WO2009036630A1

WO2009036630A1 - An update and transmission method of electronic service guide content information

Info

Publication number: WO2009036630A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/003696
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zunyou Ke
Original assignee: Zte Corporation
Priority date: 2007-09-20
Filing date: 2007-12-19
Publication date: 2009-03-26
Also published as: CN101127869A; CN101127869B

Abstract

An update and transmission method of electronic service guide content information includes the steps that (a) content information is partitioned according to data blocks by an ESG server, each data block is distinguished by data block identifier, and the content information is partitioned and identified in the same mode by a terminal; (b) the ESG server updates the current version numbers of the date blocks in which the records are changed; (c) the ESG server broadcasts and sends the updated data blocks and their version numbers; and (d) after the terminal receives the version numbers, and if it is detected that the version numbers are changed when they are compared to the version numbers of the data blocks saved in the terminal, the terminal receives the data blocks and updates the data blocks that have the same local identifier. It is helpful for the terminal to implement the ESG data update quickly with the method, especially when the amount of the ESG content information data is large, the method reduces the amount of data received and updated by the terminal.

Description

Method for updating and transmitting content information of electronic service guide

Technical field

The present invention relates to mobile multimedia broadcast technologies, and more particularly to a method for updating and transmitting content information of a mobile multimedia broadcast service guide.

Background technique

The Electronic Service Guide (ESG) or Electronic Program Guide is a multimedia broadcast service information navigation system. Through ESG information, users can understand the relevant information of the mobile multimedia broadcasting service (including service name, playing time, content outline, price, etc.), and realize fast retrieval, preview and access to the business; it can watch TV programs and enjoy information for users. The service provides a good navigation mechanism that allows users to quickly and easily find programs they care about and view additional information about the program. These features of ESG make their clients an important way and tool for users to watch programs. As a result, it is necessary to provide value-added services on ESG to make full use of ESG's user base and generate substantial revenue for operators.

With the rich amount of ESG information, effectively organizing and scheduling ESG information has become an important issue.

Generally, the data information to be broadcasted by the ESG, that is, the ESG broadcast data, can be divided into a plurality of data blocks as needed. These data blocks can be classified according to ESG data types, including business information, scheduling information, program content information, and business parameter information. The terminal update operation is performed based on the change of the data block version number that can be known.

As shown in FIG. 1, a broadcast channel frame of a mobile multimedia broadcast is composed of a plurality of multiplexed frames. Each multiplex frame is uniquely identified by the MFJD, and the MF_ID ranges from 0 to 39. The multiplex frame of MF_ID == 0 is used to carry control information (referred to as control multiplexing frame), and other multiplex frames are used. Bearer service (referred to as service multiplexing frame). The multiplex frame is composed of a multiplexed frame header, a multiplexed frame payload, and a padding portion. The multiplexed frame payload consists of one or more multiplexed subframes. The fill portion is filled with OxFF.

As shown in Figure 2, the ESG basic description table is transmitted by controlling the multiplexed frame.

A multiplex frame with a MFJD value of 0 is used to carry control information (referred to as a control multiplexing frame). The control logical channel is used for transmission. At this time, a control information table is used as a multiplex subframe, that is, the control multiplex frame payload is composed of a plurality of control information tables, which includes an ESG basic description table whose identification number is 0x06. The ESG basic description table includes each ESG data type identifier, data block identifier, and data block version number, and can be indexed to the ESG service identifier used by the data block, thereby further searching for the corresponding multiplexing frame and receiving ESG data for the terminal. Block with hints.

The data type identifier, which occupies a 4-bit field, identifies the ESG data type carried by the ESG data payload, as shown in Table 1.

ESG data type

The data block identifier, which occupies an 8-bit field, identifies the data block to which the ESG data payload belongs, and the data block identifier and the data type identifier together uniquely determine one data block.

The data block version number, occupying a 4-bit field, indicates the current version number of the data block, and is incremented by 1 when the data block changes.

The ESG service identifier, which occupies a 16-bit field, indicates the identifier of the ESG service. The allocation rule follows the multiplexing specification. The service identifier is allocated as shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Assignment of business identifiers

As shown in FIG. 3, the multiplex subframe of the service multiplex frame is composed of a subframe header, a video segment, an audio segment, and a data segment. The data segment is composed of a data segment header and a plurality of data units. The data segment header describes parameters of each data unit. When the data unit type is 0, it indicates that the data unit transmits ESG data information.

