WO2009039741A1

WO2009039741A1 - A method and device for realizing the switching of iptv channels

Info

Publication number: WO2009039741A1
Application number: PCT/CN2008/072062
Authority: WO
Inventors: Junli Liu; Guowei Feng; Zhongbao Zhang; Ke Sun; Xu Yang; Lijun Yan; Yingtao Duan; Xuehui Zhang; Zhengqiang Dong
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2007-09-25
Filing date: 2008-08-20
Publication date: 2009-04-02
Also published as: CN101132521A

Abstract

A method for realizing the switching of IPTV live channels includes: buffering media stream data of respective IPTV live channels distributed by a program source respectively; when a message for requesting to switch a channel is received from a user terminal, reading the buffered media stream data corresponding to the channel to be switched; sending the read media stream data to the user terminal. Meanwhile, the embodiment of the present invention also discloses a device for realizing the switching of IPTV live channels.

Description

Method and device for realizing IPTV channel switching

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200710151338.7, entitled "A Method and Apparatus for Implementing IPTV Channel Switching", filed on September 25, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference. In this application.

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) technology, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for implementing IPTV channel switching.

Background technique

IPTV, also known as IPTV or broadband TV, is a service that provides users with interactive services based on IP networks and uses broadband networks to provide digitally processed audio and video programs in a multicast manner. user.

For the user terminal, the IPTV service includes a live broadcast service. Live broadcast services are implemented through multicast. Multicast is a network technology that allows one or more senders to simultaneously send a single packet to multiple recipients. With multicast technology, the media stream will occupy a large amount of IP network bandwidth. In the IP public network, when the network data traffic is large, the media stream data will be unstable, and the programs viewed by the user will be jittery.

Therefore, in order to prevent picture jitter caused by unstable network traffic when the user is watching the program, one method of the prior art is to add a buffer to the STB (Set Top Box) connected to the user terminal. After receiving the message of the user terminal requesting to switch channels, the STB first stores the received media stream data of the channel into the buffer, and when the media stream data in the cache reaches a certain amount, the STB is allowed to be decoded. .

However, the drawback of this method is: Since the user switches the channel every time, the STB first caches the media stream data of the channel in the buffer, and does not play until a certain amount is reached, so that when the user When switching channels frequently and frequently, you have to wait until the media stream data in the buffer is enough to play, which will obviously delay the channel switching.

The prior art also discloses a method for channel switching, which is to add a live processing server to the output end of the live server for receiving short-term video frame data streams of all live channels output by the live server, and save the data streams. In the buffer A on the live processing server, the buffer A parses the key frame data from the short-term video frame data stream, and the key frame data is Saved in buffer B on the live processing server. At the same time, correspondingly, two buffers A and ^ are set on the user terminal. When the user switches channels, the user terminal first sends an IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol leave) exit message to the live server. To exit the current channel, and then send an IGMP message requesting to switch the channel to the live processing server, and the live processing server sends the key of the channel to be switched in the buffer B to the terminal after receiving the request message. The frame data, the terminal caches the key frame data in its own buffer A, and displays it in the terminal. Then, the terminal sends an IGMP message requesting to join the channel to the live broadcast server, and after receiving the response from the live broadcast server, receives the media stream data of the channel from the live broadcast server, and saves the data in the terminal. On the flush area B, until the media stream data in the buffer B reaches a certain number, the terminal will switch to the buffer B for playing.

However, in carrying out the creation process of the present invention, the inventors found that the second method of the prior art has the following problems:

First, since the terminal first buffers the media stream data in the buffer B to a certain amount, it can switch from the buffer A to the buffer B for playing. Therefore, the buffer B does not reach a certain number. Before, the user sees the picture displayed by the key frame data in the buffer A, and the picture is still. Therefore, when the user switches channels, since the still picture freezes for too long, the delay of channel switching can also be perceived.

Secondly, since the prior art needs to add two buffers A and B to the terminal to cooperate with the newly added live processing server, and during playback, the terminal needs to switch between the two buffers A and B. Therefore, the implementation complexity and development cost of the terminal are increased.

Summary of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for implementing IPTV channel switching, which can implement fast switching of an IPTV live channel.

