KR20090003897A - Broadcast receiver, broadcast signal processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver and a broadcast signal processing method. The present invention has a content protection effect using a cable card by transmitting the data of the cable card among the data received according to the Internet protocol to the cable card through the expansion channel flow. In addition, the service provider can stably charge the service user by using the limited reception, and the service user can replace the card to watch the service of the desired service provider.

Description

Broadcast receiver and processing method for broadcasting signal

The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver and a broadcast signal processing method, and more particularly, to a broadcast receiver and a broadcast signal processing method using an internet protocol.

Conventional broadcast receivers are serviced in such a manner that content produced by a broadcaster is transmitted through a radio wave transmission medium such as terrestrial, cable, or satellite broadcasting, and a user views the receiver through a receiver capable of receiving the respective delivery media. .

However, as digital-based digital broadcasting technology has been developed and commercialized in existing analog broadcasting, real-time broadcasting, contents on demand (GD), games, and news using the internet network connected to each household in addition to the existing electric wave or wired cable media. It is now possible to provide a variety of content services to the user.

An example of providing a content service using the Internet network may be an Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). The IPTV refers to the transmission of various information services, video contents, and broadcasting using the Internet network and the provision of the information to the receiver of the user. The Internet network may be implemented on various types of networks such as an optical cable network, a coaxial cable network, a fiber to the home (FTTH), a telephone network, and a wireless network based on an IP (Internet Protocol).

In the case of the service using the Internet network as described above, unlike general terrestrial broadcasting, the interactivity may be added, and the user may watch a content service that he / she wants to see at a convenient time.

However, in the case of transmitting content using the Internet network, no means for protecting the content has been determined. Thus, there has been a need for means such as restricting reception of content or content protection to protect content.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiver and a broadcast signal processing method using the Internet protocol that can protect the transmission content.

According to the present invention, a broadcast receiver includes a host for transmitting data whose destination address is a cable card among data received according to the Internet protocol to a cable card through an extended channel flow, and data according to the data received from the host through the flow. And a cable card for controlling the descramble of the broadcast signal.

In the broadcast signal processing method according to the present invention, the method includes: receiving data through an internet network connected to a host, transmitting data whose destination address is a cable card among the received data to a cable card through an extended channel flow; Controlling descramble of the received broadcast signal according to the data received in the cable card through the flow.

According to the broadcast receiver and the broadcast signal processing method using the Internet protocol of the present invention, there is an effect that can protect the content. The service provider can protect the content as described above, and can effectively charge the service user by using the limited reception.

In addition, by using the open cable card method, the service user can replace the card to watch the service of the desired operator.

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In addition, the terms used in the present invention was selected as a general term widely used as possible now, but in certain cases, the term is arbitrarily selected by the applicant, in which case the meaning is described in detail in the corresponding description of the invention, It is to be clear that the present invention is to be understood as the meaning of terms rather than names.

The operation of the broadcast receiver and the broadcast signal processing method according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) system, which is an example of a system that can provide various contents using the Internet network, can be largely divided into a server, a network, and a receiver.

The servers of the IPTV are servers that perform various functions such as service discovery and selection server, streaming server, contents guide information server, customer information server, and payment information server. It can be configured as.

Among the servers, the streaming server transmits the stored Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) 2 or MPEG4 encoded video data to the user through a network. As a protocol for the transmission, a Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP), a RTP Control Protocol (RTP), or the like may be used.

In case of using Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), video stream playback can be controlled to some extent through a function called network trick play such as pause, replay, and stop. .

The content guide information server is a server that provides information on the various contents provided. The content guide information is information corresponding to electronic program guide (EPG) information and includes various information about content. The content guide information server stores content guide information data, and provides the stored data to the receiver.

The information server related to service discovery and selection among the servers provides the receiver with access information and playback information for servers providing various content services such as broadcasting, contents on demand (COD), and games.

The network system consists of an internet based network and gateways. The Internet-based network may use various types of networks such as an optical cable network, a coaxial cable network, a fiber to the home (FTTH), a telephone network, a wireless network, and the like based on IP. In addition to general data transfer, the gateway may perform multicast group management and quality of service (QoS) management using protocols such as Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP).

