WO2008017192A1

WO2008017192A1 - An interactive television system and method for implementing interactive television

Info

Publication number: WO2008017192A1
Application number: PCT/CN2006/001821
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jianghong Zhang; Yiqun Li; Xiaoyu Ren; Dichun Wang
Original assignee: I-Vision Beijing Information Technology Ltd.; I-Vision Beijing Inc.
Priority date: 2006-07-24
Filing date: 2006-07-24
Publication date: 2008-02-14
Also published as: WO2008014646A1; CN101502113A

Abstract

An interactive television system with the method for implementing the system based on Internet (4) and digital video broadcasting network (5) are disclosed, the system comprises: an EPG information supplying headend (1), which transmits EPG information to interactive television content supplying headend (2) and digital video broadcast headend (3) respectively; a digital video broadcasting headend(3), which plays digital television program by using digital video broadcasting network (5); and an interactive television content supplying headend (2), which programs interactive content associated with television program using partial EPG information, and sends interactive content associated with current television program according to the downloading request through Internet (4). The system sends video program and interactive content using DVB broadcast technique and internet technique respectively for implementing interactive television without changing the channel run system using universal and standard protocol.

Description

Interactive television system and method for realizing interactive television

The present invention relates to an interactive television system and a method for implementing an interactive television, and more particularly to an interactive television system based on digital television, the Internet, a broadcast network, and a telecommunications network, and a method for implementing an interactive television. Background technique

At present, analog TV also occupies most of the market, and analog TV cannot implement a secure encryption mechanism, so flexible charging and commercial operations cannot be realized. Digital TV after analog-to-digital conversion can achieve two-way interaction, but the traditional mechanism is realized through middleware technology. Figure 1 depicts a system approach to interactive television using middleware technology. In the terminal device, the general structure of the middleware technology is to add a middleware layer between the operating system/driver layer and the application layer of the device, which is used to simplify the direct call of the application to the operating system, and provide the application with independence. The API interface function package of the hardware platform. The middleware layer of the terminal device in the figure includes various functional modules required for implementing interactive television through middleware technology, such as DVB-SI manager, data download manager, graphic image processing, browser, etc. (not shown). The modules based on the middleware-based interactive TV headend are the functional modules needed to create and play interactive TV content, including the gray part modules (such as data preparation, data distribution, data and program synchronization, interactive program playback, etc.) They are all provided by the middleware provider. The matching of interactive content and video content and the format of the terminal receiving files are also defined and implemented by the middleware provider's own protocol. Therefore, the headend and terminal systems between different providers cannot be used interchangeably, and program producers and operators must train interactive content producers and interactive TV headend operators for different interactive TV headends. All interactive content produced at the head end is sent to the interactive TV terminal via the DVB broadcast network. The interactive operation experienced by the user is actually the local operation of the content by the user in the case where the above interactive content has been downloaded to the local through one-way broadcast. Although there are interactive TV applications that return user information through a simple return channel, the interactive information at the head end is still mainly broadcast via the DVB broadcast network. It can be seen from the above that the use of middleware technology to achieve interactive channels has the following shortcomings: Traditional middleware realizes the transmission of interactive information in interactive television over-reliance on DVB broadcast networks. The interaction performed by the user is basically an operation of downloading interactive information to the local. Although the user can also transmit the backhaul information through the web browser in the IP network and the middleware, the interactive information is mainly transmitted through the DVB broadcast network, and the IP network does not exert its two-way advantage in the realization of the middleware interactive television. Therefore, it does not play a leading role in transmitting interactive information. Middleware interactive TV also requires the use of middleware-specific tools to create channels and interactive content from content providers/channel vendors (such as TV stations). Network operators must also support middleware technology to ensure complete transmission of interactive channels to terminals. The terminal also requires support for middleware to ensure that interactive channel content is properly parsed. At the same time, each middleware provider generally uses a proprietary protocol to manage video and information content that needs to be interactive, and uses a proprietary protocol to combine information and video content and deliver it through a data broadcast network. The use of proprietary protocols can cause operators to rely too much on middleware providers. For example, the interactive TV production and management tools provided by different middleware providers have different operational processes and characteristics, and the format and transmission method of information data are different. Requirements, so each use of a set of tools requires specialized training of the production staff, and a middleware-implemented terminal device cannot receive and use interactive media applications made by other middleware provider's production tools, which is not conducive to Updates and extensions to interactive TV applications. Traditional middleware interactive TV technology is the leading business of TV stations and channel operators. Only channel operators can change the traditional personnel organization structure and production process and professional training personnel can create new interactive channels. New interactive channels need to be more Multi-broadcast bandwidth resource support, such as: Making a sports channel, if multiple video channels including football, volleyball, swimming, etc., the actual bandwidth is the overhead of multiple video channels plus interactive information data. For the channel play front end, the original play mode must be changed and the video channels together with the interactive information data are multiplexed in a broadcast transmission channel (for example, a TS stream), the terminal device In order to extract the corresponding video and interactive information from the channel through middleware technology, the function of interactive TV can be realized. The new MHP standard supported by the European DVB organization is also a middleware technology. Unlike traditional middleware technology, the MHP standard is an open middleware standard that solves the problem that interactive TV applications cannot run on different middleware devices, and the highest category in MHP also proposes to support IP networks and compatible HTML. To achieve access to the Internet. However, the MHP standard only expands the transmission method of interactive information, and still does not propose the method for realizing the association and synchronization of interactive information between the head end and the terminal implemented by the present invention. In addition, the MHP standard is based on JAVA virtual machine technology. When the application is running, the JAVA virtual machine needs to occupy the CPU computing cycle and memory space of the terminal device to interpret the application instructions one by one into the machine code on the specific platform. For an embedded terminal device with a low CPU frequency and a very limited memory capacity, the terminal device resources are additionally consumed, the working efficiency of the device is reduced, and the effect of the actual application is affected. On the interactive television terminal device, the method of the present invention and the function of the interactive television can be realized regardless of whether or not the JAVA virtual machine technology is used. For a terminal device with high resource limitation, the method of the present invention can be implemented by a module that can be directly executed more efficiently than a JAVA virtual machine; for a terminal device with sufficient resources, the method of the present invention can also be implemented based on the JAVA virtual machine technology. In summary, the method of the present invention can be implemented without relying on a specific technology (such as middleware technology, JAVA virtual machine technology), so that the scope of application is wider and the implementation is more diverse. In short, the problem of interactive TV implemented by traditional middleware technology is: Excessive use of proprietary protocols, mainly relying on digital broadcast networks to release interactive content, which will additionally occupy broadcast bandwidth. Most of the interactive TVs realized are local interactions, and IP networks cannot be fully utilized. Technology releases and transmits interactive content. From the production of interactive content at the head end to the transmission of broadcast networks to the use of terminal devices, it is necessary to support middleware technology to realize interactive TV, which is not conducive to operators to flexibly carry out interactive value-added services on the existing basis.