A method for implementing IPTV channel switching according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

Separating media stream data of each IPTV live channel sent by the program source separately;

When receiving the message of the user terminal requesting to switch channels, reading the cached media stream data corresponding to the channel to be switched;

The read media stream data is sent to the user terminal. Based on the foregoing technical solution, the embodiment of the present invention further provides an apparatus for implementing IPTV channel switching, including a data receiving unit, a message receiving unit, a storage unit, a reading unit, and a sending unit, where

The storage unit is configured to buffer, respectively, media stream data of each IPTV live channel received by the data receiving unit from a program source;

The reading unit is configured to, when receiving a message requesting to switch channels of the message receiving unit from the user terminal, read media stream data corresponding to the channel to be switched in the storage unit, and The media stream data is sent to the user terminal for playing by the sending unit. Cached up, when the user terminal requests to switch channels, the media stream data of the channel to be switched to can be directly sent from the buffered media stream data to the user terminal, so that the user terminal can receive the required time as soon as possible. The media stream data and plays it, thereby shortening the waiting time of the user terminal channel switching.

DRAWINGS

1 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of a method according to the present invention;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of a system of the method embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a system according to Embodiment 2 of the method of the present invention;

4 is a schematic structural diagram of a system according to Embodiment 3 of the method of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a structural block diagram of Embodiment 1 of the apparatus of the present invention;

6 is a structural block diagram of Embodiment 2 of the apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 7 is a structural block diagram of Embodiment 3 of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a structural block diagram of Embodiment 4 of the apparatus of the present invention.

detailed description

The specific embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a method according to the present invention. The method includes the following steps: Step 101: Allocate a buffer queue for each IPTV live channel on the DSAM's DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) in advance. The media stream data of each IPTV live channel sent by the program source is buffered, and the corresponding relationship between the IPTV live channel and the multicast address is also set. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a schematic diagram of a system structure of an embodiment of the method, a buffer queue is allocated for each IPTV live channel on the DSLAM, and all IPTV live channels recorded on the live channel information table maintained by the DSLAM are simultaneously a multicast address, and a correspondence between a multicast address and an IPTV live channel is set on the multicast channel information table. For example, if a multicast address corresponds to an IPTV live channel, the relationship between the two can be set to Yes; If a multicast address does not correspond to an IPTV live channel, you can set the corresponding relationship to No.

Step 102: When receiving the multicast packet sent by the BAS (Broadband Access Server) or the multicast router, the DSLAM determines the multicast group according to the multicast address of the received multicast packet. Whether it corresponds to an IPTV live channel, and if so, the media stream data in the multicast packet is stored in a buffer queue of the IPTV live channel corresponding to the multicast address of the multicast packet in the DSLAM.

Step 103: After receiving the message requesting the switching channel of the user terminal, the DSLAM reads the media stream data from the buffer queue corresponding to the channel to be switched according to the channel number that is requested to be switched in the message, and The media stream data is sent to the user terminal for playing.

In the step 102 and the step 103, the media stream data may be buffered into the buffer queue by using a circular queue, or the media stream data in the buffer queue may be read, and the circular queue is equivalent to one. The sliding window, the head pointer of the circular queue points to the location of the next media stream data to be read by the DSLAM, and the tail pointer of the circular queue points to the location where the next newly received media stream data is to be stored. When the DSLAM sends the media stream data to the user terminal, the media stream data is read from the position indicated by the head pointer of the loop queue, and each time the media stream data is read, the head pointer is moved to point to the next one. The location of the read media stream data, for example, the head pointer of the circular queue is incremented by one; when the DSLAM receives the multicast packet sent by the BAS or the multicast router, the media stream data in the multicast packet is saved. At the position pointed by the tail pointer of the loop queue, and each time a media stream data is stored, the tail pointer is moved to point to the location where the next newly received media stream data is to be saved, for example, the tail pointer of the loop queue is plus 1.

In the step 102 of performing the foregoing mode embodiment, when the DSLAM stores new media stream data, when the media stream data in the buffer queue is full, and then new media stream data is sent. The DSLAM can process the new media stream data sent by the following methods:

Method 1: The DSLAM discards media stream data of the head pointer in the buffer queue, and The first media stream data after the head pointer is moved to the media stream data of the head pointer, and the newly received media stream data is saved as the media stream data of the tail pointer in the buffer queue.

For example: the DSLAM adds 1 to the head pointer and the tail pointer of the buffer queue, and then shifts the window for receiving the media stream data, and then stores the received new media stream data into the last of the buffer queue. On one, the other new media stream data is also received in this way and so on.