A receiver of an IPTV is a receiver that can receive data transmitted through an internet network and provide it to a user. The receiver includes an IPTV settop, a homenet gateway, an IPTV embedded TV, and the like.

In the case of a hybrid IPTV system, various types of contents of the Internet as well as various types of existing broadcasting contents may be provided. That is, the user can provide various broadcasting contents such as terrestrial broadcasting, cable broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, personal broadcasting, various internet video contents, data contents other than video, and the like. The contents may be provided in real time or may be provided on demand.

1 is a diagram schematically showing an IPTV system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In terms of providing a content service, the IPTV system may be divided into a content provider (CP), a service provider (SP), a network provider (NP), and a user.

The content provider produces and provides various contents. As shown in FIG. 1, the content provider includes a terrestrial broadcaster, a cable SO, or a MSO, a satellite broadcaster, and an internet broadcaster. (Internet broadcaster) and the like.

The service provider provides a service package of contents provided by the content provider. For example, the service provider of FIG. 1 packages a first terrestrial broadcast, a second terrestrial broadcast, a cable MSO, satellite broadcast, various Internet broadcasts, and provides the same to a user.

 The network provider provides a network for providing the service to a user. The user may build a home network end user (HNED) to receive the service.

Conditional access, content protection, or the like may be used as a means for protecting content transmitted from the IPTV system. As one example for the above-mentioned restriction reception or content protection, a method such as a cable card or a downloadable conditional access system (DCAS) may be used.

The use of the cable card or DCAS is a choice of a service provider that provides an IPTV service. When the cable card or the DCAS is used in a receiver, the system should also be used by the service provider communicating with the receiver.

2 is a diagram schematically showing a receiver using a cable card as an embodiment according to the present invention.

The receiver of FIG. 2 represents a receiver capable of receiving all IP-based IPTV services, cable broadcasts, terrestrial broadcasts, satellite broadcasts, and the like. The receiver of FIG. 2 may be implemented to receive only an IPTV service or only a cable broadcast according to an embodiment. And the cable card of Figure 2 may be called another name according to the embodiment as described above.

The receiver of FIG. 2 is mainly composed of a host and a cable card. The host includes a first tuner 202, a second tuner 204, a demodulator 206, a multiplexer 208, a demultiplexer 210, and a decoder. ) 212, Ethernet network interface card (NIC) 214, TCP / IP network unit 216, TP (Transport Packet) parser 218, control unit 222, DCAS (Downloadable) A CAS unit 224, a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) controller 226, a content encryption unit 228, a storage interface 230, and a storage unit 232. The cable card 220 may be a single stream card capable of processing only one stream, or may be a multi stream card capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of streams.

The receiver is an open cable method in which a cable card including a conditional access (CA) system is separated from a main body. The cable card is also referred to as a point of deployment (POD) module, and can be inserted into or detached from the main body slot of the receiver. The main body into which the cable card is inserted is also referred to as a host. In other words, the cable card and the host are called receivers.

The network connection unit 200 serves to connect the external network and the receiver. For example, the receiver may be connected to an external IP network. For example, in case of using a multimedia over coax alliance (MoCA), an IP-based network can be constructed and connected on a coaxial cable network. Alternatively, you can connect to an external network using a DOCSIS modem, or connect to an external network using a wireless relay that connects to a wireless internet network, or a wired relay that connects to a wired internet network such as a wired ADSL repeater. It may be. The connection example with the external network is an embodiment, and which one to use may vary depending on how it is connected to the external network.

The first tuner 202 is a terrestrial A / V (Audio / Video) broadcast transmitted through an antenna or a cable A / V broadcast transmitted in an in-band through a cable connected to the network connection unit 200. Only a specific channel frequency is tuned and output to the demodulator 206.