Therefore, there is a need for an interactive television system that addresses these and other issues. A method of implementing the interactive television system. According to an aspect of the present invention, an interactive television headend based on an internetwork and a digital television broadcast network is provided, comprising: an electronic program guide EPG information providing headend that transmits EPG information to an interactive television content providing headend and Digital TV broadcast head; digital TV broadcast head, which uses digital TV broadcast network to broadcast digital TV programs; and interactive TV content delivery head, which uses part of EPG information to create interactive content associated with TV programs, and passes the download request The Internet distributes interactive content related to current TV shows. According to another aspect of the present invention, an interactive television terminal based on an internetwork and a digital television broadcast network is provided, comprising: an EPG information extraction module that extracts various EPG information corresponding to a current program from a digital television broadcast network; a request generation module, which acquires description data about the television program from the EPG information extraction module, analyzes the description data and generates a download request for the interaction information, and transmits the download request to the network data processing module; the network data processing module passes the download request The internet interface unit sends to the network, receives data of the interactive information in response to the download request from the network, parses and processes the data file of the interactive information, and transmits the display content of the interactive information to the graphic display processing module through the internetwork; An internet interface unit that sends a download request and a return data to the internetwork, and receives data of various interactive information from the internetwork; and a graphic display processing module that draws the content of the interactive page according to the data of the interactive information, and outputs A display to display an image comprising interactive information. According to another aspect of the present invention, an interactive television system based on an internetwork and a digital television broadcast network is provided, comprising: an interactive television headend that transmits television program guide EPG information and transmits digital television programs through a digital television broadcast network, And generating interactive information related to the digital television program based on the EPG information, and then transmitting the interactive information synchronized with the digital television program through the IP network according to the request of the terminal device; the terminal device, according to the user's request and the received EPG information, Automatically generate a download request for interactive information and send it to the interactive TV headend, and download the corresponding interactive information from the interactive TV headend, and then Display TV shows and interactive information in a set way. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for operating an interactive television system based on an internetwork and a digital television broadcast network is provided, comprising the steps of: (1) receiving television program guide EPG information, and transmitting digital television through a digital television broadcast network (2) generating interactive information related to the digital television program based on the EPG information; and (3) automatically generating a download request for the interactive information and transmitting according to the user's request and the received EPG information, (4) based on the The download request transmits interactive information synchronized with the digital television program over the internet; and (5) displays the television program and interactive information in response to the identification set by the user in the download request. Based on the above technical solution, it can be seen that the method of the present invention uses the DVB broadcast technology and the Internet technology to respectively deliver video programs and interactive content, adopts a universal and standard protocol, does not occupy broadcast bandwidth, and does not need to consume excessive resources of the terminal device. It is convenient to realize interactive TV without changing the operation system of the channel and changing the production process of the traditional channel maker. Due to compatibility with DVB and Internet technologies, the interactive TV implemented according to the method of the present invention will support Internet content sharing, and a large amount of interactive content can be directly derived from the Internet, without requiring professional channel personnel to be responsible for content production, reducing operator burden, and utilizing automatic search. The mechanism can carry out a variety of value-added services, providing new profitable methods for broadcast network operators and value-added service providers. However, since the method of the present invention transmits interactive information through an IP network, the interactive information can be associated with the video in any transmission channel without the above-mentioned restrictions that must be bound to the video transmission in the same transmission channel. Therefore, the method of the invention is more conducive to the integration of existing resources by the television station and the channel operator, and realizes the interactive television function without changing the original broadcast mode of the video channel. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 depicts a system scheme of an interactive television implemented using middleware technology; Figure 2 is a block diagram of the composition of the interactive television system of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a flow chart of implementing an interactive television in accordance with the method of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a block diagram of the function module of the interactive television head end;

Figure 5 is a functional block diagram of a specific embodiment of an interactive television headend;

6 is a flowchart of an interactive television content providing head end according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an interactive television content providing head end according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an interactive television terminal function module;

9 is a functional block diagram of a specific embodiment of an interactive television terminal;

10 is a flow chart of an interactive television content providing terminal according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an interactive television content providing terminal according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 12 is a mode for a terminal user to watch a television program in full screen;

Figure 13 depicts the mode of displaying interactive content on a full screen;

Figure 14 depicts the pattern in which the interactive page floats above the video program;

Figure 15 depicts the mode in which the video program floats above the interactive page;

Figure 16 depicts the mode in which the video program is embedded in the video window 1 of the interactive page; Figure 17 depicts the form in which the video program and the interactive page are displayed side by side; a detailed description of the preferred embodiment

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from The present invention is mainly implemented based on an internetwork and a digital television broadcast network, which may be an IP-based internet or other network, and the digital television network may be a DVB broadcast network using a digital video broadcast DVB standard, and therefore, In the embodiment of the present invention, we take an IP network and a DVB broadcast network as an example. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the internetwork and digital television broadcast networks of the present invention are not limited to IP networks and DVB broadcast networks, but other internetwork and digital television broadcast networks may be employed. Below, we describe an embodiment of the present invention with an IP network and a DVB broadcast network as an example. The use of digital broadcasting network technology DVB, IP network technology to achieve interactive TV. The digital broadcast network transmits digital channels, and the IP network transmits interactive content synchronized with the digital channels. The interactive content provides the head end to ensure the generation of the interactive content and the synchronization with the television program, and the terminal device automatically associates the current program and the interactive information according to the method of the present invention, automatically generates the download request of the interactive information and downloads the interactive content, and adopts a user-friendly manner. Show TV shows and interactive content. The user simply operates the input device, and the terminal device locates the digital TV program and interactive content according to the user's selection, and implements various interactive operations on the interactive display page. Figure 2 depicts a block diagram of the components of the interactive television system of the present invention. The interactive television system is based on an IP network and a DVB broadcast network, and is divided into two parts: an interactive television headend and an interactive television terminal. The interactive TV headend includes an electronic program guide EPG information providing headend, an interactive TV content providing headend, and a DVB digital TV broadcast headend. Interactive television terminals include various types of interactive television terminal equipment.

An IP network is a network that uses two-way transmission of interactive information using IP technology. The actual physical network includes, but is not limited to, Ethernet, a telephone line modem-based network, a HFC-based and cable modem-based network, a wireless GPRS/GSM-based network, based on

WiFi (IEEE802.11) network, NFC (Contactless Radio Frequency Identification and Interconnect Technology) based network, etc.

The DVB broadcast network is a network for playing digital television programs using DVB broadcast technology, and the actual network includes, but is not limited to, a wired HFC network, a terrestrial transmission network, a satellite transmission network, a wireless communication network, and the like. The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) information provider header is the source of EPG information. EPG information is required for both interactive TV headends and interactive TV terminals to correlate important information about TV shows and interactive content. Electronic program guide EPG information provides the head end to separate the EPG information The interactive content is provided to the headend device and the DVB broadcast headend device; and the EPG information is also transmitted to the interactive television terminal device through the DVB broadcast network. The interactive television terminal utilizes the EPG information to generate a download request for interactive content related to the current television program. The interactive TV head end uses the EPG information to create interactive content associated with the television program, and delivers interactive content related to the current television program according to the request of the interactive television terminal. The head end and the terminal can realize interactive TV in the case of partial EPG information, for example, obtaining SID (Service Identifier, Service ID), EID (Event Identifier, Event ID), EIT (Event Information Table) in the EPG information. , Event Information Table) and so on. The interactive television content providing headend is the source of the interactive information needed to provide the invention. Interactive TV content provides the interactive content that head-ends use to create, edit, correlate, and publish interactive TV using EPG information, rich multimedia material. The multimedia material or from the interactive TV content provides the material library of the headend itself or comes from the Internet or comes from other content providers or comes from several aspects at the same time. The search, production, editing, association, and publishing of interactive content can be done automatically or manually. Interactive content includes, but is not limited to, web pages, multimedia data, games, animations, audio and video files that can be transmitted and displayed via IP technology. The release of interactive content is mainly done through an IP web server. The head end of digital TV broadcasting is the source of digital TV programming using DVB broadcast technology. For different digital TV receiving terminals, the broadcast headend can be used by DVB-C or

