WO2008055435A1

WO2008055435A1 - Method of the information broadcast scheduling on the network

Info

Publication number: WO2008055435A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/070946
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chungen Liu; Weizhong Li; Peng Yan; Xinghe Huang; Zhenzhong Dai
Original assignee: Star Software Technology Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-11-07
Filing date: 2007-10-24
Publication date: 2008-05-15
Also published as: CN1953411A; CN100469033C

Abstract

A method of the information broadcast scheduling on the network and a system of transmitting the information in the way that there are preorder and instant simultaneously are provided, which include:11)according to the channel resource history rule of instant information transmit, calculating the channel number for preorder information transmit; 12)according to the channel number for preorder information transmit, arranging the broadcast of preorder information. The step 11) includes: 21) according to the channel resource history rule of instant information transmit, obtaining the necessary reserved channel number which can meets the instantinformation transmit in the various future time; 22)subtracting the reserved channel number from the total channel number, obtaining the channel number for preorder information transmit in the various future time. The reserved channel number is embodied: according to the channel resource cycle statistical rule of the instant information transmit, obtaining the channel number for the instant information transmit in the various future time, and based on this, adding the several redundancy channel. The solution is especially adopted to realize the broadcast scheduling of the preorder programs in the order program system of cable TV.

Description

Information broadcast scheduling method in channel network

This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200610138337.4, entitled "Information Broadcasting Scheduling Method in a Channel Network", filed on November 7, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In the application.

Technical field

The present invention relates to information transmission techniques, and more particularly to an information distribution scheduling method in a channel network.

Background technique

建立 Establishing a channel network using various optical and electrical principles to realize information transmission is the main channel for information transmission in the information age. However, in many cases, the channel resources of the channel network are limited, and may not meet the transmission needs of information consumers. In order to meet the needs of information consumers in the most economical situation, information that can fully utilize channel resources is used. The transmission method has become an inevitable choice.

Taking the video on demand system as an example, the transmission capacity of the existing video on demand system established on the cable television transmission network is limited by its bandwidth. In a service group of a video on demand system, if 20 carrier frequency points can be set, and each carrier frequency point can simultaneously transmit 10 channels of video programs, then in the service group, 200 channels of programs can be simultaneously transmitted, that is, having 200 channels. Channels. Since the programs in a service group are broadcasted in broadcast form in a cable television network, for each client of a service group, the programs received at a certain time are limited to 200 programs. Since the number of clients in a service group may reach thousands, if the requirements of each user are different, the video on demand request of the user may not be satisfied at the same time. Considering that the channel resource utilization of the video on demand system has obvious periodicity, there are obvious peaks and valleys in one day or one week. To this end, the applicant has proposed a technical solution for ordering video on demand. In this technical solution, the user requests to place a request for a video program, and the video on demand system arranges the transmission of the video program according to the request of each client. time. In a reasonable time, the video program is transmitted to the client and stored in the local memory of the client, and the information consumer can obtain the video program and watch it locally. This method can play the role of peak clipping and valley filling, and is an effective way to improve the channel resource utilization of the video on demand system. In the above manner, the key question is how to reasonably arrange the transmission time of ordering video programs to achieve the purpose of maximizing the use of channel resources, and at the same time, ensuring that the transmission of the subscription program does not affect the instant video on demand service provided by the system. In the prior art, there is no scheduling method that satisfies the above requirements. Summary of the invention

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an information broadcast scheduling method in a channel network. This method can reasonably realize the scheduling of information broadcast. This method is mainly for a video on demand system that provides a subscription-type video on demand service, but is also applicable to other information transmission systems that provide similar services.

The information distribution scheduling method in the channel network provided by the present invention is used in a system for simultaneously providing a subscription purchase mode and an instant manner for information transmission, including:

11) calculating the number of channels that can be used to subscribe to the subscription information broadcast according to the historical rule of the channel resource transmitted by the instant information;

12) Arranging the issuance of the subscription information according to the number of channels available for subscribing to the purchase information. Preferably, the step 11) includes:

21) obtaining, according to the historical rule of channel resources transmitted by the instant information, the number of channels that need to be reserved for the instant information transmission at each moment of the channel network;

22) Subtracting the total number of channel system channels by the reserved number of channels, and obtaining the number of channels available for subscription subscription information broadcast at various moments in the future.

