KR101723228B1 - Method and Apparatus for providing application service - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for providing an application service. A method of providing an application service of a broadcast system, the method comprising: storing attribute information for a broadcast receiver, the attribute information including at least one of a unique identifier, group information, and performance information for the broadcast receiver; Receiving a unique identifier from a first broadcast receiver; Identifying a unique identifier and generating a personalized application information table corresponding to the first broadcast receiver; And transmitting the personalized application information table to the first broadcast receiver. According to the present invention, personalized AIT can be provided for each broadcast receiver property.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for providing an application service,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing an application service, and a method, an apparatus, and a system for allowing different applications to be installed according to a broadcast receiver.

The development of broadcasting technology, the emergence of various new broadcasting media, the convergence of broadcasting and communication, and the broadcasting environment are changing rapidly. In the broadcast environment where viewers passively enjoy a one-way A / V service sent from a broadcasting station through a TV, information services such as news, traffic information, weather information, and various interactive data services such as e-commerce and home banking are actively participated and enjoyed The data broadcasting environment.

Data broadcasting technologies are being developed in Europe, including DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), US Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE), CableLabs, Industries and Businesses). In recent years, standardization for accommodating IPTV, a new broadcasting medium, has been carried out both domestically and internationally.

MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) which is the first to standardize data broadcasting has been standardized through DVB and ETSI. MHP is distributed in three versions such as 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2. Version 1.0 is based on the Java platform. 1.1 is added to the version 1.0 with the Markup language feature called Stored Application, HD video and graphics, and DVB-HTML. Finally, the 1.2 version is being standardized through DVB and ETSI to support the transmission of DVB service through Monitor Application, Unbound Application and Broadband IP network (IPTV) introduced in OCAP (OpenCable Application Platform) have.

There is also a GEM (Globally Executable MHP) as one of digital data broadcasting standards. GEM was developed with the focus on interoperability as a standard that eliminates parts specialized in DVB broadcasting environment in order to enable MHP to be introduced in various broadcasting environments other than DVB, and uses the MHP standard as much as possible.

In the MHP or GEM standard, an application information table (AIT) is provided to a broadcast receiver in the form of a transport stream, or on an HTTP or HTTPS basis. The broadcast receiver downloads an application included in the AIT with reference to the AIT, Management. In the same way, a table called XAIT (eXtended Application Information Table) is provided, which is a table for providing the same purpose or information of an unbound application. An unbound application is a daemon that resides on a regular PC and provides services. This is the same in all aspects, such as the type of service, the type of data, the method, etc. Therefore, XAIT and AIT are assumed to have the same meaning in the following description.

As described above, the AIT is an information table for application signaling. In the conventional MHP or GEM standard, the AIT is provided collectively to all broadcast receivers, but not to provide AIT specific to each broadcast receiver .

2. Description of the Related Art [0002] In recent years, specifications of broadcast receivers have greatly varied according to the activation of a data broadcasting service. However, conventionally, different applications are not provided according to specifications of broadcast receivers. Further, There is a problem that can not be done.

In order to solve the problems of the related art as described above, the present invention proposes an application service providing method, an apparatus and a system capable of providing differentiated applications to broadcast receivers.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing an application service of a broadcast system, the method comprising: storing attribute information for a broadcast receiver, the attribute information including a unique identifier for the broadcast receiver, Information and specification information; Receiving a unique identifier from a first broadcast receiver; Identifying a unique identifier and generating a personalized application information table corresponding to the first broadcast receiver; And transmitting the personalized application information table to the first broadcast receiver.

Preferably, the group information may be information on a group to which the user of the broadcast receiver belongs, and the group information may be at least one of a company, a religion, a club, and a parent identification information to which the user of the broadcast receiver belongs.

The specification information may be at least one of supportable interface information and supportable image information of the broadcast receiver.

Preferably, the supportable interface information includes information on whether or not the broadcast receiver supports the motion mouse, and the supportable video information includes information on whether or not the broadcast receiver supports 3D video.

Preferably, the first broadcast receiver may download one or more applications included in the personalized application information table from the broadcasting system.