Digital TV programs are played by DVB-H or DVB-T or other means. An interactive television terminal device is a device that receives digital television programs and interactive content. In addition to the ability to play digital TV programs from DVB broadcast networks, interactive TV terminal devices also have the ability to connect IP networks and display IP network pages and data. IP networks here include, but are not limited to, Ethernet, modem-based networks, HFC-based and cable modem-based networks, wireless GPRS/GSM-based networks, WiFi-based (IEEE802.11)-based networks, NFC-based (contactless) Radio frequency identification and interconnection technology) networks and so on. By the method according to the invention, an interactive television terminal device having the above capabilities will be able to correlate and synchronize information from the IP network with the current program, thereby enabling The user can simultaneously view the television program and interactive information from the IP network associated with the current television program. The interactive television terminal device can be any electronic device having the above capabilities, including but not limited to digital television set top boxes, portable electronic devices (eg, mobile phones, PDAs), personal computers, audio and video program recorders (eg, VCRs), satellite televisions, digital TV sets and their mixes, etc. The workflow of the present invention will be briefly described below with reference to FIG. The detailed flow and examples of each part of the system will be described later. In order to realize the function of interactive TV, after the EPG information is obtained, the head end and the terminal of the system will generate, process and transmit the interactive information according to a certain process. The EPG information providing head is mainly responsible for making and publishing EPG information (step 311).

The DVB broadcast headend acquires the EPG information (step 321) and synthesizes and broadcasts the program video and broadcast data to the DVB broadcast network in accordance with the DVB broadcast standard (step 322). The interactive content provided to provide interactive content is provided by the head end from the EPG information provider.

After the EPG information (step 331), the interactive content material is obtained from the interactive content material library or other content provider (step 332). After obtaining the above information and material, the interactive television content provides the head end for associating and editing the interactive content (step 333). A more specific example of step 333 is as follows: First, a keyword identifier describing information such as material content, type, available range, and the like is added for different materials, and the material classification is stored in the material library. Second, according to

EPG information (such as description data SID, EID, EIT, etc. in EPG information) Description of different TV programs, analysis and classification of programs, establishment of keyword identifiers describing information such as program content, background, type, etc., and recording of various sections Correspondence between § keywords and EPG information. Finally, according to the above-mentioned keyword search material library of the program, the material having the same or similar keywords as the program is found, and the material will be used to make the corresponding program. Interactive content. After screening, combining and modifying, the interactive content providing headend will generate interactive content corresponding to each TV program. After completing the association and editing of the interactive content, the interactive television content providing headend can publish the interactive content at any time according to the request of the interactive television terminal (step 334). After receiving the download request of the terminal, the mutual east content providing head end first extracts the EPG information included in the request, searches the edited content corresponding to the EPG information edited in step 333, and sends the interactive content in a suitable format. To the terminal. Requests and interactive content sent by the terminal provide interactive content posted by the head end and are transmitted over the IP network. The interactive TV terminal (Fig. 8) obtains the EPG information published by the DVB broadcast headend through the DVB broadcast network. In step 341, the EPG information corresponding to the current television program, such as SID, EID, EIT, etc., is automatically acquired by the interactive request generation module (such as 801 in FIG. 8) in the interactive television terminal. The acquisition of the EPG information by the interaction request generation module 801 may be a periodic query or obtained by a user. Taking the periodic query as an example, the interaction engine module queries the EPG information extraction module 804 periodically (for example, every 30 seconds) without affecting the normal viewing of the television program by the user. The EPG information extraction module 804 performs the request of the interaction request generation module 801. Provide all or part of the EPG information. Taking the user-triggered query as an example, the user first controls the input device to select a new television program or switches between the viewing program mode and the interactive information browsing mode, and the user's control command is acquired by the I/O module 806 and immediately notifys the interactive request generation module. 801. The interaction request generation module 801 then requests the EPG information extraction module 804 to obtain new EPG information. After obtaining the relevant EPG information of the current television program, the interactive television terminal enters the step

342, determine and automatically generate a download request for interactive information. The specific method is: The interaction request generation module 801 first compares the newly queried EPG information with the last queried EPG information, and automatically determines whether the program and channel watched by the user have changed at the current time. The change here may be a change in the same television channel due to the end of the old program and the start of a new program, or may be a current program generated by the user selecting a new television channel. The change. The interactive request generation module 801 automatically generates a download request after determining that it is necessary to download new interactive information. For example, the download request may be a URL link containing a link to a web server that provides interactive information downloading and EPG data newly queried by the interaction request generation module 801. Optionally, the download request may further include information describing the interactive television terminal device, such as a device model, a user ID, a user personalization parameter, and the like. After a new download request is generated, step 343 is started to download the interactive information over the IP network. The interaction request generation module 801 hands the generated download request to the network data processing module 802, and the network data processing module 802 sends the download request to the IP network through the IP network interface unit. After receiving the request, the interactive content distribution unit at the head end of the interactive television content providing content downloads the relevant interactive information corresponding to the EPG information in the request (that is, the television program currently corresponding to the user) to the network data processing module 802. After obtaining the interactive information, the method of the present invention proceeds to step 344 to present the interactive content in response to various operations by the user on the interactive page. The network data processing module 802 first parses and arranges the interactive information, and draws the content of the interactive page through the graphic display processing module 803. Once the interactive page is displayed on the display device, the user can browse and read the content on the interactive page. The network data processing module 802 also arranges and refreshes the interactive page according to the user operation instructions passed through the I/O processing module 806 to issue a new download request specified by the user. For example, the user clicks a button icon on the interactive page through the input device, the instruction of the input device is acquired by the I/O module 806 and notified to the network data processing module 802, and the network data processing module 802 redraws the image through the graphic display processing module 803. Interactive page (such as a highlighted button icon that is clicked, etc.). The network data processing module 802 also performs corresponding interaction operations according to the attributes of different areas and controls in the page, such as initiating a new page download request. The composition of the functional modules of the various parts of the interactive television system and an example of the control flow thereof will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 11. Figure 4 depicts the basic functional modules of the interactive TV content providing headend. The interactive TV content providing headend includes: an interactive content database, which is responsible for storing and managing materials and data of interactive content, including web pages, multimedia data, games, animations, audio and video files, etc.; EPG information acquisition unit, which is partially or Receiving EPG information from the EPG information providing head end all the time, and describing data of the TV program in a certain time range, such as SID,

