Patent Application
20140173649
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for achieving a fast service change.
The meanings of certain acronyms and abbreviations used herein are given in Table 1.
The following definitions (taken from Digital Video Broadcasting (DV); Specification for Service Information (SI) in DVB systems, ETSI EN 300 468 V 1.8.1) will aid understanding of the embodiments of the present invention.
Event: grouping of elementary broadcast data streams with a defined start and end time belonging to a common service;
Conditional Access (CA) system: system to control subscriber access to services, programmes and events;
Network: collection of MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS) multiplexes transmitted on a single delivery system;
Programme: concatenation of one or more events under the control of a broadcaster e.g. news show, entertainment show;
Service: sequence of programmes under the control of a broadcaster which can be broadcast as part of a schedule;
Service Information (SI): digital data describing the delivery system, content and scheduling/timing of broadcast data streams, etc. It includes MPEG-2 PSI together with independently defined extensions;
Program Association Table (PAT): for each service in the multiplex, the PAT indicates the location of the corresponding Program Map Table (PMT). It also gives the location of the Network Information Table (NIT);
Program Map Table (PMT): the PMT identifies and indicates the locations of the streams that make up each service and the location of the Program Clock Reference fields for a service;
Motion Pictures Experts Group 2 (MPEG-2): a standard for the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information as described in ISO/IEC 13818;
Transport Stream (TS): a communications protocol for audio, video, and data which is specified in MPEG-2 Part 1, Systems (ISO/IEC standard 13818-1);
Elementary Stream (ES): stream of raw transport packets (such as audio, video and data) within a transport stream sharing a common Packet IDentifier (PID).
The term “service” is intended to include the MPEG concept of a “program”. A “service” can also be referred to as “channel” in other contexts.
As digital television transmission has replaced analog broadcasts, viewers have found the advantages of the newer mode are offset by a relatively long latency period when changing services, as compared to the nearly instant response of a traditional analog tuner. There are several reasons for this difference in service change between analog and digital television. Generally, this difference may be due to several cumulative time factors, for example, tuning time, data acquiring time, decrypting time and Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) sequencing time.
The tuning time is the time it takes to switch between different tuners and/or different carrier frequencies if the different service that is to be displayed is on another Transport Stream (TS). The data acquiring time is the time it takes to acquire Service Information (SI) data (e.g. Program Map Table (PMT)) in order to locate the different service within the tuned TS. The decrypting time represents the time it takes to acquire Entitlement Control Messages (ECMs) associated with the encrypted service that is to be displayed and to send it to a Control Word (CW) manager, the CW manager using the ECMs to derive a control word for use in decrypting the encrypted service. Finally, the MPEG sequencing time is the time it takes to acquire the most recent I-frame. The MPEG sequencing time also includes the time it takes to decode and present audio and video in synchronization.
A video sequence known as “group of pictures” (GOP) comprises a plurality of video frames. The GOP begins with an intra-coded frame or I-frame, which is an independently decodable frame. The I-frame is followed by zero or more “predicted frames” known as predicted frames (P-frames) and bidirectional frames (B-frames), which are encoded relative to the I-frame and/or one another, and generally cannot be decoded unless an I-frame is available. In other words, the GOP is decodable once the I-frame has become available to the decoder.
A request to display a different service received from a user may occur randomly in the course of an MPEG-2 stream. Therefore, it is generally unaligned with the current I-frame. Hence, decoding of the different service is delayed until arrival of a new I-frame. The delay in video presentation may increase due to inherent latencies within the decoder (i.e. buffering delays involved in decoding and presenting video and audio in synchronization. Section 2.4.2.4 (Decoding) of ISO/IEC 13818.1-1:2000 Information technology—Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems explains the buffering delay in greater detail). In some cases, this delay may be as much as the GOP duration plus the synchronization time.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the time it takes to achieve a service change may be different whether the service that is to be displayed is encrypted or not.