Preferably, the number of the reserved channels is specifically: according to the periodicity of the historical rule of using the channel resources according to the instant information, obtaining the number of channels used for the instant information transmission at each moment in the future, and adding a number of channels based on the number of channels. The redundant channel serves as the reserved channel number for the instant information transmission.

Preferably, the step 12) includes:

41) receiving a subscription purchase request of each client, and generating a corresponding task according to each subscription purchase request;

42) Include the above task in the plan according to the number of channels available for subscribing to purchase information;

43) Broadcast the pre-order information as planned.

Preferably, in the step 41), generating a corresponding task according to the subscription purchase request means generating an array of task attribute descriptions describing the task according to the information provided by the pre-order request.

Preferably, the task attribute description array includes the following attribute items: a program identifier, a program length, a client identifier of the order program, a program scheduled time, a service group number, a task priority, a task status, and a task identifier.

Preferably, the plan in step 42) refers to multicasting at a certain time in a certain service. For a program, the plan specifically describes the array description using the plan attribute.

Preferably, the plan attribute description array includes the following attribute items: program identification, program length, start time, end time, service group number, number of tasks, task identification list, plan identification.

Preferably, the step 42), the specific method of including the task in the plan is:

91) Extracting a new task that has not been included in the plan;

92) in all unexecuted plans, find a plan with the same program ID and service group ID; if not, create a new plan for the new task; if present, based on the found start time of the plan And the end time, find out if there is a plan with the same program owner as the new task in the time period; if not, the new task is included in the plan; if there is, create a new task for the new task plan of.

93) Return to step 91).

Preferably, the step of adding the new task to the plan is: adding 1 to the number of tasks of the plan, adding a task identifier of the new task to the task list, and adjusting the task status attribute of the new task to be included Broadcasting plan.

Preferably, the creating a new plan for the new task is: scanning the planned occupied channel of the broadcast schedule at a fixed time interval after a time from the current time according to the number of channels available for the subscription to purchase the program. In the case, until a channel having a length greater than or equal to the length of the new task is found, and a channel that is not yet available for subscription to the program broadcast is found, the scanning is stopped; and a new plan is created for the new task at that time.

Preferably, before the step 43), the actual channel occupancy condition is also detected, and the advertisement plan is adjusted.

Preferably, adjusting the broadcast plan comprises:

131) regularly monitor the number of channels used by instant video on demand programs;

132) determining whether the number of channels used by the instant video on demand program is less than or equal to historical statistics, and if yes, returning to step 131); if not, proceeding to the next step;

133) If the sum of the number of channels used by the instant video on demand program, the number of redundant channels provided for the instant video on demand program, and the number of channels occupied by the scheduled purchase program is less than the total number of channels, return to step 131); otherwise, proceed to the next step. ;

134) adjust the broadcast plan; 135) returns to step 131).

Preferably, the adjusted advertisement plan is based on the number of channels used by the instant video on demand program, the number of redundant channels provided for the instant video on demand program, and the number of channels occupied by the reserved program plan exceeds the total number of channels. , cancel the same number of plans, and change the status attribute of the corresponding task of the canceled plan to unplanned.

Preferably, the cancellation plan is based on the priority of the tasks in the plan, first canceling the plan with low task priority; if there are multiple plans with the same task priority, canceling the plan with less tasks involved.

The information broadcast scheduling method in the channel network provided by the present invention uses the historical statistical data of the channel resources according to the information transmission in the instantaneous manner in the channel network, summarizes the periodicity rules, and realizes the broadcast scheduling of the pre-order information transmission. The method can better realize the reasonable arrangement of the subscription purchase business according to the channel resource condition, and utilize the channel resources of the system as much as possible under the premise of transmitting the information purchased by the client from the system background to the client as soon as possible. The method is mainly applicable to the broadcast scheduling of a reserved program in a cable TV video on demand system. It can also be used in other channel networks that simultaneously transmit instant messaging and pre-ordered messaging.

DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic diagram of bandwidth occupation of a real-time video on demand task network according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a task formation plan in the first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing a method of planning adjustment according to actual channel usage in the first embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The first embodiment of the present invention is directed to a video on demand system established in a cable television network, and in this system, a system resource scheduling method for use in subscribing to purchase a video program service is provided.

First, the background of the scheduling method will be described with respect to the working environment of the present embodiment.

In cable video on demand systems, the following features and constraints exist.

1. The instant video on demand service and the pre-ordered video on demand service occupy the channel resources of the same network.

2. For the use of network channel resources, the instant video on demand program takes precedence over the subscription to purchase the video on demand node n. 3. The use of the network channel is set to a period of time, for example, 24 hours, and the channel allocation usage between each period is substantially similar. Channel allocation usage will vary during the Saturday and Sunday cycles.

4. The number of channels occupied by instant video on demand programs has regularity. It is at the peak of about 7-11 pm. At this time, most of the network channels may be occupied. There are peaks in the morning and afternoon, occupying part of the network channel, and occupying other time. There are fewer channels.

5. The method uses the idle resources of the instant video on demand service to realize the subscription to purchase video on demand service, that is, the system firstly satisfies the channel requirement of the instant video on demand service, and if there is a free channel, it is used to reserve the video on demand service.

6. Any video-on-demand program in the system must be broadcasted once and for all, and cannot be broadcasted intermittently, and the broadcast time is the same as the actual broadcast time of the program.

The following influencing factors and constraints exist for users to subscribe to the demand for video on demand:

1. Multiple programs scheduled by the same user cannot be transmitted at the same time.

2. In the video on demand system, it is divided into several service groups. Within the service group, information is transmitted in broadcast form. That is to say, in a certain period of time, under the same service group, the information transmitted by the system through the channel can be transmitted to all clients in the service group through the same channel. Of course, in fact, because the client orders different programs, and copyright management restrictions, not every client can receive.

3. User program reservation and network bandwidth usage of different service groups do not affect each other.

4. The number of programs scheduled by the user on the same day cannot exceed a certain number. For example, the number of videos ordered within one day cannot exceed 10.

5. The user's scheduled program needs to be delivered within the specified time to ensure the timeliness of the scheduled purchase. This time can be determined by the user's own choice or by the system.

6. The length and number of scheduled purchases require the support of network channel capacity. If the total number of channels occupied by the instant video on demand system and the subscription video on demand system exceeds the total number of existing channels of the cable network, the subscription purchase is affected. The transmission of video on demand and instant video on demand services requires the network operator to ensure that the system has sufficient total number of channels.

7. The broadcast plan of the pre-ordered program needs to notify the client to purchase in advance, so that the client can prepare for receiving.

8. Under the same service group, different users subscribe to purchase the same program as much as possible and merge into one playout meter. In the plan, it is delivered through a broadcast to maximize the use of network channel resources.

Figure 1 shows a flow chart for implementing a subscription purchase service for network bandwidth under the above constraints.

The information distribution scheduling method provided by the present invention firstly performs program broadcast scheduling according to the channel utilization rule in the video on demand system and the situation in which the user subscribes to the program, and generates a program broadcast schedule. The program broadcast schedule makes preliminary arrangements for the broadcast of the subscription program, but since the actual channel resources in the video on demand system may not be able to satisfy the arrangement of the table, it is also necessary to monitor the actual situation of the channel resource utilization in real time, and Make adjustments at any time. The specific process is as follows.

Step S101, initialization.

The initialization process mainly includes predicting the number of channels that can be used to subscribe to the program to be broadcasted at various times in order to arrange for the video-on-demand program subscribed by the user to be subscribed.