EID, EIT, etc. are respectively sent to the interactive content editing unit, the interactive content database and the interactive content publishing unit; the interactive content editing unit, which combines the material of the interactive content with the received EPG information, automatically or manually creates and edits with each television Program-related interactive content; an interactive content publishing unit that is connected to the interactive content database and is responsible for extracting relevant interactive information edited by the interactive content editing unit from the database in accordance with a download request sent from the interactive television terminal device over the IP network. The interactive information is sent to the interactive television terminal device via the IP network. Optionally, the interactive content can also be provided by other interactive content providers. Figure 5 depicts a schematic diagram of a specific embodiment of a headend of an interactive television system. The embodiment includes an interactive television content providing headend and a DVB broadcast headend device. The interactive content management center (hereinafter referred to as the center) in FIG. 5 corresponds to the interactive television content providing head end in FIG. The interactive content management center is responsible for the collection, storage, orchestration and distribution of interactive information. The interactive content management center is equipped with the interactive i-Visioin DB database, which stores various interactive information resource files associated with the program, including voice, video, pictures, text, data files and so on. The EPG server in the figure provides EPG information for the center. The network server equipped with the center publishes interactive information to the IP network. The data editing device equipped with the center provides the function of editing and modifying interactive information. The Center associates rich interactive information with TV programs in accordance with the TV program content and playback time sequence in the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), providing end-to-end TV users with a variety of interactive TV content. For example, for a TV show that is about to be broadcasted, the center's data editing device will search and extract related elements from the i-Visioin DB database. Materials, edit and create interactive pages related to the program. The interactive page can include such information as team pictures, text introductions, team history and media interview information. When the program starts, if a user is launching an interactive information download request containing the program EPG information through an interactive television terminal device (such as a digital TV set-top box that can implement interactive television according to the method of the present invention), the central network server receives After the request, the edited page associated with the EPG information (that is, associated with the program) is extracted according to the EPG information in the request, and the edited page is transmitted to the terminal device through the IP network. Thereby, the user can also obtain interactive information associated with the program while watching the game. If the terminal device further includes information describing the terminal device in the download request (such as describing the device of the terminal device, which browser the device uses, and what kind of display device the device uses), the interactive content providing header Based on the above information, the terminal can select the appropriate page specifications to display the interactive content. For example, for the terminal device of the set-top box, the interactive content providing head end can make the interactive content in a page template conforming to the PAL or NTSC standard television display specification. For a certain type of mobile phone, the interactive content providing head end can make the interactive content conform to the content. The phone screen displays the specifications in the page template. Thereby different terminal devices get suitable interactive pages. The video service and TV channel server, the electronic program guide EPG server and the conditional access system (CAS) in Fig. 5 are the basic devices of the DVB broadcast head end, and the rights management of the programs, EPG data information and viewing programs received by the television users are derived from this. The content provided by the above basic device is distributed to the HFC digital cable broadcasting network through the broadcast head end device. The workflow of the present invention at the head end of the interactive television content providing is described below in two specific examples. The first example highlights the ability of interactive TV content to provide front-end processing and production of interactive content. The second example focuses on the function of the interactive TV content providing the head end to automatically obtain and select the interactive content according to the terminal device request. Although the two examples differ in specific steps, processes, and information elements, they are all based on the method and basic steps of the present invention. The first example is shown in Figure 6. The editing unit first acquires the SID, EID, and EIT table data in the EPG information. The SID is the service identifier Service ID, which identifies a set of programs transmitted on the physical channel. For example, the first set of CCTV programs can be defined as SID==0x01, the first set of programs in Beijing, which can be defined as SID = 0x02. The EID is an event identifier Event ID, which identifies a program that is played during a certain period of time in a set of programs. For example, an international cinema program played at 19:00 - 21:00 can be defined as EID=0x08. The EIT table is an Event Information Table, which contains data related to events and programs, such as program title, start time, duration, short description of the program, program extension description, program classification, actors, directors, producers. Factory, awards and other various keywords and descriptions. Taking an international cinema program as an example, the EIT sheet can provide the following information:

Program title: International Cinema;

Start time: 19:00;

Duration: 120 minutes;

Program Category: Movie / Science Fiction;

Film Name: Star Wars;

Director: Owen, Kashner;

Starring: Harrison Ford, Mark, Hamill, Carrie, Fisher;

Screenplay: George, Lucas; Suppose that on the day of 19:00 - 21:00, CCTV's first program will play the movie Star Wars on the international cinema program. The SID, EID and EIT table data available to the editing unit will be SID = 0x01, EID=0x08, and movie name: Star Wars. Since the EPG information can be obtained by the editing unit several days before the official broadcast of the program, the editing unit can make and prepare interactive content about the movie in advance based on the three EPG information. In the stage of association and production of interactive content, the editing unit may use the title of the video as a keyword, and search for interactive content to provide an interactive content database or other interactive content provided at the head end. The interactive content database. The database returns various related files, such as image files, text files, audio video files, and so on. The contents of various documents are related to the film, such as film stills, news interviews, character introductions, etc. The editing unit can re-save these files into the database after adding the corresponding SID and EID identifiers. In this way, the files in the database can be associated with the interactive material and the program through the SID and EID identifiers. For example, the SID and EID identifiers of a Star Wars movie still picture file in the database are set to 0x01 and 0x08, respectively. The editing unit can also design new interactive content and associate it with the program by hand, for example, designing a user survey for the movie and setting its SID and EID identifiers to 0x01 and 0x08, respectively. The editing unit will also create various pages and templates for displaying interactive content in the early stage for browsing and operation by different terminal devices and end users with different preferences. Figures 12 through 17 depict the presentation of several interactive content. Users can view and manipulate interactive content by selecting a presentation through the input device. 12 is a mode in which an end user normally watches a television program, FIG. 13 exemplarily describes a mode in which interactive content is displayed on a full screen, FIG. 14 depicts a mode in which an interactive page floats on a video program, and FIG. 15 depicts a video program. The mode floating above the interactive page, FIG. 16 depicts the mode in which the video program is embedded in the video window 1 of the interactive page, and FIG. 17 depicts the form in which the video program and the interactive page are displayed side by side, and the like. The actual display mode of the interactive content includes but is not limited to the above examples. The interactive page file format created by the editing unit can be various web page formats, such as html files, jsp files, asp file formats, and the like. The terminal device can browse and manipulate the information on the interactive page by using a normal web browser. Through the above-mentioned interactive content association, production and interface design work. The interactive content provides the head end to the stage of providing and publishing interactive content in real time. For example, a terminal device initiates an interactive content download request to the interactive television providing head end during the program play, such as a http request with parameters: Http://ivisionchina.com/itv? SID=0x01 &EID=0x08 where http://ivisionchina.com/itv provides the content publishing address for the interactive content, SID = 0x01 and EID = OxOS for the terminal device corresponding to The EPG information of the current viewing program. After receiving the request, the publishing unit extracts the above information of SID = 0x01 and EID = 0x08, and uses the information as an index to query the database for the corresponding interactive content. Since the various assets in the database have been expanded in the interactive content production phase, the database will be able to return interactive content identified as SID = 0x01 and EID = 0x08. After the publishing unit arranges and pops the interactive content returned by the database into the corresponding page and template, the interactive content corresponding to the program is sent to the terminal device through the IP network. The second example is shown in Figure 7. The terminal device sends a download request for interactive content, such as a http request with parameters:

Http:〃 ivisionchina.com/itv?SID=0x01&EID=0x08 The publishing unit takes the SID and EID information and submits them to the editing unit for processing. The editing unit uses these two pieces of information as an index to obtain corresponding EIT table information from the EPG information obtaining unit, for example, the movie name corresponding to SID = 0x01 and EID = 0x08: Star Wars. The editing unit uses the film name as a keyword to automatically search the interactive content database or search for resources on the Internet, thereby obtaining various related documents and materials. For example, searching for the keyword "Star Wars" from the Internet to get posters, stills, plot introductions, starring texts, pictures, audio and video materials, etc. of the above-mentioned movie programs. The editing unit selects the appropriate material from the search results according to the template to form an interactive content. And it is sent to the publishing unit and sent to the terminal device. The above example differs from the first example in the following ways: In the example, the automatic search method is adopted; the production of the interactive content is performed after the terminal sends the download request; the acquisition of the interactive material is by keyword search instead of The SID and EID identifiers are implemented by lookup. The download request that is simpler than the above example may include only the SID information, and the interactive content providing head end knows the channel where the terminal user currently watches the program according to the SID information, and the interactive content providing headend uses the EPG information to provide the EPG information provided by the head end. The time sent by the download request infers which specific program the end user is watching. Thereby selecting the corresponding interactive content and sending it to the end user. For example, the terminal device sends a download request for the following interactive content, which only has parameters

SID and its value:

Http: //ivisionchina.com/itv? SID=0x01 In the case where the download request sent by the terminal device only contains the SID, the interactive content provides the head end to be able to return the corresponding interactive content. If the terminal device can provide more EPG information or end user information, the interactive content providing headend will provide richer, more detailed and personalized interactive content for different end users. The following example illustrates: The terminal device sends a download request for interactive content, such as a http request with parameters:

Tt://://ivisionchina.com/itv? SID=0x01 &EID=0x08 &TSID=0x01 where TSID=0x01 is the transport stream identifier indicating the transmission frequency of the current program, such as 443MHz. The interactive content providing header can be used to find out which DVB transmission frequency point the current program is sent to the terminal. The terminal device sends a download request for interactive content, such as a http request with parameters:

Http://ivisionchina.com/itv? EIT=,, Star Wars, where EIT= "Star Wars" is the name of the program obtained from the event information table EIT. The interactive content providing headend can directly use the name as a keyword to search for relevant interactive content. In addition to the program name, the EIT parameter can also be other various program description information, such as starring, intro, presentation, and the like. The terminal device sends a download request for interactive content, such as a http request with parameters:

Http:〃 ivisionchina.com/itv?SID=0x01&EID=0x08&NID=0x01 where NID=0x01 is the network identifier, indicating the transmission network where the current program is located, such as Beijing Cable TV Network. The interactive content providing headend can be used to find out which DVB transmission network is sent to the terminal through the current program. The terminal device sends a download request for interactive content, such as a http request with parameters:

Http:〃 ivisionchina.com/itv?SID=0x01&EID=0x08&NID=0x01 &ONID=0x02

The ONID is the original network identifier, indicating the transmission network to which the current program originally belongs, such as the Beijing cable network. The interactive content providing headend can be used to find out which DVB transmission network the current program originated from. The terminal device sends a download request for interactive content, such as a http request with parameters:

Http:〃 ivisionchina.com/itv?SID=0x01&EID=0x08&DEV=0x01 where DEV=0x01 indicates the identity value of the terminal device. The terminal device corresponding to the interactive content providing header can find out which class the terminal device that sent the request belongs to. Type. For example, the correspondence table can be set as follows:

According to the correspondence table, the interactive content providing head end can detect that the terminal device that sends the above http request is a THOMSON digital television set top box, and the model of the set top box is DCI-1500 o. The head end of the interactive television can select the suitable device according to the selection. The page format arranges interactive content. For example, an interactive page suitable for display on a PAL or NTSC television set is sent to the device. The terminal device can also send the following http request:

Http:〃 ivisionchina.com/itv?SID=0x01&EID=0x08&DEV=0x01&MO D=0x04

Among them, MOD=0x04 indicates that the end user likes the interactive page display mode identification value. By displaying the mode correspondence table on an interactive page at the head end of the interactive content providing, it is possible to find out which mode the user wants the interactive content to display. For example, the correspondence table can be set as follows:

According to the correspondence table, the interactive content providing head end can find out that the terminal device user who sends the above http request wishes to follow the video window in which the video program is embedded in the interactive page. The interactive content is provided, and the interactive content provides the front end to arrange the interactive content to the page of the mode and send it to the user terminal device. The terminal device can also send the following http request:

Http:〃 ivisionchina.com/itv?SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER=1200006 where USER-1200006 indicates the user number identification value of the end user. The user's basic information, viewing habits, and personalization can be found by a user information table at the head end of the interactive content providing, such as the following user information table:

According to the user information table, the interactive content providing headend will be able to find out various personalized information of the user. For example, the terminal user numbered 1200006 uses the model N92 NOKIA mobile phone to watch TV programs and interactive content, and the user likes to use the full screen. The mode of displaying interactive pages navigates through interactive content. Accordingly, the interactive content providing headend arranges the interactive content onto the interactive page according to the above personalized customization, and sends it to the user's terminal device. In the interactive information download request sent by the terminal device, various EPG information, terminal device information, and user personalized information may be submitted to the interactive content providing headend in various manners. This includes, but is not limited to, the way HTTP GET, the way HTTP POST, the way HTTP populates USER AGENT items, how HTTP fills cookie items, and how HTTP fills custom items. In addition to transmitting the information in the request in the foregoing manners, the terminal device may also transmit the data to the interactive content providing head end by using a manner common to other IP networks, such as an FTP connection mode and a custom SOCKET connection mode. Example of HTTP GET method:

GET /itv?SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER=1200006 HTTP/1.1 Host: www.ivisionchina.com This method is to add various parameters to the request path in the HTTP request header (HTTP HEADER), as in the above example.

/itv?SID=Ox01&EID=Ox08&USER=1200006

When the request is transmitted to the headend, the headend will extract various parameters from the zone.

Example of HTTP POST method:

POST /itv/index.jsp HTTP/1.1

Host: www.ivisionchina.com

Content- Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

Content-Length: 30

SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER= 1200006 This method is used by the terminal to add various parameters to the POST content area after the HTTP request header (HTTP HEADER), as in the above example.

SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER=1200006

An example of how HTTP fills the USER AGENT entry:

GET /itv HTTP/ 1.1

User-Agent: SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER=1200006

Host: www.ivisionchina.com This method is to add various parameters to the User-Agent content area in the HTTP request header (HTTP HEADER), as in the above example.

User-Agent: SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER=l 200006

When the request is transmitted to the headend, the headend will extract various parameters from the zone. The above EPG parameter values and content publishing addresses are only used as examples. The actual values are based on the actual EPG information and the actual interactive content publishing address. The parameters are not necessarily added to the URL link before they can be passed to the headend (for example, they can also be passed by standard HTTP POST).

