WO2006079938A2

WO2006079938A2 - Method and apparatus for playing back digital program

Info

Publication number: WO2006079938A2
Application number: PCT/IB2006/050162
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jun Shi; Jingwei Tan; Liang Gan
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2005-01-25
Filing date: 2006-01-17
Publication date: 2006-08-03
Also published as: WO2006079938A3; JP2008529335A

Abstract

The application discloses a method of playing back a digital program, which method comprises the steps of : playing back a digital program associated with link information,- and acquiring network data corresponding to the link information, for recording the network data in a specific address. The application also discloses an apparatus for playing back a digital program, and a method and apparatus for reproducing the digital program. With the application, the network data acquired from a remote end can be recorded when the current interactive TV program is played back, so that the recorded interactive TV program can be completely played back even when the network data at the remote end is no longer available in the future.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLAYING BACK DIGITAL PROGRAM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing a digital program, and more particularly, to a playing back method and apparatus for a digital TV program.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Broadcast of TV program is the conventional way for us to get information.

With the development of the IP technology, network has become another important way to acquire information. Text, graphics, audiovisual information and other different kinds of information can be provided to users by network service. In broadcast scenario, the broadcaster sends the program content to users through a "push" manner. But in network service scenario, users can get information from the network server on their own initiative, and this manner is referred to as "pull". With the development of the digital TV broadcast, co-working between broadcast service and network service brings a new prospect.

A digital interactive TV (iTV) program includes not only audiovisual contents but also interactive applications. Some interactive applications have the ability to access a network or get data through a network connection. A set top box (STB) with storage or an interactive TV recorder can record the iTV program to a storage medium, which can be a hard disk or an optical disc such as DVD + RW disc or Blu-ray disc. The recorder can directly record the iTV program without playing back it.

Network service provides individuation to users, and the users can choose to view the interested item. This is one feature different from the broadcast. Broadcaster could charge for providing some extra services or use these services to attract customs.

One example for the broadcaster to use network data is a multi-angle program. For example, during a football match, there can be a multi-angle program. When there are some highlights, users may want to view them from different angles and usually there are multiple cameras in the field to track the whole match. Broadcasting all the programs from different angles at same time will cost much because of the bandwidth usage, and some users may want to view the different angles but some others do not. A good way to solve this problem is to broadcast the main angle on broadcast channel and put other angles on a network server, and users view these angles as they want. The broadcaster can charge for this access or use this feature to attract users. The interactive program will determine the display of these angles. They can be showed as picture in picture or in full screen.

Recording of a TV program is a natural requirement from users. Users want to record a digital TV program by using a PDR as to record an analog TV program by using a VCR. When users watch a TV program and find that is relatively interesting, the users want to record such TV program. However, for the iTV program capable of accessing network, usually the command to access network is started by the interactive application. For example, a network server can be accessed by the application, so as to get some image files for displaying from the server. However, in the existing systems which provide various iTV programs, the recorder fails to know that the iTV programs will access network. Thus, the recorder would not record the network data. The network data directed by the network link provided together with the iTV program will not be available at certain time after live broadcasting. If the recorder does not record the network data during live broadcasting, the playing back of the recoded iTV program may not be made as the users normally expected.

Therefore, when an iTV program is recorded, the network data related to such TV program needs to be recorded in a local storage.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for playing back a digital program, which method and apparatus can get the network data related to such program when it is being played back, so as to record the network data in a local storage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for reproducing a digital program, which method and apparatus can conveniently play back the digital program recorded in a local storage.

For this purpose, according to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of playing back a digital program, the method comprising the steps of: playing back a digital program associated with link information; and acquiring network data corresponding to the link information, for recording the network data in a specific address. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for playing back a digital program, the apparatus comprising: playing back means for playing back a digital program associated with link information; and acquiring means for acquiring network data corresponding to the link information, for recording the network data in a specific address.

In addition, the invention further provides a method of reproducing a digital program, the method comprising the steps of: playing back a digital program associated with link information; and playing back the local pre-stored network data when the network data corresponding to the link information needs to be played back.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for reproducing a digital program, the apparatus comprising: playing back means for playing back a digital program associated with link information; and network data acquiring means for acquiring the local pre-stored network data when the network data corresponding to the link information needs to be played back.

According to the invention, the network data acquired from a remote end can be recorded when the current digital program is played back, so that the recorded digital program can be completely played back even when the network data at the remote end is no longer available in future.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent, and the present invention will also be understood more comprehensively from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the claims as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Hereinafter, the preferred embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of playing back a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an apparatus for playing back a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method of reproducing a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus of reproducing a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention. In all the accompanying drawings, the same reference numeral denotes similar or identical feature and function.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of playing back a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, in step SIlO, a digital program is played back. Here, the digital program is an iTV program associated with link information. Of course, the digital program may be other programs. The forms of the digital programs do not constitute limitation to the invention. The digital program to be played back may be a live broadcasting digital program, or a digital program recorded in a local storage. If the digital program to be played back is a live broadcasting program, it needs to receive the digital program, whereas if the digital program to be played back is a digital program played back from a local storage, it is only needed to directly play back this program.

