WO2009067935A1

WO2009067935A1 - A method, device and system for implementing iptv services

Info

Publication number: WO2009067935A1
Application number: PCT/CN2008/073064
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xiongbing Ou
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2007-11-22
Filing date: 2008-11-14
Publication date: 2009-06-04
Also published as: CN101442663A

Abstract

A method for implementing IPTV services is disclosed in the present invention, which involves the field of computer and network technologies. The method includes the steps of: acquiring and storing program characteristic information for decoding IPTV program from network side by a user terminal; receiving multicast message data of IPTV and decoding the multicast message data based on the stored corresponding program characteristic information by the user terminal. The present invention also discloses a method for implementing IPTV services in network side, as well as a device and system for implementing IPTV services. According to the present invention, it is possible to decrease the time delay of receiving program or switching channel by the terminal in IPTV services.

Description

Method, device and system for realizing network television service

The present invention relates to the field of computer network technologies, and in particular, to a network television (Internet Protocol Television,

IPTV) Implementation methods, devices and systems for services. Say

Background technique

With the set-top box plus TV as the terminal, broadband IP as the transmission technology, and audio-visual services as the mainstay, the network television (IPTV) service integrating instant messaging, games and information services has attracted the attention of operators in recent years.

IPTV is different from traditional TV systems. In the IPTV system, it is impossible to limit the bandwidth of the access network.

At the same time, the programs of all channels are sent to the terminal, and only the content of the channel currently viewed by the user is transmitted to the terminal. Therefore, when a user performs channel switching, it is usually necessary to wait for the multicast group joining process and the multicast stream forward transmission process to complete before the program of the requested channel is seen. If the channel switching time is too long, it will reduce user satisfaction. In the channel switching delay, the delay in searching for program characteristic information is an important aspect.

The so-called "program characteristic information" means that a specific PES (Packetized Elementary Stream) is demultiplexed in order to let the decoder at the receiving end know which basic information flows belong to a certain program, and the transport stream (Transport) Stream, TS) periodically adds additional information to describe the relationship between the available programs and the PID (Packet Identifier) values of the basic information streams that make up them. This information is called "program characteristic information". . The two most commonly used program property information are the Program Association Table (PAT) and the Program Map Table (PMT).

In network television, all program characteristic information must be regularly repeated, so that the terminal that newly switches on or performs channel switching can interpret the transport stream according to the program characteristic information for correct decoding. In the prior art, the repetition rate of the program characteristic information is determined by the program provider itself, and the high repetition rate can make the channel capture time after the channel switching or the power-on is faster, but the high repetition rate also means that the transmission stream capacity is used. The proportion of content transmitted is reduced.

The program characteristic information of each channel is multiplexed with the audio/video/data stream of the program into the TS stream for transmission, and the terminal device first searches for the program characteristic information in the TS stream to obtain the audio/video/data stream corresponding to the program. The PID, respectively, filters out the audio/video/data stream from the TS stream according to the PID, and finally sends the audio/video/data stream to the audio decoder, the video decoder and the data decoder for decoding output.

According to the existing IPTV implementation, the channel switching time is increased. Summary of the invention

In view of this, the embodiment of the present invention provides a method, an apparatus, and a system for implementing a network television service, which can reduce the delay of channel switching.

The embodiment of the invention discloses a method for implementing a network television service, and the method includes:

The user terminal acquires and saves program characteristic information for decoding the network television program from the network side;

The user terminal receives the multicast packet data of the network television, and decodes the multicast packet data according to the saved corresponding program characteristic information.

The embodiment of the invention further discloses a method for implementing a network television service on the network side, the method comprising: the EPG server receiving and storing program characteristic information from the media function entity and its corresponding program channel number and multicast IP address;

The EPG server receives a request from the user terminal, and transmits the stored program channel number, multicast IP address, and corresponding program characteristic information to the user terminal.

The embodiment of the invention further discloses a network television terminal, comprising:

a program characteristic information acquiring unit, configured to acquire, from the network side, program characteristic information for decoding the multicast message data, before receiving the multicast packet data;

a data receiving unit, configured to receive multicast message data of the network television according to the user's section 0 selection request, and a decoding unit, configured to decode the data receiving according to the program characteristic information acquired by the program characteristic information acquiring unit Multicast packet data obtained by the unit.