The number of channels available for subscription to program broadcast refers to the number of unused channels in the video on demand system after satisfying the instant video on demand task in the video on demand system. For video on demand systems, the number of channels available for subscription to a program at a time is random and must be determined based on the results of real-time monitoring. However, in order to have a reasonable arrangement for ordering the broadcast of the program, it is necessary to pre-determine the schedule for the broadcast of the program. Considering that in the video on demand system, the instantaneous video on-demand quantity has obvious periodicity in the statistical law, so according to the regularity of the instant video on demand, according to the relevant historical statistical data, it is estimated that the time can be used for the subscription to purchase the program broadcast. The number of channels, and then schedule the broadcast program according to the estimated number.

2 is a schematic diagram of network channel occupancy of an instant video on demand task. The diagram shows the situation where the channel resources of the system are occupied by the instant video on demand service within one day. The ordinate of the graph represents the channel resource and the abscissa represents time. Wherein, the horizontal line of the highest position in the vertical direction represents the total amount of channel network resources, and the total amount is n. The curve in the figure represents the actual value of the on-demand service for channel network resource utilization. From this figure, it is possible to estimate the number of channels occupied by the instant on-demand service at a certain time of day, and to calculate the number of channels available for ordering video-on-demand at various times. In fact, the weekly on-demand tasks occupy a certain amount of regular use of network resources. In principle, based on the above statistics, it is possible to more accurately estimate the number of channels available for subscription to a program at a certain time.

It is still problematic to calculate the number of channels available for subscription to purchase video on demand services directly from the above statistics. First, due to the uncertainty of the instant video on demand service, the channel resources required for the instant video on demand service may be higher than a certain period of time in the statistics on a specific date. In order to avoid this situation, when scheduling a video on demand task according to the above statistical data, the number of channels reserved for instant video on demand needs to add a number of redundant channels based on the statistical data. For example, if the number of channels occupied by a certain time is d, the number of channels reserved for the instant video on demand service at the moment in the curve is: d*(l+r%), where r is a redundant coefficient obtained empirically. In order to ensure the priority allocation of the number of channels of the instant video on demand system. Using the total number of channels of the system minus the number of reserved channels, the number of channels available for subscription to the program broadcast can be obtained.

Step S102: Receive a subscription purchase request of the client, and generate a corresponding task according to the request.

The subscription purchase request of the client refers to a request for a certain video program issued by the client to the background of the system, where the subscription request includes basic information of the client that requests the request, and information of the subscribed program, including the subscription of the program. The number can also include information such as the latest time required to broadcast. According to the order request, the system background can know which program needs to be broadcast to which client as the information for the subsequent arrangement of the broadcast schedule.

In order to make the system background easy to process the client subscription request, an appropriate task and an array of task attribute descriptions are generated according to the subscription request.

The so-called task is the process of broadcasting an indefinite program to a client that subscribes to a program. According to the client's order request, a specific array can be used to describe the task corresponding to the order request, which is used when formulating the advertisement schedule. The array is called an array of task attribute descriptions.

To describe the task generated by a client subscription request, the following task attributes need to be set in the array describing the task to describe the task.

Task attribute 1 : Program ID.

The program identification is a unique identifier of the program that is used to determine the specific program that the task needs to advertise. Task attribute 2: program length

Used to describe the length of time for a program to be broadcast. In a video on demand system based on a cable television network, the length of time for the program to be broadcast is the length of time during which the program is actually played. When scheduling, use this length of time to measure the entire duration of the task, and the system is always able to ensure that channels are provided to it.

Task Attribute 3: The client ID of the ordering program.

Only the client that subscribes to the program has the right to receive the program broadcasted by the task. Therefore, it is necessary to add the client identification attribute in the task data structure to confirm whether the client is eligible to receive the sent message. Program. The client identifier may be a smart card number of the client set top box or the like.

Task Attribute 4: The scheduled time of the program.

The data is used to describe the time when the client subscribes to the program, and the time when the client subscribes to the program is related to the deadline for the program to be broadcasted. For example, the system can specify that the program must be broadcasted after a predetermined period of time. . The data format that can be used for the scheduled time of the program is: yyyy:mm:dd:hh:mm:ss„ The time period Xt can be determined in the user's subscription request, or can be automatically given by the system.

