WO2008000114A1

WO2008000114A1 - Method for interfusing conference television system with iptv system and apparatus thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2008000114A1
Application number: PCT/CN2006/003173
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jinghai Chen; Jian Weng
Original assignee: Zte Corporation
Priority date: 2006-06-20
Filing date: 2006-12-14
Publication date: 2008-01-03
Also published as: CN100562093C; CN101094380A

Abstract

A method for interfusing conference television system with IPTV system and an apparatus thereof, the conference managing system of the conference television system interacts the control message with the service managing system of the IPTV system, the stream media server of the IPTV system receives and stores the media streams of the video conference from the MCU of the conference television system. The conference television terminal of the conference television system and/or service client of the IPTV system watch the media streams of the video conference in the manner of live broadcast and/or order program and/or time shifting through the stream media server. Interfusing the conference television system with IPTV system, the stream media server of the IPTV system can store the video conference content of the conference television system, and the conference television terminal and the client of the IPTV system can watch the video conference content in the manner of live broadcast/order program/time shifting.

Description

^Yi TV system and interactive network TV system

Fusion method and device

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of convergence of a conference television system and an IPTV system, and more particularly to a method in which video conference content can be broadcasted/on-demand/time-shifted by a conference television terminal and an IPTV system client. Background Art In recent years, IPTV (Interactive Network Television) has attracted more and more attention. The IPTV service refers to a new service aggregation with IP (Internet Protocol) as the transmission technology, TV (television) as the media terminal, and interactive audio and video services as the main body. It utilizes a broadband network, combining video encoding and decoding, streaming media, broadband communications, digital rights and other technologies to provide users with interactive audio and video services. At present, with the rapid development of broadband network technology and video coding technology and the accumulation of business operation experience, IPTV services are gradually moving towards the actual operation stage and become the mainstream broadband services of telecom operators.