Or, for example, moving the media stream data of the head pointer in the buffer queue out of the buffer queue, and moving the media stream data after the data is removed from the buffer queue to the position of the previous media stream data. The newly received media stream data is saved as the media stream data of the tail pointer in the buffer queue, that is, the last bit of the buffer queue.

Method 2: The DSLAM discards the newly received media stream data, and maintains the head pointer and the tail pointer of the buffer queue unchanged.

The DSLAM of the above method can buffer media stream data of all IPTV live channels to different buffer queues. When the user terminal switches channels, the media stream data in the buffer queue corresponding to the specified channel can be directly sent to the The terminal plays, so that the time that the user waits for playing when switching channels is the time when the DSLAM processes the media stream data, and the time from the DSLAM to the user terminal for playing, and the time of the media stream data buffer is omitted. Therefore, the time to wait for playback when the user channel is switched is greatly reduced. Moreover, even if the user frequently switches channels at a faster speed, it is also possible to switch to the corresponding channel at a faster speed.

In step 103 of the foregoing embodiment, after receiving the message requesting the switching channel of the user terminal, the DSLAM sequentially reads the streaming media data from the buffer queue corresponding to the designated channel and sends the data to the terminal. Generally, before the media stream data is sent to the terminal, the DSLAM needs to process the media stream data, for example, encapsulating the media stream data originally located at the application layer into an underlying protocol packet (such as an IP packet, an ATM cell, etc.). And this requires a certain amount of processing time. Therefore, in order to reduce the time for the user terminal to receive the media stream data, in the above step 103, the DSLAM may further package the media stream data in all the buffer queues before receiving the message of the user terminal requesting to switch the channel. The underlying protocol package is saved and saved. In this way, when the DSLAM receives the message requesting the switching of the channel, the DSLAM can directly send the corresponding underlying protocol packet to the user terminal, thereby further reducing the time for the user terminal to receive the media stream data, and shortening the IPTV live channel switching time. .

In addition, based on the foregoing method embodiment, the DSLAM receives the same multicast When the exit message of all user terminals in the group, the DSLAM stops transmitting the media stream data of the channel to the user terminal. Meanwhile, the DSLAM may not notify the multicast router of the exit message, and the purpose is that the DSLAM can receive and save the media stream data of the exit channel sent by the multicast router. And when the buffer queue of the channel is full, the media stream data of the head pointer in the buffer queue may be discarded, and the first media stream data after the head pointer is moved to the head pointer. The media stream data stores the newly received media stream data as the media stream data of the tail pointer in the buffer queue to keep the media stream data of the channel valid in real time.

In addition, because of streaming media, the MPEG compression format is used. The MPEG compression technology involves four image types: intra frame image (I frame, no reference to other frames), predicted frame (P frame, motion compensation frame coding with reference to the previous I frame or P frame), bidirectional prediction frame (B frame, refer to the previous and next I frame or P frame ^1 bidirectional motion compensation coding), DC frame (D frame). For streaming media in MPEG compression format, some players start decoding and playback only after receiving I frame data. Therefore, in this case, in order to shorten the time for receiving the I frame, in the buffer queue of the DSLAM, not only the head pointer and the tail pointer of the queue but also the I frame pointer are set, The I frame pointer points to the location of the first I frame in the buffer queue. When receiving the message of the new user terminal requesting to switch channels, the DSLAM can send the I frame data pointed by the I frame pointer in the buffer queue corresponding to the designated channel to the terminal, so that the first media received by the terminal The stream data is I frame data, which can be decoded and played, thereby shortening the playing time and reducing the channel switching time.

At the same time, because different user terminals switch channels with different times, for newly added user terminals, I frame data pointed by the I frame pointer needs to be sent, and for other user terminals in the same multicast group that are receiving media stream data, Since the media stream data that needs to be received is not the I frame data, the present invention also discloses a second embodiment of the method, as shown in FIG. 3, in order to prevent other user terminals from receiving media stream data independently of each other. A schematic diagram of the system structure of the second embodiment of the inventive method. On the basis of the foregoing method embodiment 1, the embodiment also sets a queue head pointer for each user terminal that views the same channel on the DSLAM, that is, corresponding to the buffer queue in each buffer queue. Each user terminal in the multicast group sets a queue head pointer to respectively indicate the location of the next user channel to read the media stream data. At the same time, the queue tail pointer of each user terminal in the same multicast group is the tail pointer of the corresponding buffer queue. Through the above setting, each user terminal in the same multicast group has its own window for reading media stream data, so that each of them can read each other independently. The media stream data pointed to by the queue head pointer.