Both the ESG broadcast data and the traffic channel data are transmitted through segments of different types of multiplex subframes of the respective service multiplexed frame payloads. The common service channel and ESG data information transmission use different multiplex subframes and multiplex frames.

As shown in Figure 4, the ESG data unit structure consists of a data header, a data payload, and CRC parity data. The data header includes a data block identifier and a data type identifier corresponding to the data payload. For content information, the data type identifier refers to Table 1, which is 0100 (binary).

The semantics of the content element data types contained in the content information are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Content Element Data Types

Field semantics

ContentType content element data type definition.

ContentClass Content classification, string, indicating the type of media content, as defined in RFC2046. The value of a single content type is "text" "image" "audio" "video" or "application" , and the composite content type is "multipart" . .

ContentGenre content type, 8-bit unsigned integer, see GY/Z

Table 26 of 174-2001.

Duration Duration, a 16-bit unsigned integer representing the length of time in which the content or program is played, in seconds.

Media multimedia element that indicates information that uses multimedia data to describe the business.

For data type definitions for MediaType multimedia elements, see Section 6.9.

ContentLanguageSpecial A description element associated with the language.

Keyword keyword string, separated by "; ,, multiple keywords. DigestInfo The summary string, which represents a brief description of the content.

Title title string.

AudioLang content sound language indicator string, separated by V, different sounds, such as "Chinese / Tibetan".

SubtitleLang subtitle language indicator string, V between different languages,

Separated, such as "Chinese / Tibetan".

The language of the lang ContentLanguageSpecial element is 'ί 生, string, which uses the GB/T 4880.2/Τ-2000 standard 3-letter language code. For example: Chinese 3-character code "zho"

ServiceParalD service parameter identifier, 16-bit unsigned integer, indicates that the service parameter information is obtained from the service parameter table according to the identifier. If the value is 0, the service has no corresponding service play parameters.

The Extentlnfo extended message string represents a URI link through which more information about the current channel/service can be obtained.

ContentID content identifier, attribute of the content element, 16-bit unsigned integer, globally unique.

As described above, various types of ESG data information can be transmitted to the terminal through the service multiplexing frame. However, even if the data blocks are divided according to the ESG data type, the data volume of the data blocks formed by the ESG data of some data types is relatively large, such as content information. Because the information that the data block actually needs to contain includes program content information of several tens of channels for several days, the number of records can reach tens of thousands. If the actual situation is not properly handled, the terminal receiving takes a long time. And update the larger number of data records. It will certainly bring difficulties to the implementation of ESG data transmission and terminal update of local ESG data information, so the update and transmission method of the service guide for content information is needed to reduce the amount of data for updating ESG content information.

Summary of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an electronic service guide content information update and transmission method, which reduces the amount of data in the ESG content information received and updated by the terminal. In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for updating and transmitting content information of an electronic service guide, which includes the following steps:

(a) Electronic Service Guide The ESG server divides the content information by data block, distinguishes each data block by the data block identification number, and divides and identifies the content information by the terminal in the same manner;

(b) The ESG server updates the current version number of the data block containing the changed record;

(c) the ESG server broadcasts the updated data block and its version number;

(d) After receiving the version number, the terminal receives the data block and updates the data block with the same local identification number if it detects that the version number changes with respect to the version number of the data block stored on the terminal.

Further, the step (b) further includes: an ESG server and describing a version number of the content information data block and an ESG service identifier in the basic description table; correspondingly, the ESG server in the step (c) is related to the ESG service identifier The corresponding service multiplexing frame broadcasts the updated data block and its version number.

Further, updating the data block with the same local identification number in step (d), including updating all the records in the data block with the same identification number.

Further, in the step (a), the content information is divided into a plurality of data blocks according to the identification information of the content.

Further, the step (c) further includes: the ESG server simultaneously broadcasts the identification number of the record in the data block to the terminal, and correspondingly, updates the data block with the same local identification number in the step (d). The method includes: the terminal only updating the corresponding record in the data block with the same identification number according to the identification number of the record that is changed.

Further, the identification number of the record in the data block is broadcasted to the terminal by the content information data description in the broadcast frame.

Further, updating the current version number of the data block in step (b) means updating the current data block with the latest version of the data block, and adding the updated version number to 1.

Further, the minimum value and the maximum value of the version number are set. After the version number is updated to the maximum value, the next update starts from the minimum value and continues to loop. Further, the step (a) further includes: allocating the same number of records for each data block, and correspondingly, updating the current version number of the data block whose records are changed in step (b), including : If a new record appears, the ESG server assigns it to a data block containing the number of records whose number of records has not reached the allocation, and updates the version number of the data block, or the ESG server assigns it to the new one. In the data block, and set the version number for the new data block.