Preferably, the broadcast receiver includes a plurality of application servers according to a group or specification of the plurality of broadcast receivers, and the first broadcast receiver is an application server And downloads the one or more applications.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing an application service of a broadcast system, the method comprising: storing attribute information for a broadcast receiver, the attribute information including at least one of a unique identifier, group information, box-; Generating a personalized application information table corresponding to the broadcast receiver using the attribute information; And receiving a unique identifier from the broadcast receiver; Identifying the unique identifier and extracting a personalized application information table corresponding to the broadcast receiver; And transmitting the personalized application information table to the broadcast receiver.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an application service providing apparatus, comprising: a database storing attribute information for a broadcast receiver, the attribute information including at least one of a unique identifier, group information, and specification information for the broadcast receiver; ; A network communication unit for receiving a unique identifier from the broadcast receiver; And an AIT generator for referring to the database and generating a personalized application information table corresponding to the unique identifier.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a personalized application information table according to a specification of a broadcasting receiver and a group to which a broadcast receiver user belongs, by referring to the attribute information.

1 is a diagram illustrating an application service providing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001]
3 illustrates a database field structure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart of an application service providing process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating an application service providing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1, the broadcasting system 100 according to the present embodiment is connected to one or more broadcast receivers 102-1 to 102-n (hereinafter referred to as '102') through a network.

Here, the network may include both a terrestrial network, a cable network, a satellite network, and the Internet.

The broadcasting system 100 according to the present embodiment provides a broadcasting program according to a predetermined schedule. In addition, each of the audio and video signals (broadcast programs) for the various broadcast channels is converted into a predetermined format, and the transport stream combining the data and the application related to the broadcast program is transmitted to the broadcast receiver 102.

In addition, the broadcasting system 100 performs scheduling for each broadcast program, scrambling for restricting reception so that no other user can access the subscriber.

Furthermore, the broadcasting system 100 may provide an Internet service and various communication services, while having a separate communication server (e.g., a return path server) for processing a user's request through an uplink channel.

The broadcast receiver 102 selectively receives a transport stream corresponding to a predetermined channel among the transport streams transmitted by the broadcasting system 100 and outputs the transport stream.

Here, the broadcast receiver 102 may be a set-top box that selectively receives a transport stream and decodes the transport stream, but is not limited thereto. If the terminal is a desktop, a notebook, or a terminal capable of decoding a transport stream received via a network You can include both.

The transport stream transmitted by the broadcasting system 100 includes SI (System Information) for signaling service information (i.e., channel information).

The SI includes a bouquet association table (BAT), a service description table (SDT), an event information table (EIT), an application information table (AIT) "). The AIT includes detailed information about an application to be installed in the broadcast receiver 102 for a specific service, and may include application identification information and application location information, for example.

As described above, the application information table may include XAIT in addition to the AIT. In the following, the AIT will be mainly described for convenience, but it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the application information table may include XAIT.

Here, the application location information may be address information of a server in which an application is stored, or may be an identifier of a multicast channel (eg, an original network id, a transport stream id, a service id ).

Table 1 shows the XAIT format, which is an information table used in the present invention. Here, there is the location information of the application, and the application location information is written in the <location> field or the <transportViaOC> field, But may also be an identifier of a multicast channel (original network id, transport stream id, service id).

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the broadcasting system 100 may provide personalized AIT for each broadcast receiver 102.

The AIT provided when the broadcast receiver 102 first enters the service of the broadcasting system 100 includes information about an application that should be installed in the broadcast receiver 102 basically.

Herein, the initial service entry may be defined as the broadcast receiver 102 first receiving the transport stream provided in the broadcast system 100.

When the specific broadcast receiver 102 enters the service for the first time while maintaining the attribute information such as unique identifier, group information, specification information and the like for each broadcast receiver, Generates a personalized AIT for the corresponding broadcast receiver with reference to the attribute information of the broadcast receiver 102, and transmits the personalized AIT to the broadcast receiver 102. At this time, if there is a common application that all users should download, they can multicast and write this information to the AIT.

As described above, the broadcasting system 100 may generate the AIT dynamically at the time of the first service entry of the broadcasting receiver 102, ), And may transmit the personalized AIT generated in advance to the broadcast receiver 102.

In addition, the personalized AIT can be provided to the broadcast receiver 102 not only when the service is first entered, but also when a new application for a particular broadcast receiver 102 is registered or an existing application is changed, have.

In the following description, the AIT will be dynamically generated at the time of entering the first service of the broadcast receiver 102.

In the past, there has been no discussion about personalization or grouping of AITs in the MHP or GEM standards. In the case of providing personalized AIT as in the present embodiment, more specialized services can be provided for each broadcast receiver 102.

2 is a detailed block diagram of a broadcasting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the broadcasting system according to the present embodiment includes a video encoder 200, an audio encoder 202, an AIT generator 204, a multiplexer 206, a modulator 208, a database 210, And a communication unit 212.

The video encoder 200 converts a video signal of a broadcast program provided from a broadcast program provider or the like into an MPEG2 (Moving Picture Experts Group 2) stream belonging to a digital broadcast standard.

