WO2008038974A1

WO2008038974A1 - Method for delivering the tpeg service management information on broadcasting network

Info

Publication number: WO2008038974A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/004670
Authority: WO
Inventors: Duck-Won Oh; Won-Cheol Eun; Heon-Ju Park; Kyung-Won Kim
Original assignee: Tu Media Corp.
Priority date: 2006-09-27
Filing date: 2007-09-21
Publication date: 2008-04-03
Also published as: KR100829388B1; KR20080028689A

Abstract

The present invention provides a means for providing the consistency of service management information including location referencing (LOC) information, which is used by a Telematics Service Provider (TSP) and a terminal, in transmitting TPEG information for a Traffic and Travel Information (TTI) service through one-way broadcasting network, thereby providing a method for enabling a terminal to match and use TPEG information for at least one of traffic and travel information services provided by the TSP center, and notifying the terminal of the configuration and an update time of a file which configures each TPEG application service, so that the terminal can most efficiently process/manage information according to each application service.

Description

METHOD FOR DELIVERING THE TPEG SERVICE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION ON BROADCASTING

NETWORK

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a method for delivering service management information in the transmission/reception of a TPEG information file using a broadcasting network, and more particularly to a method for carrying the management information for the entire service, which cannot be transmitted/received in the TPEG standard, to the terminal by a separate file or field, so that the terminal can acquire the version of service management information, such as location referencing information, used by the TSP center, the file configuration information for a TPEG' s individual application service, and so on, thereby maintaining consistency of service between the TSP center and the terminal. Background Art

[2] In general, digital broadcasting (e.g., digital television broadcasting, digital satellite broadcasting, digital audio broadcasting, etc.) systems are currently providing or will soon provide multimedia data broadcasting service, such as traffic and travel information (TTI), electronic program guide (EPG), game contents, etc.

[3] In order to transmit multimedia service, such as provision of the traffic and travel information, through a digital broadcasting network, mobile communication network, and/or the Internet, it is necessary to provide the traffic and traveler information, which has been obtained from every information collector or collection center, at a data rate suitable for the capacity and transmission environment of each network and in a format standardized to be compatible with the transmission systems or standards of multiple countries.

[4] Under such a necessity, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) established the B/

TPEG project group in 1997 in order to develop a new protocol for transmission of traffic and travel information in the multimedia environment. One year later in 1998, the B/TPEG group produced standards for TPEG-SSF (Part 2) and TPEG-RTM (Part 4) in public. Here, the TPEG-SSF describes the Syntax, Semantics and Framing structure, which will be used for all TPEG Applications, and the TPEG-RTM corresponds to a standard for transmission of traffic information-related messages.

[5] CEN TC 278 WG 4 established a project group including the members of B/TPEG, and they have continued the work concurrently since 1999 and have developed two standards (Part 3 and Part 1) for service support. TPEG-SNI (Part 3) describes the Service and Network Information, and TPEG-INV (Part 1) stipulates management for information about introduction, numbering and versions.

[6] The B/TPEG group released revised standards for Parts 1 to 4 in April 2000, and defined the TPEG-Loc standard, which is a referencing method for location information, and the TPEG-PTI (Part 5) standard for transmission of public transport information in November 2001. The TPEG technology can be applied to various digital transmission media having an appropriate layer structure, and TPEG messages are used to transfer TTI information from the databases of service providers to users' terminals.

[7] The TPEG technology makes it possible to add a new function and to correct a protocol without interrupting the operations of existing receivers and decoders, and particularly, can be widely used for applications which require efficient information transmission for one-to-many through a broadcasting system. Also, the TPEG technology was designed to be suitable even for one-to-one and multicast applications, and to be easily included in an Internet protocol.

[8] The TPEG standards defined up to now are as follows.

[9] - TPEG-INV (Part 1): Management about introduction, numbering, and versions

[10] - TPEG-SSF (Part 2): Definition of Syntax, Semantics and Framing structure for

TPEG

[11] - TPEG-SNI (Part 3): Definition of information management for Service and

Network Information

[12] - TPEG-RTM (part 4): Definition of Structure for transmission of Road Traffic

Message (RTM)

[13] - TPEG-PTI (Part 5): Definition of Structure for transmission of Public Transport

Information

[14] - TPEG-Loc (Part 6): Definition of Structure for transmission of location information in association with referencing information

[15]

[16] As described above, the traffic and travel information services, which have been defined as a standard or are now being standardized by the TPEG Forum, include Road Traffic Message (RTM), Public Transport Information (PTI), Parking Information (PKI), Congestion and Travel Time Information (CTI), Weather (WEA), and Environment Information Alerts (EIA).