Since the location of the queue head pointer of each user terminal is different, and the queue tail pointers are the same, the window sizes of different user terminals are not the same. At this time, the head pointer of the set buffer queue is the queue head pointer of the user terminal with the largest window in the queue, and the tail pointer of the buffer queue is the same as the queue tail pointer of all user terminals in the queue. The I-frame pointer of the buffer queue points to the location of the first I-frame in the queue with the largest window.

When receiving the multicast packet sent by the BAS or the multicast router, the buffer queue saves the media stream data in the multicast packet at the end of the queue of the cache queue, and each time a data packet is stored, The tail pointer of the buffer queue can be incremented by one. When the buffer queue is full and the new media stream data is received, the DSLAM determines whether the media stream data stored in the buffer queue is the I frame data, that is, the buffer queue is determined. Whether the head pointer is I frame data, and if so, discarding the newly received media stream data; otherwise, discarding the media stream data of the head pointer in the buffer queue, and after the head pointer The first media stream data is moved to the media stream data of the head pointer, and the newly received media stream data is saved as the media stream data of the tail pointer in the buffer queue. For example, it may be determined whether the media stream data corresponding to the head pointer of the buffer queue is an I frame, and if yes, the newly received media stream data packet is discarded, and the head pointer and the tail pointer of the original window are maintained unchanged; Otherwise, the head pointer and the tail pointer of the queue are simultaneously incremented by one, and the new media stream packet is stored in the last bit of the buffer queue.

When receiving the message of the new user terminal requesting to switch channels, the DSLAM copies the I frame pointer in the buffer queue corresponding to the designated channel to the queue head pointer of the user terminal, so that the user terminal receives the first The frame is the I frame pointed by the queue head pointer of the user terminal, thereby further shortening the time for switching channels.

Furthermore, the above method is equally applicable to media streams having other media stream compression formats of I frames and P frames similar to the MPEG format.

Method Embodiment 3: The above embodiments are all modifications to the DSLAM. In addition, in addition to the buffer queue corresponding to the media stream data of all IPTV live channels, the present invention can also be used in the embodiment of the present invention. The method is applied to a separate device. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, it is a schematic structural diagram of a system according to Embodiment 3 of the method, where the independent device may be located between the DSLAM and the BAS, or located in the DSLAM and BRAS (Broadband Remote Access Server, broadband access) Between servers), and can distinguish between multicast packets and other data packets of live programs, It can cache multicast packets of live programs and forward other types of multicast packets. In addition, the independent device may also be a three-layer switching device such as a multicast router.

Alternatively, the method for buffering all live program media stream data in the above embodiment of the present invention may be directly applied to an upper layer device of the DSLAM, such as BAS/BRAS. In this way, the user terminal (or STB/soft terminal) that directly connects to the Internet to watch the program without the DSLAM can also achieve fast switching of the IPTV live channel.

Based on the foregoing technical solution, the embodiment of the present invention further discloses an apparatus for implementing IPTV live channel switching, where the apparatus may be integrated on a DSLAM, a BAS or a BRAS, or may be integrated in a layer 3 switching device such as a multicast router. Up, or integrated on other standalone devices. As shown in FIG. 5, it is a structural block diagram of Embodiment 1 of the apparatus of the present invention, where the apparatus includes: a data receiving unit 501, a message receiving unit 502, a sending unit 503, a storage unit 504, and a reading unit 505, where The data receiving unit 501 is configured to receive media stream data of all IPTV live channels sent by the program source;

The message receiving unit 502 is configured to receive a common request message, such as a message requesting to switch channels, or a channel exit message, sent by the user terminal;

The storage unit 504 is configured to cache media stream data of each IPTV live channel received by the data receiving unit 501;

The reading unit 505 is configured to, when receiving a message requesting to switch channels from the user terminal forwarded by the message receiving unit 502, read the storage unit 504 according to an indication of a channel to be switched in the message. Media stream data corresponding to the channel to be switched, and transmitting the media stream data to the user terminal through the sending unit 503.