In this case, since the terrestrial broadcast and the cable broadcast have different transmission methods, the demodulation method in the demodulator 206 is also different. For example, terrestrial A / V broadcasting is modulated and transmitted in VSB (Vestigial Sideband Modulation) scheme, and cable A / V broadcasting is modulated and transmitted in quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) scheme. Therefore, if the channel frequency tuned by the first tuner 202 is a terrestrial broadcast, the demodulator 206 demodulates by the VSB scheme, and if the channel is tuned by cable, it is demodulated by the QAM scheme.

The second tuner 204 tunes only a specific channel frequency of the cable A / V broadcast transmitted in the in-band through a cable connected to the network connection unit 200 and outputs it to the demodulator 206.

The first tuner 202 and the second tuner 204 may tune and transmit signals of different channels to the demodulator 206. Alternatively, different A / V streams of the same channel as the first tuner 202 may be tuned and transmitted to the demodulator 206. For example, the first tuner 202 may tune the stream of the main picture, and the second tuner 204 may tune the stream of the picture in picture (PIP). When the digital video signal is stored using a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) or the like, the first tuner 202 and the second tuner 204 are used to watch the video while simultaneously storing the video signal (watch & record). )You may.

The demodulator 206 demodulates the received signal and transmits the demodulated signal to the multiplexer 208. The multiplexer 208 may multiplex and output a signal input from the demodulator 206 and the transport packet parser 218. For example, the main image tuned and demodulated by the first tuner 202 and the PIP image tuned and demodulated by the second tuner 204 may be multiplexed and output. Alternatively, according to an embodiment, images of other channels may be multiplexed, or may be multiplexed with a signal output from the TP parser 218 and output.

If the signal output from the multiplexer 208 is a terrestrial broadcast signal, the input signal is output to the demultiplexer 210. If the cable broadcast or IPTV broadcast signal is output, the demultiplexer is provided through a cable card 220 mounted in a slot. Output to 210. The cable card 220 includes a conditional access (CA) system for copy protection and limited access to high value-added broadcast content, and is also referred to as a point of deployment (POD) module.

That is, the cable card 220 descrambles the received broadcast signal and outputs the descrambled signal to the demultiplexer 210. If the cable card 220 is not mounted, the A / V broadcast signal output from the multiplexer 208 is directly output to the demultiplexer 210. In this case, the scrambled A / V broadcast signal cannot be descrambled and thus cannot be viewed normally.

The demultiplexer 210 separates the input video signal and the audio signal and outputs them to the decoder 212. The decoder 212 restores the compressed A / V signal to the original signal through the video decoding algorithm and the audio decoding algorithm, respectively, and outputs the original signal for display.

The DVR controller 226, the content encryption unit 228, the storage interface unit 230, and the storage unit 232 play a role of storing the received digital data or reproducing the stored data. The DVR controller 226 controls to store the selected video data among the data output from the demultiplexer 210 or reproduce the selected video data among the stored data under the control of the controller 222. The content encryption unit 228 encrypts and outputs the data to be stored, or restores and outputs the encrypted and stored data. The encryption unit 228 may not be used depending on implementation.

The storage interface 230 performs a data input / output interface with the storage 232, and the storage 232 stores the input data.

The DCAS unit 224 may download and store a CA system from the transmitting server, and performs a CA according to an appropriate CA system among the stored CA systems. The controller 222 controls the interface between the host and the cable card and data processing of the host.

The Ethernet NIC 214 receives an Ethernet frame packet transmitted to a specific IP address among the signals received through the network connection unit 200 and transmits it to the TCP / IP network unit 216. Alternatively, data (for example, a paid program request, receiver status information, user input, etc.) according to bidirectional communication is received from the TCP / IP network unit 216 and transmitted to the external network through the network connection unit 200. . The specific IP address may be an IP address of the host itself or an IP address of the cable card.

In the receiver of FIG. 2, an IPTV broadcast signal, a Video On Demand (VOD) signal, or an Out Of Band (OOB) message signal according to an IP protocol may be received through the Ethernet NIC 214. In case of existing cable broadcasting, system information (SI), emergency alert system (EAS), eXtended Application Information Table (XAIT), CA system information using DSG (DOCSIS Settop Gateway) or OOB (Out Of Band) Receive OOB messages such as various cable card control information.

In the case of the receiver as shown in FIG. 2, a DOCSIS modem or an OOB tuner may be provided inside the host to receive the OOB message. For example, an OOB message may be received using one of an IP method and an OOB method, and an OOB message may be received using one of an IP method, a DSG method, and an OOB method.

When receiving an OOB message using one of the IP and OOB methods, an OOB modem, a demodulator, etc. are further required in the receiver as shown in FIG. When receiving an OOB message using one of an IP method, a DSG method, and an OOB method, a switching unit for selecting a DOCSIS modem, an OOB modem, the DSG method, and an OOB method in the receiver as shown in FIG. For each method, a demodulator for transmitting data to the headend side is required.

As described above, when both the IP method, the existing DSG method, and the OOB method can be used, or when the IP method and the OOB method can be used except for the DSG method, which method is used is determined by the transmitting side and send. The cable card informs the host how to operate according to the information determined by the transmitter. In such a case, the backward compatibility problem can also be solved .

For convenience of description, the receiver of FIG. 2 will mainly describe a case in which an OOB message or the like is received through an Ethernet NIC 214 using IP, rather than a DSG method using the DOCSIS modem or an OOB method using an OOB tuner. do. In this case, the transmitting side should packetize the OOB message using IP and transmit the packet. In the case of VOD or IPTV broadcasting, a message such as CA system information may be received in the form of a packet such as the VDD packet or IPTV broadcasting packet.

The above-described OOB message is just an example, and other necessary information other than the above-described information may be added or unnecessary information may be excluded from the above-described information, depending on the implementation.

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) / IP (Internet Protocol) network unit 216 routes the received packet to a destination of the packet using a TCP / IP protocol based network stack. The TCP / IP network unit 216 supports both the TCP / IP protocol and the UDP / IP protocol.

The TCP / IP network unit 216 routes the received VOD signal or IPTV broadcast signal to the TP (Transport Packet) parser 218. The TP parser 218 parses the received TP packets based on moving picture expert groups (MPEGs) and outputs them to the multiplexer 208. The process after the multiplexing unit 208 is as described above. In the above example, since a broadcast signal based on MPEG is assumed, a TP packet is received and parsed. However, when a broadcast signal using a different standard is received, a unit other than the TP packet unit may be used. Therefore, the spirit of the present invention is not limited to the terms according to the embodiments.

The TCP / IP network unit 216 transmits the packet whose destination is the cable card 220 to the cable card 220. The OOB (Out Of Band) message, which is one of the packets whose destination is the cable card 220, is routed in the TCP / IP network unit 216 and transmitted to the cable card 220. When routing the OOB message to the cable card 220, data may be transmitted to the cable card 220 through a second layer routing or a third layer routing.

In case of using the second layer routing, routing is performed using a media access control (MAC) address system of a destination included in a header of a received Ethernet frame. In case of using the third layer routing, routing is performed using the destination IP address system included in the IP header of the received Ethernet frame. Whether to use the second layer routing or the third layer routing may vary depending on implementation. That is, according to the implementation example, the second layer routing scheme may be used, or the third layer routing scheme may be used.

There is a data channel and an extended channel between the cable card and the host. The data channel is set to send and receive control signals between the host and the cable card, and the extension channel is set to send and receive actual data. The expansion channel is a CPU interface defined to exchange data between a host and a cable card.

That is, the cable card communicates with the sender, interprets the command received from the sender, and then communicates with the host through the data channel and the extended channel to perform the instructions indicated by the sender, or the user inputs. It delivers the contents to the sender.

In this case, in order to transmit data through the extension channel, a transmission line corresponding to the data type defined between the cable card and the host must first be set. This is called flow. For example, in order to transmit MPEG section data, an MPEG section flow may be set between a cable card and a host, and then actual MPEG section data may be transmitted on the flow.

3 is a diagram illustrating a flow and process on an extension channel between a cable card and a host according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flow on the extension channel of FIG. 3 includes an IP unicast (IP_U) flow, an IP multicast (IP_M) flow, and up to six MPEG section flows. If a DOCSIS modem embedded in the host as shown in FIG. 2 is included, a DSG flow for transmitting an OOB message received through the DOCSIS modem to a cable card is further included.

In FIG. 3, an OOB message packet received through an Ethernet NIC of a host may be transmitted to a cable card through IP address based routing. Routing to the destination IP address is performed via the TCP / IP network unit 216. In addition, packets used by each application on the host are routed to each corresponding application. For example, an application in the host may include a multicasting (MC) application, a navigation (NAV) application, and the like.

In the case of transmitting data from the host of FIG. 3 to the cable card, an IP_U flow or an IP_M flow may be used, and in case of transmitting data from the cable card to the host, an IP_U flow may be used. The data received by the cable card through the flow is rerouted and transmitted to the corresponding application in the cable card. For example, applications in the cable card may include a CA (Conditional Access) application, an MC application, and an Implement Pay Per View (IPPV) Report back function (RPP) application.

Among the data received by the cable card, MPEG section data other than the data used only in the cable card are filtered and routed to each application of the host through the MPEG section floor. For example, the MPEG section data includes SI, EAS, and XAIT data. The cable card extracts MPEG section data from the received data, configures the MPEG section data fragments into complete MPEG section data, and transmits the MPEG section data to the host through the MPEG section floor.

Among the flows, the IP_U flow transmits data received to the host in a unicast manner to the cable card, and has bidirectionality between the host and the cable card. The IP_M flow transmits data received in a multicast manner to the host to the cable card. The IP_M flow has a unidirectional direction in the cable card direction.

4A and 4B schematically illustrate multicast and unicast schemes, respectively. The unicast method is a method of transmitting data 1: 1 between one sender and one receiver. For example, in the unicast scheme, when a receiver requests data from a server, the server transmits data to the receiver according to the request. Multicasting is a method of transmitting data to a plurality of recipients of a specific group. For example, the server can send data to multiple pre-registered receivers at once. The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) protocol may be used for the multicast registration.

When receiving the OOB message through data transmission and reception between the cable card and the transmitting head end, a unicast scheme may be used. When the OOB message is transmitted and received using the unicast method as described above, the OOB message received by the host may be transmitted to the cable card through the IP_U flow.

5 is a diagram schematically showing an Ethernet frame packet and an IP packet according to an embodiment of the present invention. The frame packet received through the Ethernet NIC 214 of FIG. 2 is transmitted to the TCP / IP network unit 216. The Ethernet NIC 214 transmits an Ethernet frame packet as shown in the upper part of FIG. 5 to the TCP / IP network unit 216.

The Ethernet frame packet includes an Ethernet header part of 14 bytes, an IP header part of 20 bytes, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) header part of 8 bytes, a UDP payload part, and an Ethernet cyclic redundancy check (CRC) part. Include. However, in case of transmitting data according to the TCP protocol other than the UDP protocol, the TCP header portion and the TCP payload portion are included instead of the UDP header portion or the UDP payload portion.

The TCP / IP network unit 216 receives the Ethernet frame packet and routes it to the destination address of the packet. In this case, when the above-described OOB message is received and routed to the cable card according to the unicast method, the OOB message may be routed to the cable card through the IP_U flow.

As described above, the host may route the OOB message to the cable card using Layer 2 routing or Layer 3 routing. The cable card is preset with a specific MAC address and IP address. In the second layer routing, data in which the destination MAC address included in the Ethernet header of the Ethernet frame is set to the MAC address of the cable card is transmitted to the cable card. In the third layer routing, data in which the destination IP address included in the IP header of the Ethernet frame is set to the IP address of the cable card is transmitted to the cable card.

However, in the case of the IP_U flow, an IP packet as shown in the lower part of FIG. 5 is transmitted. The IP packet includes a 20-byte IP header portion, an 8-byte UDP header portion, and a UDP payload portion. Similarly, when data is transmitted according to a TCP protocol other than the UDP protocol, a TCP header portion and a TCP payload portion are included instead of the UDP header portion or the UDP payload portion.

Therefore, in case of using the second layer routing method or the third layer routing method, data of the IP packet form in which the Ethernet header part and the Ethernet CRC part are removed from the Ethernet frame packet are transmitted to the cable card. . The IP packet may be divided into a broadcast data packet including an MPEG section, a CA data packet including information regarding limited reception, and the like according to the type of data included.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of processing received information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The host of the receiver receives a packet transmitted using the IP network (S600). For example, the packet may be an OOB message packet including an IPTV broadcast packet, a VOD packet, or information on scramble according to an internet protocol.

The host of the receiver routes the received packet to the destination address. Among the received packets, a packet whose destination is a cable card is routed to the cable card (S610). An example of a packet of which the destination is a cable card is an OOB message packet including information on scramble. When the OOB message packet is received according to the unicast scheme, the host may transmit data using an IP_U flow of an extension channel among the interfaces between the cable card and the host.

The cable card analyzes the received data to obtain information about the scramble. The cable card descrambles the broadcast signal, the A / V signal, etc. received at the host by using the information on the scramble, and outputs it to the screen (S620). Examples of the broadcast signal, A / V signal, and the like include a cable broadcast signal received in-band, an IPTV broadcast signal, a VOD video signal, and the like.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and as can be seen in the appended claims, modifications can be made by those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention.

1 is a diagram schematically showing an IPTV system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram schematically showing a receiver using a cable card as an embodiment according to the present invention;

3 is a diagram illustrating a flow and process on an extension channel between a cable card and a host according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4a schematically illustrates a multicast scheme;

4b schematically illustrates a unicast scheme

5 is a diagram schematically showing an Ethernet frame packet and an IP packet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

200: network connection unit 202: first tuner

204: second tuner 206: demodulation unit

208: multiplexer 210: demultiplexer

212: decoder 214: Ethernet NIC

216: TCP / IP network unit 218: TP parsing unit

220: cable card 222: control unit

224: DCAS unit 226: DVR control unit

228: content encryption unit 230: storage interface unit

232: storage unit

Claims (13)

A broadcast receiver for receiving a broadcast signal using an internet protocol, A host that transmits data whose destination address is a cable card among data received according to the Internet protocol to the cable card through an extended channel flow; And And a cable card for controlling the descrambling of the received broadcast signal according to the data received from the host through the flow. The method of claim 1, The host, A broadcast receiver, characterized in that for transmitting data among the received data whose destination MAC address is a cable card, to the cable card. The method of claim 1, The host, A broadcast receiver, characterized in that for transmitting data among the received data whose destination IP address is a cable card, to the cable card. The method of claim 1, The host, And converting the received data into an IP packet to be transmitted to the cable card. The method of claim 1, The extended channel flow, A broadcast receiver, which is an IP unicast flow. The method of claim 1, Data transmitted to the cable card, And at least one of limited reception information and MPEG section information. The method of claim 1, The cable card, MPEG section data among the data received from the host is transmitted to the host through the MPEG section flow. Receiving data via an internet network connected with the host; Transmitting data whose destination address is the cable card among the received data to the cable card through an extended channel flow; And And controlling the descramble of the received broadcast signal according to the data received by the cable card through the flow. The method of claim 8, The step of transmitting to the cable card, The broadcast signal processing method of claim 1, wherein the data of the destination MAC address of the received data is transmitted to the cable card. The method of claim 8, The step of transmitting to the cable card, The broadcast signal processing method of claim 1, wherein the received data is transmitted to the cable card. The method of claim 8, The step of transmitting to the cable card, And converting the received data into an IP packet to be transmitted to a cable card. The method of claim 8, The extended channel flow, Broadcast signal processing method characterized in that the IP unicast flow. The method of claim 8, Data transmitted to the cable card, And at least one of limited reception information and MPEG section information.

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