[17] However, as shown in FIG. 4, since the conventional technology uses only latitude/ longitude coordinates as a location referencing standard, and defines the standards with the purpose of making it possible to apply the technology regardless of whether a transmission network is a communication network or a broadcasting network, it is necessary to separately define detailed parts according to transmission environments. In the case of using a broadcasting network, since two-way communication is un- available, a traffic information service center (TSP center) provides the same information to all terminals in a state in which the center cannot recognize the environments of the terminals at all. While the ISO international standard uses latitude/ longitude coordinates as location referencing (LOC) information, the Congestion and Travel Time Information (CTT) standard established in Korea additionally introduced a standard of representing location referencing information by means of node/link, and was stipulated to express information by means of domestic standard node/link established under the supervision of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT). However, since node/link information must be continuously updated according to frequent changes of road states, a terminal may not appropriately use received traffic information and/or travel information when a node/link version used by the TSP center is different from a node/link version used by the terminal.

[18] Also, a terminal receives information about respective application services as files, manages the files according to application services, and updates the information in different methods depending on application services, so that there is no method capable of checking the entire configuration information of the files for the respective application services. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[19] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for carrying management information for the entire service management by a separate file or field (e.g. Service and Network Information (SNI) file), thereby enabling service management information, such as location referencing (LOC) information used for an application service, to be managed to be accorded between a TSP center and a terminal, and enabling the terminal to obtain configuration information of files which configure the respective application services. Technical Solution

[20] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for processing service management information provided through transmission/reception of a TPEG information file by a mobile broadcasting terminal, the method including the steps of: receiving broadcast channel configuration information for said at least one of traffic information and travel information from program guide information; identifying a TPEG' s individual service (SNI, CTT, RTM, etc.) from broadcast channel configuration information for at least one of the traffic information and travel information; receiving a management information file including an SNI file, TPEG.txt, etc. by using the TPEG' s individual service identification information; acquiring management information, such as a node/ link version, compression/non-compression, a compression scheme, and file configuration information for an application service, by parsing an application service management information file of the TPEG.txt and SNI; and receiving data corresponding to the application service by using the management information. [21] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer- readable recording medium for reading a TPEG information file, the medium comprising: a management information file, named "TPEG.txt," which includes update, a version, a type, a node/link, a simple map, compression, and a component, for TPEG service management; and a plurality of "SID-A.SID-B.SID-C_SCID_fileIndex.ext" files for data of TPEG application service.

Advantageous Effects

[22] As described above, according to the present invention, when TPEG information is transmitted using a one-way broadcasting network, service management information including a node/link version and so on provided by the TSP center is transmitted to the terminal, and a terminal user is notified of whether it is necessary to upgrade a program, such as an electronic map built in the terminal. Therefore, service management information, such as the version of node/link information, used in the terminal is managed and maintained to be identical to that used in a traffic information service center (e.g. TSP center), so that it is possible to solve a problem that the terminal cannot use information provided from the traffic information service center due to discordance of service management information. Also, because application service file configuration information which includes information about files configuring each application service is transmitted to each terminal, each terminal can process the files even though the files are processed in different schemes depending on each terminal.

[23] In addition, according to the present invention, the transmission/reception of a

TPEG information file is processed regardless of the type of a network or system, traffic/travel information can be efficiently provided to the user through a TPEG information file in various systems, as well as a specific system. Brief Description of the Drawings

[24] The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[25] FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the configuration of a TPEG information file received by a mobile broadcasting terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; [26] FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an example of information transmission using Service and Network Information (SNI) according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[27] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for processing transmission/reception of a TPEG information file by a mobile broadcasting terminal; and

[28] FIG. 4 is a view schematically illustrating a conventional scheme of transmitting a

TPEG information file providing traffic/travel information through a digital broadcasting network.

[29] <Reference numerals of several elements in drawings>

[30] S210: channel information recognizing step

[31] S220: TPEG' s individual service recognizing step

[32] S230: management information file receiving step

[33] S240: management information acquiring step

[34] S250: application service information file receiving step

[35] S260: service expressing step

[36]

Mode for the Invention

[37] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[38] A method for receiving a file by a mobile broadcasting terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGs. 1 to 3, wherein FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the configuration of a TPEG information file received by a mobile broadcasting terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an example of information transmission using Service and Network Information (SNI) according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for processing a TPEG information file in a mobile broadcasting terminal.

