KR20120058013A - WEB BASED BROADCASTING SERVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD CONTROLLED BY Electronic Program Guide - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A web based broadcast service system based on an EPG(Electronic Program Guide) and method thereof are provided to offer various broadcast content and information provided from a cable broadcasting service provider or an internet service provider to a web site by reducing numbers of intervention. CONSTITUTION: A management server(125) receives EPG data from outside. The management server creates a web-based broadcasting schedule. The EPG data includes title, story, genre, broadcast time, or copyright information. A web server(121) provides broadcast organization information corresponding to the created web-based broadcasting schedule to a user terminal.

Description

Web-based broadcasting service system and method operating based on electronic program guide {WEB BASED BROADCASTING SERVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD CONTROLLED BY Electronic Program Guide}

The present invention relates to a web-based broadcasting service system and method. More particularly, the present invention provides a user with various broadcasting contents provided from a terrestrial broadcasting company, a cable broadcasting company, or other broadcasting content provider to a user based on the web, and provides an electronic program guide. The present invention relates to a web-based broadcast service system and method operating on a basis.

Recently, various broadcasting contents such as terrestrial broadcasting, cable broadcasting or internet broadcasting have been provided to users. In general, broadcast content is viewed on a television. Terrestrial broadcasting uses a terrestrial broadcasting signal transmitted through the air through an antenna, and in the case of cable broadcasting, a broadcasting signal transmitted through a cable network is received through a set-top box. It is used by. Some users may subscribe to a cable broadcast service to receive and watch terrestrial broadcast signals through a cable network. On the other hand, some viewers watch contents such as terrestrial broadcasting, cable broadcasting or internet broadcasting through the Internet. In this case, users should find and access a website operated by a broadcasting station that provides the contents.

As described above, in the conventional broadcast content viewing method, the user has the following inconvenience. First, when using a television, there is a problem that viewing is possible only in a home with a television, and when using the DMB broadcasting, it can be viewed from the outside, but there is a limitation that the number of contents that can be watched is still limited. On the other hand, in the case of watching broadcasts using the conventional Internet, there is a hassle of finding and accessing a corresponding web site provided with desired broadcast contents every time.

In order to solve this problem, a web-based broadcasting service system and method for allowing a user to conveniently watch various broadcasting contents such as terrestrial broadcasting, cable broadcasting, or internet broadcasting on a single web site have been proposed. However, in order to service a myriad of broadcast contents provided by a plurality of broadcast content providers in one web site, managing a broadcast service system may be very complicated and difficult.

Therefore, a problem to be solved by the present invention is a web-based broadcast service operated based on an electronic program guide that can provide various broadcast contents and related information provided from a plurality of terrestrial broadcasters, cable broadcasters, or internet broadcast providers. It is to provide a system and method.

Web-based broadcast service system according to an embodiment of the present invention for solving the technical problem is an electronic program guide including at least one of the title, plot, genre, broadcast time, cast, ratings and copyright information for the broadcast content (EPG: electronic program guide) includes a management server that receives data from an external source and generates a web-based broadcast schedule, and a web server that provides broadcast programming information corresponding to the generated web-based broadcast schedule to a user terminal.

The system may provide the user terminal with a web page including additional information related to broadcast content included in the generated web-based broadcast schedule (hereinafter, referred to as broadcast content additional information).

The web page may include a region into which a player for playing broadcast content is inserted and a broadcast content additional information display area, and additional information related to broadcast content played in the player may be displayed in the broadcast content additional information display area.

The broadcast content additional information may include shopping content related shopping information.

The broadcast content related shopping information includes shopping channel information for selling the broadcast content related product, and when a user selects a shopping channel, broadcast content of the shopping channel may be played in the player.

The shopping content related shopping information includes shopping site information for selling the broadcast content related product, and when the user selects access to the shopping site, the user terminal may be connected to the shopping site.

The management server may generate the web-based broadcast schedule by excluding some broadcast contents from among broadcast contents included in the EPG data at the request of the EPG data or the broadcast content provider.

The management server, when a broadcast content viewing request is requested from a user below a broadcasting content viewing grade, blocks the broadcasting content requested to be viewed from the user from being transmitted to the user terminal, and broadcasts corresponding to the generated web-based broadcasting schedule. The programming information may include an adult authentication required message for broadcast content corresponding to an adult viewing grade.