IPTV has a variety of business forms, but it is mainly a live broadcast, on-demand, and a variant of both. The following are some of the common ones. Live broadcast: Live broadcast is one of the basic service forms of IPTV service. For users, this kind of service is like traditional channel TV. Channel switching and channel selection are realized by on-screen menu form, enriching the user's video channel; For operators, live broadcast Business is sucking? I. Effective means of traditional TV users, business income includes monthly rent, advertising revenue, etc. The key to its operation is channel characteristics. From the perspective of technology implementation, such services generally use IP multicast technology to transmit TV program information on the IP network. The bearer network is required to support IP multicast and IP QoS (Quality of Service Guarantee on Demand: On-demand is another basic form of service for IPTV services. Users choose to play content through the rhinoceros menu and pay for the content. It completely subverts the user's viewing. Habits, passive passive viewing to active on-demand, handing over the choice of playing content to the user, greatly satisfying the user's individual needs, is a new business form completely different from traditional TV. According to the charging model, target customer group, Different types of content, this basic business form can evolve into multiple changes. Different form. Time-shifted Television (TSTV) is a new service formed by the combination of live broadcast and on-demand broadcasting. It is a supplement to the live broadcast service. When watching the live channel TV, the user can pause in the middle, and then continue to watch from the pause to avoid missing some important episodes. Technically, when the request is suspended, the playback server catalogs the sections, and when the playback continues, the recorded programs are replayed in unicast form. This kind of service is especially useful for event-like programs, which not only facilitates users, but also increases profitability for operators. In the traditional conference television system, the terminals that access the conference interact through the Multipoint Control Unit (MCU), and can only receive real-time media streams; the conference content is difficult to store, and cannot be inserted and cannot be time-shifted. Through the method introduced by the present invention, the traditional conference television system and the IPTV system are integrated, and the powerful storage on-demand capability of the IPTV system is utilized, which solves the above problems well, and introduces the traditional conference television system into a brand-new field. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A primary object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for implementing a conference television system and an IPTV system, which solves the problem that video conference content cannot be stored, cannot be on-demand, or cannot be time-shifted in a conventional conference television system. In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of realizing a fusion of a television system and an interactive network television system. In the method, the conference management system in the conference television system interacts with the service management system in the interactive network television system to control the message, and receives the multipoint control unit of the conference television system through the streaming media server in the interactive network television system. The media stream of the sent video is stored and stored, and the service client in the conference television system and/or the interactive network television system in the conference television system is implemented by the streaming server to be broadcasted and/or on-demand and/or time-shifted. The way to watch the video stream of a video conference. The method further includes the following steps: Step 1: The conference management system selects a conference television terminal that needs to output a media stream, and passes The multipoint control unit allocates media resources to the conference television terminal; Step 2: The conference management system notifies the service management system of the description information of the media stream; Step 3: The service management system notifies the streaming media server of the description information; Step 4: The service management system starts a streaming media server, the streaming media server receives the media stream corresponding to the conference television terminal from the multipoint control unit according to the description information; Step 5: The streaming media server stores the media stream; Step 6: the conference television terminal and/or the service client passes the streaming media server A media stream that views a video conference in live and/or on-demand and/or time-shifted manners. In step-sixth, the conference television terminal and the service client establish a connection with the streaming server through the electronic program guide in the interactive network television system. Before the step 6, the method may further include: during the conference, the conference management system changes the selected conference television terminal that needs to output the media stream, and notifies the service management system, where the service management system notifies the electronic program list and the streaming media server to perform corresponding Synchronization. Further, the live broadcast mode includes: the video terminal and/or the service client understand the conference live through the streaming media server, so that it is not necessary to directly participate in the P conference; the time shift manner includes: the conference television terminal and/or the service client pass the streaming media. The server knows the content of the conference before the current time point, so that it is not necessary to directly participate in the conference; the on-demand mode includes: the conference television terminal and/or the service client view the previous video conference content through the streaming server on demand. In order to achieve the above object, in a second aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides an apparatus for realizing a fusion of a conference television system and an interactive network television system. The device comprises a conference television system and an interactive network television system, wherein the conference television system comprises a conference management system, a multipoint control unit, and a conference television terminal connected in sequence; the interactive network television system comprises a service management system, a service client, And a streaming media server and an electronic program guide respectively connected to the service management system and the service client, wherein the conference management system and the service management system perform control message interaction, and the streaming media server is configured to receive the multi-point control unit to send The media stream of the video conference coming over and stored, the conference TV terminal is connected to the streaming media server and the electronic program The conference television terminal and/or the service client are used to implement the media stream of the video conference in a live broadcast and/or on-demand and/or time-shifted manner through the streaming server. Preferably, the conference e-terminal connected to the streaming server is a conference television terminal having at least one of live broadcast, on-demand, and time shift, and the conference television system may further include no live broadcast, on-demand, and time shift functions. Ordinary conference TV terminal. Optionally, the business client is a set top box or a personal computer client. The conference television terminal and the service client are used to establish a connection with the streaming server through the electronic program guide. The conference management system is further configured to: during the conference, change the selected conference television terminal that needs to output the media stream, and notify the service management system, where the service management system is configured to notify the electronic program guide and the streaming media server after receiving the change notification again. Perform the appropriate synchronization. Through the above technical solution, the invention combines the conference television system and the IPTV system, so that the video conference content of the video system can be stored in the streaming media server of the IPTV system, and can be broadcasted/on-demand by the conference television terminal and the IPTV system client. / Time shift to watch. The invention effectively expands the respective application fields of the conference television system and the IPTV system, and does not affect the respective services of the original conference television system and the IPTV system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are set to illustrate,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for implementing a fusion of a television system and an interactive network television system according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a structural diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention; A flow chart of a conference television system MCU transmitting a media stream to an IPTV system streaming server; FIG. 4 is a live broadcast of a conference television system terminal and an IPTV client according to an embodiment of the present invention/ Flowchart for watching video conferencing content on demand/time shift. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The invention is directed to the problem that the video conference content cannot be stored in the traditional conference television system, and cannot be on-demand or time-shifted. Combined with the IPTV system, a method for realizing the fusion of the conference television system and the IPTV system is proposed (see FIG. 1 ), and the method is as follows: The system consists of a conference television service management system (ie, "meeting management system" in the invention content), an MCU, and a conference television terminal. The conference television terminal may include an IPTV client function such as live broadcast/on-demand/time shift; the conference television terminal and the MCU perform Signaling and media interaction; The conference television service management system provides service management and service support for the conference television system.