Further, the terminal has a mobile multimedia receiving function and a mobile communication function.

By adopting the method of the invention, the terminal can conveniently implement the update operation of the ESG data, especially when the amount of ESG content information is large, the amount of data received and updated is reduced, and the terminal is more convenient and updated, especially The advantages of the method of the present invention are also extremely significant in the case where the frequently occurring local content data information changes and most of it does not change. BRIEF abstract

1 is a schematic diagram of a mobile multimedia wide-talk frame structure in the present invention;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of a basic description table of a mobile multimedia broadcast ESG according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a multiplexing subframe of a mobile multimedia broadcast service according to the present invention;

4 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobile multimedia broadcast ESG data unit in the present invention; FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for updating and transmitting content information of a service guide in the embodiment; FIG. 6 is a version update method of a content information data block in the embodiment. Schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention

The core idea of the method of the present invention is: The ESG server divides the ESG content information into a plurality of data blocks, updates the version of the data block whose records are changed, and broadcasts the service frame through a two-way interactive communication network (such as a mobile communication network). Sending to the terminal, the terminal only receives and updates the data block whose version number changes by detecting the change of each data block and the version number of the content information in the ESG basic description table; or the data block whose ESG server changes the included record When the version number is updated to indicate the identification number (ID) of the changed record, the terminal only updates the record in the data block that has changed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the method for updating and transmitting the content information of the electronic service guide includes the following steps: Step 501: Segment the content information into different content information data blocks, and identify a version number for the content information data block, and update the data block of the included record to a version number, and the included record does not occur. The version number of the changed data block is unchanged;

The segmentation of the content information is divided according to the identification information of the content (i.e., ContentlD in Table 3).

The data block in which the included record is changed is updated with the version number, and the identification number (ID) of the changed record can be notified to the terminal through the content information data description.

The version number of the data block can be updated by increasing the version number by 1 to update the current data block with the latest version of the data block.

As shown in FIG. 6, T1 refers to a record of all content information, including a content information record shared by all channels in a specified time period of the ESG (ie, ESG data information transmitted for those days), and the ESG content information is divided into data blocks, for every 3 pieces. The record (span 3) is divided into one data block. For example, the first data block is S1, the data block with the record number of 0 is ignored, and each data block number is identified.

For example, the original content information record T1 is divided into data blocks according to the following manner: including record 1, record 2, data block S1 of record 3 is identified as 1, version number is B1.1; including record 4, record 5, record 6 The data block S2 is identified as 2, the version number is B1.1; and so on.

Including record n-2, record n-1, record n data block Sk is identified as K, version number is B1.1; as described above, all data blocks are identified. If the total number of records is n and the span of the segment is p, then the total number of basic data blocks is K full and the following formula: K = [n/p]+l ([...] means rounding).

The system configures the number of records included in each data block, as described above, in the specific embodiment, the value is 3, and may be other values.

It is assumed that record 3 and record 5 have been changed with respect to the last published ESG data information, and all the records are as shown in Fig. 2 (in the figure, * indicates change).

In all data blocks, the version number of the data block that has not been changed in the included record is unchanged, and the data block version number of the changed record is updated. For example, in Τ3, the version number of the data block S3 remains unchanged, the version number of the data block S1, S2 is updated to B1.2, and the server side sends the data block The ID of the record of the change is notified to the terminal by the content information data description. For example, in the data block Si t , the ID of the record in which the change is made is 3, and in the data block S2, the ID of the record in which the change is made is 5.

In the version number B1.1, the version number indicated by the first one is the published version number set by the server, that is, the version number of the available data broadcast by the server to the terminal, and the version number indicated by the second "1". Is the version number of the data block, and the version number mentioned below is the second version number.

During the data update process, if a new record appears, the server allocates it to the data block containing the number of records whose number of records does not reach the allocation, and updates its version number, and the terminal performs synchronous update according to the above method. Alternatively, the server allocates it to a new data block and sets a version number for it. When the terminal detects that there is a new data block, it receives the data block.

During the data update process, when there is a record to be deleted, the server side clears the record content, updates the version number of the data block in which it is located, and the terminal performs the synchronous update according to the above method.

It should be noted that the number of data blocks divided in practical applications is limited. For example, 8 bits can identify up to 256 data blocks, so the number of records per data block also has a minimum value, which is generally much larger than the figure, for example, span. p is 1000.