An example of how HTTP fills a cookie item:

GET /itv HTTP/ 1.1

Cookie: SID=0x01&EID=Ox08&USER=1200006

Host: www.ivisionchina.com This method is to add various parameters to the cookie content area in the HTTP request header (HTTP HEADER), as in the above example.

Cookie: SID=0x01 &EID=0x08&USER=l 200006

An example of how HTTP fills a custom item:

GET /itv HTTP/ 1.1

User-Information: SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER=1200006

Host: www.ivisionchina.com This method is to add various parameters to the User-Information content area in the HTTP request header (HTTP HEADER), as in the above example.

User-Information: SID=0x01&EID=0x08&USER=1200006

User-Information is a custom HTTP extension, and User-Information can be arbitrarily set to other names as long as it does not overlap with the standard entry in the HTTP request header. When the request is transmitted to the headend, the headend will extract various parameters from the zone. The interactive television terminal equipment generally consists of a module and various interactive application modules responsible for receiving and processing television programs and data from the DVB broadcast network and the IP network, such as a video decoding module, a demultiplexing module, a descrambling module, and a network data processing module. Graphic display The management module, the EPG information extraction module, the IP network interface unit, the I/O processing module, etc. FIG. 8 describes the main modules of the interactive television terminal for implementing the interactive television and their connection relationships. The interactive TV terminal mainly includes -

The EPG information extraction module 804 is responsible for extracting various EPG information corresponding to the current program from the DVB broadcast network, such as SID, EID, EIT, and the like. The interaction request generation module 801 is a unique module for implementing the interactive television, and is connected to the EPG information extraction module 804 and the network data processing module 802 for information and operations, and the interaction request generation module 801 obtains the associated television from the EPG information extraction module 804. The EPG information of the program, the interaction request generation module 801 analyzes the EPG information and generates a download request for the interaction information, and transmits the processing result (for example, a download request of the interactive information) to the network data processing module 802. And connected to the EPG information extraction module 804, responsible for automatically querying the EPG information from the EPG information extraction module 804 for the current program, and automatically generating an interactive information download request that can be recognized and processed by the interactive TV content providing headend to the network data processing module. 802. The IP network interface unit 805 is responsible for sending download requests and returning data to the IP network, and receiving various interactive pages and data from the IP network to implement data transfer between the terminal device and the interactive television content providing head end.

The I/O processing module 806 is responsible for receiving and communicating various instructions of the input device, such as switching channel commands, selection box instructions on the mobile interactive page, and the like. The network data processing module 802 is connected to the IP network interface unit 805, the I/O processing module 806, and the graphic display processing module 803 in addition to the interaction request generation module and processing the request. The network data processing module 802 uploads and downloads data (for example, interactive information) through the IP network interface unit 805 and the IP network for parsing and routing. And displaying various data and interaction information from the IP network; the network data processing module 802 acquires and processes various operation instructions of the user through the I/O processing module 806; the network data processing module 802 finally passes the display content of the interactive information to the graphic The processing module 803 is displayed and rendered and presented by the graphics display processing module 803. In addition, after receiving the instructions from the I/O processing module 806, the network data processing module 802 or the interaction request generation module 801 performs corresponding processing and operations. Such as the request to generate a new interactive page, the location of the selection box on the mobile interactive page, and so on. The graphic display processing module 803 is responsible for drawing the content of the interactive page according to the page data parsed and arranged by the browser, such as buttons on the page, highlighted selection boxes, pictures and texts, and the like. The interaction request generation module 801 is responsible for automatically querying the EPG information for the current program and automatically generating an interactive information download request that can be recognized and processed by the interactive television content providing head. More specifically than FIG. 8, FIG. 9 is an example of a module configuration based on a digital television set top box. For example, the network data processing module 802 can employ any general-purpose web browser module 902, the EPG information extraction module 804 uses the DVB-SI engine module 904 provided by the set-top box manufacturer; the IP network interface unit 805 uses standard HTTP/HTTPS and TCP/IP protocol stack 905. The workflow of the present invention in an interactive television terminal will be described below in two specific examples. The first example implements the ability to periodically acquire and generate interactive information download requests. The second example implements the function of acquiring and generating an interactive information download request by a user-triggered manner. Although the two examples differ in specific steps and procedures, they are all based on the method and basic steps of the present invention. The first example is shown in Figure 10. While the end user is watching the TV program, the interactive request generation module periodically acquires and compares the EPG information in the background. For example, the interactive request generation module obtains two EPG information from the EPG information extraction module (for example, the DVB-SI engine): SID and EID. For convenience of example, the values and meanings of SID and EID are still consistent with the examples in the headend of the interactive TV content providing. Assume that the end user starts watching the international cinema program of CCTV's first program from 19:00:00, and the interactive request generation module queries the DVB-SI engine for two EPG information corresponding to the program at 19:00:02. (SID = 0x01, EID = 0x08), the interactive request generation module compares the result of the last query (such as SID = 0x01, EID = 0x07), and judges that the last TV program watched by the user has ended, and the international cinema program just started. At this point, the interactive request generation module automatically generates a new interactive content download request, for example: http://ivisionchina.com/itv?SID=OxO 1 &EID=0x08 where http://ivisionchina.com/itv provides content for interactive content The content publishing address of the headend, SID = 0x01 and EID = 0x08 are the two EPG information just obtained. The interactive request generation module hands the download request to the browser module, and the browser module controls the IP network interface unit to establish a network link with the interactive television content providing head end to send the download request. Since the interactive TV content providing headend can judge that the TV program that the user is watching is the international cinema program of the first set of CCTV programs according to SID = 0x01 and EID = 0x08, the interactive TV content providing headend will extract the corresponding interactive content. And download it to the user's terminal device. After obtaining the interactive page associated with the international cinema program returned by the interactive television content providing head end, the IP network interface unit hands the interactive page to the browser module for processing. The browser module parses and arranges the interactive pages, and sends various controls, graphics, text positions, sizes, and various display properties on the page. Give the graphics processing module. The graphics processing module draws an interactive page graphic according to the above attributes. At this point, the interactive page associated with the international cinema program has been prepared in the background of the terminal device. Since the receiving, parsing, and drawing work of the entire interactive page is performed in the background of the terminal device, the user can watch the TV program normally without any influence. Assume that the interactive page is ready at 19:00:10, and the end user wants to view the interactive information about the international cinema program at 19:01:00. The user simply sends a video to the interactive page via the remote control. The I/O processing module immediately receives the instruction and switches the prepared interactive page to the foreground and displays it on the TV. The second example is shown in Figure 11. When the end user wants to view the related interactive content while watching the international cinema program, the remote control can send a video to the interactive page switching instruction, and the I/O processing module immediately receives the instruction and notifies the interactive request generating module to start working. The interactive request generation module queries the DVB-SI engine for two EPG information corresponding to the program (SID = 0x01, EID =