The IPTV system consists of an IPTV service management system, an EPG (Electronic Programmer Guide), a streaming media server, and an IPTV client (including a set-top box, PC client, etc.). The IPTV client establishes a connection with the streaming media server through the EPG, and performs streaming media operation functions such as live broadcast/on-demand/time shift; the IPTV service management system provides service management and service support for the IPTV system. Through the interaction of the control message between the conference television service management system and the IPTV service management system, the streaming media server of the IPTV system receives the media stream sent by the MCU of the conference television system, and can be stored in the form of a media file; the conference television terminal and the IPTV system client The streaming media server can watch the video conference content sent by the conference television system to the IPTV system through the streaming media server. If the conference TV terminal implements live/on-demand/time-shift viewing, the conference TV terminal must have a V-point insertion V time shift function. The main steps of the method of the invention are as follows:

1) The conference television service management system selects a terminal to output a media stream, and the MCU allocates media resources to the terminals;

2) the conference television service management system notifies the IPTV service management system of the media description information of the terminal media streams; 3) the IPTV service management system notifies the media description information of the conference television terminal to the streaming media server in the IPTV system;

4) The IPTV service management system starts the streaming media server to receive each terminal media stream from the MTV system;

5) The IPTV service management system can notify the streaming media server to store the media stream for time shifting and point insertion;

6) During the conference, the terminal that outputs the media stream can be changed on the conference television service management system, and the IPTV service management system needs to be notified immediately, and then the IPTV service management system notifies the EPG and the streaming media server, so that the corresponding synchronization is performed. Optional step butterfly;

7.1) The conference TV terminal and the IPTV client can establish a connection through the EPG and the streaming server during the conference, and watch the video conference live and time-shifted; for live broadcast, the conference TV terminal and/or IPTV client described here The conference media can be learned through the streaming server without having to directly participate in the conference. For the time shift, the conference TV terminal and/or the IPTV client described herein can learn the conference content before the current time point through the streaming media server without directly participating in the conference. Meeting

7.2) The conference TV terminal and the IPTV client can establish a connection through the EPG and the streaming server after the conference, and watch the video conference content on demand. FIG. 2 depicts a fusion diagram of a simple conference television system 110 and an IPTV system 120. The conference television system 110 is composed of a conference television service management system 111, an MCU 112, and conference television terminals 113, 114. The conference television terminal 113 can be an ordinary terminal because it is not connected to the streaming server of the IPTV system; the conference television terminal 114 IPTV client functions including live broadcast or/and on-demand or/and time shift; of course 113 may also be an IPTV client function including live broadcast or/and point-and-click or/and time shift; IPTV system 120 is provided by IPTV service management system 121, The EPG 122, the streaming media server 123, and the IPTV client 124 (including a set top box, a PC client, etc.) are composed. The thick solid line in the figure represents the media stream, and the thin solid line represents the control message stream. The conference television system 110 and the IPTV system 120 interactively control messages through respective service management systems, and the two systems can transmit SDP through an FTP connection (Session Description) Protocol, session description protocol) media description file; media is sent by the conference television system MCU to the IPTV system streaming media server, video MPEG-4 code stream (Moving Picture Experts Group 4, ISO/IEC 14496 audio and video objects Coding) is transmitted in the form of ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance), video Η .264 code stream ( Η.264 standard is ITU-T's VCEG (Video Coding Experts Group) and ISO/IEC MPEG ( The Moving Video Experts Group (JVT, Joint Video Team) developed the 枧 frequency standard, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10). One: TS (TS stream is a common standard in the media industry, its goal is based on Broadband digital video broadcasting, and supports a variety of basic media streams and a variety of media encoding standards) form transmission, audio one & AAC (Advanced Audio Codec) or MP3 (MPEG-1 AudioLayer-3) format transmission; conference television terminal And the IPTV system client establishes a connection with the streaming media server through the EPG, and realizes live/point-and-click V time-shifting watching video through RTSP (Real Time Streaming protocol) Conference content. In this example, there is a conference TV terminal. Of course, this situation requires the terminal to have live broadcast, on-demand, and time shift functions, because it needs to interact with the streaming server of the IPTV system. 3 is a flow chart of the MCU of the conference television system of the present invention transmitting a media stream to an IPTV system streaming server. The main process is as follows: Step 201: After receiving the terminal configuration delivered by the conference television service management system, the MCU allocates media resources to the terminal and feeds back to the conference television service management system; Step 202: Conference TV service management The system sends the media description information of the terminal to the IPTV service management system. Step 203: The IPTV service management system notifies the media server of the conference television terminal to the streaming media server, and simultaneously issues the information on the EPG. Step 204: The IPTV service management system notifies the streaming media The server receives the media stream from the MCU; Step 205: If the IFTV service management system notifies the streaming server to store the media streams, the streaming media server stores the media streams as a media file. 4 is a conference television terminal and an IPTV client through the IPTV streaming service in the present invention. Flowchart for watching live video/on-demand/time shifting video conferencing content. The main process is as follows: First, step 301, the conference television terminal or the IPTV client selects a program on the EPG, and obtains a URL (Uniform Resource Locator; Uniform Resource Locator;); then, step 302, the conference television terminal or the IPTV client According to the obtained URL, live video/on-demand/real-time viewing of the video conference content on the streaming server. By adopting the method of the present invention, by combining the conference television system and the IPTV system, the video conference content of the video system can be stored in the IPTV system streaming media server, and can be broadcasted/on-demand by the conference television terminal and the IPTV system client. / Time shift to watch. The invention effectively expands the respective application fields of the television system and the IPTV system, and does not affect the respective services of the original conference television system and the IPTV system. The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes can be made to the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and scope of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