[39] First, as shown in FIG. 1, a TPEG information file includes a TPEG.txt file and a plurality of SID- A. SID-B. SID-C_SCID_fileIndex.ext files, wherein the TPEG.txt file contains update, version, type, node/link, simple map, compress, and component items.

[40] The meaning and stipulation of each item constituting the TPEG.txt file are as follows. Each corresponding stipulation is a general stipulation, and each data representation scheme or the like may be replaced by a different scheme.

[41] The "update" item includes a value representing an update time of a TPEG.txt, and may be expressed by a date and a time, wherein the date and time are expressed in the format of "yyyy-mm-dd" and "hh:mm:ss" according to the ISO 8601 standard.

[42] The terminal can recognize whether or not the TPEG.txt is changed, by reading only the update line and comparing contents of the update line with that in a previously-received TPEG.txt file version. Also, upon version management at a file level, the terminal can determine if a file is updated, even without parsing or decoding the whole file, so that the terminal can avoid duplicate parsing or decoding of files of the same version, thereby reducing the processing load on the CPU.

[43] The "version" item includes a value representing a release date of a TPEG standard which is now being applied, and is expressed in the format of "yyyy-mm-dd" according to the ISO 8601 standard.

[44] The "type" item includes an extension value representing a type of a file and is expressed by "bin" or "xml," wherein when compression is applied, an extension representing a compression scheme may be added to the "type" item.

[45] The "node/link" item represents a version of a domestic standard node/link which is used for location reference. A version of the "node/link" and a release date thereof are given by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT), which constructs and manages the standard node/link, wherein a date and a time are expressed in the format of "yyyy-mm-dd" and "hh:mm:ss" according to the ISO 8601 standard.

[46] By delivering the version and update date of a standard node/link to the terminal, when the version of a node/link broadcasted by a traffic information service center (TSP center) is not identical to the version of a node/link used by a map equipped in the terminal, it is possible to notify the user of the terminal that the map should be updated.

[47] The "simple map" item includes version information about a node/link of additional data provided for a simple map, and is managed by a service provider providing a simple map service. The version information has a value in a range of 0 to 99999, wherein "0" is again assigned as the value of the version information after the value of "99999" has been used in regular sequence.

[48] Date and time information represents a release date and time of the simple map information, which are expressed in the format of "yyyy-mm-dd" and "hh:mm:ss" according to the ISO 8601 standard.

[49] The "compress" item represents whether or not all TPEG applications in a corresponding line has been compressed by a certain compression scheme. If no compression is used, the "compress" item has the value of "NONE," and if a compression scheme has been used, the "compress" item is expressed as a character string corresponding to the used compression scheme, wherein a compression scheme, such as "GZIP," can be defined. When the terminal receives a compressed data file having a compression extension, the terminal decompresses the compressed data file by means of a corresponding compression scheme.

[50] The "component" item includes a list of individual service components and is configured in a format such as "SID-A.SID-B.SID-C SCID AID Number_of_files < date> <time>." The number of files provided by each individual service corresponding to the "SID" and "SCID" is recorded in the "Number_of_files," and the "AID" is an identifier of an application service represented by corresponding application service information files, and uses a value defined in the TPEG standard. The "<date>" and "< time>" represent the latest information update date and time, which are expressed in the format of "yyyy-mm-dd" and "hh:mm:ss" according to the ISO 8601 standard. The terminal can recognize whether or not service component data is updated, and may output version information of current data as requested by the user.

[51] Although the above description will be given about the case where "TPEG.txt" is used to deliver management information, "Service description" and "Free text" defined in the SNI standard may be used to deliver information defined in the "TPEG.txt" to the terminal, as shown in FIG. 2. In this case, the "Service description" is defined to transmit information so that the user can identify a service in such a manner as "TPEG service by broadcasting station A," and the "Free text" is defined to identify applications in one service and a range thereof.

[52] The meaning of the "SID- A. SID-B. SID-C_SCID_FileIndex.ext" file is as follows.

[53] The "SID-A.SID-B.SID-C" represents a TPEG service ID (SID) of a service provider at a service frame level, and is assigned with a unique value all over the world.

[54] The "SCID" is a service component identifier assigned by the "SID," and is used to distinguish whether a corresponding service component corresponds to "SNI" or "CTT." Although a service provider may assign separate values to the "SCID", a value of "0" is used for "SNI."