For encrypted services, the service change time (referred as Tsc below) is given by:
Tsc=Tuning time+Acquiring time+Decrypting time+MPEG Sequencing time
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the decrypting time and the MPEG sequencing time are given by:
Decryptingtime=ECMAcquiringtime+CWGeneratingtime; and MPEG Sequencing time=I frame time+Sync.time
For non-encrypted services, the service change time is given by:
Tsc=Tuning time+Acquiring time+MPEG Sequencing time
An example of these times is shown in Table 2 below:
The accumulation of all these times leads to an overall time of at least approximately 1 second for non-encrypted services, and often of at least approximately 1.4 seconds for encrypted services.
PCT Published Patent Application WO2006/044547 of OpenTV Inc. describes a method and an apparatus to reduce delay when changing channels in a television environment. The method may comprise receiving a plurality of television channels from a remote content provider wherein each channel includes channel information required to display the channel. At least one channel of the plurality of channels may be identified as a stored channel and channel information of the at least one stored channel may be stored in storage (e.g. in a circular buffer). Thereafter, upon selection of the stored channel, the stored channel information is accessed for display. In an example embodiment, the storage may be updated to maintain a most recently received I-frame and subsequent MPEG signals of the stored channel. Accordingly, when changing channels it may not be necessary to wait for the next I-frame to display a newly selected channel.
PCT Published Patent Application WO2010/015882 of NDS Ltd et al. describes a method and a system for tuning a set top box to a carrier frequency, the carrier frequency carrying a transport stream, acquiring a subset of transport stream associated metadata, the subset of transport stream associated metadata including a plurality of pointers to a plurality of elementary streams, the plurality of elementary streams including data and metadata associated with a desired content item, acquiring the plurality of elementary streams indicated in the subset of transport stream associated metadata, the plurality of elementary streams including at least a first stream including encrypted video frames, the encrypted video frames including at least one frame which includes an encrypted access point, and a second stream including an entitlement control word (ECM) stream, caching the encrypted video frames acquired from the first stream, acquiring an ECM from the second stream, the acquired ECM being associated with the cached acquired encrypted video frames, deriving a control word (CW) from the acquired ECM, decrypting the cached acquired encrypted video frames according to the CW, locating the at least one decrypted access point in the first stream, decrypting encrypted video frames included in the cached first stream, decoding the decrypted video frames from the at least one decrypted access point, and displaying the decoded decrypted video frames included in the first stream, beginning at the located at least one decrypted access point, wherein the decrypting, decoding and displaying is performed at better than real-time. Related systems and methods are also described.
There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for achieving a fast service change, the method including: receiving a plurality of transport streams at a client device, each transport stream including a plurality of encrypted services; decrypting an encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services thereby forming a decrypted service; playing out the decrypted service; storing a portion of, at least, one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services in a storage device; receiving a request for displaying a different encrypted service; identifying a stored portion of the different encrypted service; decrypting the stored portion of the different encrypted service thereby forming a decrypted stored portion; playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service at a faster than real time speed; storing a subsequent portion of the different encrypted service in the storage device, the subsequent portion corresponding to a subsequent portion of the different service received during decrypting the stored portion and playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service; decrypting the subsequent portion of the different encrypted service thereby forming a decrypted subsequent portion; and playing out the decrypted subsequent portion of the different encrypted service for display upon completion of the playing out of the decrypted stored portion.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service includes playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service in System Time Clock fast forward speed.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service includes playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service at a maximum faster than real time speed that the client device is able to handle.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service includes playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service at a non-constant speed.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the playing out the decrypted subsequent portion commences with a P-frame.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the playing out the decrypted subsequent portion commences with a B-frame.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes updating the storage device to store transport stream packets of, at least, one encrypted service most recently viewed.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the portion of at least one encrypted service includes transport stream packets received during a time taken to receive a group of pictures.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the portion of at least one encrypted service further includes transport stream packets received during a time taken to achieve audio and video synchronization.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the stored portion of at least one encrypted service further includes transport stream packets received during a time taken to receive less than a group of pictures.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the stored portion includes an I-frame.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the stored portion does not include an I-frame.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes selecting at one encrypted service from the plurality of services.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting at least one user favorite encrypted service.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services adjacent to the decrypted service.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services most frequently watched.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services most recently watched.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services most recently browsed in an electronic program guide.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services listed by a television operator.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services matching a user profile.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services most frequently recorded.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting at least one encrypted service broadcasting events tagged by the user.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services broadcasting events most frequently tagged by the user.
Still further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting encrypted services about to broadcast a tagged event.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services includes selecting all encrypted services on at least one of the plurality of transport streams.
There is also provided in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention a receiving device for achieving a fast service change, the receiving device including: means for receiving a plurality of transport streams, each transport stream including a plurality of encrypted services; means for decrypting an encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services to form a decrypted service; means for playing out the decrypted service; means for storing a portion of at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services; means for receiving a request for displaying a different encrypted service; means for identifying a stored portion of the different encrypted service; wherein the means for decrypting is further for decrypting the stored portion of the different encrypted service to form a decrypted stored portion; and the means for playing out is further for playing out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service at a faster than real time speed; and the means for storing is further for storing a subsequent portion of the different encrypted service, the subsequent portion corresponding to a subsequent portion of the different encrypted service received during the decrypting of the stored portion and the playing out of the decrypted portion of the different encrypted service; and the means for decrypting is further for decrypting the stored subsequent portion of the different encrypted service to form a decrypted subsequent portion; and the means for playing out is further playing out the decrypted stored subsequent portion of the different encrypted service for display upon completion of the playing out of the decrypted stored portion.
There is also provided in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention a receiving device for achieving a fast service change, the receiving device including: at least one tuner operable to receive a plurality of transport stream, each transport stream including a plurality of encrypted services; a descrambler operable to decrypt an encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services to form a decrypted service; a play out system operable to play out the decrypted service; a receiver operable to receive a request for displaying a different encrypted service; a storage device operable to store a portion of at least one encrypted service from the plurality of encrypted services; a demultiplexer operable to identify a stored portion of the different encrypted service; wherein the descrambler is further operable to decrypt the stored portion of the different encrypted service to form a decrypted stored portion; and the play out system is further operable to play out the decrypted stored portion of the different encrypted service at a faster than real time speed; and the storage device is further operable to store a subsequent of the different encrypted service, the subsequent portion corresponding to a subsequent portion of the different encrypted service received during the decrypting of the stored portion and the playing out of the decrypted portion of the different encrypted service; and the descrambler is further operable to decrypt the stored subsequent portion of the different encrypted service to form a decrypted subsequent portion; and the play out system is further operable to play out the decrypted stored subsequent portion of the different encrypted service for display upon completion of the playing out of the decrypted stored portion.
The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
Reference is now made to
A headend (not shown) typically communicates with a plurality of client devices via a communications network (not shown). Additionally or alternatively, a plurality of headends communicate with a single client device or with a plurality of client devices via the communications network. For simplicity of depiction and description, and without limiting the generality of the invention, only one client device 100 is illustrated in
The communication network (not shown) is a one-way or two-way communication network that includes at least one of the following: a satellite based communication network; a cable based communication network; a conventional terrestrial broadcast television network; a telephony based communication network; a telephony based television broadcast network; a mobile-telephony based television broadcast network; an Internet Protocol (IP) television broadcast network; and a computer based communication network. It is appreciated that in alternative embodiments, the communication network may, for example, be implemented by a one-way or two-way hybrid communication network, such as a combination cable-telephone network, a combination satellite-telephone network, a combination satellite-computer based communication network, or by any other appropriate network. Other ways of implementing the communication network will be apparent to someone skilled in the art.
The system of
Client device 100 is typically connected in operation to display device 170 via a digital AV interface (e.g. HDMI, DVI, etc.) or via an analogue AV interface (e.g. component (RGB, YPbPr), composite (NTSC, PAL, SECAM), S-video, SCART, RF coaxial, D-Terminal (D-tanshi) etc.). While shown as separate entities in
Client device 100 typically receives, demultiplexes, decodes and decrypts/descrambles as necessary a broadcast television stream 120 received from a headend optionally under control of a conditional access device such as removable security element as is well known in the art. The removable security element typically includes a smart cart as is well known in the art. The output from client device 100 comprises a decoded and decrypted/descrambled as necessary audio video (AV) stream ready to be displayed on the display device 170.
The term “encoded” is used throughout the present specification and claims and claims, in all of its grammatical forms, to refer to any type of data stream encoding including, for example and without limiting the scope of the invention, well known techniques of encoding such as, but not limited to, MPEG-2 encoding, H.264 encoding, VC-1 encoding, and synthetic encodings such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and LASER (ISO/IEC 14496-20), and so forth. It is appreciated that an encoded data stream generally requires more processing and typically more time to read than a data stream which is not encoded. Any recipient of encoded data, whether or not the recipient of the encoded data is the intended recipient, is, at least in potential, able to read encoded data without requiring cryptanalysis. It is appreciated that encoding may be performed in several stages and may include a number of different processes, including, but not necessarily limited to: compressing the data; transforming the data into other forms; and making the data more robust (for instance replicating the data or using error correction mechanisms).
The term “compressed” is used throughout the present specification and claims, in all its grammatical forms, to refer to any type of data stream compression. Compression is typically a part of encoding and may include image compression and motion compensation. Typically, compression of data reduces the number of bits comprising the data. In that compression is a subset of encoding, the terms “encoded” and “compressed”, in all their grammatical forms, are often used interchangeably throughout the present specification and claims.
Similarly, the terms “decoded” and “decompressed” are used throughout the present specification and claims, in all their grammatical forms, to refer to the reverse of “encoded” and “compressed” in all their grammatical forms.
The terms “scrambled” and “encrypted”, in all of their grammatical forms, are used interchangeably throughout the present specification and claims to refer to any appropriate scrambling and/or encryption methods for scrambling and/or encrypting a data stream, and/or any other appropriate method for intending to make a data stream unintelligible except to an intended recipient(s) thereof. Well known types of scrambling or encrypting include, but are not limited to DES, 3DES, and AES. Similarly, the terms “descrambled” and “decrypted” are used throughout the present specification and claims, in all their grammatical forms, to refer to the reverse of “scrambled” and “encrypted” in all their grammatical forms.
Pursuant to the above definitions, the terms “encoded”; “compressed”; and the terms “scrambled” and “encrypted” are used to refer to different and exclusive types of processing. Thus, a particular data stream may be, for example:
encoded, but neither scrambled nor encrypted;
compressed, but neither scrambled or encrypted;
scrambled or encrypted, but not encoded;
scrambled or encrypted, but not compressed;
encoded, and scrambled or encrypted; or
compressed, and scrambled or encrypted.
Likewise, the terms “decoded” and “decompressed” on the one hand, and the terms “descrambled” and “decrypted” on the other hand, are used to refer to different and exclusive types of processing.
The operation of the system of
A headend (not shown) communicates a plurality of transport streams 110 to a client device 100 via a communication network (step 501). Client device 100 tunes to a carrier frequency, the carrier frequency transmitting a transport stream (step 502). The transport stream typically includes several transport stream packets. Each transport stream packet is identified by a Packet IDentifier value (PID). Several transport stream packets may be identified by the same PID. PIDs are typically used to identify services or programs transmitted as part of a DVB compliant transport stream. It is common to transmit several different programs and services multiplexed into a single transport stream.
The digital transport stream is output by the tuner 120, said tuner 120 including a demodulator (not shown). Then the digital transport stream is passed through a demultiplexer 130 (step 503). Demultiplexer 130 typically acquires the PID of the service that is to be displayed and extracts the transport stream packets relevant to the service that is to be displayed. Alternatively, the transport stream packets received by the demultiplexer 130 may be encrypted. In such a case, the demultiplexer acquires the PID of the encrypted service that is to be displayed and extracts the encrypted transport stream packets and associated Entitlement Control Message (ECM) relevant to the encrypted service that is to be displayed.
Client device 100 further comprises a descrambler 150 that typically descrambles/decrypts encrypted transport stream packets. Descrambler 150 typically includes an ECM filter (not shown) which communicates the ECM associated to the service that is to be displayed to a Control Word (CW) manager 151. Then, the CW manager 151 derives a control word from the ECM for use in decrypting encrypted transport stream packets.