A method for realizing integration of a television system and an interactive network television system, wherein the conference management system in the electronic power system and the service management system in the interactive network television system are controlled The interaction of the message, the media stream of the video conference sent by the multipoint control unit of the conference television system is received and stored by the streaming media server in the interactive network television system, and the conference television terminal in the conference television system And/or the service client in the interactive network television system enables the media stream of the video conference to be viewed in a live broadcast and/or on-demand and/or time-shifted manner through the streaming server.

The method according to claim 1, further comprising the following steps: Step 1: The conference management system selects the conference television terminal that needs to output the media stream, by using the multipoint control unit The conference television terminal configures a media resource;

Step 2: The conference management system notifies the service management system of the description information of the media stream;

Step 3: The service management system notifies the description information to the streaming media server.

Step 4: The service management system starts the streaming media server, and the streaming media server receives the media stream corresponding to the conference television terminal from the multipoint control unit according to the description information.

Step 5: The streaming media server stores the media stream.

Step 6: The conference television terminal and/or the service client use the streaming server to view the media of the video conference by means of in-line and/or point insertion and/or time shifting. Stream.

The method according to claim 2, wherein in the step 6, the conference television terminal and the service client pass an electronic program list and the stream in the interactive network television system The media server establishes a connection.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, before step 6 of the The method includes: during the conference, the management system changes the selected conference television terminal that needs to output the media stream, and notifies the service management system, where the service management system notifies the electronic program guide Corresponding synchronization with the streaming server. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that

The live broadcast mode includes: the conference television terminal and/or the service client notifying the conference live through the streaming media server, so that the time shift mode includes: the conference television terminal and/or The service client can learn the content of the conference before the current time point by using the streaming media server, so that the conference client does not need to directly participate in the conference; the method of on-demand includes: the conference television terminal and/or the service client pass the streaming media The server on-demand watched the video conference content. An apparatus for realizing a fusion of a conference television system and an interactive network television system, comprising: the conference television system and the interactive network television system,

The conference television system includes a conference management system, a multipoint control unit, and a conference television terminal that are sequentially connected;

The interactive network television system includes a service management system, a service client, and a streaming media server and an electronic program guide respectively connected to the service management system and the service client;

The conference management system and the service management system perform control message interaction, and the streaming media server is configured to receive and store the media stream of the video conference sent by the multipoint control unit, where the conference television terminal is connected to The streaming media server and the electronic program guide, the conference television terminal and/or the service client are configured to perform the live broadcast and/or on-demand and/or time-shifting by using the streaming media server. Media stream for video conferencing. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said conference television terminals connected to said streaming server are both conference television terminals having at least one of in-streaming and time shifting, and said conference The television system may also include a conventional conference television terminal that does not have live, on-demand, and time-shift functions.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the service client is a set top box or a personal computer client.

The device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the conference television terminal and the service client are used to establish the electronic program guide and the streaming media server connection.

The device according to claim 9, wherein the conference management system is further configured to: during the conference, change the selected conference television terminal that needs to output the media stream, and The service management system, after the service management system is configured to receive the change notification, notify the electronic program guide and the streaming server to perform corresponding synchronization.