WO2013102745A1

WO2013102745A1 - Control of on-demand services communicated in broadcast mode

Info

Publication number: WO2013102745A1
Application number: PCT/FR2013/050023
Authority: WO
Inventors: Antoine TRANNOY; Hugues MARTY
Original assignee: Locatel France
Priority date: 2012-01-05
Filing date: 2013-01-04
Publication date: 2013-07-11
Also published as: FR2985629A1; FR2985629B1; EP2801216A1

Abstract

Control of on-demand services communicated in broadcast mode. The invention relates to a method implemented by a computing entity for providing at least differentiated on-demand services (Cj^VOD) to a plurality of respective terminals (TVj), with means of communication in broadcast mode of said services. The aforesaid entity generates (S4) an undifferentiated stream (Φ₂), which is common to the terminals and comprises at least signalling tables for said on-demand services (Cj^VOD), each signalling table being dedicated to a terminal (TVj) and each terminal (TVj) being configured so as to read the signalling table for the on-demand service dedicated thereto and ignore the other signalling tables. The computing entity receives (S10), from at least some of the terminals, requests (REQ(IPj)) for on-demand services by return path between the terminals and the computing entity. The computing entity being connected to a source of data of on-demand services (S_VOD), it is thus possible to condition the delivery of the aforesaid data (data_VOD) in the common stream (Φ₂) as a function of the requests.

Description

Control of on-demand services communicated in broadcast mode

The present invention relates to the provision of on-demand services, such as video-on-demand, in collective institutions such as for example hotels or hospitals. These collective institutions are characterized by a finite number of receivers capable of receiving services.

The in-house television broadcasting services offered by these institutions are essentially of two types.

The services of the first category, the most classic, correspond to the broadcast of programs on the entire set of receivers; this is typically the case for television or radio channels received over the air, satellite or cable, or even very high-speed access (web-radios for example), and transported via the building's local network to the various televisions. thus sharing the same reception infrastructure. All users receive the same flow of information simultaneously. The data flows (audiovisual or other) are here purely monodirectional since the users passively consume what is proposed to them. Each program is broadcast once, regardless of the number of receivers or simultaneous users; bandwidth requirements on the network are therefore proportional to the number of channels or programs. In the framework of a standard coaxial type infrastructure network, the television channels are received by a station head and rebroadcast as such on the local network or modulated on different frequencies and / or in a different type of modulation. Here, a station head is understood to mean a central network system allowing: the recovery of telecommunication signals (television channels, internet, video on demand or "VOD" service, etc.),

the processing of these signals (modulation / demodulation, adaptation, multiplex, etc.), the adapted broadcasting of the processed signals to the terminals of the network.

It may also be advantageous to provide in the rooms one or more dedicated services, such as an internal channel, broadcast from the station head. The services of the second category are characterized by an interactive mode that makes it possible to respond to the particular requests of each user (or receiver). A typical example is Video on Demand ("VOD"), often implemented by pay-per-view On demand movies from a catalog regularly updated by the institution. In interactive mode, since the data flows are generally bidirectional, a broadcast network is no longer sufficient and setting up a "return path" is therefore necessary. The upstream and downstream data flows can be conveyed by the same network or not. The bandwidth requirements on the network are proportional to the number of simultaneous users. As traditional interactive services are added to broadcast services, their deployment requires a capacitive network (throughput).

Broadcast services are historically built on coaxial networks transmitting all services received by an antennal system to all receivers. Such an architecture can serve an unlimited number of receivers, the maximum number of broadcast services is limited by the bandwidth available on the network (typically 850 MHz) and that used by each service. The transition from analogue to digital world has multiplied by at least a factor 4 the number of services that can be offered by combining several services in a multiplex occupying a single frequency band.

Long-standing interactive services are deployed on this type of coaxial infrastructure. Interactivity and the return path are managed by a box inserted between the coaxial network and the receiver. Conventionally the receiver is a TV set and the box is called "set-top box" (or STB) and part of the bandwidth of the coaxial network is dedicated to the return path. The vast majority of deployments in the hospitality and healthcare worlds are based on proprietary technologies for both interactivity management and resource allocation. Cable-based service providers (or "cable operators") have helped establish a standard with DOCSIS (for "Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification") and the "Edge QAM" governing the transport of data flows to the Internet Protocol ("Internet Protocol") over a coaxial network, as well as the dynamic allocation of bandwidth resources. The STB boxes compatible with these technologies are however expensive for the community and have a physical dimension designed for the home of individuals and not for hotel rooms or hospital.

To overcome the limitations of the coaxial world, solutions based on IP protocols have been developed to provide digital television services, broadcast and interactive, on structured infrastructures (Ethernet type, twisted pair, optical fiber, etc.). bidirectional by nature, thus relaxing the bandwidth constraints. Such architectures are very powerful but also very expensive. Although they perfectly meet the needs of luxury establishments, they are not affordable for all players in the hotel industry. They also require heavy work, not always possible and whose costs can be prohibitive. Actors in the audiovisual world are seeking to optimize the use of new technologies to build and standardize new services for the general public. As such, the emerging European standard HbbTV (for "Hybrid broadband broadcast Tele Vision") proposes to simultaneously use "broadcast" and "broadband" to offer broadcast services respectively. such as conventional television channels, and on-demand services such as VOD and catch-up TV, as well as hypertext content pages based on web technologies.

In a hybrid environment, the television broadcasts "broadcast" linear television services received by a high frequency tuner (in digital or analog television), but may also display an audio or video stream from a broadband network , using streaming standards (or streaming). Among the "streaming" standards based on a broadband broadcast, there may be mentioned for example the standardized protocols RTP (for "Real-time Transport Protocol") or RTSP (for "Real Time Streaming Protocol"). Such a stream is generally driven by an interactive application, which can be signaled during the broadcast service broadcast, as is the case with the HbbTV standard.

These services can be used on so-called "connected" televisions including a Web browser and a physical Ethernet port. One of the essential building blocks of these new solutions is the use of adaptive throughput made possible by advanced headends. The principle of the adaptive bit rate is to adapt the bit rate of the broadcast stream to the bandwidth possibilities between the server and the "client" (a term subsequently used to designate the connected television set or the connected STB terminal). . There may be mentioned, for example, the MPEG DASH standard ("Moving Picture Experts Group / Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP") which relies on the broadcasting of a so-called "manifest" file containing information on the different bit rates available for broadcasting, and on the transport format MPEG TS (TS for "Transport Stream").

These new materials are however extremely expensive especially because designed to serve a large number of users. They are therefore not financially affordable by a collective establishment. The idea of a shared station head is also not most establishments would require this because it requires a high internet speed for such establishments, the costs of which are prohibitive for a majority of the actors in the hotel or hospital sector, for example.

The use of in-room televisions for the broadcast of television broadcasting services can lead to quality of service issues. In fact, more and more television programs are using new hybrid broadcasting techniques to offer interactive applications offering services related to these programs. As noted above, in addition to access to interactive textual information (program information, weather information, news) these applications include video streaming, such as delayed catch-up television (or "catch-up"). TV "), video on demand, etc.

A standard such as HbbTV also allows the broadcasting of multimedia content directly in the transmission stream in the form of data carousels which then carry the files that make up interactive application.

In a collective establishment with Internet access and connected TVs, users can use these connected services, including on-demand broadcast services. However, even if the institution has very high speed internet access, the bandwidth required to simultaneously broadcast multiple sessions of on-demand broadcast services in several rooms can cause a congestion of the local computer network, and lead to a significant drop in the quality of the access service to an intranet or the internet.

The present invention improves the situation. It proposes for this purpose a method implemented by a computer entity to provide at least on-demand services, differentiated, to a plurality of respective terminals, with communication means in the broadcast mode of said services.

Here, the services on demand can be of type:

"Video on demand" (or VOD), or informative service, for example a homepage of an online portal of a collective establishment, or an information page for example of a service catalog (weather, room number, minibar note, etc., or other ), or simply a television data supply service, - or others.

The terminals can be: connected television sets, simple television sets connected to a modem or a Set-Top-Box type terminal, or even Set-Top-Box terminals themselves, or computers ( fixed or portable) comprising means for connection to a local network and means for reading at least one common stream described below, etc.

The communication in "broadcast mode" above relates in particular to a communication type "broadcast".

The above-mentioned computer entity can generate in particular an undifferentiated flow common to the terminals, this common stream comprising at least signaling tables of said services on demand, each signaling table being dedicated to a terminal and each terminal being configured to read the terminal. signaling table of the dedicated service on demand and ignore other signaling tables.

The IT entity receives, from at least a portion of the terminals, on-demand service requests, by way of return between the terminals and the IT entity. The IT entity being connected to an on-demand service data source, it is thus possible to condition the delivery of said data in the common stream according to said requests.

It will thus be understood that the term "return channel" means the possibility of bidirectional communication between each terminal and the above-mentioned computer entity. In one embodiment, the requests are made by executing an application with a terminal. For example, the aforementioned signaling tables can point to at least one interactive application declaration table including at least link data to a script of this application. Alternatively, a terminal may include means for storing a prerecorded script linked to this application, which prerecorded script includes at least link data to a script of this application. For example, with the "Philips Net TV" technology, a terminal such as a television set may store only a single link, of the URL ("Uniform Resource Locator" or "Universal Resource Locator") type pointing to the page. welcome to this application.

On the IT entity side, each request received preferably comprises a terminal identifier having generated the request, and the IT entity can then decide on this request for example as a function of access rights associated with this terminal, by conditioning the delivery in the stream common data requested in the request.

Advantageously, an interactive application can be provided for displaying on a screen of the terminal information on one or more on-demand services available, and for parallel monitoring of the distribution of the on-demand service data in the common stream by communication with the entity. computer science.

In an advantageous embodiment, the common stream is generated in accordance with the DVB standard, and said signaling tables mentioned above can be program map tables (or "PMT"). More particularly, the stream may be at the DVB standard according to the particular HbbTV standard, in particular for the transmission in the common stream of interactive application tables corresponding to so-called "application information" tables (or "AIT" for " Application Information Table "). The interactive application can follow the CEA-2014 standard and in particular CE-HTML ("Consumer Electronics HTML") and derived standards (OIPF, HbbTV, etc.).

In a particular embodiment, the computer entity and the terminals can communicate via a coaxial infrastructure network, by data transmission by "DOCSIS" type modems. It will be understood that with such a type of infrastructure (known as low bandwidth), it is necessary to limit the non-useful data that could overload the aforementioned infrastructure. DOCSIS is a specific standard that defines the interface conditions communication and operation support for a data system using the cable television system. It allows the addition of high speed data transfer to an existing cable television system. It is used in particular to provide Internet access on coaxial infrastructures.

In one embodiment, requests from the terminals can be filtered in order to prevent access to remote services (for example by setting up a firewall).

In one embodiment in particular, the computing entity can be arranged to filter applications in elementary streams, upstream of the common stream, according to at least the steps:

receiving elementary streams;

reading a content of signaling tables in the elementary streams and interactive application declaration tables associated with at least one corresponding on-demand elementary stream service; and

delete interactive application declaration tables.

In a variant of this embodiment, instead of deleting the aforementioned interactive application declaration tables, it is possible to implement the steps:

modifying the signaling tables by deleting entries corresponding to pointers to said interactive application declaration tables, replacing the signaling tables by the modified tables in the common stream. In another embodiment, the computing entity may be arranged to filter applications in elementary streams, upstream of the common stream, according to at least the steps:

receiving elementary streams;

reading a content of signaling tables in the elementary streams and interactive application declaration tables associated with at least one corresponding on-demand elementary stream service;

rewriting the interactive application declaration tables after deleting entries corresponding to a communication protocol definition between the terminals and the IT entity.

The IT entity can be further arranged to modify the signaling tables by adding an entry corresponding to a new interactive application declaration table and modifying original stream identifiers, so that any application associated with an elementary stream is considered by a terminal as one and the same application.

It will be understood that these return channel "filtering" techniques are advantageous in the absolute, regardless of the nature of the on-demand service (VOD, or simple TV data request, or request for information content (room number in a homepage, for example), or others).

Thus, the present invention proposes to use the broadcast network in particular to broadcast services on demand. In particular, it proposes to associate an interactive application with the content of broadcast on demand. This interactive application can be responsible for example to inform the user about the content viewed, and control the flow of the stream by communicating with the server (by the HTTP protocol for example). This application does not need a large data rate, and allows the use on a coaxial infrastructure network, for example by transmitting the data by simple DOCSIS modems.

The present invention also aims at the computer entity as such (bearing the reference S in the figures discussed below) for the provision of differentiated on-demand services to a plurality of respective terminals, and connected to means of communication. communication in the broadcast mode of said services, the entity comprising:

means generating an undifferentiated flow common to the terminals, the stream comprising at least signaling tables of said services on demand, each signaling table being dedicated to a terminal,

means for receiving, at least part of the terminals, requests for services on demand, by way of return between the terminals and the computer entity,

a connection to an on-demand service data source for conditioning the delivery of said data in the stream according to said requests.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions for implementing the above method, when this program is executed by a processor. As such, FIG. 5 for example, commented below, can represent a flowchart of the general algorithm of such a computer program, as an example.

Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will become apparent hereinafter on reading the description given by way of nonlimiting exemplary embodiments, and on examining the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment for broadcasting the streams, without specifying here the return path and the broadcasting of applications connected to the terminals (television sets in the example represented),

FIG. 2 illustrates the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1 with a return channel using the DOCSIS standard (on the same coaxial network as that illustrated in FIG. 1);

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of implementation of the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an arrangement of declaration tables in the stream delivered by the computer entity S of FIG. 3; and

- Figure 5 schematically illustrates the main steps of the method implemented by the computer entity S according to a general embodiment.

A hotel establishment (or equivalent) has an internal digital television network based on a coaxial infrastructure, the digital television service being broadcast from a central server of the site (also called "head of station"). This server distributes to the rooms television services received by antennas or broadcast from a dedicated server (streaming video streaming server, for example). These television services may signal interactive applications, as will be discussed in more detail below.

The facility is equipped with a return lane, from the room to the central server. This return channel can be based on the same coaxial network ("IP" for "Internet Protocol" on a coaxial cable, for example in a system communicating according to the DOCSIS standard, or by line-carrier), on a Wifi network, a cabling in twisted pair or any other infrastructure.

The establishment is equipped with terminals consisting, in the example shown in TVs connected (directly or via STB boxes) capable of receiving interactive applications reported in the transmission stream. The facility is equipped with an on-demand multimedia content delivery system (eg video on demand or "VOD") from the central server.

The aim is then to filter the connected applications associated with broadcast services broadcast on the local network and to control the video-on-demand program using a connected application indicated in the information tables associated with the digital content. broadcast, specifically applied to DVB (for "Digital Video Broadcasting") and HbbTV (for "Hybrid broadcast broadband Tele Vision"). According to another embodiment described below, the connected application is a global application prerecorded in a terminal storage means. In this case, the application is independent of the stream (no prior signaling of the application in the stream).

Referring now to Figure 1 which shows a networked system for streaming. Here, the system comprises an IT entity S which broadcasts streams from the terminals TV1, TV2,..., TVN via a COAX cable network (of the "coaxial" type for example) and by which the terminals are connected to the entity computer S. The computer entity S is connected to a reception unit 12 retrieving data streams relating to television services. These flows can come as an example: from a terrestrial antenna A-T, in the context of a reception of the television stream (TV) by hertzian way,

- an A-S satellite antenna, as part of a television transmission (TV) reception by satellite transmission, and / or

a satellite antenna A-C, as part of a reception of the television stream (TV) by cable transmission.

The reception unit 12 communicates the received TV streams to a multiplexer 13 of the computer unit S. The multiplexer 13 also receives a stream comprising data (in particular audio-video) of on-demand services coming for example from a On-demand video server S_VOD. The multiplexer 13 is connected to a source of multimedia contents 10 (broadcasting service presentation multimedia data, for example a video presentation film of the hotel, trailers of the services on demand, etc.). The multiplexer 13 is further connected to a signaling table generator 11. In a nonlimiting manner, the content source 10 and the table generator 11 are represented in the computer entity S. The generator 11 enables: modify the signaling tables relating to the stream received by the multiplexer 13 (which is coming from the receiving entity 12), and adding signaling tables relating to on-demand services from the S_VOD server and / or multimedia contents from the content source 10.

In this way, the multiplexer 13 generates at least one service data stream which it communicates to one or more modulator (s) 14 which broadcasts (s) this stream (according to different frequencies for example) on the COAX network destined for TV1, TV2, TVN terminals. It will be understood that this stream corresponds to the aforementioned "common stream", undifferentiated, for all terminals TV1, TV2, TVN. The modulator 14 injects the streams on the COAX network via an antenna coupler 15. Here, a web server 105 is represented in the computer entity S. This web server 105 includes contents of interactive application. These contents are delivered by the server 105 on request of the terminals TV1, TV2, TVN (for example as "HTTP server"). As described below, the contents are transmitted either by a return channel (through which the requests are conveyed) or by data carousels of the stream broadcast to the terminals. The web server 105 may also interpret on-demand service control requests from the terminals transmitted by the return channel and, as described below, generate instructions for issuing these services from the S_VOD server.

The computer entity S can be further connected to an Internet-wide extended network RE to communicate with remote servers (not shown in the figure) for example for other services.

In addition, the IT entity S can be connected to a PMS (Property Management System) management system in order to obtain particular information, for example, in the context of a hotel, the name of the customers. occupying the rooms of the establishment, room numbers, possibly access rights to certain services, etc.

Referring now to Figure 2 to describe a system of the same nature specifying the implementation of a return path. The return path is provided here by transmission over the COAX network using the DOCSIS standard. The terminals TV1, TV2, TVN are connected to splitters 23 allowing: on the one hand, the terminals to receive the streams diffused by the modulator (s) 14, and on the other hand, DOCSIS modems 21 to transmit the data to the terminals via a link 22 connecting the modem to the terminal, and to transmit the data transmitted by this terminal via the COAX network. A DOCSIS modem 21 notably makes it possible to exchange data between the terminals and the entity S, and more particularly the HTTP requests originating from the terminals, and their responses coming from the entity S.

To do this, data is transmitted by TV1, TV2, TVN televisions to DOCSIS 21 modems via link 22 (Cat 5 cable and RJ45 connectors for example). Thus, the modems 21 modulate the data that compose the TVS requests according to the DOCSIS standard and send them to the computer unit S. The antenna coupler 15 allows the injection of several signals on the COAX network. In particular, it receives the streams coming from the modulator (s) 14 and a CMTS server. The Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) server, conforming to the DOCSIS standard, is placed in interface between the antenna coupler 15 and the computer entity S in order to modulate and demodulate the data coming from and / or to DOCSIS 21 modems.

With reference to FIG. 3, receiving antennas A-T, A-S and A-C receive broadcast streams and incidentally broadcast streams from the Internet (for example, web-radios). Furthermore, video files 10 are stored in memory, for example to broadcast one or more additional channels (or "internal chain") on the local network. The reference 12 designates the reception of the streams, with demodulation and transmission in the form of packets TS (for "Transport Stream") encapsulated in packets UDP (for "User Data Protocol") multicast or unicast, forming a stream SPTS (Single Program Transport Stream: only one service per UDP stream). Reference 11 designates a module for generating MPEG2 signaling tables PSI ("Program Specifies Information") and DVB SI ("Service Information") of type:

- PAT (for "Program Association Table") corresponding to a program association table which lists the services with referencing of the program mapping tables and also provides the PID (for "Packet Identifier") identifier of the relative packets to a Network Information Table (NIT) comprising network information,

- PMT (for "Program Map Table") corresponding to a program mapping table which lists the components of a service by identifying the PIDs of the relative packets, - NIT (for "Network Information Table") corresponding to a network information table which includes information about the physical network, and

AIT (for "Application Information Table") corresponding to an application information table which describes an application-type service element, such as an interactive application,

- SDT (for "Service Description Table") corresponding to a service information table.

These tables can be pre-existing in a first stream that receives the computer entity S and this entity generates from this first stream a second stream whose PAT tables are rewritten according to the list of services to be broadcast in each DVB multiplex output . The original PMT tables can be rewritten to remove or add information about elementary streams (such as information about AIT tables). The original AIT tables can be deleted, modified, for example to remove information about the HTTP protocol, or replaced. The NIT table can be modified to modify the information of the original network for example. The SDT table can be modified to account for additional undifferentiated services information, or deleted to prevent automatic updating of the television sets.

The connected applications web server 105 generates the content of the interactive applications. It is a server of 'Web server' type processing the URL requests by the HTTP protocol. It can also broadcast multimedia content, such as promotional videos, to be broadcast in pages of the interactive application (also via HTTP, or via RTP / RTSP).

In addition, it is possible to provide a PMS client management system PMS (for "Property Management System") of the hotel or more generally of the collective establishment.

An on-demand audiovisual media server S_VOD contains a database of audiovisual contents (such as films) and provides the elementary streams of the audiovisual contents to be broadcast, with: tables of signaling necessary for the generator of tables 11 to be able to generate the PMT tables containing the information conforming to the broadcast stream, and the elementary streams (video, audio in the language selected by the client, etc.) to the multiplexer for broadcast on the network. The multiplexer 13 then receives several elementary streams and information tables in the form of TS packets to be multiplexed within a single stream (multiplex). The multiplexer can also filter packets by their PID identifier. In general, it is possible to provide several output multiplexes, in the form of an IP stream (TSoIP or "Transport Stream over IP") which will each be modulated on a different frequency by the modulator (s) 14 (generally according to DVB-C or DVB standards). -T).

Finally, the reference COAX denotes the cable network on which the DVB flows to the connected television sets and the reference 111 designates a network to the IP protocol, for example: a LAN / Ethernet type network on twisted pairs or similar;

- a Wi-Fi wireless network;

the aforementioned coaxial network on which the data are modulated according to the standard DOCSIS format or an equivalent technique, the coaxial cable then being divided into two branches on arrival in the room, for the antenna connector of the television set and for the antenna connector a modem, the connector

LAN ("Local Area Network") of the television set being connected to the modem (in this case, it is possible to provide a CMTS device at the head of the network to act as a bridge between the data modulated according to the DOCSIS format and the LAN of the servers) as shown by way of example in Figure 2;

a CPL (power line carrier) type network, a technology similar to that of a coaxial network;

- Or other.

It is indicated that a firewall may be further useful to prohibit for example any external communication with the television sets to avoid saturation of the network 111.

In one embodiment, the different modules 10, 11, 105, and 13 can be grouped together with the same computer entity S.

Thus, a server located at the head of S_VOD station broadcasts a set of on-demand audiovisual media on the COAX local network. Here, for example, each television is identified by the web server 105 by means of its IP address (fixed address assigned by a DHCP server (for "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol") from its MAC address, and is connected to the computer network 111.

If a user selects with his remote control an interactive portal broadcast on one of the channels available in the room, this portal can for example be broadcast via the HbbTV standard, with in particular signaling tables generated by the module 11 and the content of the application can be delivered by the web server 105. Information is given on the screen through the interactive application on the list of content available in VOD and their tariff for example.

The user selects a content (a single movie or a fixed price offer for a given duration) and enters a code on his remote control to validate his purchase. The session is then opened and information is displayed on the screen to indicate to the customer how to view a movie, such as changing channels ("type 0"). It should be noted that forwarding to another channel may be automatic. The session is closed after a given time, for example the next day at noon or when the user leaves the collective establishment (check-out in a hotel for example).

The VOD server S_VOD broadcasts the content via DVB multiplexes on a number C of channels. Each multiplex can broadcast a maximum of M simultaneous sessions among the N services reported in the stream. The number M is defined by the bit rate available in the multiplex, and depends on the diffusion technique (modulation, bandwidth, etc.). For example: for a DVB-C, QAM-128 broadcast, the bit rate of a multiplex is about 44 Mpbs,

if each video is encoded at 8 Mbps, we can broadcast M = E (44/8) = 5 simultaneous contents in a multiplex,

- With 8 available channels (= 8 frequencies), we can broadcast in total on the institution M x C = 5 x 8 = 40 simultaneous contents.

As for the televisions, they are preset to receive only one of the N potentially broadcast services in the multiplex. They are then blocked so as not to be able to receive the services broadcast in the multiplex and which are not intended for them. In particular, the channel plan of each television sets aside C channels on the VOD. The broadcast is performed on one of these channels according to a principle of free location. The channel plan for each TV includes: standard television channels, and

additional channels:

o the portal channel of the collective establishment (which broadcasts a connected application of the portal type),

o The C channels dedicated to VOD.

To set the TV, it is possible to generate a setting file on a USB memory stick and use a function called "cloning" televisions. In order to reproduce in the setting file the list of standard television channels, it is possible to: broadcast in the portal channel a specific tuning application (HbbTV or equivalent) which detects the channel map (for example by using JavaScript classes controlling the string plan);

turn on a coaxial network TV and start an automatic tuning procedure;

select the portal channel and start the tuning application.

In a particular embodiment, this application

o detects the list of strings (name and characteristics such as

"Original_network_id, transport_stream_id, service_id") o and send this information to the server.

The server saves this information. More specifically, a utility can generate the complete channel map of each television from this information, in the form of one or more cloning files. For each TV, you can copy the file (s) to a USB memory stick and use it for setting channels as described above. If the connected application has an API (for "Application Programming Interface") to change the channel plan, it is also possible to adjust the additional channels on the TV directly from a tuning application.

Thus, when opening a session, a VOD session management module of the computer entity S (not shown in the figures): - can identify the target television set by its IP address (linked to its address

MAC by the DHCP server database); indeed, during the negotiation at the initialization of the network connection, the DHCP server provides an IP address to the connected television sets according to their MAC address;

selects one of the M x C free slots; informs the web application server 105 of the portal of the channel number on which the video is available (typically one of the C reserved channels), informs the VOD server S_VOD to start broadcasting a service on the selected multiplex, using as service number (SID or "service_id" for "Service IDentifier") the number previously reserved for the television set, and optionally indicates to the module 11 to signal the interactive application for controlling the broadcast session on demand, or

alternatively, this application can be activated directly by the television set (especially when the application is prerecorded in the station), either during a change of channel or at startup.

If the M x C slots are busy, the session can not be opened and a message is displayed to the user.

Otherwise, once the session is open, the interactive application can intercept events such as pressing a button on the remote control. In response, the application displays an on-screen user interface superimposing the multimedia content and / or sends HTTP requests to the web server 105. These requests may consist, for example, in browsing the content in progress, notably with the launch of an action of: reading,

pause,

- moving in the content at a given position (start, end, current position plus or minus 30 seconds, etc.),

request of the current position and the total duration (in order to inform the user), or others.

Advantageously, a connected application, for example an HbbTV application, is signaled to the television in the information tables broadcasting the VOD content. This application is signaled in "AUTOSTART" mode to start automatically when the channel on which the VOD content is broadcast is selected. The user interface is displayed when an action is requested, and hidden in the opposite case to not occupy part of the image of the VOD program. Alternatively, this connected application, for example an application according to the CE-HTML ("Consumer Electronics HTML") standard, may be declared when the television is set, for example in the form of a URL, and automatically activated by the television on an event such as turning on or selecting a channel. This application can perform for example the actions below.

If the user has not started the vision or if the program is paused, it may be proposed a presentation of the content, with:

o the title of the film, its poster, a brief description;

o information on the current position in the program (if paused); o a reminder of how to use the remote control; o VOD session time information.

The application can also offer other existing contents, for example the list of films forming part of the commercial offer subscribed by the user.

The application can intercept events such as pressing certain buttons on the remote control, such as:

receiving an order from a PLAY, PAUSE, "," or other key, and sending corresponding commands to the entity S,

o the reception of an order resulting from a "red button" for example, to make appear a navigation bar,

o or others.

The application may further provide a rights check by querying the computer entity S via HTTP requests. In the event of a negative response from the computer entity S, for example if the user does not have the rights to receive the selected channel (no open session for example), the application can decide on actions such as:

o prevent the computer entity S (anti-piracy procedure),

o Select another channel from the TV channel plan, such as the institution's portal channel, to prevent the user from continuing to view paid content for which they have not been billed.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 to describe in particular the generation of the various declaration tables by the entity S. The table PAT 201 declares N services for the N television sets (TV1, TV2, TVN) of the local network. Each television set TVj (j from 1 to N) is set to receive only the service j and to ignore the other services.

In the example shown, the PMT tables 202 and 203 are respectively destined for TV1 and TV2 televisions. These tables respectively point to the elementary streams 204 and 205 (not limited to video and audio contents) that are broadcast by the media server. audiovisual on demand S_VOD. If no on-demand audiovisual media service session is open for a particular television set, the corresponding elementary streams are not broadcast and no audiovisual media is displayed on that television set. At any given time, at most M open sessions can not be expected for a given transmission stream, ie at most M PMT tables pointing to elementary streams present in the stream. In particular, the other PMT tables point to elementary streams that are absent from the transmission stream.

All the PMT tables also point to an interactive application reported via a table AIT 207. Here, this table AIT declares an interactive application hosted by the web server 105 to the IP address of the local network (for example 192.168.10.1, so that the entry point of the application is here defined by the URL: "http://192.168.10.1/index.html").

It should be noted that it may be wise to broadcast part of the files that make up the interactive application in the form of data carousels to avoid using the limited bandwidth of the data network. It suffices then to add a data carousel descriptor to the PMT tables and to associate an application domain extension descriptor with the AIT table, for example to give the application authorization to access these data carousel descriptors. data.

The web server 105 being connected to a session manager and the audiovisual media server S_VOD request, it is of course capable of generating different contents depending on whether a session is open or not.

For example, if no session is open on the set TV1, the latter does not receive any audiovisual media 204 from the antenna cable (which simply results in a black screen). The interactive application is preferably always indicated by the PMT table 202, and the television set TV1 can thus display a prompt message and / or a promotional page on top of this black screen.

Then, if, for example, a session is opened on the station TV1, the latter receives the audiovisual media 204 from the server S_VOD. The interactive application can then respond to the pressing of a key on the remote control by displaying for example a session control user interface indicating the current position in the audiovisual program and allowing to pause, to go back and / or to advance the multimedia content of this program.

In order to avoid the appearance of a black screen, and in order to control the rights of access to the services on demand, an interactive application routine is executed periodically on the television set (user station) for checking the status of the on-demand session with the computer unit S via verification requests. For example, if the session has expired, the application may display a prompt message. Finally, this periodic routine advantageously plays an anti-piracy role because it can make it possible to check, with the VOD session management module of the computer entity S, the state of the session as a function of the current service number (SID). , not just the IP address, to prevent an attacker from viewing a service that is not intended for that television set.

Hereinafter, the filtering of connected applications, signaled by television services coming from A-T, AS and AC antennas, and in particular to limit the bandwidth occupied by services of such applications (such as services catch-up television, for example, or VOD, broadcast over the internet).

Here, it is proposed to filter the interactive applications reported in television broadcasting channels from sources A-T, A-C or A-S, and broadcast on the local network:

by filtering, at the level of the aforementioned network 111, the URL links originating from the television sets to prohibit access to the remote VOD contents (via a firewall implemented by a router for example); - or by deleting the signaling of the application (by modifying the PMT tables to no longer point to the AIT tables or simply by deleting the AIT tables);

- or by removing the reference to the HTTP protocol in the AIT table: thus, if the application is also broadcast by a data carousel, the application remains available in this form (the behavior then being the same as if the television set was simply not connected to the internet). However, in the case where the application, broadcast in the form of data carousels, still offers access to remote on-demand services, or if this application starts another interactive application from the Internet, it is wise continue to filter communications between the local network (to which the television sets are connected) and the external network (internet network) to limit the bandwidth occupied; or by replacing the original interactive application with a third-party application, for example an application dedicated to establishing connection to a service portal for example.

Of these four solutions above, the third could be the most effective because it allows the user to access some of the interactive content without clogging the computer network. Nevertheless, in all four situations, the on-demand broadcast services of the originating services are in any case inaccessible.

The first solution above imposes a filtering URL links from television sets to prohibit their access to remote VOD content (with, for illustrative purposes, the aforementioned implementation of a firewall).

However, the other solutions rely on stream filtering, modification or generation of signal tables, addition or deletion of elementary streams, as follows. The deletion of the application (modification of the PMT tables to no longer point to the AIT tables and / or deletion of the AIT tables themselves) can be done as follows: reception of the streams to be filtered at the level of the computer entity S ;

reading the content of the PMT tables and identifying the elementary streams and the AIT tables associated with the broadcasting chains;

- deletion of entries corresponding to pointers to AIT tables;

replacing the modified PMT table in the outgoing stream;

and / or deletion of the AIT tables (by their PID identifier).

The AIT tables are identified in packets transported by the transmission stream (in DVB format) by their PID identifier (for "Packet Identifier"). The PMT service tables point to the PID identifier of the AIT tables. If we delete the PID identifier of the AIT tables in the PMT tables, the PMT tables of the stream can no longer correctly point to the AIT tables (disappearance of the interactive application associated with the PMT table). The filtering of PID packets equal to that of an AIT table also makes it possible to no longer signal the application to the connected television sets.

The removal of the reference to the HTTP protocol in the AIT table in the third solution can be done as follows:

receiving streams to be filtered at the computer entity S; reading the contents of the PMT tables;

identification of elementary streams and AIT tables associated with the service;

reading AIT tables;

rewriting AIT tables after deleting the entries corresponding to the HTTP protocol definition;

possibly filtering URLs at the network level 111 as described in the first solution.

According to this third solution, if the application is also broadcast by a data carousel, it remains available in this form (the behavior then being the same as if the television set was not connected to the Internet).

The fourth solution consisting of a replacement of the original interactive application by a third application, such as for example an application dedicated to the establishment, can proceed as follows:

receiving streams to be filtered at the computer entity S;

reading the contents of the PMT tables;

delete entries corresponding to pointers to AIT tables;

adding an entry corresponding to a new AIT table;

- deletion of the original AIT tables (by their PID identifier);

adding the new AIT table, for example the AIT 207 table.

modification of the identifiers ONID (for "Original Network IDentifier"), TSID (for "Transport Stream IDentifier") or other identifiers of the original flows so that all the applications of all the diffused flows are considered as one and the same application: thus, and in accordance with the standard HbbTV, the application is not interrupted when going from one channel to another and the user can at any time bring up the application by pressing a code on the remote control (eg the aforementioned "red button"). The modification of the identifiers ONID and TSID for example makes it possible to establish the same application for all the services. Thus, during a change of services on a terminal (chain change for example), this terminal detects that the new service selected has the same application as the service it has just left and it does not interrupt the execution interactive application. On the other hand, when the two applications are considered different, the initial interactive application is closed and the interactive application of the end string is started. Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which summarizes the main steps of the method implemented by the computer entity S according to a general embodiment.

In a first step S1, the computing entity S can receive at least a first stream Oi comprising elementary streams of services (audio, video, subtitles, etc.) as described above. For example, these elementary streams include television services data.

In a next step S4, the computer entity S generates a common stream Φ ₂ comprising at least: the data of the stream Φ 1 received at the step S 1, and

data associated with a set of VOD _N video on demand services to be broadcast to the N television sets connected to the COAX network.

Among this set of on-demand video services VOD _N , the computer entity S assigns at least one video-on-demand service respectively to each of the television sets.

To do this, in a prior step S2, the computer entity S generates the video-on-demand services C ^VOD dedicated respectively to television sets TV1, TV2, TVN. For example, the video-on-demand service C _j ^VOD is dedicated to the television set TVj (j = 1, 2, ..., N). The computer entity S assigns each of the video-on-demand services C ^VOD : video-on-demand data (data_VOD) retrieved from the server S_VOD, and

the signaling tables ( ^VOD signaling) of the video-on-demand data, which tables are retrieved from the signaling table generator 11. Thus, each of the video-on-demand services C _j ^VOD dedicated to the television sets TVj may comprise data (data_VOD) j and signaling tables (signaling_VOD) j specific to each of the stations.

As described later, it will be noted here that the video-on-demand (data_VOD) data j are delivered by the server S_VOD and broadcast by the computer entity S (via the common stream Φ ₂ ) only if the television set TVj possesses an open video-on-demand service session with the entity, in this embodiment. In step S3, the computing entity S thus generates the set of on-demand video services VOD _N each comprising video-on-demand services _Cj ^VOD dedicated to the television sets TVj, before including (step S4) this set VOD _N to the common stream Φ ₂ for broadcasting the on-demand services to all television stations members of the COAX network.

In a next step S5, the television sets receive the common stream Φ ₂ and carry out an identification test. At this stage, the television sets refer to the on-demand service which is dedicated to them among the set of video-on-demand services VOD _N received, and this by identifying the service signaling table (PMT) for which the TVj post has been configured. In the service plan (often called "TV channel plan") in which it was initially programmed, the TVj set is configured to read only the PMT table linked to a given service and ignore the other tables. Thus, in step S6, the set TVj recovers the video-on-demand service C _j ^VOD dedicated to it and ignores the services dedicated to other television sets. In a next step S7, the television set TVj carries out an event determination test relating to an application executed by the set (navigation application in video-on-demand contents for example). These events can come from the aforementioned actions (for example pressing a button on the remote control of the television set TVj by the user). At this step S7, the application of the application video-on-demand service (C _i ^VOD ) is implemented on the TVj set by executing an Appli_F application content associated with this application. This content Appli_F can be recovered (step S 8) from the web server 105 of the computer entity S (and this, on request via the return channel 111) or via the data carousel included in the common stream Φ ₂ . As part of a recovery from the web server 105, it is recalled that the content of the application Appli_F is recovered through: a link described in an application signaling table (AIT) broadcast via the common stream Φ ₂ , or

a link stored in a storage means of the television set connected TVj.

Subsequently, if an event relating to the application is determined in step S7, this event is interpreted by the application according to REQ requests to the web server 105 of the computer entity S. At step S9 , the request REQ is issued by the television set TVj according to an identifier of the post. As a purely illustrative example, this identifier can be an address of the station within the COAX network such as its IP address. For example still, within the context of a navigation application within a multimedia content, at least one "read" function and one "pause" function can be provided. When the media is paused, the user can select the "play" function of the application by pressing a button on the remote control. This event is interpreted according to a request REQ (IPj) comprising the request for reading the multimedia content and is sent to the web server 105 via the return channel 111, which web server 105 identifies the source of the request via the IP address of the server. issuer (in this case, that of TVj).

When the computing entity S receives the request identified REQ (IPj) in step S10, the entity performs a test determining the access rights to the video service on demand of the TVj station sending the request.

When the test of step S 10 is satisfied (arrow O at the output of the test), the set TVj has an open session and has access rights to the video-on-demand service. The computer entity S (step SU) then authorizes the server S_VOD to deliver the video data on demand (data_VOD) j according to the request REQ (IPj) of the set TVj, for example, with a delivery of the content requested by the user via the aforementioned read request.

In the next step S12, the computer entity S retrieves the video on demand data (data_VOD) j delivered by the server S_VOD and assigns them to the on-demand service C _j ^VOD dedicated to the set TVj before broadcasting them in the common flow Φ ₂ .

However, when the test of step S 10 is not satisfied (arrow N at the output of the test), the set TVj does not have an open session and the computing entity S does not satisfy the request REQ (IPj) . For example, the TVj set can be redirected to a PORT portal inviting the user to log in (paying for access rights for example) or to the video-on-demand application homepage. . In this case, the computer entity S does not receive from the server S_VOD the data (data_VOD) j requested by the station TVj and these data are not broadcast in the common stream Φ ₂ .

Of course, we have described above an exemplary embodiment for purely illustrative and non-limiting, where on-demand services are here video-on-demand services. Nevertheless, this process extends to any other type of on-demand service (personalized multimedia homepage, minibar note, catalog of possible services depending on the type of room or hotel suite, etc.).

Claims

A method implemented by a computing entity (S) to provide at least on-demand (C _j ^VOD ) differentiated services to a plurality of respective terminals (TV1, TV2, TVN), with communication means broadcasting mode of said services, wherein the entity (S) generates (S4) an undifferentiated flow (Φ ₂ ) common to the terminals, said common stream (Φ ₂ ) comprising at least signaling tables of said services on demand ( C _j ^VOD ), each signaling table being dedicated to a terminal (TVj) and each terminal (TVj) being configured to read the signaling table of the on-demand service dedicated thereto and to ignore the other signaling tables, the computing entity (S) receiving (S10), at least a part of the terminals, requests (REQ (IPj)) of services on demand, by way of return between the terminals and the computing entity (S),

the computing entity (S) being connected to an on-demand service data source (S_VOD) for conditioning the delivery of said data (data_VOD) in the common stream (Φ ₂ ) according to said requests.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that each request (REQ (IPj)) is formulated by executing an application at a terminal.

3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that said signaling tables point to at least one interactive application declaration table, said declaration table comprising at least data link to a script of said application.

4. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that each terminal comprises means for storing a prerecorded script linked to said application.

5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each request (REQ (IPj)) comprises a terminal identifier that generated the request, and in that the computer entity (S) statue (S 10) on said request as a function of access rights associated with this terminal, by conditioning the delivery in the common stream (Φ ₂ ) of requested data ((data_VOD) j) in the request.

6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an interactive application is provided to display on a screen of the terminal information on one or more on-demand services available, and to control a broadcast of the service data to the request in the common stream (Φ ₂ ) by communication with the entity computer science (S).

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the computer entity (S) and the terminals communicate via a network (111) coaxial infrastructure by data transmission by modems (21) of the type "DOCSIS ".

The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the common stream (Φ ₂ ) is generated in accordance with the DVB standard, in that said signaling tables are correspondence tables of the so-called "PMT" programs, and in that that the interactive application declaration table is an application information table called "AIT".

The method of claim 8, wherein the common stream (Φ ₂ ) is generated in accordance with the HbbTV standard.

10. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the computing entity (S) is arranged to filter applications in elementary streams, upstream of the common stream (Φ ₂ ), according to at least the steps:

- reception of elementary flows;

modifying the signaling tables by deleting entries corresponding to pointers to said interactive application declaration tables,

replacement of the signaling tables by the modified tables in the common stream (Φ ₂ ).

11. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the computer entity (S) is arranged to filter applications in elementary streams, upstream of the common stream (Φ ₂ ), according to at least steps :

receiving elementary streams;

reading signal table contents in elementary streams and interactive application declaration tables associated with at least one on-demand service corresponding elementary fluxes, and

delete interactive application declaration tables.

12. Method according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the computing entity (S) is arranged to filter applications in elementary streams, upstream of the common stream (<¾), according to at least the steps :

- reception of elementary flows;

Method according to claim 10, characterized in that the computer entity modifies the signaling tables by adding an entry corresponding to a new interactive application declaration table and modifies original flow identifiers (Φι), so that any application associated with an elementary stream is considered by a terminal as one and the same application.

14. Computer entity (S) for providing differentiated on-demand services to a plurality of respective terminals (TV1, TV2, TVN) connected to means of communication in the broadcast mode of said services, the entity comprising:

means generating an undifferentiated flow (<¾) common to the terminals, said common stream (Φ ₂ ) comprising at least signaling tables of said services on demand

(C _j ^VOD ), each signaling table being dedicated to a terminal (TVj),

means for receiving, at least part of the terminals, requests (REQ (IPj)) for services on demand, by way of return between the terminals and the computing entity (S),

- a connection to a service data source on demand (S_VOD) for conditioning the delivery of said data (data_VOD) in the common stream (Φ ₂ ) according to said requests.

15. Computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to one of claims 1 to 13, when the program is executed by a processor.