An embodiment of the present invention also discloses an electronic program guide (EPG) server, including:

a program characteristic information storage unit, configured to store program characteristic information and a corresponding channel number and a multicast IP address; and a sending unit, configured to: store program characteristic information stored by the program characteristic information storage unit according to a request from the user terminal, and The corresponding channel number and multicast IP address are sent to the user terminal.

The embodiment of the invention also discloses a media function entity, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a media stream corresponding to program content from a program source;

a media stream forwarding unit, configured to forward the media stream received by the receiving unit to a corresponding multicast IP address, and a program characteristic information acquiring unit, configured to acquire program characteristic information from the media stream received by the receiving unit; The characteristic information sending unit is configured to send the program characteristic information acquired by the program characteristic information acquiring unit to other network entities. The embodiment of the invention further discloses a network television system, comprising an EPG server for providing an electronic program guide, a media function entity for forwarding a media stream corresponding to the program content, and a program source, wherein the media function entity is from the program. Obtaining program characteristic information in the media stream of the source, and transmitting the program characteristic information to the EPG server;

The EPG server is configured to store the received program characteristic information, and send the stored program characteristic information to the user terminal according to a request from the user terminal.

It can be seen from the above technical solution that the user terminal receives and stores the program characteristic information of the channel in advance; after switching to a certain channel, the terminal directly decodes the received data message according to the saved program characteristic information, thereby eliminating the The time at which the program characteristic information is acquired in the TS stream can increase the speed of channel switching. DRAWINGS

1 is a flowchart of registering program information for importing a live program in an IPTV system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of processing of a user watching an IPTV program according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic diagram of receiving a TS stream when a user watches an IPTV program according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart of refreshing program characteristic information according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a flowchart of registering program information for importing a live program in an IPTV system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flowchart of processing of a user watching an IPTV program according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a section 0 characteristic information refresh according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

8 is a schematic structural diagram of a network television terminal according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a schematic structural diagram of an EPG server according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a media function entity according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a network television system according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the present invention will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

At present, the IPTV architecture defined by each standard organization is slightly different, but in the architecture, there is an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) server entity responsible for program navigation, and the user terminal accesses the EPG server to realize fast retrieval of programs and access. After the user terminal accesses the IPTV system, the program information is obtained from the EPG server and displayed to the user.

The first embodiment of the present invention is based on MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group-2, Moving Picture Experts Group-2)

Implementation of IPTV for TS Stream. In this embodiment, in addition to saving the list information of the current live program on the EPG server, the program characteristic information for decoding the program by the terminal needs to be saved for each program, including the PID information corresponding to each of the TS streams and Let the terminal correctly decode the required encoding format, the encoding level and level-id, etc., and the saved program characteristic information can be organized according to Table 1:

Table 1

When the program is imported into the IPTV system, the process of registering the program information to the EPG server is required, that is, in the program characteristic information table in the EPG server, the multicast IP address corresponding to the new program and the TS stream port are added. Number and program characteristic information. The multicast IP address and the TS stream port number corresponding to the program can be uniformly allocated by the entire network manually. The program characteristic information, including the audio/video/frequency PID information and parameter information, can be manually filled in from the program provider. The media function (MF) that performs the media conversion and distribution function in the IPTV system can be used for detection and reporting. FIG. 1 shows a program information registration process for importing a live program in an IPTV system according to the first embodiment, including the following steps: Step 601: The application server (Application Server, AS) adds a live broadcast program under the control of the background operation, first to the MF. Sending an indication message, instructing the MF to receive the TS stream corresponding to the newly added program, and requesting the MF to feed back the program characteristic information in the TS stream; and simultaneously transmitting the multicast IP address and the multicast IP address used by the program in the IPTV network The port number is sent to the MF.

Step 602: The MF receives the TS stream corresponding to the newly added program from the program source, and forwards the TS stream to the corresponding multicast group according to the multicast IP address and the TS stream port number, and searches for the PID in the TS stream to be 0. PAT table, thereby obtaining the PID of the PMT table of the program corresponding to the current TS stream; and then searching the PMT table according to the PID of the PMT table in the TS stream, thereby obtaining the PID corresponding to the audio, video and subtitle streams of the program, Decoding the program characteristic information such as the format and the parameter; Step 603: The MF reports the PID corresponding to the audio, video, and subtitle streams of the program in the PMT table, and the program characteristic information such as the codec format and parameters to the AS;

Step 604: The AS sends an indication message to the EPG server, indicating that a live broadcast program needs to be added to the program list. In addition to the related program description information, such as the channel number, the AS may include the multicast IP address used for sending the program. The TS stream port number and the program characteristic information of the program reported by the MF, including the PID and the codec format and parameters corresponding to the audio, video, and subtitle streams;

Step 605: After receiving the indication message of the AS, the EPG server adds a program item to the saved information list, and adds a section 0 item, a multicast IP address, a TS stream port number, a PID, and a code according to the indication message. Decoding the format and parameters, etc. After the addition is successful, the AS responds with an OK response message.

By performing the above process, for any live program, the EPG server saves the relevant information of the live program, and then the user can watch the program.

The processing flow of the user watching the IPTV program in the first embodiment is as shown in FIG. 2, and includes the following steps:

Step 701: The user terminal accesses the IPTV system after being powered on, and applies for authentication to the AS.

Step 702: The AS authenticates the user according to the user information in the User Profile Service Function (UPSF) entity.

Step 703: After the authentication is passed, the AS returns the address information of the EPG server to the user terminal.

Step 704: The user terminal sends a request for requesting EPG information to the EPG server according to the address information. Step 705: The EPG server confirms the program that the user can access according to the user information in the UPSF entity. Step 706: All the users have permission to view. The live TV program, in addition to transmitting the program listing information to the user terminal, the EPG server also sends the saved description information of the programs, such as the channel number, the multicast IP address, and the program characteristic information, to the user terminal, where the session description protocol is adopted. The description of the Session Description Protocol (SDP) is used to illustrate the information sent to the terminal as follows: V=0

o=- 2890844256 2890842807 IN IP4 172.16.2.93

s=SDP Session

i=An Example of SDP Session Usage for Program Information

c=IN IP4 a.b.c.d 〃Multicast IP address

a=control: sdp : //foo/twi ster/ channel 1

m=video 2222 RTP/AVP 33 //Defined in RFC3551 33 is the PT type of the MPEG-2 TS stream a=pidlist: 726 57 60 102 123 //The extended attribute "a=pidlist" describes the PID list in the TS stream

a=pidmap: 726 H264 //extended attribute " a= pidmap" describes the attributes of the specified PID stream

a=fmtp: 726 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=0;

Sprop-parameter-sets=ZOIACpZTBYmI, aMljiA== //Decoding parameters

a=pidmap: 57 mpeg4-generic/44100/2/zh //The voice indication is Chinese

a=pidmap: 60 mpeg4-generic/44100/2/en //voice indication is English

a=pidmap: 102 subtitle/zh 〃 subtitle indication is Chinese

a=pidmap: 103 subtitle/en II subtitle indication in English

In actual applications, the specific extended SDP mode can also be configured by itself, as long as the description information of the program can be brought to the user terminal.

After receiving the description information of the EPG server, the user terminal displays the program list information to the user for selection. For each description information of the program, the channel number, multicast IP, TS stream port number, PID, codec format of each program are established. For the correspondence between parameters and parameters, refer to Table 1.

Step 707: After the user selects a certain channel, the terminal obtains the multicast IP address of the channel according to the correspondence established in step 705, joins the corresponding multicast group according to the multicast IP address, and receives the MF forwarding. After the multicast message data of the program is used, the corresponding program characteristic information is determined by using the established correspondence relationship, the multicast message data is decoded according to the program characteristic information, and the decoded data is displayed to the user for viewing. .

The PAT and PMT tables are taken as an example to describe the decoding process of the user terminal.

The MF encapsulates the TS stream received from the program source into an RTP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) message and multicasts it to the user terminal. The TS packet in the TS stream is as shown in FIG.

The time at which the user terminal receives the multicast packet is random. It is assumed that the A access point starts to receive the multicast packet as shown in FIG. 3, and the user terminal has saved the program characteristic information of the program. When the first TS packet with a PID of 60 is known to be a voice stream of English, if the user sets the language of the currently output speech to English, the TS packet is sent to the audio decoder for decoding, if the user sets If the language of the currently output speech is Chinese, discard it directly. The TS packet; when receiving the TS packet with the PID of 102, it is known that this is a Chinese subtitle stream. If the user sets the currently output subtitle language to Chinese, the TS packet is sent to the subtitle stream decoder for decoding, if the user If the language of the currently output voice is set to English, the TS packet is directly discarded, and then the TS packet with the PID of 123 is received corresponding to the English subtitle stream, and the TS packet processing method with the PID of 102 is similar; When the TS packet with the PID of 726 is known to be a video stream, the TS packet is directly sent to the video decoder for decoding.

As can be seen from the above description process, since the user terminal has saved the program characteristic information such as the PID, codec format and parameters of the program, it is no longer necessary to search the PAT table and the PMT table to obtain the program characteristic information, so it can be connected from any The decoding starts at the in point, and it is not necessary to wait until the PAT table and the PMT table (such as the B program characteristic information in Fig. 3) appear to start decoding, so the delay from point A to point B can be saved. It can be seen from the above description that the PAT and PMT information in the multicast packet sent from the program source has no effect at all, and is directly discarded by the user terminal. Therefore, before the MF entity sends the TS stream to the user terminal, The program characteristic information is removed, and then the TS stream that does not carry the program characteristic information is delivered.

If the program characteristic information of a certain program changes, it is necessary to immediately refresh the program characteristic information saved on the EPG server and the user terminal. The specific program characteristic information refreshing process is as shown in FIG. 4, and includes the following steps:

Step 901: The MF detects the PAT and the PMT information in the received TS stream. If the program characteristic information in the TS stream is found to be inconsistent with the locally stored program characteristic information, affecting the correct decoding of the user terminal, the new program is generated. The characteristic information is reported to the AS.

Step 902: The AS forwards the new program characteristic information reported by the MF to the EPG server, instructs the EPG server to refresh the entry of the program feature information, and ensures that the newly activated user obtains the correct program characteristic information.

Step 903: The EPG server broadcasts new program characteristic information on the network. After the currently activated user terminal receives the broadcast message, it refreshes the entry for saving the program characteristic information, and ensures that the program can be normally decoded after switching to the program. Considering the user rights issue, only the changed information may be broadcasted without broadcasting the multicast IP address and the TS stream port number of the program; Step 904: The EPG server returns the confirmation message to the AS after completing the information refresh and broadcast;

Step 905: The AS returns a confirmation message to the MF.

Through the process shown in FIG. 4, the program characteristic information on the EPG server can be refreshed in time, and the program characteristic information on the user terminal is also refreshed in time, so that the user terminal can decode and receive the received program characteristic information according to the saved program characteristic information. Program content.

In this embodiment, the terminal obtains and stores the program characteristic information of each channel through the EPG server, and after switching to a certain channel, the terminal directly decodes the received data packet according to the saved program characteristic information, thereby improving channel switching. The speed; and the program characteristic information of each program may not need to be periodically transmitted on the network, thereby saving transmission bandwidth. Embodiment 2: Implementation of IPTV based on the ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance) format.

If the transmission is not in the MPEG-2 TS format, for example using the ISMA format, the video, audio and data streams are not multiplexed for transmission, but are dispersed in different RTP streams for transmission. When using the ISMA format for transmission, the EPG server does not need to save the port number and PID information used by the TS stream, but it needs to separately store the RTP port number and port (PT) type used for the audio, video, and data streams of the channel. The port number and port type values are uniformly allocated by the operator. Table 2 gives an example of the saved program characteristic information:

Table 2

When using the ISMA format transmission, the program information registration process for importing live programs in the IPTV system is also shown in FIG. 5, and includes the following steps:

Step 1001: The AS adds a live broadcast program under the control of the background operation, first sends an indication message to the MF, instructing the MF to receive the new program, and the program that the MF receives from the program source may be encapsulated by the TS stream, or other formats. The indication message sent by the AS further includes a uniformly assigned port number and port type value used for forwarding the multicast IP address, audio, video, and data stream used by the program within the IPTV network;

Step 1002: The MF encapsulates the audio, video, and data streams from the program source into an RTP stream according to the specified IP address, port number, and port type value. If the program source is a TS format package, the MF needs to detect the program characteristic information of the TS stream. The TS stream is converted to the ISMA package format, that is, the audio and video and the data stream in the TS stream are respectively packaged into separate RTP stream transmissions; if the program source is an RTP stream package, only the PT value, IP address, and port in the RTP stream are required. The number can be converted accordingly.

Step 1003: The MF sends an acknowledgement message to the AS, and the program characteristic information for decoding the user terminal in the decoding specific information is also reported to the AS together, where the program characteristic information includes the RTP used by the audio, video, and data streams of the program. Port number and port type.

Step 1004: The AS sends an indication message to the EPG server, indicating that a live broadcast program needs to be added to the program list. In addition to the related program description information, such as the channel number, the AS includes the multicast IP address used for sending the program. And corresponding program characteristic information, including port numbers, port types, and codec formats and parameters of the audio, video, and data streams;

Step 1005: After receiving the indication message of the AS, the EPG server adds an entry to the saved program feature information list, and adds a program item, a multicast IP address, and a port number to the entry according to the indication message. The section 0 attribute information including the port type, codec format, and parameters, after the addition is successful, gives the AS an OK confirmation message.

FIG. 6 shows a processing flow of a user watching an IPTV program in the second embodiment, including the following steps:

Step 1101: After the user terminal is powered on, the user accesses the IPTV system and applies for authentication to the AS.

Step 1102: The AS authenticates the user according to the user information in the UPSF.

Step 1103: After the authentication is passed, the AS returns the address information of the EPG server to the user terminal.

Step 1104: The user terminal sends an application for requesting an EPG information to the EPG server.

Step 1105: The EPG server confirms the program that the user can access according to the user information in the UPSF. Step 1106: For all live TV programs that the user has permission to view, the EPG server saves the program list information to the user terminal, and saves itself. The program description information of the programs, such as the channel number, the multicast IP address, and the program characteristic information, are sent to the user terminal. Here, the description of the SDP is used to illustrate the information sent to the user terminal, as follows:

V=0

o=- 2890844256 2890842807 IN IP4 172.16.2.93

s=SDP Session

i=An Example of SDP Session Usage for Program Information c=IN IP4 abcd //multicast IP address

a=control: sdp : //foo/twi ster/ channel 1

m=video 2222 RTP/AVP 98 //Video stream

a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000

a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=0;

Sprop-parameter-sets=ZOIACpZTBYmI, aMljiA== //Decoding parameters

m=audio 2224 RTP/AVP 99 //Chinese sound

a=rtpmap:99 mpeg4-generic/44100/2

a=lang: zh 〃 indicates Chinese

m=audio 2226 RTP/AVP 100 〃 English sound

a=rtpmap: 100 mpeg4-generic/44100/2

a=lang: en //indicates in English

m=video 2228 RTP/AVP 101 //Chinese subtitles

a=rtpmap: 101 subtitle/ 1000

a=lang: en //indicates in English

m=video 2230 RTP/AVP 102 〃 English subtitles

a=rtpmap: 102 subtitle/ 1000

a=lang: en //indicates in English

In actual applications, the specific extended SDP mode can also be configured by itself, as long as the description information of the program can be transmitted to the user terminal.

After receiving the program list information of the EPG, the user terminal displays the program list information to the user for selection, and establishes a correspondence between the multicast IP address, the port number, the port type, the codec format, and the parameters of each program;

Step 1107: After the user selects a certain channel, the user terminal joins the corresponding multicast group according to the multicast IP address of the channel, and after receiving the multicast packet data of the corresponding program forwarded by the MF, the established correspondence is used. The port number and port type in the medium distinguish whether the received RTP packet is an audio stream, a video stream or a subtitle stream, and is sent to different decoders to decode and output the RTP packet according to the corresponding decoding parameters.

Since the user terminal has saved the program characteristic information such as the RTP port number and the port type used for the audio, video, and data streams of the program, it can be selectively received as needed, thereby saving bandwidth, reducing the processing capability of the terminal, and the user. The terminal directly decodes the received data message according to the saved program characteristic information, thereby improving the speed of channel switching. If the program source uses the TS format, and the MF detects that the parameters affecting the terminal decoding in the TS stream have changed, the program characteristic information saved on the EPG server and the user terminal needs to be refreshed immediately, and the process of refreshing the program characteristic information in the second embodiment is as shown in the figure. As shown in 7, it includes the following steps:

Step 1201: The MF detects the PAT and the PMT information in the program TS stream. If the decoding parameter is changed, affecting the correct decoding of the user terminal, the new parameter information is reported to the AS. The new parameter information may be a program. The characteristic information, or the part of the program characteristic information that is updated.

Step 1202: The AS forwards the new parameter information reported by the MF to the EPG server, and instructs the EPG server to refresh the entry for saving the program decoding related information, so as to ensure that the newly activated user obtains the correct program decoding information.

Step 1203: The EPG server broadcasts new program characteristic information on the network. After the currently activated user terminal receives the broadcast message, it refreshes the entry of the saved program characteristic information, and ensures that the program can be normally decoded after switching to the program. Considering the user rights issue, it is possible to broadcast only the changed information without broadcasting the multicast IP and port number of the program;

Step 1204: The EPG server returns an acknowledgement message to the AS after completing the information refresh and broadcast;

Step 1205: The AS returns a confirmation message to the MF.

In this embodiment, the user terminal receives and saves the program characteristic information of the channel in advance; after switching to a certain channel, the user terminal selectively receives the multicast message that needs to be decoded and output according to the saved program characteristic information and the user needs, thereby saving bandwidth. The requirement for the processing capability of the terminal is reduced, and the user terminal directly decodes the received data message according to the saved program characteristic information, thereby improving the speed of channel switching.

A third embodiment of the present invention discloses a network television terminal, as shown in Fig. 8, in which a thick arrow indicates program content. The network television terminal includes:

The program characteristic information acquiring unit 1301 is configured to acquire, after receiving the multicast packet data, program characteristic information for decoding the multicast packet data from the network side;

The data receiving unit 1302 is configured to receive the multicast message data of the network television according to the program selection request of the user. The decoding unit 1303 is configured to decode the data receiving unit 1302 according to the program characteristic information acquired by the program characteristic information acquiring unit 1301. The obtained multicast packet data.

The network television terminal provided by the embodiment obtains the program characteristic information in advance by the program characteristic information acquiring unit 1301. After the data receiving unit 1302 receives the multicast message data, the decoding unit 1303 directly directly receives the received data according to the program characteristic information acquired in advance. The message is decoded, so that when the network television terminal switches channels, the time for acquiring the program characteristic information from the TS stream is omitted, and the speed of channel switching can be improved.

A fourth embodiment of the present invention discloses an EPG server, as shown in FIG. 9, including:

The program characteristic information storage unit 1401 is configured to store program characteristic information and a corresponding channel number and multicast IP address; The sending unit 1402 is configured to send the program characteristic information stored by the program characteristic information storage unit 1401 and the corresponding channel number and multicast IP address to the user terminal according to the request from the user terminal.

The EPG server can also include:

The program confirmation unit 1403 is configured to acquire user information from the UPSF, and confirm the program accessible by the user according to the user information. Then, the sending unit 1402 sets the program characteristic information storage unit 1401 according to the accessible program confirmed by the program confirmation unit 1403. The stored program characteristic information of the accessible program is transmitted to the user terminal.

The program characteristic information receiving unit 1404 is configured to receive program characteristic information from the outside and a corresponding channel number and multicast IP address, and transmit the received information to the program characteristic information storage unit 1401.

The program characteristic information storage unit 1401 further includes:

The refresh processing sub-unit 1405 is configured to: when the channel number and the multicast IP address corresponding to the program characteristic information from the program characteristic information receiving unit 1404 are different from the channel number and the multicast IP address stored in the program characteristic information storage unit 1401 At the same time, the refresh processing is performed, that is, the stored program characteristic information is updated by using the received program characteristic information; the EPG server further includes:

The broadcast unit 1406 is configured to: if the refresh processing sub-unit 1405 performs a refresh process, broadcast the program characteristic information corresponding to the refresh process and the corresponding channel number and multicast IP address.

The EPG server provided in this embodiment sends the program characteristic information to the user terminal, so that the user terminal directly decodes the received multicast message data according to the section B characteristic information, thereby eliminating the need for the network television terminal to switch channels. The time at which program characteristic information is acquired from the TS stream can increase the speed of channel switching.

A fifth embodiment of the present invention discloses a media function entity, as shown in FIG. 10, in which a thick arrow indicates a media stream. The media functional entity includes:

The receiving unit 1501 is configured to receive a media stream corresponding to the program content from the program source;

The program characteristic information obtaining unit 1502 is configured to obtain program characteristic information from the media stream received by the receiving unit 1501;

The media stream forwarding unit 1503 is configured to forward the media stream received by the receiving unit 1501 to the corresponding multicast IP address. The program characteristic information sending unit 1504 is configured to send the program characteristic information acquired by the program characteristic information acquiring unit 1502 to other Network entity.

The program characteristic information acquiring unit 1502 further includes:

The detecting subunit 1505 is configured to detect whether the program characteristic information acquired from the media stream changes, and if so, send the program characteristic information or the program characteristic information to the program characteristic information transmitting unit 1504;

Then, the program characteristic information transmitting unit 1504 transmits the portion from which the program characteristic information or the program characteristic information of the program characteristic information acquiring unit 1502 is changed to other network entities. The above media function entity further includes:

The deleting unit 1506 is configured to delete the program characteristic information in the media stream to be forwarded to the multicast IP address. The media function entity provided in this embodiment obtains the program characteristic information in advance, and sends the acquired program characteristic information to other network entities, and then the network entity sends the program characteristic information to the user terminal, so that when the network television terminal switches channels, the province When the program characteristic information is acquired from the TS stream, the speed of channel switching can be improved.

A sixth embodiment of the present invention provides a network television system. Referring to FIG. 11, the network television system includes an EPG server 1601 for providing an electronic program guide, a media function entity 1602 for forwarding a media stream corresponding to the program content, and a media. The function entity 1602 is configured to obtain program characteristic information from the media stream from the program source, and send the program characteristic information to the EPG server 1601;

The EPG server 1601 is configured to store the received program characteristic information, and send the stored program characteristic information to the user terminal according to a request from the user terminal.

The system further includes a UPSF 1603 for providing user information to the EPG server 1601;

The EPG server 1601 is configured to determine program content accessible by the user according to the user information, and send program characteristic information corresponding to the program content accessible by the user to the user terminal.

The media function entity 1602 is further configured to detect whether the acquired program characteristic information changes, and if the change occurs, send the program characteristic information or the portion of the program characteristic information change to the EPG server 1601;

The EPG server 1601 is configured to update the stored program characteristic information according to the received section 0 characteristic information or a portion of the section 0 characteristic information change, and broadcast the program characteristic information or a portion of the program characteristic information change.

The media function entity 1602 is further configured to delete the program characteristic information in the received media stream, and then forward the media stream to the multicast IP address.

In the network television system provided in this embodiment, the user terminal obtains and stores the program characteristic information of each channel through the EPG server, and after switching to a certain channel, the user terminal directly directly receives the received data packet according to the saved program characteristic information. Decoding can improve the speed of channel switching; and the program characteristic information of each program does not need to be periodically transmitted on the network, which can save transmission bandwidth. All or part of the technical solutions provided by the above embodiments may be implemented by software programming, and the software program is stored in a readable storage medium such as a hard disk, an optical disk or a floppy disk in a computer. The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection of the present invention. Within the scope.

Claims

Claim

A method for implementing a network television service, the method comprising:

The user terminal receives the multicast message data of the network television according to the user's program selection request;

The user terminal decodes the multicast message data according to corresponding program characteristic information acquired and saved from the network side in advance.

The method according to claim 1, wherein before receiving the multicast packet data of the network television, the method further includes:

The user terminal acquires and saves program characteristic information from the network side.

The method according to claim 2, wherein the acquiring, by the user terminal, the program characteristic information from the network side comprises:

The user terminal receives program characteristic information from an electronic program guide EPG server, a channel number and a multicast IP address corresponding to the program characteristic information, and establishes the received channel number, multicast IP address, and program characteristic information. Correspondence.

The method according to claim 3, wherein the receiving the multicast packet data of the network television comprises: the user terminal obtaining a corresponding multicast IP address according to the correspondence, according to the group The broadcast IP address is added to the corresponding multicast group to receive multicast packet data.

The decoding the multicast message data according to the corresponding program characteristic information acquired and saved from the network side in advance includes:

Determining corresponding program characteristic information according to the correspondence relationship, and decoding the multicast message data according to the program characteristic information.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a broadcast containing program characteristic information, and updating the saved corresponding program characteristic with the broadcasted program characteristic information information.

A method for implementing a network television service, the method comprising:

The EPG server receives and stores program characteristic information from the media function entity and its corresponding program channel number and multicast IP address;

The method according to claim 6, wherein before the sending the program channel number, the multicast IP address, and the corresponding program characteristic information to the user terminal, the method further includes: The EPG server confirms a node that the user can access according to the user information in the user personal information service function UPSF;

The transmitting the program channel number, the multicast IP address, and the corresponding program characteristic information to the user terminal is:

The program channel number, the multicast IP address, and the corresponding program characteristic information accessible by the user are transmitted to the user terminal.

The method of claim 6, wherein before the EPG server receives and stores the program characteristic information from the media function entity and the corresponding program channel number and multicast IP address, the EPG server further includes:

The media function entity receives the media stream from the program source, and obtains program characteristic information from the media stream, and sends the program characteristic information and the corresponding program channel number and multicast IP address to the application server, and forwards the media stream. To the corresponding multicast IP address, the application server forwards the program characteristic information and the corresponding program channel number and multicast IP address to the EPG server.

The method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

The media function entity detects the program characteristic information in the received media stream, and if the program characteristic information is found to be changed, sends the new program characteristic information to the EPG server;

The EPG server refreshes the saved corresponding program characteristic information according to the received new program characteristic information, and broadcasts the updated section 0 characteristic information.

The method according to claim 8, wherein before the forwarding the media stream to the corresponding multicast IP address, the method further includes:

The media function entity deletes program characteristic information in the media stream.

The method according to any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein the multicast message data is multicast message data transmitted in an MPEG-2 transport stream format, or is a real-time streaming protocol RTP. Transmitted multicast packet data.

12. A network television terminal, comprising:

a data receiving unit, configured to receive multicast message data of the network television according to the program selection request of the user; and a decoding unit, configured to decode the data receiving unit according to the program characteristic information acquired by the program characteristic information acquiring unit Received multicast packet data.

13. An electronic program guide EPG server, characterized in that it comprises:

a program characteristic information storage unit, configured to store program characteristic information and a corresponding channel number and a multicast IP address; And a sending unit, configured to send the program characteristic information stored by the program characteristic information storage unit and the corresponding channel number and multicast IP address to the user terminal according to the request from the user terminal.

The EPG server according to claim 13, wherein the EPG server comprises: a program confirmation unit, configured to acquire user information from the UPSF, and confirm the program accessible by the user according to the user information;

And the sending unit is further configured to send the program characteristic information of the accessible program stored in the program characteristic information storage unit to the user terminal according to the accessible program confirmed by the program confirmation unit.

The EPG server according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the EPG server further comprises: a program characteristic information receiving unit configured to receive program characteristic information from the outside and a corresponding channel number and multicast IP address And transmitting the received information to the program characteristic information storage unit.

The EPG server according to claim 15, wherein the program characteristic information storage unit further comprises: a refresh processing subunit, configured to: at a channel number corresponding to program characteristic information from the program characteristic information receiving unit When the multicast IP address is different from the channel number and the multicast IP address stored in the program characteristic information storage unit, the refresh process is performed;

The EPG server further includes a broadcast unit for broadcasting program characteristic information corresponding to the refresh processing and a corresponding channel number and multicast IP address.

17. A media function entity, wherein the media function entity comprises:

a media stream forwarding unit, configured to forward the media stream received by the receiving unit to a corresponding multicast IP address, and a program characteristic information acquiring unit, configured to acquire program characteristic information from the media stream received by the receiving unit; The characteristic information sending unit is configured to send the program characteristic information acquired by the program characteristic information acquiring unit.

The media function entity according to claim 17, wherein the program property information acquiring unit further comprises:

a detecting subunit, configured to detect whether a program characteristic information acquired from the media stream changes, and if yes, send the program characteristic information or a portion of the program characteristic information that is changed to the program characteristic information transmitting unit, by The program characteristic information transmitting unit transmits a portion from which the program characteristic information or the program characteristic information of the program characteristic information acquiring unit is changed to other network entities.

The media function entity according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the media function entity further comprises:

And a deleting unit, configured to delete program characteristic information in the media stream to be forwarded to the multicast IP address.

20. A network television system comprising an EPG server for providing an electronic program guide and a media function entity for forwarding a media stream corresponding to the program content, wherein:

The media function entity is configured to obtain program characteristic information from a media stream from a program source, and send the program characteristic information to the EPG server;

21. The network television system according to claim 20, wherein the system further comprises an UPSF for providing user information to the EPG server;

And the EPG server is configured to determine program content accessible by the user according to the user information, and send program characteristic information corresponding to the program content accessible by the user to the user terminal.

The network television system according to claim 20, wherein the media function entity is further configured to detect whether the acquired program characteristic information changes, and if the change occurs, the program characteristic information or the The portion of the program characteristic information change is sent to the EPG server;

The EPG server is configured to update the stored program characteristic information according to the received program characteristic information or a portion of the program characteristic information change, and broadcast the program characteristic information or a portion of the program characteristic information change.

The network television system according to claim 20, 21 or 22, wherein the media function entity is further configured to delete the section 0 characteristic information in the received media stream, and then forward the media stream to the group. Broadcast IP address.