Client device 100 further comprises a decoder 160 that typically includes at least one audio decoder (not shown) and at least one video decoder (not shown). Decoder 160 typically receives and decodes audio and video frames as part of the transport stream packets relevant to the service that is to be played out and passes the decoded frames to display device 170 for display (step 504). In embodiments where the transport stream packets are encrypted, decoder 160 typically receives and decodes the decrypted audio and video frames received as part of the decrypted transport stream packets relevant to the decrypted service that is to be played out and passes the decoded frames to display device 170 for display (step 504).
Client device 100 comprises a storage device 140 that typically includes a hard disk and/or high capacity memory and/or a buffer (e.g. traditional buffer, cyclic buffer, ring buffer, circular buffer, Random-Access Memory (RAM) or Double Data Rate (DDR) interfaced memory). It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the use of a single storage device and that multiple storage devices can be used. Furthermore, it will also be appreciated that the memory can either be volatile or non-volatile. In parallel to the demultiplexing, decoding, decrypting/descrambling and displaying processes for the service that is to be displayed, the transport stream packets corresponding to non-viewed services (also referred to as services not currently being displayed) are stored in the storage device 140 for later access, processing and display (step 504′). In embodiments where the transport stream packets are encrypted, the transport stream packets corresponding to encrypted non-viewed services are stored along with their associated ECMs in the storage device 140. An advantage of embodiments of the present invention is that there is no need to decrypt/descramble encrypted transport stream packets for encrypted non-viewed services while storing.
Client device 100 comprises a receiver (not shown) that typically includes an InfraRed (IR) receiver or a Bluetooth receiver or a wireless communication protocol receiver. Receiver typically receives a request to display a different service from the one currently displayed on the display device 170 from a remote source (e.g. a user) via a remote control apparatus.
Upon reception of a request from a user to display a different service (step 505) from the one currently displayed on the display device 170, client device 100 stops playing out the current service and the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets with their associated ECMs) are sent directly to the demultiplexer 130 from the storage device 140. The demultiplexer 130 identifies and extracts the transport streams packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) relevant to the different service that is now to be displayed (step 506). Then, the descrambler 150 decrypts/descrambles, if necessary, the transport stream packets relevant to the different service as described previously. Hence, the client device 100 retrieves ECMs and Program Specific Information (PSI) such as Program Association Table (PAT), or Program Mapping Table (PMT), etc. from the transport stream packets stored in the storage device 140 without waiting for the arrival of additional data from the headend. This reduces the service change time by eliminating the data acquisition time and reducing the decrypting time.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the encrypted transport stream packets may be decrypted prior to storing them in the storage device. Hence, the service change time may be reduced by eliminating the decrypting time.
The transport stream packets (or decrypted transport stream packets) of the requested different service are then sent to the decoder 160. Decoder 160 plays and decodes the elementary stream packets corresponding to the relevant audio and video streams extracted from the transport stream packets sent from the storage device 140 at speeds faster than real-time (step 507). Concurrently, the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets with associated ECMs) of the requested different service that are received after reception of the user's request are stored in the storage device 140 (step 507′). Upon completion of playing and decoding the elementary stream packets extracted from the transport stream packets at speeds faster than real-time, client device 100 demultiplexes, decrypts/descrambles (if necessary) and decodes at real-time speed the transport stream packets of the requested different service stored after reception of the user's request (step 508). Client device 100 sends the decoded audio and video streams of the requested different service to the display device 170 (step 509). A faster service change may therefore be achieved according to embodiments of the present invention.
Reference is now made to
Demultiplexer 230 comprises Transport Stream devices (TS device) 231 and 234, a remultiplexer 235 (remux), an output buffer 236, a chunk input buffer 237, a PID filter 232 and an Audio/Video Elementary Stream filter (AV ES Filter) 233.
As described previously in relation to
In parallel to this demultiplexing operation, a second TS device 234 receives the transport stream from the tuner 220. The TS device 234 processes the transport stream and sends it to the remultiplexer 235. The remultiplexer 235 produces a partial transport stream comprising transport stream packets (or encrypted transport stream packets with their associated ECMs) of non-viewed services from the initial transport stream received from the tuner 220. This partial transport stream is sent to an output buffer 236 and then copied to the storage device 240.