The storage unit 504 of the foregoing embodiment can buffer the media stream data of all the received IPTV live channels respectively. When the user terminal switches channels, the reading unit 505 can directly read and send the media stream data corresponding to the specified channel to the The terminal enables the user terminal to receive and play the required media stream data as soon as possible, thereby shortening the waiting time of the user terminal channel switching. Moreover, even if the user frequently switches channels at a relatively fast speed, the method of the present invention can also switch to the corresponding channel at a relatively fast speed.

At the same time, the embodiment of the present invention further discloses an apparatus capable of realizing IPTV live channel switching. This embodiment can allocate a buffer queue for each IPTV live channel. When the buffer queue is full, It is also possible to perform corresponding processing on the newly received media stream data according to whether the head pointer in the buffer queue is I frame data. As shown in FIG. 6, a block diagram of a second embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention includes: a data receiving unit 601, a message receiving unit 602, a sending unit 603, a storage unit 604, a reading unit 605, a determining unit 606, and a first processing unit 607, wherein

Each of the IPTV live channels may be assigned a corresponding buffer queue in the storage unit 604 for buffering media stream data of all IPTV live channels received from the program source received by the data receiving unit 601. To the buffer queue corresponding to each live channel. At the same time, the correspondence between the IPTV live channel and the multicast address can also be set, so that the storage unit 604 can receive the multicast according to the received multicast packet when receiving the multicast packet sent by the BAS or the multicast router. The address, the media stream data in the multicast packet is stored in a buffer queue of the IPTV live channel corresponding to the multicast address of the multicast packet in the DSLAM.

The reading unit 605 is configured to: when receiving the message requesting the switching channel from the user terminal forwarded by the message receiving unit 602, according to the indication of the IPTV live channel to be switched in the message, from the storage unit 604 Reading the media stream data in the buffer queue corresponding to the channel to be switched, and sending the media stream data to the user terminal through the sending unit 603;

The determining unit 606 is configured to determine, after the buffer queue in the storage unit 604 is full, and then receive the new media stream data sent by the data receiving unit 601. Whether the head pointer of the queue refers to the I frame data, and the corresponding judgment result is obtained;

The first processing unit 607 is configured to: when it is determined by the determining result of the determining unit 606, when the head pointer in the buffer queue refers to the I frame data, the newly received media stream data is lost. Discarding, or discarding media stream data of the head pointer in the buffer queue and notifying the first media stream data after the head pointer when it is learned from the determining unit 606 that it is not I frame data Moving to the media stream data of the head pointer, saving the newly received media stream data as media stream data of the tail pointer in the buffer queue.

In the above embodiment, after the media stream data in the buffer queue is full, the determining unit 606 can first determine whether the head pointer of the buffer queue is I when the new media stream data is received again. Frame data, so as to process the newly received media stream data according to the judgment result, thereby avoiding the loss of the I frame data, and for the user terminal that only decodes the I frame to be able to decode the broadcast: The first media stream data received by the user terminal is guaranteed to be I frame data, thereby shortening this The class user terminal switches the waiting time of the channel.

In addition, the embodiment of the present invention further discloses a device for implementing IPTV live channel switching. As shown in FIG. 7 , it is a structural block diagram of Embodiment 3 of the device, where the device includes: a data receiving unit 701 and a message receiving unit 702. a transmitting unit 703, a storage unit 704, a reading unit 705, and a second processing unit 706, wherein

The data receiving unit 701 is configured to receive media stream data of each IPTV live channel sent by the program source;

The message receiving unit 702 is configured to receive a common request message, such as a message requesting to switch channels, or a channel exit message, sent by the user terminal;

Each of the IPTV live channels may be assigned a corresponding buffer queue in the storage unit 704 for buffering media stream data of all IPTV live channels received by the data receiving unit 701 from the program source. To the buffer queue corresponding to each live channel. At the same time, the correspondence between the IPTV live channel and the multicast address can also be set, so that the storage unit 704 can receive the multicast packet according to the received multicast packet when receiving the multicast packet sent by the BAS or the multicast router. The address, the media stream data in the multicast packet is stored in a buffer queue of the IPTV live channel corresponding to the multicast address of the multicast packet in the DSLAM.