[55] The "Filelndex" is assigned a value from "0," and represents the sequence of each file included in the whole files when one service component is divided into a plurality of files and the files are provided.

[56] The "ext" represents a file extension, and may be "bin," "xml," etc. When compression is applied to a file, a compression extension may be added to the "ext" of the file. In this case, the file name becomes "SID-A.SID-B.SID-C_.SCID_.Filelndex.ext.compression_.ext."

[57] Meanwhile, when a file for an individual application service corresponds to a

"*.bin" file, it implies that the file includes TPEG binary data to be actually delivered, wherein the internal construction of the file follows "Guidelines for TPEG on the Internet (B/TPEG PG02/080)."

[58] Hereinafter, a method for processing information provided through transmission/ reception of a TPEG information file by a mobile broadcasting terminal will be described with reference to FIG. 3. [59] The method for processing service management information, which is provided through transmission/reception of a TPEG information file, by the mobile broadcasting terminal includes a channel information recognizing step (step 210), a TPEG's individual service recognizing step (step 220), a management information file receiving step (step 230), a management information acquiring step (step 240), an application service information file receiving step (step 250), and a service expressing step (step 260).

[60] In the channel information recognizing step (step 210), the terminal receives program guide information, and recognizes information configuring at least one of traffic and travel information channels from the received program guide information.

[61] In the TPEG's individual service recognizing step (step 220), the terminal extracts broadcast channel configuration information for at least one of the traffic information and travel information from the entire guide information received in the channel information recognizing step (step 210), identifies a TPEG's individual service (e.g. SNI, CTT, RTM, etc.), and makes it possible to transmit guide information for a specific TPEG service when the guide information for the specific TPEG service is requested by a predetermined application program of the terminal.

[62] In the management information file receiving step (step 230), the terminal reads a management information file for the entire TPEG service, before the terminal reads data for a TPEG application service, which has been required by an application program being currently executed in the terminal, based on the TPEG's individual service guide information recognized in the TPEG's individual service recognizing step (step 220).

[63] In the management information acquiring step (step 240), the terminal parses the management information file received in the management information file receiving step (step 230), thereby acquiring management information for the entire TPEG service.

[64] In the application service information file receiving step (step 250), the terminal receives a TPEG service information file requested by the application program of the terminal, by using the guide information for the TPEG's individual application service, which has been recognized in the TPEG's individual service recognizing step (step 220), and transfers the received TPEG service information file to the application program of the terminal.

[65] In a case where the application program of the terminal has requested congestion and travel time Information (CTT), if CTT received through a broadcasting network includes information about a link which does not exist in a CTT database of the mobile broadcasting terminal, the terminal adds a new link entry. In contrast, if CTT received through a broadcasting network includes information about a link which exists in the CTT database of the mobile broadcasting terminal, the terminal updates the stored CTT with the newly-received CTT.

[66] Also, when a valid time value (T) for CTT has been set, and a current time value is greater than "MGT+T," the terminal repeals and deletes the message, wherein the "MGT" represents a message generation time of a received CTT message.

[67] In the service expressing step (step 260 and step 270), the terminal matches data received in the application service information file receiving step (step 250) with a map image pre- stored in the terminal, thereby providing a simple map information service, or providing a service, such as a dynamic road guidance or the like, by using a map built in the terminal.

[68] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. Therefore, it should be appreciated that the embodiments described above are not limitative, but only illustrative. Industrial Applicability

[69] According to the present invention, the management information for the entire service, which cannot be transmitted/received in the TPEG standard, is carried to the terminal by a separate file or field, so that the terminal can acquire the version of service management information, such as location referencing information, used by the TSP center, the file configuration information for a TPEG' s individual application service, and so on, thereby maintaining consistency of service between the TSP center and the terminal. Accordingly, the present invention has industrial applicability because it has sufficient marketability or business possibility and is also obviously practicable.

Claims

[1] A method for processing service management information by a mobile broadcasting terminal in transmission/reception of a TPEG information file, the method comprising the steps of:

A) receiving information which configures at least one of traffic and travel information channels from received program guide information;

B) identifying a TPEG' s individual service from said at least one of the traffic and travel information channels;

C) receiving a management information file by using TPEG' s individual service identification information obtained in step B);

D) acquiring management information by parsing the management information file received in step C); and

E) receiving data corresponding to an application service by using the management information, wherein, based on steps A) to E), the method comprises the steps of: recognizing a service ID (SID) for each traffic information service by reading a traffic master guide table (TMGT) through a packet identifier (PID) for each application service from preset basic information for said at least one of the traffic and travel information channels; reading management data for the service ID; receiving an MPEG-2 TS stream by using a PID for the management data, and acquiring a TPEG.txt and an SNI (Service and Network Information) application service information file by decoding a data carousel; acquiring management information, which comprises a node/link version and information about whether compression has been performed, by parsing the TPEG.txt and the SNI application service information file; and receiving data corresponding to an application service program by using the management information.