Upon reception of a request from a user to display a different service, client device stops playing out the current service and the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets with their associated ECMs) are sent directly to the demultiplexer 230 from the storage device 240 as shown in
Reference is now made to
In an embodiment of the present invention, the most recent transport stream packets (or the most recent encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) of non-viewed services may be stored in the storage device 340.
In an alternative embodiment, the most recent transport stream packets (or the most recent encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) of non-viewed services may be stored in the storage device 340 and the storage device 340 is configured so that an I-frame is stored for later access at any time. In other words, the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) received during at least a GOP duration are stored in the storage device 340 at any time. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) received during at least a GOP duration can contain a single entire GOP or more frequently two incomplete GOPs. Typically, the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) received during the last 0.5 seconds are stored in the storage device 340. It is to be noted that a typical GOP duration is approximately 0.5 seconds.
In another embodiment, the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) received for the previous 0.8 seconds are stored in the storage device 340 to account for a typical GOP duration of approximately 0.5 seconds and a synchronization time of approximately 0.25 seconds.
The operation of the storage device will be described below in relation to
In an embodiment of the invention, after reception of a user's request for displaying a different service (step 505) and identification of the requested service that is now to be displayed (step 506), the content of the storage device 340 (i.e. transport stream packets (or encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) of non-viewed services) is played out at speeds faster than real time. In general, DVRs and players such as digital video disc (DVD) players and BluRay players allow users to move through recorded or stored video content as they desire. For example, the user will be able to playback the video content in either forward or reverse directions at speeds slower or faster than a normal playback speed, wherein normal playback speed being designated 1× by convention. Such playback features are also known as trick modes. It is to be noted that various fast forward/fast backward speeds can be implemented such as for example 2×, 4×, 8×, 16×, etc. The black double arrow 360, in
In a further embodiment of the present invention, playing out the stored content at speeds faster than real-time is achieved by playing the content in fast forward trick mode 360.
In another embodiment, playing out the stored content at speeds faster than real-time is achieved by playing the content in maximum fast forward trick mode speed 360. Additionally, some or all B-frames or equivalent frames may be skipped to accelerate the trick mode speed.
In a further embodiment, the stored content is played in fast forward system time clock (STC) trick mode 360. STC trick mode consists of selecting a trick mode rate and adjusting a STC update rate as a function of the selected trick mode rate. The advantage of using STC trick mode is that synchronization between audio and video is maintained. Hence, any synchronization delay induced by the difference between the decode order and the display order may be eliminated.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the stored content is played in fast forward trick mode speed 360, but said fast forward trick mode speed is not constant. As described above, playing the stored content in STC trick mode speed has the advantage of maintaining the audio and video synchronization. Nevertheless, in some cases, the decoder 160 fails to achieve the synchronization at high speeds. Therefore, the STC trick mode speed may be reduced to ensure that the decoder 160 will be able to perform the audio and video synchronization. Similarly, if the decoder 160 is able to maintain the audio and video synchronization at higher speeds, the STC trick mode speed may be increased.
In a further embodiment, only a portion of the stored content is played at speeds faster than real time 360. Referring once again to
The different service displayed on the display device using the buffering techniques may lag behind the actual broadcast. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the time between the last stored I-frame and the first frame of the live broadcast represents a lag time between the displayed frame from the stored content and the current broadcast frame. Nevertheless, in embodiments of the present invention this lag is a function of the transport stream packets stored in the storage device 340 and the speed at which the trick mode operation is performed on the portion of the content stored upon reception of the user's request for displaying a different service. Therefore, embodiments of the present invention provide an unique solution to reduce this lag by playing the content stored upon reception of the user's request for displaying a different service at speeds faster than real-time. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that well-known techniques may be implemented to eventually catch-up with the live broadcast. Typically, the decoder 160 can increase slightly the decoding speed of the stored subsequent portion or skip some frames from decoding to catch-up later with the live broadcast.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the lag can be reduced so that it will be almost unnoticeable to the user. This is achieved by performing the fast forward STC trick mode operation on both portions. In other words, the content stored before and during the trick mode operation is played in fast forward STC trick mode speed. This operation can be repeated several times on the content stored during the trick mode operations.