0x08), the interactive request generation module compares the result of the last query (for example, SID = 0x01, EID = 0x07), and judges that the television program that the user watched last time has ended, and the international cinema program has started. At this point, the interactive request generation module automatically generates a new interactive content download request, for example: http: //ivisionchina.com/itv? SID=0x01 &EID=0x08 where http://ivisionchina.com/itv provides the head for interactive content The content publishing address of the end, SID=0x01 and EID = 0x08 are the two EPG information just obtained. The interactive request generation module hands the download request to the browser module, and the browser module controls the IP network interface unit to establish a network link with the interactive television content providing head end to send the download request. After obtaining the interactive page associated with the international cinema program returned by the interactive television content providing head end, the IP network interface unit hands the interactive page to the browser module for processing. The browser module parses and arranges the interactive pages, and controls the various pages on the page. Pieces, graphics, text position, size, and various display properties are sent to the graphics processing module. The graphics processing module draws the interactive page graphic according to the above attributes and directly displays the drawn interactive page on the display device. The main difference between the second example and the first example is: The work of the interactive request generation module is triggered by the user, and the interactive page is directly displayed on the display device after being drawn. In addition to the SID and EID, the EPG information obtained by the interactive request generation module from the DVB-SI engine can obtain more information, such as ONID, NID, TSID, and EIT table data. In addition, the interactive request generating module may also obtain personalized information such as a user identifier, a terminal device type identifier, and the like from a DVB-SI engine or other modules of the terminal device, such as a terminal information storage module. After sending various combinations of this information to the interactive content delivery headend, the interactive content delivery headend will be able to use it to provide richer, more detailed and personalized interactive content for different end users, as described in the headend example. That's it.

Claims

Claim

1. An interactive television headend based on an internetwork and a digital television broadcast network, comprising: an electronic program guide EPG information providing a headend for transmitting EPG information to an interactive television content providing headend and a digital television broadcast headend;

a digital television broadcast headend that uses a digital television broadcast network to play digital television programs based on received EPG information;

The interactive television content provides a headend that utilizes a portion of the received EPG information to create interactive content associated with the television program, and delivers interactive content related to the current television program over the Internet based on the download request.

2. The interactive television headend according to claim 1, wherein the internetwork is a network that implements two-way transmission of interactive information by using IP technology, and the actual physical network includes Ethernet, a modem-based network, HFC-based and cable. One of Modem's network and wireless GPRS/GSM-based network, IEEE802.il-based WiFi network, NFC-based network based on contactless radio frequency identification and interconnection technology.

3. The interactive television headend according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the digital television broadcasting network is a network for playing digital television programs using a digital video broadcasting DVB standard, including a wired HFC network, a terrestrial transmission network, and a satellite transmission network. One of the wireless communication networks.

4. The interactive television headend of claim 1, wherein the interactive television content providing headend comprises:

An interactive content database that is responsible for storing and managing materials and data for interactive content;

An EPG information obtaining unit, which partially or completely receives description data about the television program in the EPG information from the EPG information providing head end, and sends the data to the interactive content editing unit, the interactive content database, and the interactive content publishing unit, respectively;

An interactive content editing unit that combines the material of the interactive content with the description data of the received television program to create and edit interactive content related to each television program; The interactive content publishing unit is connected to the interactive content database, and extracts relevant interactive information edited by the interactive content editing unit from the database according to the download request sent through the IP network, and sends the interactive information through the IP network.

5. The interactive television headend of claim 4, wherein the interactive content is also provided by other interactive content providers.

6. The interactive television headend of claim 4, wherein the description data of the television program refers to a service identifier SID in the EPG information.

The interactive television headend according to claim 6, wherein the interactive content editing unit acquires the corresponding event information table EIT information from the EPG information based on the SID in the EPG information and the time when the user download request is transmitted.

8. The interactive television headend of claim 4, wherein the description data of the television program refers to a service identifier SID and an event identifier EID in the EPG information.

9. The interactive television headend of claim 8, wherein the interactive content editing unit obtains corresponding event information table EIT information from the EPG information based on the SID and the EID in the EPG information.

10. The interactive television headend of claim 9, wherein the interactive content editing unit automatically searches for a related interactive content database or resource after receiving the download request based on keywords in the EIT table information.

The interactive television headend according to claim 4, wherein the description data of the television program refers to a service identifier SID, an event identifier EID, and an event information table EIT in the EPG information.

12. The interactive television headend of claim 11, wherein the interactive content is compiled The editing unit prepares and prepares interactive content related to each television program in advance based on the SID, EID, and EIT information.

13. The interactive television headend of claim 11, wherein the interactive content editing unit searches for a related interactive content database or resource based on keywords corresponding to the EIT to obtain a related data file.

14. The interactive television headend of claim 13, wherein the interactive content editing unit adds the SID and EID identifiers to the data files of the material library and the data files of other resources.

The interactive television headend according to claim 14, wherein the interactive content editing unit establishes a SID identifier, an EID identifier, a data file of the material library, a correspondence table of the data files of other resources, and an index table.

16. The interactive television headend of claim 14, wherein the interactive content editing unit manually or automatically searches for a related interactive content database or resource based on the SID, EID to obtain a related data file.

17. An interactive television terminal based on the Internet and a digital television broadcasting network, including:

An EPG information extraction module that extracts various EPG information corresponding to the current program from the digital television broadcast network;

An interaction request generation module, which obtains description data about the television program from the EPG information extraction module, analyzes the description data, and generates a download request for the interaction information, and then transmits the download request to the network data processing module;

The network data processing module sends the download request to the network through the internet interface unit, receives data of the interactive information in response to the download request from the network, parses and processes the data file of the interactive information, and passes the display content of the interactive information The Internet is passed to the graphic display processing module; An internet interface unit that sends a download request and a return data to the internetwork, and receives data of various interactive information from the internet;

The graphic display processing module draws the content of the interactive page according to the data of the interactive information, and outputs the image to the display to display the image containing the interactive information.

18. The interactive television terminal according to claim 17, wherein the extraction of the EPG information by the interaction request generation module and the generation of the download request are automatically performed after the EPG information is acquired.

19. The interactive television terminal of claim 17, further comprising:

An I/O processing module, the network data processing module acquires and processes various operation instructions of the user through the I/O processing module.

20. The interactive television terminal of claim 19, wherein the network data processing module is a general purpose web browser module.

21. The interactive television terminal of claim 19, wherein the EPG information extraction module is a DVB-SI engine module.

22. The interactive television terminal according to claim 17, wherein the internetwork is a network that implements two-way transmission of interactive information by using an IP technology, and the actual physical network includes an Ethernet, a modem-based network, a HFC-based, and a cable modem. One of the networks and wireless GPRS/GSM based networks, IEEE 802.il based WiFi networks, NFC networks based on contactless radio frequency identification and interconnection technologies.

23. The interactive television terminal according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the digital television broadcasting network is a network for playing digital television programs using a DVB broadcast standard, including a wired HFC network, a terrestrial transmission network, a satellite transmission network, and wireless communication. One in the network

24. The interactive television terminal of claim 17, wherein the download request is transmitted in a format of a hypertext transfer protocol.

The interactive television terminal according to claim 24, wherein the download request includes at least one of a service identifier SID, an event identifier EID, and an event information table EIT in the electronic program guide EPG information.

26. The interactive television terminal of claim 25, wherein the download request further comprises one of a transport stream identifier TSID, a network identifier NID, and an original network identifier ONID.

27. The interactive television terminal of claim 25, wherein the download request further comprises a terminal device identification DEV to give a type of terminal device that issued the download request.