The reading unit 705 is configured to: when receiving a message requesting to switch channels from the user terminal forwarded by the message receiving unit 702, read the storage according to an indication of an IPTV live channel to be switched in the message. The media stream data in the buffer queue corresponding to the channel to be switched in the unit 704, and the read media stream data is sent to the user terminal through the sending unit 703;

The second processing unit 706 is configured to: after learning that the buffer queue in the storage unit 704 is full, and then receiving the new media stream data sent by the data receiving unit 701, Media stream data of the head pointer in the buffer queue is discarded, and the first media stream data after the head pointer is moved to the media stream data of the head pointer, and the newly received media stream data is saved as The media stream data of the tail pointer in the buffer queue.

In the foregoing embodiment, after the media stream data in the buffer queue is full, the second processing unit 706 can discard the earliest stored media stream data in the buffer queue, and the newly received media. After the stream data has the last received media stream data, the real-time validity of the media stream data in the buffer queue can be maintained all the time, so that when a new user terminal switches to the channel, the channel can be The newer media stream data is sent to the user terminal.

In addition, the embodiment of the present invention further discloses a device capable of realizing IPTV live channel switching. As shown in FIG. 8 , it is a structural block diagram of Embodiment 4 of the device, where the device includes: a data receiving unit 801 and a message receiving unit. 802, a transmitting unit 803, a storage unit 804, a reading unit 805, and a third processing unit 806, wherein

The data receiving unit 801 is configured to receive media stream data of all IPTV live channels sent by the program source;

The message receiving unit 802 is configured to receive a common request message, such as a message requesting to switch channels, or a channel exit message, sent by the user terminal;

The storage unit 804 may include a buffer queue corresponding to each IPTV live channel, and is used to buffer media stream data of all IPTV live channels received from the program source received by the data receiving unit 801 to corresponding channels. Buffer queue.

The reading unit 805 is configured to: when receiving a message requesting to switch channels from the user terminal forwarded by the message receiving unit 802, read the storage according to an indication of an IPTV live channel to be switched in the message. The media stream data in the buffer queue corresponding to the channel to be switched in the unit 804, and the read media stream data is sent to the user terminal through the sending unit 803;

The third processing unit 806 is configured to: after learning that the buffer queue in the storage unit 804 is full, and then receiving the new media stream data sent by the data receiving unit 801, The received media stream data is discarded.

In the foregoing embodiment, the storage unit 804 can separately buffer the media stream data of all the received IPTV live channels, and when the user terminal switches channels, the reading unit 805 can directly read the media stream data corresponding to the specified channel. Sending to the user terminal enables the user terminal to receive the required media stream data and play it as soon as possible, thereby shortening the waiting time of the user terminal channel switching. Moreover, even if the user frequently switches channels at a relatively fast speed, the method of the present invention can also switch to the corresponding channel at a relatively fast speed.

A person skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps carried by the method of the foregoing embodiment can be completed by a program to instruct related hardware, and the program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. , including one or a combination of the steps of the method embodiments.

In addition, each functional unit in various embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing module. It is also possible that each unit physically exists alone, or two or more units may be integrated in one module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. The integrated modules, if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as separate products, may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium.

The above-mentioned storage medium may be a read only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk or the like.

As can be seen from the above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the media stream data of each IPTV live channel sent by the program source is cached separately. When the user terminal requests to switch channels, the device may directly switch from the buffered media stream data to The media stream data of the channel is directly sent to the user terminal, so that the user terminal can receive the required media stream data and play it as soon as possible, thereby shortening the waiting time of the user terminal channel switching. Moreover, since the media stream data of each IPTV live channel is separately cached according to the embodiment of the present invention, even if the user frequently switches channels at a faster speed, the media stream of the channel to be switched can be read and played at a faster speed. data. Moreover, the technical solution of the present invention is simple to implement, and has strong portability, and can realize fast switching of the IPTV live channel without modifying the terminal.

The embodiments of the present invention described above are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims

Rights request

A method for implementing IPTV channel switching, which is characterized by comprising:

The read media stream data is sent to the user terminal.

2. The method for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 1, wherein the separately buffering the media stream data of each IPTV live channel sent by the program source comprises: allocating a buffer for each IPTV live channel. Queue

The media stream data of each IPTV live channel that is respectively sent by the program source is cached by: respectively, media stream data of each IPTV live channel sent by the program source is stored in a buffer queue allocated thereto.