According to the present invention, a web-based broadcast service system that provides a myriad of broadcast contents provided by a plurality of broadcast content providers on a single website can be efficiently operated with minimal intervention of a system administrator based on an electronic program guide. have.

1 is a block diagram of a web-based broadcast service system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the head end of FIG. 1 in more detail.
3 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the web / back end of FIG. 1.
4 is a diagram illustrating a web page including broadcast programming information according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating a web page including broadcast content additional information according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram illustrating a web page including shopping information in a broadcast content additional information display area according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a web-based broadcast service system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the web-based broadcast service system 100 according to the present invention may include a head end unit 110 and a web / back end unit 120, and include a plurality of user terminals through the communication network 300 ( 400 can exchange various information and data. In addition, the web-based broadcast service system 100 may be managed by the system administrator through the manager terminal 500.

The head end unit 110 receives the broadcast content from the broadcast content provider 200 and performs a function of streaming the broadcast content selected by the user to the user terminal 400 through the communication network 300.

The web / back end unit 120 provides broadcast programming information to the user to select broadcast contents that the user wants to watch, and performs functions such as member management, billing management, and broadcast schedule management. In particular, the web / back end unit 120 according to the present invention may receive an electronic program guide (EPG) data from the outside to generate a broadcast schedule and operate the web-based broadcast service system 100 based on the same. . This is described in detail below.

The broadcast content provider 200 provides various broadcast contents to a terrestrial broadcaster, a cable broadcaster, or another broadcast content provider. The broadcast content includes real time broadcast content and VoD broadcast content. Here, the real-time broadcast content refers to a broadcast program that is serviced in real time in terrestrial broadcast or cable broadcast, that is, a live broadcast program, and is provided to the user terminal 400 through a real-time broadcast channel. The VoD broadcast content includes all broadcast content in addition to the real-time broadcast program. For example, the VoD broadcasting content may include dramas, music, documentaries, movies, entertainment, entertainment content, and the like, which have already been broadcast in terrestrial broadcasting or cable broadcasting. The VoD broadcast content may be stored in the form of a file and streamed according to a user request, or provided to the user terminal 400 through a VoD broadcast channel. Hereinafter, the broadcast content may be interpreted to include both real-time broadcast content and VoD broadcast content.

The additional information provider 250 provides additional information related to broadcast content. The broadcast content related information (hereinafter, referred to as broadcast content additional information) is various pieces of information related to the broadcast content, and the additional information provider 250 is related to the broadcast content from the information included in the electronic program guide (EPG) data. The information can be collected and processed. To this end, the additional information provider 250 may receive EPG data and a broadcast schedule from the web-based broadcast service system 100 according to the present invention, and generate and provide additional information related to the broadcast content included in the broadcast schedule with reference thereto. have.

In general, EPG data may include a title, a plot, a genre, a broadcast time, a cast, a rating, and copyright information about a broadcast content. For example, in the case of movie content, the additional information provider 250 may include a lead actor. The broadcast content additional information may be generated by collecting information about other movies that have been performed and performing some processing. More specifically, the broadcast content additional information may be included in the EPG data, and in addition to various additional information related to the broadcast content, for example, if the broadcast content is a movie, another movie of the director, another movie of an actor, an original soundtrack (OST), It may include a variety of information, such as product information on the car, clothes, accessories, bags, etc. in the movie, information about the shooting location, and the like.

The communication network 300 includes various data communication networks including a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, 3G, WIFI, WIBRO, and the like. It can include, wire and wireless, it does not matter which communication scheme is used.

The user terminal 400 is a communication terminal device used by a user to use a web-based broadcasting service. The user terminal 400 accesses the headend unit 110 or the web / backend unit 120 through the communication network 300 to provide various information and data. Give and take. The user terminal 10 is not only a desktop computer but also a laptop computer, a workstation, a palmtop computer, an ultra mobile personal computer, a tablet PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a web pad, a mobile phone. It may be made of a terminal having a computing capability by mounting a microprocessor such as a smart phone and the like. In particular, the user terminal 400 according to the present invention is a web browser for confirming broadcast programming information, a DRM agent for decrypting encrypted broadcast content, and a P2P agent for exchanging real-time broadcast content with another user terminal in a P2P streaming manner. And the like.

