: The first AS directly interacts with the metadata providing unit 503 to obtain metadata.

The electronic program guide providing manner of the second embodiment is basically the same as that of the first embodiment, and the difference is that: for the first mode, the serving CSCF unit 502 only needs to perform third party registration with the first AS 5011, and is configured by the first AS 5011. User service data provides an electronic program guide to the terminal;

For the second mode, the first AS 5011 only needs to subscribe the user status information to the presence server 506. After obtaining the user status information, the first AS 5011 provides the electronic program list to the terminal according to the user service data.

In addition, the first AS 5011 may integrate the metadata acquired by the multiple second ASs 5012 to provide the terminal, and the metadata of each second AS 5012 carries the identifier of the second AS 5012 to distinguish, so that when the program information is displayed, It can be displayed according to various strategies, for example, display in the order of the second AS 5012, and the like. An embodiment of the present invention further provides an electronic program guide system, including: a proxy CSCF unit, a serving CSCF unit, and an AS, where the proxy CSCF unit is configured to forward a message between the terminal and the serving CSCF unit, and the serving CSCF unit is used for the terminal. After completing the registration and the agent terminal and the AS complete the third party registration, the AS is used to complete the third party registration with the service CSCF unit, and the difference from the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 is that, in this embodiment, the AS and the service CSCF After the unit completes the third-party registration, it can immediately provide the electronic program list to the terminal, and does not need to provide the electronic program list to the terminal on time after determining the time of providing.

In addition, in the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the description information provided by the AS to the terminal may include service entry information of multiple service carriers. If the service entry information is obtained by the AS from other network entities, for example, from the provisioning service discovery and selection unit that provides the service entry information, the AS may interact with the service discovery and selection unit after interacting with the metadata providing unit. . The specific process is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. As can be seen from FIGS. 7 and 8, the difference between FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 and FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 is that after the AS interacts with the metadata providing unit, it also interacts with the service discovery and selection unit to obtain The service entry information (steps S301, and S401'). In addition, when the AS provides the description information to the terminal, the description information may carry the service entry information. Since the service discovery and selection unit can provide service entry information, the present invention also provides a third embodiment of the electronic program guide system. The schematic structural diagram of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 9, which is the same as the embodiment shown in FIG. 5. The difference is that the third embodiment further includes a service discovery and selection unit 507 that can provide service entry information to the AS 501.

The above several embodiments are all illustrative of the provision of an electronic program guide. The following describes the service subscription process after the terminal obtains the electronic program guide.

After the terminal obtains the electronic program guide, the service request may be directly initiated according to the information provided by the electronic program guide, or the specific program content may be subscribed, and the subscription may be performed in the following manner:

The terminal subscribes to the service by using a subscribe/notify mechanism according to the service description. The terminal sends a subscription request to the AS according to the service/content description information, and the subscription request carries at least an identifier that can uniquely represent the service or content and other optional information. The subscription information is processed by the AS, and the result of the processing is carried in the notification message and returned to the terminal. The notification message carries the necessary confirmation information, and may include an address to be used by using the service or the content, such as a SIP URI, authorization information, and other information. The authorization information may include protection information of the content, or may be submitted to the service or content provider for permission verification.

After obtaining the notification message, the terminal initiates a media session request according to the address information carried in the notification message. The request may be initiated in a standard SIP session manner, or may be performed using a protocol such as HTTP. In addition, the terminal can also subscribe to services or programs that can be provided at a certain point in time in the future. After the time arrives, the AS can initiate a service request to the terminal to establish a service connection. When making a business or content request, the information passed back in the notification message can be used for verification or protection of the business/content. The above process of subscription and information transfer by the Subscribe/Notify mechanism requires protocol extension, such as defining a program subscription event package, and the event package may include a subscription type, a subscription validity period, and subscription detail data, etc., and the subscription details may exist as transparent data. When processing, it can be handed over to a specific application module for processing according to the type of subscription.

Finally, it should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the electronic program guide, the description information, and the service entry information may be encapsulated in a SIP message and provided to the terminal. Therefore, the solution of the embodiment of the present invention is applicable to the SIP. .

The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc., which are made within the spirit and principles of the present invention, should be included. It is within the scope of the invention.

Claims

Rights request

An IMS-based electronic program guide providing method, comprising:

The terminal interacts with the IMS to complete the registration, and the IMS proxy terminal interacts with the service function unit to complete the third party registration, and/or, the service function unit acquires the presentation information of the terminal;

The service function unit determines when the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal;

The business function unit provides an electronic program guide to the terminal at a determined time.

The electronic program guide providing method according to claim 1, wherein: the service function unit determines that the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal is based on the user service data obtained or pre-configured after the third party is registered and/or Or the presentation information.

The electronic program guide providing method according to claim 1, wherein: if the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal is not determined, the service function unit determines the time for providing the electronic program list to the terminal or to the terminal according to the local policy. Provides descriptive information for actions that need to be performed to obtain an electronic program listing.