In addition, the audio encoder 202 converts the audio signal of the broadcast program into a predetermined format such as an MPEG2 stream or an AC-3 stream.

The encoded video and audio streams are input to a multiplexer 206.

The AIT is input to the multiplexer 206, and the AIT is multiplexed with the video and audio streams and output to the modulator 208.

The AIT generator 204 refers to the database 210 and generates a personalized AIT for each broadcast receiver 102.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a field structure of a database 210 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the database 210 according to the present embodiment includes a unique identifier field 300, a group field 302, and a specification field 304.

The unique identifier field 300 stores a unique identifier for identifying each broadcast receiver 102. The unique identifier may include a manufacturer code of the broadcast receiver 102 and user identification information of the broadcast receiver 102 .

The group field 302 stores information for identifying the group to which the user of the broadcast receiver 102 belongs.

Here, the group refers to a company, a religion, a club, a relative, etc. belonging to the user, and the group information may include identification information on the company, religion, club,

According to the present embodiment, information on one or more groups to which a user belongs may be stored in the group information, and the AIT generator 204 may generate a personalized AIT that reflects all of the one or more group information.

In the specification field 304, information on specifications supported by the broadcast receiver 102 is stored.

The specification information may include interface information and image information that can be supported by the broadcast receiver 102. For example, the supportable interface information of the broadcast receiver 102 includes information about whether the broadcast receiver 102 can process only signals of a normal remote controller, connect to a motion mouse, and whether or not the touch screen function is supported can do.

In addition, the supportable image information may include information on which of the SD, HD, and 3D (3D) images can be supported by the broadcast receiver 102.

In addition, the specification information may be at least one of the supportable interface information and the supportable video information of the broadcast receiver, and may further include information on whether there is a hard disk or whether a dual decoder is supported.

Information on the presence or absence of a hard disk can be utilized to provide a PVR related service to a broadcast receiver, and information on whether a dual decoder is supported can be utilized to provide a PIP service or an EPG service for various channels.

In addition, although not described above, the attribute information may include local information in which the broadcast receiver 102 is installed, and personal preference information of the user of the broadcast receiver 102.

Here, the preference information may include a viewing history of a user, a VOD purchase history, an electronic commerce history, an age, a gender, etc., and the broadcasting system 100 may update preference information separately from the initially personalized AIT A personalized AIT can be provided.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the network communication unit 212 receives a unique identifier from the broadcast receiver 102 which has first entered the service, the AIT generator 204 refers to the database 210, And generates a personalized AIT corresponding to the unique identifier.

The AIT generator 204 reads area information, group information, and specification information corresponding to the unique identifier in the database 210, and generates an AIT using the attribute information.

For example, when the group information of the first broadcast receiver 102-1 includes information of A company and B church, and the specification information includes motion mouse support information, the AIT generator 204 generates the group information And the AIT reflecting the specification information.

The personalized AIT for the first broadcast receiver 102-1 includes information on basic applications commonly provided to all broadcast receivers 102, information on applications providing A company and B church-related information, Information about an interlocking application can be included.

When the group information of the second broadcast receiver 102-2 includes the C company and the kinship information, and the specification information includes the 3D video support information, the AIT generator 204 generates C Information about the application providing information related to the company and the user's relatives, and information on the application available in a 3D manner.

The personalized AIT is input to multiplexer 206, which outputs a transport stream including video, audio stream and personalized AIT, which is modulated at modulator 208 and sent to broadcast receiver 102 .

The broadcast receiver 102 receives a transport stream from the broadcast system 100.

Application signaling is performed by the personalized AIT contained in the transport stream.

According to the present embodiment, the broadcast receiver 102 downloads an application included in the personalized AIT and manages the life cycle of the application.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, independent application servers 104-1 to 104-k may be provided for each group or specification.

The personalized AIT includes information about the basic application and information about the application that is specialized according to the group or the specification.

According to the present embodiment, since there are broadcast receivers having a common group and specification, it is possible to provide a plurality of application servers 104 corresponding to the group or specification common broadcast receiver 102, to receive a personalized AIT Each of the broadcast receivers 102 can access the specific application server 104 and download the application.

The application providing method is not limited to being performed through the individual application server 104, and an application having a high frequency of providing may be provided to a plurality of broadcast receivers 102 through multicasting.