Task Attribute 5: Service Group Number.

Since the system broadcast program is broadcasted in the form of a service group as a broadcast in the present embodiment, the broadcast program actually broadcasts the program in the service group in which the client who subscribes to the program is located. Therefore, when describing a task, it is necessary to include the service group information of the client that subscribes to the related program. For other embodiments, if the service is broadcast to the entire system without dividing the service group, then all clients are in one service group.

Task Attribute 6: Task Priority.

The role of the task priority data is to determine the urgency of performing the task. The determination of task priorities is generally based on the deadline for executing tasks.

Task priority defines three levels: 0: highest priority; 1: secondary high priority; 2: lowest priority.

The definition of task priority considers the following three factors:

The timeliness of film distribution, the user needs to broadcast a movie within a certain time period (At), the former At/2 priority level is defined as 2, and the At/2 to At*3/4 time period priority level is defined as 1, the priority level is 0 in the At*3/4 to At time period

In the task of the same priority level determined by the timeliness of the film distribution, the relative priority is determined when the broadcast plan is formulated. The relative priority is determined by the number of predetermined users of the same movie. The more the number of users, the higher the priority. .

Task Properties 7: Task Status.

This data is used to distinguish whether the task is already planned. A task that has not been planned is called a new task.

Task attribute 8: Task ID. This data is used to distinguish between different tasks.

The above task attribute description array translates the client's subscription request into a convenient data format for subsequent processing. For the system background, an actual task corresponds to an array of task attribute descriptions. Therefore, when the task is mentioned below, it refers to the actual task in the system, and also refers to the corresponding task attribute description array.

Step S103: Extract a new task that has not been scheduled, add it to the corresponding plan according to the attribute of the new task, or create a new plan for the new task. All plans form an advertised schedule.

When all client subscription requests generate the corresponding tasks, the system can plan to broadcast the program based on all tasks and the number of channels available for subscription to the program. A plan is a program that is multicasted at a certain service at a certain time. The program can be received by multiple clients in a service group, so a plan can complete multiple tasks. According to the number of channels available for booking a program broadcast obtained in step S101, how many channels can be arranged, and how many channels can be arranged. In the system, new tasks are continuously generated due to the continuous receiving of the user's reservation purchase request. The system continuously extracts new tasks and puts them in the plan.

In the system, describe the plan using the plan attribute description array. The plan attribute description array settings The following plan attributes describe the plan.

Plan attribute 1 : Program ID.

This attribute is used to indicate the specific program that the plan needs to play. The data source of the attribute is for the task that needs to be performed, and the program identifier of the task is obtained, and it can be used as the program identifier of the plan.

Plan attribute 2: Program length.

The length of the program is also obtained from the task and is used to determine the duration that the plan needs to last. Plan attribute 3: Start time.

This time is determined according to the channel resource situation and is the core issue of the scheduling. Determining a specific start time, which needs to be arranged according to the number of channels that can be used for subscription to purchase programs and the number of channels that have been established, and the number of channels available for subscription to purchase programs at a certain moment in the future is greater than the established plan. When you need to occupy the number of channels, you can schedule a new plan.

Plan attribute 4: End time.

The data is determined based on the start time and the length of the movie. The data is used to determine the specific time at which the task ends, so that it can be determined when the channel resource occupied by the corresponding task executing the plan is released. Between.

Plan attribute 5: Service group number.

The data for this attribute is also taken from the corresponding task and is used for the execution of the plan.

Plan attribute 6: Number of tasks.

This data is the number of tasks completed to execute the plan. This is because different clients of the same service group may order one program, thus generating multiple tasks with the same movie identification. When planning, the above tasks should be merged into one plan as much as possible. After the implementation of the plan, the above tasks can be completely solved, and the goal of obtaining the most information transmission effect with the least resources is achieved.

Plan attribute 7: List of task IDs.