28. The interactive television terminal of claim 25, wherein the download request further comprises an interactive page mode identification MOD to give a desired interactive page and a presentation mode of the video program.

29. The interactive television terminal of claim 25, wherein the download request further comprises a user number identification USER to represent basic information of the user, viewing habits, and personalized customization.

30. An interactive television terminal according to one of claims 25-29, wherein said download request populates a USER AGENT item or an HTTP fill cookie item by HTTP GET or HTTP POST or HTTP or HTTP populates a customization item The way to send.

The interactive television system according to claim 30, wherein the downloading request is divided into the information in the above-mentioned various manners, and the terminal device may also transmit the data to the interactive content providing header in a manner common to other IP networks. end.

32. The interactive television system according to claim 31, wherein the other common manners of the internetwork comprise an FTP connection mode and a custom SOCKET connection mode.

33. An interactive television system based on an internetwork and a digital television broadcast network, comprising: an interactive television headend that transmits television program guide EPG information, transmits digital television programs over a digital television broadcast network, and generates and reports based on the EPG information The interactive information related to the digital television program, and then transmitting the interactive information synchronized with the digital television program through the IP network according to the request of the terminal device;

The terminal device automatically generates a download request of the interactive information according to the user's request and the received EPG information, and sends the request to the interactive TV head end, and downloads the corresponding interactive information from the interactive TV head end, and then displays the television program through the setting manner. And interactive information.

34. The interactive television system of claim 33, wherein the interactive television head comprises:

Electronic program guide EPG information provides a head end, which transmits EPG information to the interactive television content providing head end and the digital television broadcast head end respectively;

The head of digital television broadcasting, which uses digital television broadcasting networks to broadcast digital television programmes;

The interactive television content provides a headend that uses part of the EPG information to create interactive content associated with the television program and delivers interactive content related to the current television program upon request.

35. The interactive television system of claim 33, wherein the interactive television terminal comprises -

An interaction request generating module, which obtains description data about the television program from the EPG information extraction module, analyzes the description data, and generates a download request for the interaction information, and then transmits the download request to the network data processing module; The network data processing module sends the download request to the network through the IP network interface unit, and receives data of the interactive information in response to the download request from the network, parses and processes the data file of the interactive information, and transmits the display content of the interactive information Display a processing module for the graphic;

An internet interface unit that sends download requests and backhaul data to the internet and receives data of various interactive information from the internet;

36. The interactive television system of claim 35, further comprising:

37. An interactive television system according to any one of claims 33-36, wherein said internetwork is a network that implements two-way transmission of interactive information using IP technology, the actual physical network comprising Ethernet, based on a telephone line Modem One of the networks, HFC-based and cable modem-based networks and wireless GPRS/GSM-based networks, IEEE802.il-based WiFi networks, NFC networks based on contactless RFID and interconnect technology.

38. An interactive television system according to any of claims 33-36, wherein said digital television broadcast network is a network for playing digital television programming using the DVB broadcast standard, comprising a wired HFC network, a terrestrial transmission network, One of the satellite transmission networks and wireless communication networks.

39. The interactive television system of claim 33, wherein the download request is transmitted in a format of a hypertext transfer protocol.

40. The interactive television system of claim 33, wherein the download request comprises a service identifier SID, an event identifier EID, and an event information table EIT in the EPG information. At least one of them.

41. The interactive television system of claim 39 or 40, wherein the download request further comprises one of a transport stream identifier TSID, a network identifier NID, and an original network identifier ONID of the current program.

42. The interactive television system of claim 39 or 40, wherein the download request further comprises a terminal device identification DEV to give a type of terminal device that issued the download request.

43. The interactive television system of claim 39 or 40, wherein the download request further comprises an interactive page mode identification MOD to give a desired presentation mode for the interactive page and the video program.

44. An interactive television system according to claim 39 or 40, wherein said download request further comprises a user number identification USER to represent basic information of the user, viewing habits and personalization.

45. An interactive television system according to claim 39 or 40, wherein said download request is via HTTP GET or HTTP POST or HTTP ± true USER AGENT or

HTTP padding cookie entries or HTTP padding customizations are sent in a way.

46. The interactive television system according to claim 39 or 40, wherein the downloading request divides the information in the request in each of the above manners, and the terminal device can also transmit the data to the interactive content in a manner common to other internetworks. Provide the head end.

47. The interactive television system of claim 46, wherein the other common manners of the internetwork comprise an FTP connection method and a custom SOCKET connection method.

48. Work of an interactive television system based on the Internet and digital television broadcasting networks The method comprises the following steps:

(1) Receiving TV program guide EPG information, transmitting digital TV programs through a digital television broadcasting network;

(2) generating interactive information related to the digital television program based on the EPG information;

(3) automatically generating a download request for the interactive information and transmitting according to the user's request and the received EPG information,

(4) transmitting, by the internet connection, interactive information synchronized with the digital television program based on the download request;

(5) Displaying television programs and interactive information in response to the identification set by the user in the download request.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the step (1) further comprises:

The program video and broadcast data are synthesized and broadcasted into a digital television broadcast network in accordance with the standards of digital television broadcasting.

50. The method of claim 48 or 49, wherein the digital television broadcast is a DVB broadcast network employing the Digital Video Broadcasting DVB standard.

51. The method of claim 48 or 50, wherein said step (2) further comprises:

Obtain EPG information;

Get interactive content material;

Link and edit interactive content; and

Post interactive content based on interaction requests.

52. The method of claim 48, wherein the identification in the download request of step (5) is transmitted in a format of a hypertext transfer protocol.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the download request comprises at least one of a service identifier SID, an event identifier EID, and an event information table EIT in the EPG information.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the download request further comprises one of a transport stream identifier TSID, a network identifier NID, and an original network identifier ONID of a current program.

55. The method of claim 53, wherein the download request further comprises a terminal device identification DEV to give a type of terminal device that issued the download request.

56. The method of claim 53, wherein the download request further comprises an interactive page mode identification MOD to give a desired presentation mode for the interactive page and the video program.

57. The method of claim 53, wherein the download request further comprises a user number identification USER to represent basic information of the user, viewing habits, and personalization.

58. The method of claim 53, wherein the download request is sent by means of HTTP GET or HTTP POST or HTTP populating a USER AGENT item or an HTTP fill cookie item or an HTTP fill custom item.

59. The interactive television system according to claim 58, wherein the downloading request is divided into the information in the foregoing manner, and the terminal device may also transmit the data to the interactive content providing header in a manner common to other internetworks. end.

60. The interactive television system of claim 59, wherein the other common manners of the internetwork comprise an FTP connection method and a custom SOCKET connection method.

61. The method according to claim 48, wherein the internetwork is a network that implements two-way transmission of interactive information by using IP technology, and the actual physical network includes Ethernet, base. One of a network of telephone line Modem, a network based on HFC and cable modem, and a wireless GPRS/GSM based network, an IEEE 802.il based WiFi network, a contactless radio frequency identification and interconnection technology based NFC network.

62. The method of claim 48, wherein the digital television broadcast network is a network that plays digital television programs using DVB broadcast technology, including one of a wired HFC network, a terrestrial transmission network, a satellite transmission network, and a wireless communication network. .