Step 502: Set a version number and a service identifier of the content information data block in a basic description table.

Step 503: The ESG data block is transmitted by using the service multiplexing frame of the ESG service identifier. Step 504: After receiving the service multiplexing frame, the terminal detects the content information data block and the version number of the ESG basic description table. If the version number changes, the corresponding data block is received to update the local data block.

The terminal divides the content information record into different data blocks according to the manner of dividing the server, and the identifier of the data block is the same as that set in the server. After receiving the service multiplexing frame, the terminal detects the content information data block and its version number in the basic description table of the ESG. If the version number does not change, the corresponding data block is not received; if the version number changes, the corresponding data is received. The block updates the content information record in the local data according to the ID of the content information recorded in the data block, or updates the entire local data block.

When the server side performs data update, the current version number of the data block is used as the old version number, and the changed version number of the update is used as the new version number. The data block version number shown in Figure 2 is fixed length data. (For example, 4 bit, available version number is 0 to 15, a total of 16), the value is used cyclically. The records in some data blocks in the content information may remain unchanged for a long time, and a certain version number (for example, 3) will be used for a long time, and the version number of the data block in which the change is recorded will be updated every time. The information is incremented cyclically. When incrementing to the maximum value (such as 15), the next update starts from the minimum value (such as 0) and continues the loop. When the terminal receives, it also determines whether the version number has changed according to the way of the loop.

When the terminal is one of the following situations, all the data blocks broadcast by the ESG server are completely received:

The terminal does not have the available electronic service guide information; the terminal receives all the receiving requirements according to the service application; the version number received by the terminal is inconsistent with the terminal cache.

Under normal use, most users already have the content information of the previous version. The terminal detects the changes of the data blocks and the version number of the content information in the basic description table of the ESG. Because most of the data blocks are the same, only the receiving and receiving are required. Update the changed data block.

The above terminal has a mobile multimedia receiving function and a mobile communication function.

In this way, the data block of each content information is divided more reasonably, which helps the terminal to realize conveniently.

Content information update operation of ESG data. When receiving the ESG data information, the terminal may decide whether to receive or update the local ESG data information according to the version number of each data block in the basic description table, and decide whether to receive all or update the partial content information. If it is necessary to receive and update, such as the above-mentioned content data after being reduced to zero, the amount of data received and updated is reduced, and it is easier for the terminal to receive and update. Especially when the amount of ESG content information is large, the local content data information changes, and most of them do not change. This situation often exists, and the advantages of the method are also extremely significant, which helps the terminal to easily update the ESG data. operating.

The broader aspects of the invention are not limited to the specific details and exemplary embodiments shown and described herein. Therefore, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

Claim

A method for updating and transmitting content information of an electronic service guide, characterized in that the method includes the following steps

(b) The ESG server updates the current version number of the data block that contains the changed indicator;

(c) the ESG server broadcasts the updated data block and its version number;

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

The step (b) further includes: an ESG server and describing a version number of the content information data block and an ESG service identifier in the basic description table; correspondingly, the ESG server in the step (c) passes the service corresponding to the ESG service identifier. The multiplexed frame broadcast transmits the updated data block and its version number.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

Updating the data block with the same local identification number in step (d) includes updating all the records in the data block with the same identification number.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

In the step (a), the content information is divided into a plurality of data blocks based on the identification information of the content.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:

The step (c) further includes: the ESG server simultaneously broadcasts the identification number of the record in the data block to the terminal, and correspondingly, the data block with the same local identification number is updated in the step (d), including: The terminal only updates the target according to the identification number of the record in which the change is made. Corresponding records in the same data block.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein:

The identification number of the record in the data block is broadcasted to the terminal by the content information data description in the broadcast frame.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:

Updating the current version number of the data block as described in step (b) means updating the current data block with the latest version of the data block, and the updated version number is incremented by one.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: the minimum value and the maximum value of the version number are set. After the version number is updated to the maximum value, the next update starts from the minimum value and continues to loop.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: step (a) further comprises: assigning the same number of records to each data block, and correspondingly, the recording of the included records in step (b) occurs. The current version number of the changed data block is updated, including: If a new record occurs, the ESG server allocates it to the data block containing the number of records whose number of records does not reach the allocation, and performs the version number of the data block. Update, or, the ESG server assigns it to a new data block and sets the version number for the new data block.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein:

The terminal has a mobile multimedia receiving function and a mobile communication function.