Meanwhile, in the above description, when the unique identifier is received from the broadcast receiver 102, the AIT generator 204 generates a personalized AIT corresponding to the unique identifier by referring to the database 210. However, It is also within the scope of the present invention that the AIT generator 204 generates a personalized AIT for the broadcast receiver 102 in advance and then transmits it when the attribute information about the new broadcast receiver 102 is registered in the broadcast receiver 102 .

4 is a flowchart illustrating an AIT service providing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram showing a case where an AIT is generated and provided dynamically.

Referring to FIG. 4, the broadcasting system 100 maintains attribute information of each broadcasting receiver 102 in a database 210 (step 400).

As described above, the attribute information may include a unique identifier of the broadcast receiver 102, group information, specification information, local information, and preference information.

The broadcast receiver 102, which first enters the service, transmits a unique identifier to the broadcast system 100 (402).

The broadcast system 100 confirms the unique identifier, and generates a personalized AIT using attribute information such as group information and specification information matched to the unique identifier (step 404).

The broadcasting system transmits the transport stream including the personalized AIT to the broadcast receiver 102 (step 406), and the broadcast receiver 102 decodes the transport stream to interpret the personalized AIT (step 408) (Step 410).

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It will be understood that the present invention can be changed.

Claims (11)

A method for providing an application service of a broadcast system,
Storing attribute information for a broadcast receiver, the attribute information including at least one of a unique identifier, group information, and specification information for the broadcast receiver;
Receiving a unique identifier from a first broadcast receiver;
Generating a personalized application information table (AIT) for a plurality of applications to be installed in the first broadcast receiver by referring to the attribute information of the broadcast receiver; And
And transmitting the personalized application information table to the first broadcast receiver,
Wherein the personalized application information table includes identification information and location information of at least one first application to be installed in the first broadcast receiver, identification information of at least one second application to be commonly provided to a plurality of broadcast receivers, And an HTTP address or multicast channel identifier,
Wherein the first broadcast receiver downloads the at least one first application from an application server connected through a network using location information of the first application and transmits the at least one application using the HTTP address or the multicast channel identifier 2 Application service providing method for downloading an application. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the group information is information on a group to which a user of the broadcast receiver belongs. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the group information includes at least one of a company, a religion, a club, and a relative identification information to which the user of the broadcast receiver belongs. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the specification information includes at least one of supportable interface information of the broadcast receiver, supportable video information, presence of a hard disk, and information on whether or not a dual decoder is supported. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the supportable interface information includes information on whether the broadcast receiver supports motion mouse. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the supportable video information includes information on whether the 3D video is supported by the broadcast receiver. delete The method according to claim 1,
The broadcast receiver includes a plurality of broadcast receivers,
Wherein the application server is one of a plurality of application servers according to a group or specification of the plurality of broadcast receivers,
Wherein the first broadcast receiver accesses an application server according to a group and a specification to which the first broadcast receiver belongs and downloads the at least one first application. delete A method for providing an application service of a broadcast system,
Storing attribute information for a broadcast receiver, the attribute information including at least one of a unique identifier, group information, and specification information for the broadcast receiver;
Generating a personalized application information table (AIT) for a plurality of applications to be installed in the first broadcast receiver using the attribute information; And
Receiving a unique identifier from the first broadcast receiver;
Identifying the unique identifier and extracting the personalized application information table corresponding to the first broadcast receiver; And
And transmitting the personalized application information table to the first broadcast receiver,
Wherein the personalized application information table includes identification information and location information of at least one first application to be installed in the first broadcast receiver, identification information of at least one second application to be commonly provided to a plurality of broadcast receivers, And an HTTP address or multicast channel identifier,
Wherein the first broadcast receiver downloads the at least one first application from an application server connected through a network using location information of the first application and transmits the at least one application using the HTTP address or the multicast channel identifier 2 Application service providing method for downloading an application. A broadcast system for providing an application service,
A database storing attribute information for a broadcast receiver, the attribute information including at least one of a unique identifier, group information, and specification information for the broadcast receiver;
A network communication unit for receiving a unique identifier from a first broadcast receiver; And
And an AIT generator for generating a personalized application information table (AIT) related to a plurality of applications to be installed in the first broadcast receiver with reference to the database,
Wherein the network communication unit transmits the personalized application information table to the first broadcast receiver,
Wherein the personalized application information table includes identification information and location information of at least one first application to be installed in the first broadcast receiver, identification information of at least one second application to be commonly provided to a plurality of broadcast receivers, And an HTTP address or multicast channel identifier,
Wherein the first broadcast receiver downloads the at least one first application from an application server connected through a network using the location information of the first application and transmits the at least one application by using the HTTP address or the multicast channel identifier 2 A broadcasting system for downloading an application.

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