The electronic program guide providing method according to claim 3, wherein after the terminal obtains the description information, the method further comprises: if the terminal needs to acquire the electronic program guide, acquiring the electronic program guide by performing an action specified by the description information.

The electronic program guide providing method according to claim 3, wherein: when the service function unit provides the electronic program list or the description information to the terminal, the service entry configured by the service function unit or acquired from another network entity is provided. Information, the service entry information includes a service entry address and service description information.

The electronic program guide providing method according to claim 1, wherein the service function unit further comprises: before providing the electronic program list to the terminal:

The business function unit acquires metadata constituting the electronic program guide;

The business function unit generates an electronic program guide based on the metadata.

The electronic program guide providing method according to claim 1, wherein: the electronic program guide is generated by a service function unit or acquired from another network entity.

The electronic program guide providing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the service function unit is an application server AS.

The electronic program guide providing method according to claim 1, 3 or 5, wherein: at least one of the electronic program guide, the description information, and the service portal information is encapsulated in a session initiation protocol SIP message. Give the terminal.

10. An IMS-based electronic program guide system, comprising: a service call session control function CSCF unit, a proxy call session control function CSCF unit and an AS, wherein the service CSCF unit is configured to complete registration with the terminal and proxy terminal and The AS completes the third party registration; the AS determines the time to provide the electronic program list to the terminal, and provides the electronic program list to the terminal through the serving CSCF unit and the proxy CSCF unit according to the determined time.

11. The IMS-based electronic program guide system of claim 10, further comprising: a presence server, configured to provide the AS with presence information of the terminal.

The electronic program guide system according to claim 11, wherein the AS comprises: a subscription presentation information unit, configured to send a request to the presence server to subscribe to the presence information of the terminal, and receive the presence information returned by the presence server.

The electronic program guide system according to claim 11, wherein the AS comprises: a determining unit, configured to determine the terminal to the terminal according to the user service data obtained by the third party registration or the pre-configured user service data and/or the presence information The time when the electronic program is provided;

An electronic program guide unit is provided for providing an electronic program guide to the terminal at a determined time.

The electronic program guide system according to claim 10, wherein the AS further comprises: a description information unit, configured to provide, to the terminal, description information of an action to be performed for acquiring the electronic program guide, wherein if the determining unit does not Determining the time at which the electronic program ticket is provided to the terminal, the description information is provided to the terminal.

The electronic program guide system according to claim 10, further comprising: a metadata providing unit configured to provide the AS with metadata constituting the electronic program guide.

The electronic program guide system according to claim 10 or 15, wherein the AS further comprises: at least one acquisition metadata unit for acquiring metadata constituting the electronic program guide; generating an electronic program guide unit for The acquired metadata generates an electronic program guide.

17. An IMS-based electronic program guide providing method, comprising: The terminal interacts with the IMS to complete the registration, and the IMS proxy terminal interacts with the service function unit to complete the third party registration;

After the third party is successfully registered, the business function unit immediately provides the electronic program list to the terminal.

18. An IMS-based electronic program guide system, comprising: a proxy CSCF unit, a service CSCF unit, and an AS, wherein the service CSCF unit is configured to complete registration with the terminal and the proxy terminal and the AS complete third party registration; After completing the third party registration with the serving CSCF unit, the electronic program list is immediately provided to the terminal through the serving CSCF unit and the proxy CSCF unit.

19. A business function unit, comprising:

a third-party registration unit, configured to perform third-party registration with the IMS after the terminal interacts with the IMS to complete registration;

a time determining unit, configured to determine, when the third party registration unit interacts with the IMS, the time for providing the electronic program ticket to the terminal;

The electronic program guide providing unit is configured to provide the electronic program guide to the terminal according to the time determined by the time determining unit.

20. The business function unit of claim 19, further comprising:

a presentation information obtaining unit, configured to acquire presence information of the terminal; and/or

A user service data storage or acquisition unit for storing pre-configured or acquired user service data.

The service function unit according to claim 20, wherein: the time determining unit stores or acquires user services stored or acquired according to the presence information of the terminal acquired by the presence information acquiring unit and/or the user service data storage or acquisition unit. Data, determining when to provide an electronic program guide to the terminal.

22. A business function unit, characterized by comprising:

a presentation information obtaining unit, configured to acquire presence information of the terminal;

a time determining unit, configured to determine a time for providing an electronic program guide to the terminal according to the presence information acquired by the presence information acquiring unit;

The electronic program guide providing unit is configured to provide the electronic program list to the terminal according to the time determined by the time determining unit.

23. A business function unit, characterized by comprising:

The electronic program guide providing unit is configured to immediately provide an electronic program list to the terminal after the third party registration unit and the IMS interact.

24. An AS, characterized by comprising:

a time determining unit, configured to determine a time for providing an electronic program list to the terminal after the third party registration unit and the IMS are completed;

25. An AS, characterized by comprising:

a time determining unit, configured to determine, according to the presence information acquired by the presence information acquiring unit, a time for providing an electronic program guide to the terminal;

26. An AS, characterized by comprising: