Patent Application
20070045416
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to communications networks. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to Electronic Service Guides that are used in communication networks.
Generally, an Electronic Service Guide (ESG) enables a terminal to communicate what services are available to end users and how the services may be accessed. ESG fragments are independently existing pieces of the ESG. Traditionally, ESG fragments comprise XML documents, but more recently they have encompassed a vast array of items, such as for example, an SDP (Session Description Protocol) description, textual file, or an image. The ESG fragments describe one or several aspects of currently available (or future) service or broadcast programs. Such aspects may include for example: free text description, schedule, geographical availability, price, purchase method, genre, and supplementary information such as preview images or clips. Audio, video and other types of data comprising the ESG fragments may be transmitted through a variety of types of networks according to many different protocols. For example, data can be transmitted through a collection of networks usually referred to as the “Internet” using protocols of the Internet protocol suite, such as Internet Protocol (IP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). ESG fragments may also be transmitted by using ALC and FLUTE protocols. Data is often transmitted through the Internet addressed to a single user. It can, however, be addressed to a group of users, commonly known as multicasting. In the case in which the data is addressed to all users it is called broadcasting.
ESG fragments include metadata and descriptions of services or content and are instantiated using a syntax such as XML. Identifiers are used to identify the ESG fragments regarding various attributes of the ESG fragments. However, these identifiers often create large overhead due to their large size. For example, if a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is used as an identifier, the overhead is large and unwieldy at 255*8. Therefore, short 32-bit integer identifiers have been used to identify ESG fragments. However, identifiers must be unique for each corresponding ESG fragment. Administration of 32-bit integer identifiers would need to be globally centralized in order to provide the necessary uniqueness of the identifier because ESG fragments from different sources may be identified by non-unique identifiers. For example, as ESG fragments are often aggregated from different sources, each source may not use a standard identifier scheme such that there may be conflicts of identifiers among different sources. In this example, different sources may use the same identifier for corresponding ESG fragments from the different sources. When the different ESG fragments from different source with the same identifier are received at the aggregator, conflicts will arise.
Thus, there exists a need for a method and system for uniquely identifying ESG fragments in an efficient manner with low overhead.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. The summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description below.
In one example of the present invention, a transmitter for transmitting ESG fragments includes a memory for storing data associated with an ESG fragment, an input for receiving an ESG fragment for transmission, the ESG fragment for transmission having a corresponding ID and version, a data comparator for comparing data pertaining to ESG fragments, an aggregator for creating a Service Guide Delivery Unit (SGDU) associated with the ESG fragment for transmission and an encapsulator for encapsulating the ESG fragment for transmission in the SGDU.
In another example of the present invention, a receiver is provided for receiving an SGDU associated with at least one ESG fragment comprising a memory for storing data associated with an ESG fragment, an input for receiving the SGDU associated with at least one ESG fragment, a data extractor for extracting data associated with the at least one ESG fragment, and a comparator for comparing the extracted data with corresponding values associated with the data stored in memory.
In another example, a method for transmitting an ESG fragment is provided wherein an ESG fragment is received and the URI associated with the ESG fragment is compared with a list of at least one stored URI. An ID and a version of the ESG fragment is assigned based on the comparing, and an SGDU is created based on the assigned ID and version.
In another example of the present invention, a method for transmitting an ESG fragment in which an ESG fragment is received and the URI of the ESG fragment is compared with a list of at least one stored URI. An ID and version of the ESG fragment is assigned based on the comparing step and an SGDU is created.
In another example, a method for receiving an SGDU is provided wherein an SGDU is received including at least one ESG fragment and ID and version information is extracted and compared to stored information. Also, URI information can be extracted from the SGDU and compared to stored URI information, and ESG fragment processing can be performed based on the comparisons.
A more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:
In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
Embodiments of the invention may be utilized across a broad array of networks and communication protocols.
The broadcast network 114 may include a radio transmission of IP datacasting over DVB-H. The broadcast network 114 may broadcast a service such as a digital or analog television signal and supplemental content related to the service via transmitter 118. The broadcast network may also include a radio, television or IP datacasting broadcasting network. The broadcast network 114 may also transmit supplemental content which may include a television signal, audio and/or video streams, data streams, video files, audio files, software files, and/or video games. In the case of transmitting IP datacasting services, the service source 122 may communicate actual program content to user device 112 through the broadcast network 114 and additional information such as user right and access information for the actual program content through the cellular network 116.
The mobile device 112 may also contact the service source 122 through the cellular network 116. The cellular network 116 may comprise a wireless network and a base transceiver station transmitter 120. The cellular network may include a second/third-generation (2G/3G) cellular data communications network, a Global System for Mobile communications network (GSM), or other wireless communication network such as a WLAN network.
In one aspect of the invention, mobile device 112 may comprise a wireless interface configured to send and/or receive digital wireless communications within cellular network 116. The information received by mobile device 112 through the cellular network 116 or broadcast network 114 may include user selection, applications, services, electronic images, audio clips, video clips, and/or WTAI (Wireless Telephony Application Interface) messages. As part of cellular network 116, one or more base stations (not shown) may support digital communications with receiver device 112 while the receiver device is located within the administrative domain of cellular network 116.
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Computer executable instructions and data used by processor 128 and other components within mobile device 112 may be stored in a computer readable memory 134. The memory may be implemented with any combination of read only memory modules or random access memory modules, optionally including both volatile and nonvolatile memory, wherein some of the memory modules may be detachable. Software 140 may be stored within memory 134 and/or storage to provide instructions to processor 128 for enabling mobile device 112 to perform various functions. Alternatively, some or all of mobile device 112 computer executable instructions may be embodied in hardware or firmware (not shown).
Mobile device 112 may be configured to receive, decode and process transmissions based on the Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) standard, such as DVB-H or DVB-MHP, through a specific DVB receiver 141. Additionally, receiver device 112 may also be configured to receive, decode and process transmissions through FM/AM Radio receiver 142, WLAN transceiver 143, and telecommunications transceiver 144. Further the mobile device may be configured to receive transmissions based on the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) standard (not shown). In one aspect of the invention, mobile device 112 may receive radio data stream (RDS) messages.
In an example of the DVB standard, one DVB 10 Mbit/s transmission may have 200, 50 kbit/s audio program channels or 50, 200 kbit/s video (TV) program channels. The mobile device 112 may be configured to receive, decode, and process transmission based on the Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) standard or other DVB standards, such as DVB-MHP, DVB-Satellite (DVB-S), DVB-Terrestrial (DVB-T) or DVB-Cable (DVB-C). Similarly, other digital transmission formats may alternatively be used to deliver content and information of availability of supplemental services, such as ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee), NTSC (National Television System Committee), ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial), DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) or DIRECTV. Additionally, the digital transmission may be time sliced, such as in DVB-H technology. Time-slicing may reduce the average power consumption of a mobile terminal and may enable smooth and seamless handover. Time-slicing consists of sending data in bursts using a higher instantaneous bit rate as compared to the bit rate required if the data were transmitted using a traditional streaming mechanism. In this case, the mobile device 112 may have one or more buffer memories for storing the decoded time sliced transmission before presentation.
In the exemplary embodiment, the header 310 may have a plurality of ESG fragment descriptor entries 330 that identify the ESG fragments 340 in the container payload 320 so that the receiver may determine the exact position and/or length of each contained ESG fragment 340. For example, in one embodiment, a field specifies where the particular ESG begins within the container payload 320 by providing, for example, an offset value, start and end points, or the like. In other embodiments, metadata 350 may be associated with the individual ESG fragments 340, located within or proximate to the header 310, descriptor entries 330, a ESG fragment 340 or a mixture thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, the association of a 3GPP metadata envelope with an ESG fragment 340 may substitute for, or negate the need of additional metadata to be located in the header 310 in relation to that particular ESG fragment.
The ESG fragments can be identified and described by descriptors such as Service Guide Delivery Descriptors (SGDD). SGDDs carry information on various attributes of ESG fragments such as the availability or validity of the ESG fragments. Hence, the SGDD contains data that can be used to retrieve the associated ESG fragments. ESG fragments may also be grouped together and identified as a group by a Service Guide Delivery Unit (SGDU).
An SGDD can be used, for example, to specify criteria for grouping ESG fragments in a service guide in an SGDU. Grouping of ESG fragments can be made based on a variety of criteria such as but not limited to based on time. For example, ESG fragments corresponding to a particular period of time may be grouped together in a subgroup and identified by a corresponding SGDD. As another example, ESG fragments may be grouped based on content such as content type (e.g., comedy, action, drama, etc.). These ESG fragments may also be grouped together and identified by a corresponding SGDD.
An SGDD can also specify a pointer to a transport session for delivering corresponding ESG fragments within a SGDU. For example, an SGDD can identify the transport session based on criteria such as a destination IP address of a target delivery session, the destination port of a target delivery session, the source IP address of the delivery session, or an identifier of the target delivery session. The following table lists examples of subelements and attributes of the SGDD.
Where the type can be an Element (E), an Attribute (A), a first level sub-element (E1), or a second level sub-element (E2) and the category can be optional (O) or preferred/mandatory (M).
In this example, a group of ESG fragments 413 is sent to a receiver within a transport object. The transport object is identified by the attribute TOI 412 in subelement SGDU 405 and the transport attributes (408, 409, 410, 411) in subelement Transport 403. The corresponding SGDD informs the receiver of the transport of the group of ESG fragments 413.
In one example of the present invention, ESG fragments from the same or different sources may be identified by corresponding Uniform Resource identifiers (URI). A corresponding ID (e.g., “frag_id”) and/or a version (e.g., “frag_version”) can be stored for each corresponding ESG fragment based on previously allocated ESG fragments and corresponding previously allocated IDs and versions. Thus, a SGDU can be created based on the values of the ID and/or version of the ESG fragments.
The ID and version thus obtained are used to create an SGDU (STEP 809). The ESG fragment received in step 801 is encapsulated into the SGDU that is created (STEP 810) and transmitted to a receiver.
In an alternate method for mapping a URI and ID, a version associated with a received ESG fragment is compared to a stored version corresponding to the URI of the received ESG.
The ID and version thus obtained are used to create an SGDU (STEP 910). The ESG fragment received in step 901 is encapsulated into the SGDU that is created (STEP 911) and transmitted to a receiver.
In another example of the present invention, a method for mapping URI and ID values of ESG fragments is provided during receiving of the fragments.
However, if after extraction of the ID and version from the received SGDU (STEP 1002), a match is not found between the ID of the received SGDU and the IDs in storage (the “NO” branch of STEP 1003), then the receiver extracts the URI from the received SGDU (STEP 1009) and stores the new ID and version (e.g., frag_id and frag version, respectively) with the associated URI (STEP 1010). The receiver can then process the ESG fragment (e.g., parse or otherwise interpret the ESG fragment and maintain data in storage such as URI or ID data) (STEP 1011).
The present invention includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or any generalization thereof. While the invention has been described with respect to specific examples including presently preferred modes of carrying out the invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are numerous variations and permutations of the above described systems and techniques. Thus, the spirit and scope of the invention should be construed broadly as set forth in the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/710,606, which was filed Aug. 24, 2005, and which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60710606 | Aug 2005 | US |