The manager terminal 500 is a communication terminal device used by a system administrator for management of a web-based broadcast service. The manager terminal 500 is directly connected to the web-based broadcast service system 100 or connected through a communication network 300 to exchange various information and data. can do. The manager may change the schedule of the real-time broadcast channel through the manager terminal 500 as needed, and may also generate and change the VoD channel broadcast schedule.

Next, the head end unit 110 according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the head end of FIG. 1 in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 2, the head end unit 110 may include an encoder unit 111, a streaming server 113, a P2P server 115, a DRM server 117, and a VoD server 119.

The encoder 111 performs a function of encoding broadcast content into a form suitable for various transmission environments and user terminal models by applying a multi-profile. In more detail, the encoder 111 may encode a single format of broadcast content at a codec, resolution, and bit rate suitable for each transmission environment and user terminal type. Meanwhile, the encoder unit 111 may include a plurality of encoders (not shown) to simultaneously encode a plurality of broadcast contents provided at the same time in parallel.

The streaming server 113 performs a function of streaming the broadcast content encoded by the encoder unit 111 to the user terminal 400 through the communication network 300. In more detail, the streaming server 113 may provide live adaptive streaming that automatically detects network conditions and performance environments of user terminals and transmits content at the most suitable bit rate.

The P2P server 115 stores various information and data for P2P streaming and provides the same to the user terminal 400. For example, P2P streaming connects the user terminals 400 to each other in a net or tree form so that they can be transmitted from other user terminals 400 instead of being directly streamed from the streaming server 113. To this end, the P2P server 115 may provide information on which user terminal 400 can receive the broadcast content. This can prevent excessive concentration of load on the streaming server 115.

The DRM server 117 performs a function of applying digital rights management (DRM) to broadcast content. In more detail, the DRM server 117 generates an encryption key to encrypt broadcast content. The user terminal 400 may decrypt the broadcast content encrypted and streamed using a DRM agent (not shown).

The VoD server 119 may stream the VoD broadcast content stored in a file form through the streaming server 113 at the request of the user terminal 400. In particular, the VoD server 119 according to the present invention may stream the VoD broadcast content to the user terminal 400 according to the broadcast schedule of the VoD broadcast channel. Accordingly, when the user selects a broadcast view for the VoD broadcast channel, the user may receive and use the VoD broadcast content streamed to the user terminal 400 at the current time.

3 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the web / back end of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 3, the web / back end unit 120 may include a web server 121, a database unit 123, and a management server 125.

The database unit 123 stores various kinds of information related to broadcast programming information, member information, payment information, broadcast schedule management information, and the like.

The management server 125 may control and manage the overall operation of the web-based broadcast service system 100 according to the command and setting of the manager terminal 500. In particular, the management server 125 according to the present invention can automatically generate a real-time channel broadcast schedule based on the EPG data. Meanwhile, when the broadcast content provider 200 requests in advance, the management server 125 may delete the broadcast content that cannot be serviced on the Internet due to, for example, copyright, so as not to be deleted from the real-time broadcast schedule. The management server 125 may include the VoD channel broadcast schedule created by the system administrator in the real time broadcast schedule. Meanwhile, the VoD channel broadcast schedule may be created by the broadcast content provider 200. The VoD channel broadcast schedule may be organized to insert an advertisement between VoD content. In addition, the VoD content channel may be divided into genres such as sports, music, and movies, and there may be more detailed channels for each genre.

The web server 121 provides a web page related to a web-based broadcast service to the user terminal 400. The user may perform membership registration, user authentication, broadcasting program information checking, broadcasting content selection, and bill payment through a web page provided by the web server 121.

Hereinafter, a web page provided by the web server 121 will be described.