By continuously storing the most recent transport stream packets (i.e. the most recent I-frames) (or the most recent encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) of non-viewed services and playing out these transport streams packets at speeds faster than real-time, client device 100 no longer needs to wait as long as the GOP duration plus the synchronization time before starting the decoding and the displaying processes. Accordingly, the service change time may be reduced.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the audio and video presentation can be stopped before playing out the stored content at speeds faster than real-time from storage device 140. Therefore, no video frames are displayed on the display device 170 during the service change, which improves the user viewing experience. Rather, a black screen can be displayed on the display device 170 preventing the user from viewing the content of the circular buffer when it is played at speeds faster than real-time. Alternatively, those skilled in the art will appreciate that all frames, some frames, a single frame such as an I-frame or a still image may be displayed on the display device 170 during the service change before displaying the first frame of the subsequent portion.
Reference is now made to
In an embodiment of the present invention, client device 400 may comprise two or more tuners 420a, 420b, . . . , 420n. Client device 400 takes advantage of having multiple front-end tuners to acquire multiple transport streams 410a, 410b, . . . , 410n simultaneously. Therefore, client device 400 is able to tune to different frequency carriers, said frequency carriers transmitting different transport streams, and to acquire transport stream packets (or encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) of services not currently being displayed on the display device 470.
Using multiple front-end tuners or a wideband front-end tuner which is able to tune on multiple transport streams has the advantage of increasing the number of transport streams packets (or the number of encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) stored in the storage device 440, and therefore the number of services available for fast service change in response to a request for displaying a different service. This also permits a reduction in the service change delay by eliminating the tuning delay that results if the requested service for display is on another transport stream.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, even with a high capacity storage device 440, it will be difficult to store all services received from the headend. In an embodiment of the present invention, client device 400 is able to tune into a transport stream and store the transport stream packets corresponding to all the services carried on said transport stream. In another embodiment, client device 400 further runs a prediction algorithm to select which services are to be stored in the storage device 440. The prediction algorithm applies different criteria or rules in order to select the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) to store in the storage device 440. For example, and without limiting the generality of the invention, the prediction algorithm may determine that adjacent services (i.e. services listed in the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) by a television operator immediately before and after the one currently being displayed and/or the n services listed in the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) by a television operator before and after the one currently being displayed) and/or user's favorite services (i.e. a list of services marked by the user as favorite services in an EPG) and/or most frequently watched services and/or last watched services and/or services matching the user's profile or interest and/or services in which said user has made the most recordings and/or services browsed in an Electronic Program Guide and/or services listed by a television operator etc. can be stored in the storage device 440 at any time. In an embodiment of the present invention, the user is typically able to set reminders, using the electronic program guide for example, for an event that is to be broadcast in the future by ‘tagging’ that event. Typically, a notification is then sent to the user when the tagged event is about to be broadcast. A user can also ‘tag’ an event by scheduling that event for recording. When a user tags an event, the user can also have been said to have ‘tagged’ the service on which that event is broadcast. In further embodiments of the present invention, the prediction algorithm may determine that services that will broadcast tagged events, and/or services about to broadcast a tagged event, and/or services broadcasting events most frequently tagged by the user can be stored in the storage device 440 at any time. The prediction algorithm can additionally use Digital Video Broadcasting sections such as Event Information Tables present and following (EITpf), EIT scheduled (EITsch), PAT or PMT for selecting which services are to be stored in the storage device 440. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the predictor algorithm can be implemented as software logic to select which services are to be stored in the storage device 440.
In another embodiment, the predictor algorithm can set a maximum number m of services that are to be stored, where m can vary from 1 to 20 depending on the capacity of the storage device 440. Typically, client device 400 includes three tuners and the number of services stored depends on the prediction algorithm used.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the most recent transport stream packets (or the most recent encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) of all predicted services may be stored in the storage device 340, so that the most recent I-frames will be available for later access.