3. The method for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 2, wherein a header pointer in the buffer queue points to a location of a next media stream data to be read, and a tail in the buffer queue The pointer points to the location where the next newly received media stream data is to be saved;

When a media stream data is read from the buffer queue, the head pointer is moved to point to the location of the next media stream data to be read;

When a piece of media stream data is stored in the buffer queue, the tail pointer is moved to point to the location where the next newly received media stream data is to be saved.

The method for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 3, further comprising: setting an I frame pointer for the buffer queue, the I frame pointer pointing to the first I pin in the buffer queue s position;

When receiving a message from the user terminal requesting to switch channels, the read and send media stream data is specifically:

The media stream data is read from the I frame pointer and transmitted to the user terminal.

The method for implementing the IPTV channel switching according to claim 4, wherein when the media stream data in the buffer queue is full and the new media stream data is received, the method further includes: Determining whether the head pointer in the buffer queue is I frame data, and if so, the newly received media Streaming data discarding; otherwise, discarding the media stream data of the head pointer in the buffer queue, and moving the first media stream data after the head pointer to the media stream data of the head pointer, The newly received media stream data is saved as media stream data of the tail pointer in the buffer queue.

The method for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

Setting a queue head pointer for each user terminal in the buffer queue, the queue head pointer of the user terminal points to a location of the next media stream data to be read by the user terminal, and the queue of the user terminal a tail pointer indicating a tail pointer of the buffer queue;

Reading media stream data in the buffer queue from a queue head pointer of the user terminal, and transmitting the media stream data to the user terminal.

The method for implementing the IPTV channel switching according to claim 1, wherein when the exit message of all the user terminals in the same IPTV live channel is received, the method further includes:

Stop sending the media stream data of the designated exit channel in the exit message to the user terminal; continue to receive and buffer the media stream data of the specified exit channel sent from the program source.

The method for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 2, wherein when the media stream data is full and new media stream data is received, the head pointer in the buffer queue is The media stream data is discarded, and the first media stream data after the head pointer is moved to the media stream data of the head pointer, and the newly received media stream data is saved as a tail pointer in the buffer queue. Media stream data.

The method for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 1, wherein when the new media stream data is received after the media stream data is full, the newly received media stream data is discarded.

A device for implementing IPTV channel switching, comprising: a data receiving unit, a message receiving unit, and a sending unit, wherein the device further comprises:

a storage unit, configured to cache media stream data of each IPTV live channel received by the data receiving unit from the program source;

a reading unit, configured to read media stream data corresponding to the channel to be switched in the storage unit when receiving a message requesting to switch channels from the user terminal forwarded by the message receiving unit, and The media stream data is sent to the user terminal by using the sending unit.

The device for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 10, wherein the storage unit includes a buffer queue corresponding to each IPTV live channel, and the buffer queue is used to cache the corresponding IPTV. Media stream data for live channels.

12. The apparatus for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 11, wherein a head pointer of the buffer queue points to a location of a next media stream data to be read, and a tail pointer in the buffer queue Pointing to a location where the next newly received media stream data is to be saved, the device further includes: a determining unit, configured to: after the media stream data in the buffer queue is full, receive the receiving unit When the new media stream data, determining whether the head pointer in the buffer queue is an I frame data, and obtaining a yes or no result;

a processing unit, configured to: when the result obtained by the determining unit is yes, discard the newly received media stream data; or when the result obtained by the determining unit is no, the buffer queue is The media stream data of the head pointer is discarded, and the first media stream data after the head pointer is moved to the media stream data of the head pointer, and the newly received media stream data is saved as the buffer queue. Media stream data for the tail pointer in .

The device for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 11, wherein the device further comprises:

a second processing unit, configured to: when the media stream data in the buffer queue is full, and receive the new media stream data sent by the receiving unit, the media of the head pointer in the buffer queue Streaming data is discarded, and the first media stream data after the head pointer is moved to the media stream data of the head pointer, and the newly received media stream data is saved as a tail pointer in the buffer queue. Media stream data.

The third processing unit is configured to discard the newly received media stream data when the media stream data in the buffer queue is full and the new media stream data sent by the receiving unit is received.

15. The apparatus for implementing IPTV channel switching according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus is integrated on a data subscriber line access multiplexer, a broadband access server, or a layer 3 switching device.