This data is used when looking up the corresponding task from the plan array. Based on this data, it is possible to determine the corresponding tasks from a plan to obtain other data related to the task. For example, the client ID for the task, and so on.

Plan attribute 8: Plan ID.

This data is used to distinguish between different plans.

Each plan has an array of corresponding plan attribute descriptions. For the system, each plan is an array of attribute descriptions for the plan. Therefore, the plan mentioned below also refers to the plan attribute description group.

The system background continuously adds the new task generated in step S102 to the existing plan, or generates a new plan according to the new task. All unexecuted plans constitute an advertisement schedule. Each plan in the broadcast schedule may increase the number of tasks according to newly created new tasks. The entire broadcast schedule may also change due to the actual situation of the planned execution. .

The process in step S103 of the task formation step S103 needs to be processed through a certain step, and the specific method is shown in FIG. 3. For a detailed description of Figure 3, see the following description.

Step S104: Detect an actual channel occupancy condition, and if the channel occupied by the instant on-demand program exceeds the number of channels reserved for the instant video on-demand, adjust the advertisement plan.

The advertisement plan generated in the step S103 is performed according to historical statistics. In fact, the use of channel resources is random, and there may be a case where the number of channels reserved for instant video on demand is too small, so the channel usage should be monitored in real time. Situation, adjust the schedule according to the actual use of the channel. Through the continuous adjustment of the broadcast schedule, the broadcast plan that can be actually implemented is finally obtained. Specific adjustment The method is shown in Figure 4. A detailed description of Figure 4 can be found later.

Step S105, broadcasting the program according to the above plan.

When a plan start time arrives, the plan is started. When the plan ends, the occupied channel resources are released. And delete the tasks involved in the plan, and then delete the plan. The system continuously broadcasts the plan to the start time according to the planned broadcast schedule.

Before a plan is executed, a plan notification is also required, that is, the scheduled transmission plan is notified to the corresponding client, so that the client starts receiving at the broadcast time, and the client only receives the task with its own identity.

Although the above detailed plan has been made for the purchase of video on demand, and adjustments have been made, it cannot be ruled out that the plan may not be in line with the actual situation, for example, an extraordinary number of instant video on demand tasks occur at a certain moment, so that the original video is on demand. The number of reserved channels is insufficient and a plan cannot be executed. For this reason, when a plan is scheduled to be broadcast, but it cannot be successful, or it has already been broadcast but cannot be executed, the plan needs to be canceled and the tasks included in the plan are placed in the new task queue.

The method of the task formation step S103 obtained in the step S102 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.

Step S301: Extract a new task j according to the priority of the new task.

The new task refers to a task that has not been scheduled to enter the plan. It may also be that a plan has been arranged, and then it is planned to cancel and become a new task. Whether a task belongs to a new task is known by querying the task status attribute of the task.

Step S302: Find a plan with the same program identifier and service group identifier from all the plans that have not been executed in the current time, and if not, go to step S305. If so, go to the next step.

Step S303, in the search advertisement schedule, whether the plan having the same program owner as the task j is in the running state in the start time to the end time of the plan obtained in the above step S302, if yes, proceed to step S305, if not , then go to the next step.

Step S304, adding 1 to the number of tasks of the plan, adding the task identifier of the task j to the task list, and adjusting the task status attribute of the task j to be included in the broadcast plan, and then proceeding to step S307 to process the next task.

Step S305, according to the number of channels that can be used for the subscription to purchase the program, starting from a period of time t after the current time, scanning the planned occupied channel in the broadcast schedule according to a certain time interval, For example, at intervals of 5 minutes, if there is a broadcast time length L greater than or equal to the task j at tl, and a channel that is not yet used for booking a program broadcast is used, the scanning is stopped.