It will be remembered that the accumulation of all the times involved in a service change leads to an overall time of at least approximately 1 second for non-encrypted services, and often of at least approximately 1.4 seconds for encrypted services.
For encrypted services, the service change time (Tsc) is given by:
Tsc=Tuning time+Acquiring time+Decrypting time+MPEG Sequencing time
It will also be remembered that the decrypting time and the MPEG Sequencing time are given by:
Decrypting time=ECM Acquiring time+CW Generating time MPEG Sequencing time=I frame time+Sync.time
For non-encrypted services, the service change time (Tsc) is given by:
Tsc=Tuning time+Acquiring time+MPEG Sequencing time
Embodiments of the present invention take advantage of having a storage device for identifying and storing transport stream packets (or encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) for non-viewed services, prior to receiving a request for service change from a user. Hence, the service change time (Tsc) may be reduced since the tuning time, the data acquiring time and the ECM acquiring time have been eliminated.
For encrypted services, the service change time (Tsc) of embodiments of the present invention is therefore given by: Tsc=CW Generating time+I frame time+Sync.time
For non-encrypted services, the service change time (Tsc) of embodiments of the present invention is therefore given by:
Tsc=I frame time+Sync.time
Furthermore, as noted above, by continuously storing the most recent transport stream packets (i.e. the most recent I-frames) (or the most recent encrypted transport stream packets and associated ECMs) of non-viewed services and playing these transport streams packets at speeds faster than real-time, client device 100 no longer needs to wait as long as the I-frame time plus the synchronization time before starting the decoding and the displaying processes. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the time it takes to get an I-frame (I-frame time) depends on the transport stream packets stored in the storage device and the STC trick mode speed.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets with their associated ECMs) received during the last GOP duration plus the synchronization time are stored in the storage device (typically, the transport stream packets (or the encrypted transport stream packets and their associated ECMs) received for the last 0.8 seconds). Therefore, the MPEG Sequencing time may be reduced and is given by:
For the sake of clarity, and without limiting the generality of the invention, the following example will aid understanding the above equation:
Consequently, the service change time (Tsc) for encrypted service is given by:
For non-encrypted services, the service change time (Tsc) is given by:
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the stored packet duration can be less than the GOP duration (0.25 seconds for example). However, it is still possible that an I-frame is stored in the storage device. In the worst case, the I-frame will be stored at the end of the storage device so that the content of the storage device will be played at speeds faster than real time but the A/V synchronization will not be achieved. In this embodiment of the present invention, the MPEG Sequencing time is still reduced and is given by:
Consequently, the service change time (Tsc) for encrypted services is given by:
For non-encrypted services, the service change time (Tsc) is given by:
On the other hand, it is also possible that no I-frame is stored in the storage device. As described above, the content of the storage device will be played at speeds faster than real time but it will not be possible to perform the decoding operation since no I-frame will have been received. Therefore, the MPEG Sequencing time will increase by an amount corresponding to the time it takes to receive the I-frame. In the worst case, this time can be as much as the remaining GOP duration. Furthermore, the A/V synchronization will not be achieved. Therefore, the MPEG Sequencing time is still reduced and is given by:
Consequently, the service change time (Tsc) for encrypted service is given by:
For non-encrypted services, the service change time (Tsc) is given by:
The Table below shows the calculations made for different stored packet durations and for a STC trick mode speed of 8×.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the service change times can be reduced further by playing the content of the storage device at higher STC trick mode speeds such as 16×, 32×, 64× etc.
It is clear from Table 3 that embodiments of the present invention are advantageous over prior art systems in use.
Although the above embodiments have been described in the context of DVB implementation, someone skilled in the art will realize that other implementations are possible.
Although the above embodiments have been described as being carried out on the receiving device side, someone skilled in the art will appreciate that various features of the invention may be implemented in intermediate network components and/or on the headend side prior to sending the relevant transport stream packets to the receiving device.
It is appreciated that various features of the invention which are, for clarity, described in the contexts of separate embodiments may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1772/DEL/2011 | Jun 2011 | IN | national |
| 1114221.3 | Aug 2011 | GB | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2012/053084 | 6/19/2012 | WO | 00 | 1/14/2014 |