[2] The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a step of F) applying the data received in step E) to an application program stored in the mobile broadcasting terminal, wherein the mobile broadcasting terminal processes the management information, notifies a terminal user of information about whether a program upgrade is required due to a version change of a program including a terminal's electronic map for said at least one of the traffic and travel information channels, and notifies a program built in the mobile broadcasting terminal of a file configuration for each TPEG application service, so that the program built in the mobile broadcasting terminal processes TPEG application service data.

[3] The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the application program comprises a simple map information service, which provides the received data while matching the received data with a map image pre- stored in the mobile broadcasting terminal.

[4] The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the application program comprises a dynamic road guidance service, which uses the received data and a map pre- stored in the mobile broadcasting terminal.

[5] The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the individual service comprises at least one among SNI, congestion and travel time Information (CTT), and Road Traffic Message (RTM).

[6] The method as claimed in claim 1 or 5, wherein the management information file comprises at least one of the SNI file and the TPEG.txt.

[7] The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the management information comprises at least one among update, a version, a type, a node/link version, compression/non-compression, a component, a simple map, a compression scheme, and file configuration information for an application service.

[8] The method as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising a step of

G) adding a new link entry by the mobile broadcasting terminal when the application program of step F) requests congestion and travel time Information (CTT), and CTT received by the request comprises information about a link which does not exist in a CTT database of the mobile broadcasting terminal.

[9] The method as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising a step of

H) updating stored CTT with newly -received CTT when the application program of step F) requests congestion and travel time Information (CTT), and CTT received by the request comprises information about a link which exists in a CTT database of the mobile broadcasting terminal.

[10] The method as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising a step of

I) repealing and deleting a received congestion and travel time Information (CTT) message if a current time is greater than a sum of a message generation time (MGT) and a valid time, based on the MGT of the received CTT message, in the case where the application program of step F) has requested CTT, and the valid time value has been set in CTT received by the request.

[11] The method as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising the steps of:

G) adding a new link entry by the mobile broadcasting terminal when the application program of step F) requests congestion and travel time Information (CTT), and CTT received by the request comprises information about a link which does not exist in a CTT database of the mobile broadcasting terminal; and H) updating stored CTT with newly -received CTT when CTT received by the request comprises information about a link which exists in a CTT database of the mobile broadcasting terminal.

[12] The method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising a step of I) repealing and deleting a received congestion and travel time Information (CTT) message if a current time is greater than a sum of a message generation time (MGT) and a valid time, based on the MGT of the received CTT message, in the case where the application program of step F) has requested CTT, and the valid time value has been set in CTT received by the request.

[13] A computer-readable recording medium for reading a TPEG information file which is provided to transmit traffic/travel information through a mobile communication system, the medium comprising: a management information file, named "TPEG.txt," which includes update, a version, a type, a node/link, a simple map, compression, and a component, for TPEG service management; and a plurality of "SID-A.SID-B.SID-C_SCID_fileIndex.ext" files for data of TPEG application service.

[14] The medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein a terminal checks if the TPEG.txt is changed through comparison with a TPEG.txt file version previously received through an update line.

[15] The medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein a version and an update date of the node/link are transmitted to the terminal, the transmitted version and update date of the node/link are compared with a node/link version used in a map built in the terminal, and the terminal is notified of a map update when the transmitted version is not identical to the version used in the map.

[16] The medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the component corresponds to a list of individual service components, and is configured in a form of "SID- A.SID-B. SID-C SCID Number_of_files <data> <time>."

[17] The medium as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein, in the

"SID-A.SID-B.SID-C_SCID_fileIndex.ext" file, the "SID-A.SID-B.SID-C" represents a TPEG service ID assigned to a service provider at a service frame level, the "SCID" is a service component identifier assigned by the "SID" and is used to distinguish whether a corresponding service component corresponds to "SNI" or "CTT," the "Filelndex" represents the sequence of the whole files when one service component is divided into a plurality of files and the files are provided, and the "ext" represents a file extension including at least one of "bin" and "xml."