Since all programs in the system must be fully broadcast, during the broadcast of a program, the number of channels reserved for instant video on demand and the scheduled broadcast plan will change. Therefore, it must be considered whether there is available time in the entire broadcast time. Broadcast channel. Since Plan A shown in FIG. 2 has a duration of L, the channel resource condition changes during the time. Therefore, scheduling the program requires consideration of whether or not there is always sufficient channel resources over the entire length L. Is there a channel of length L that is not yet available for subscription to the program to be broadcasted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the number of available channels for ordering the purchased video on demand system is calculated at time t1, and the total number of channels of the network is set to n. It is assumed that the number of reserved channels of the instant video on demand system is nl at time t1, and is available at time t1. The bandwidth used by the order video on demand system is n-nl, but considering the movie m of length t2-tl placed at time t1, it is necessary to not affect the channel resources of instant video on demand in the time period from time t1 to time t2. Priority allocation. Assume that the maximum number of channels that need to be reserved for instant video on demand from tl to t2 is the number of channels η2 at time t2 during this time. In fact, the total number of channels that the system can use to subscribe to the purchased video program service at time t2 is n-n2. .

The following is a discussion of several situations. Whether it is possible to arrange the movie m to enter the broadcast task queue at time tl.

1) n-nl= n-n2

At this time, as long as the planned number of occupied channels for purchasing the video on demand program is less than n-nl, the movie m can be arranged to enter the broadcast task queue.

2) n-nl > n-n2

For this case, there are three types of situations to discuss:

2.1) If the planned number of occupied channels for purchasing video-on-demand programs is less than n-n2, the movie m can be arranged to enter the broadcast task queue.

2.2) The number of occupied channels of the reserved video on demand program is greater than or equal to n-n2 but less than n-nl. At this time, it is necessary to calculate the number of channels occupied by the instant video on demand task (including the number of redundant channels) from time t1 to time t2. The sum of the number of channels occupied by the subscription video-on-demand task is less than n, and less than n can be arranged to enter the broadcast task queue. This is because, at time t1 to t2, there may be other programs that have finished playing and exit the occupied channel resources, and the channel resources can be used for the instant on-demand task. Therefore, the broadcast of the movie m will not affect the instant on-demand task. 2.3) The number of occupied channels of the subscription video-on-demand task is greater than or equal to n-nl, and the broadcast cannot be scheduled. In short, whether a task can be scheduled to start broadcasting at a certain time depends not only on the channel resources at that moment, but also on the channel resources during the entire period in which the task is performed.

At the same time, in order for the new plan to accommodate more tasks, it is necessary to find available channels from the current time to the next time t. This is because, within the waiting time t, a new task requiring the same program may be generated, and the length of the time t directly affects the number of tasks accommodated by the plan. By controlling the length of time t, it is possible to adaptively control the merging of tasks. The specific length of time t needs to consider factors such as the timeliness of program broadcast, network bandwidth occupancy, and task consolidation. In actual operation, empirical data can be obtained based on the actual situation of the operation.

Step S306, a new plan is created for task j at time t1.

Step S307, returning to step S301, processing the next task.

Through the above arrangement, a number of plans are formed in the system, and all plans form an advertisement schedule according to which a client can be notified when to start broadcasting the programs ordered by them; according to the programs in the distribution schedule The start time and the end time can be used to calculate the number of channels that can be used to subscribe to the program broadcast that have not been scheduled to be broadcasted, thereby making a new schedule.

The above steps S102, S103 are continuously performed, so as to continuously generate a new task according to the client's order program request, and add a new task to the existing plan, or generate a new plan according to the new task, thereby generating a new broadcast plan. table. The system sends each plan to the corresponding client a certain period of time before its start time, so that the client can prepare in advance.

The specific method of planning adjustment according to the actual channel usage will be described below with reference to FIG. Step S401: Monitor the number of channels used by the instant video on demand program at regular intervals, for example, 5 minutes.

Step S402, determining whether the number of channels used by the instant video on demand program is less than or equal to the historical statistical data, and if yes, returning to step S401; if not, proceeding to the next step.

Step S403, determining whether the number of channels used by the instant video on demand program, the number of redundant channels provided for the instant video on demand program, and the number of channels occupied by the scheduled purchase program are less than the total number of channels; if yes, returning to step S401; , then go to the next step.

In step S404, a plan adjustment is performed.

If the number of channels used by instant video on demand programs, redundant letters provided for instant video on demand programs The sum of the number of channels and the number of channels occupied by the reserved program plan is greater than or equal to the total number of channels, and the plan needs to be adjusted. Assuming that the number of channels exceeds n, it is necessary to cancel n plans from the current time, cancel the plan, change the status attribute of the corresponding task to unplanned, and the task becomes a new task again.

The plan to determine the cancellation is determined first by the task priority attribute in the plan. The plan with the lower priority of the task is first considered for cancellation. If several scheduled tasks have the same priority attribute, cancel the plan with a small number of tasks involved.

Since there are redundant channels reserved for instant video on demand, in general, the channel resources of the instant video on demand task can be ensured after adjustment.

Step S405, returning to step S401.

Through the above steps, the broadcast schedule is continuously adjusted to obtain an advertisement plan that can be actually executed.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that those skilled in the art can also make several improvements and retouchings without departing from the principles of the present invention. It should be considered as the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

Rights request

A system for dispatching information in a channel network, which is provided in a system for simultaneously providing a subscription purchase method and an instant manner for information transmission, and is characterized in that:

12) Arranging the issuance of the subscription information according to the number of channels available for subscribing to the purchase information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step 11) comprises:

The method according to claim 2, wherein the reserved number of channels is specifically: obtaining a channel used for real-time information transmission at various moments in the future according to a periodicity of a history rule of using channel resources according to the instant information transmission And add a number of redundant channels to the number of reserved channels for instant information transmission based on the number of channels.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the step 12) comprises:

43) Broadcast the pre-order information as planned.

The method according to claim 4, wherein in step 41), generating a corresponding task according to the subscription purchase request means generating an attribute attribute description array describing the task according to the information provided by the subscription purchase request.

The method according to claim 5, wherein the task attribute description array includes the following attribute items: program identification, program length, client identification of the subscription program, program scheduled time, service group number, task Priority, task status, task ID.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the plan in step 42) refers to a certain A program that is multicasted at a certain service at a time, and the plan specifically describes the array description using the plan attribute.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the plan attribute description array comprises the following attribute items: program identification, program length, start time, end time, service group number, number of tasks, task identification list, Plan identification.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the step 42), the specific method of including the task in the plan is:

91) Extracting a new task that has not been included in the plan;

93) Return to step 91).

The method according to claim 9, wherein the adding the new task to the plan is: adding 1 to the number of tasks of the plan, adding a task identifier of the new task to the task list, and Adjust the task status attribute for this new task to be included in the broadcast plan.

The method according to claim 9, wherein the creating a new plan for the new task is specifically: according to the number of channels available for subscription to purchase a program, after a time from the current time to the next time, The fixed time interval scans the situation of the planned occupation of the channel of the advertisement schedule until the length of the broadcast time that is greater than or equal to the new task is found, and the unused channel that can be used to subscribe to the program is stopped, and the scanning is stopped; This moment creates a new plan for the new task.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein before the step 43), the actual channel occupancy condition is also detected, and the advertisement plan is adjusted.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting the advertisement plan comprises:

133) If the number of channels used by instant video on demand programs is provided for instant video on demand programs The sum of the number of redundant channels and the number of channels occupied by the scheduled purchase program is less than the total number of channels, returning to the step

131); Otherwise, go to the next step;

134) adjust the broadcast plan;

135) Return to step 131).

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the adjusting the advertisement plan is based on the number of channels used by the instant video on demand program, the number of redundant channels provided for the instant video on demand program, and the reserved program plan occupancy. The sum of the number of channels exceeds the total number of channels, cancels the same number of plans, and changes the status attribute of the corresponding task to the unplanned.

The method according to claim 14, wherein the cancellation plan is based on a priority of a task in the plan, and first cancels a plan with a low priority of the task; if there are multiple plans with the same priority of the task, Then cancel the plan with a small number of tasks involved.