4 is a diagram illustrating a web page including broadcast programming information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the web server 121 may provide the user terminal 400 with a web page including a broadcast schedule corresponding to the broadcast schedule generated by the management server 125. In the broadcast schedule, broadcast content organized for each channel may be displayed in order of broadcast time. As described above, the broadcast content that cannot be provided at the request of the broadcast content provider 200 may display a message 610 that is not provided due to the broadcaster's circumstances. In addition, a message 620 indicating that "adult authentication is required" may be displayed for broadcast content corresponding to an adult viewing grade.

5 is a diagram illustrating a web page including broadcast content additional information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the web page 700 may include a region 710 into which a player is inserted and a broadcast content additional information display region 720. The web server 121 may provide the user terminal 400 with a web page 700 in which a player (not shown) that performs a function of displaying broadcast content is inserted. The player may be downloaded when the user terminal 400 first accesses the web server 121 in addition to the method of being inserted into the web page and may be downloaded whenever the player is upgraded.

In the player insertion area 710, broadcast content streamed from the streaming server 113 is played and displayed on the screen. The broadcast content additional information display area 720 may include additional information related to the corresponding broadcast content. In FIG. 5, a thumbnail image of another movie starring a main actor of broadcast content is displayed. When a corresponding thumbnail image is clicked, the VoD server 119 may provide a corresponding VoD content to the user terminal 400.

The broadcast content additional information display area 720 may include shopping information. 6 is a diagram illustrating a web page including shopping information in a broadcast content additional information display area according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, product information regarding a tie worn by an actor appearing on a screen currently played in the player insertion area 710 may be displayed on the broadcast content additional information display area 720. The broadcast content additional information display area 720 may include not only product information as illustrated in FIG. 6 but also price comparison content for each shopping mall site, and a URL for the shopping mall site is linked so that the user can access the shopping mall site if selected. Can be implemented. In this case, a separate window may be generated and displayed. Meanwhile, in addition to a shopping mall site, information about a shopping channel provided by the broadcasting system 100 according to the present invention may be displayed on the broadcast content additional information display area 720, and the shopping channel in the player insertion area 710 according to a user selection. Broadcast content may be played. By linking the broadcast schedule of the shopping channel with other broadcast contents serviced at the time, the user can sell the product directly through the shopping channel while watching the corresponding broadcast.

On the other hand, the web server 121 may block the transmission of the broadcast content to the user terminal 400 when viewing the broadcast content is requested from the user terminal 400 used by the user below the broadcast content viewing grade. In addition, the web server 121 may display the viewing grade restriction guide message on the user terminal 400.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

Claims (8)

Management to generate a web-based broadcast schedule by receiving electronic program guide (EPG) data including at least one of a title, a plot, a genre, a broadcast time, a cast, a rating, and copyright information about the broadcast content from an external source Server, and
Web server for providing the user program to the broadcast program information corresponding to the generated web-based broadcast schedule
Web-based broadcast service system comprising a. The method of claim 1,
And providing a web page including additional information related to broadcast content included in the generated web-based broadcast schedule (hereinafter, referred to as broadcast content additional information) to the user terminal. 3. The method of claim 2,
The web page,
A region into which a player for playing broadcast content is inserted and a broadcast content additional information display region;
And additional information related to broadcast content played in the player is displayed in the broadcast content additional information display area. In claim 3,
The broadcast content additional information includes shopping content-related shopping information. In claim 4,
The shopping content related shopping information,
Shopping channel information for selling the broadcast-related goods,
When a user selects a shopping channel,
Web-based broadcast service system, characterized in that the broadcast content of the shopping channel is played in the player. In claim 4,
The shopping content related shopping information,
Shopping site information for selling the broadcast content related products is included,
When the user chooses to access the shopping site,
Web-based broadcast service system, characterized in that the user terminal is connected to the shopping site. The method of claim 1,
The management server includes:
The web-based broadcast service system, characterized in that for generating the web-based broadcast schedule excluding some broadcast content from the broadcast content included in the EPG data at the request of the EPG data or broadcast content provider. The method of claim 1,
The management server includes:
When a broadcast content viewing request is requested from a user below the broadcast content viewing rating, the broadcast content requested for viewing from the user is blocked from being transmitted to the user terminal.
Broadcast programming information corresponding to the generated web-based broadcast schedule,
Web-based broadcast service system comprising an adult authentication required message for the broadcast content corresponding to the adult viewing rating.

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