In step S 120, the data packet sent to the network is tracked to acquire a network destination address for network connection (for example, URL address). The data packet is sent to the network by running the applications in a transport stream of the digital program. Of course, it is also possible to acquire the network destination address for network connection directly from the link information in the applications.

The network link can be inserted to the iTV program in many different formats and can be inserted into the transport stream in many places. MHP is an example of combining the digital TV broadcast and network service.

Because of the "pull" feature of the network access, network connection is always initiated by user through interactive applications. Usually network link is inserted into the transport stream in two kinds of places, i.e. in application codes or in application data. The interactive application can direct the user to the network data, or the interactive application directly connects to the network by using the URL embedded in application codes or application data file.

The network link can be a part of the application codes or a part of the application data, for example the URL is listed in a text file and will be used by the applications. The URL also can be a part of the application codes.

After the connection is established, the applications can read the required data from a network server.

In step S 130, the data packet received from the network is tracked to acquire the network data corresponding to the network destination address from the network. At same time, the corresponding response information can also be acquired. The network data includes the data acquired directly from the network by the running applications, and the data acquired from the network by the user through interactive operation.

In addition, a mapping file is created for reflecting the correspondence relation between the network destination address of the network data and a local destination address (step S140). The local destination address is a specific storage address, which can be set in advance or determined after the network data is stored in the local storage.

Then, in step S 150, the digital program played back in step SIlO, the network data acquired in step S 130 and the mapping file created in step S 140 are recorded.

Of course, the digital program, the network data and the mapping file can be recorded in a same storage (such as a personal digital video recorder or a set top box with storage) or in different storages (such as a DVD burner or a personal computer).

If the digital program has been recorded in the local storage, it is not needed to record the digital program played back in step SIlO again.

Instructing a personal computer to execute corresponding downloading process is based on the following consideration. The network navigation sometimes does not conform to the activities of watching the digital program such as iTV. Some web pages may have poor displaying effect on TV sets. Even some TV sets do not support the newest web format. However, Broadcaster always tries to provide some extra data contents via iTV program to attract TV audiences to access a specific web site.

For example, the broadcaster may insert certain graphics or texts (not the actual URL) into the iTV program, to provide them to the TV audiences with the transport stream. The TV audiences can select to watch or download the web contents (hereinbefore referred as to "network data") linked with those graphics or texts. It is not convenient for some web contents (such as "flash" files) to be played back on TV sets. Therefore, users can select to download such web contents into apparatus (such as personal computer) which is adapted to play back those contents, so as to can view them later.

When audiences watch iTV program, they may not feel like turning on the personal computer or may not have enough time to turn it on, thus the broadcasted web contents are not downloaded. However, according to the method shown in Fig. 1, when the iTV program is recorded, the network data required to be downloaded into personal computer can be automatically downloaded. If the linked object is actual contents, they can be completely downloaded into the personal computer. If the linked object is a web page, a bookmark directing to this web page may be added in the browser of the personal computer, so that the user can always see the newest version of this web page.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an apparatus 200 for playing back a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention. The apparatus 200 may be a part of a set top box.

As shown in Fig. 2, the apparatus for processing a digital program comprises a playing back module 210 and an acquiring module 220. In addition, the apparatus for processing a digital program further comprises a recording module 230 and a storage 240.

The recording module 230 includes an iTV program recording module 232, a network data recording module 236 and a mapping file recording module 238.

As shown in Fig. 2, a digital program signal iTV is sent to the playing back module 210, wherein the digital program is an iTV program associated with link information. Of course, the digital program may be other kinds of digital programs. The digital program signal iTV may be a live broadcasting digital program, or a digital program played back from a local storage.

The digital program signal iTV includes audiovisual data and interactive applications. The operation of the interactive applications makes the playing back module 210 link to the network link information included in the digital program signal iTV. The network link usually has a URL format, and includes protocol information, network destination address information and authorization information, etc. The corresponding network data is read from a network server directed by the network destination address information. The audiovisual data in the iTV signal (including audio data and video data) and the network data are processed by the playing back module 210, and then played back through an image displaying device such as TV program player and the like.

The network data means the data acquired from the network server, and is the effective load portion of TCP/IP packets. A TCP/IP packet comprises a header portion and an effective load portion. The header portion comprises the information for communication, and the effective load portion comprises the data transported through network connection. In this embodiment, the network data means only the effective load data of the IP packet. For example, the network data can be text files, such as footballplayer.txt, or image files, such as player.jpg.

The acquiring module 220 tracks the packets which are sent to the network by running the applications in the transport stream of the digital program, acquires the connected network destination address, and acquires the network data corresponding to the network destination address from the network by tracking the data packet received from network. At the same time, the corresponding response information can also be acquired. The network data includes the data acquired directly from the network by the running applications, and the data acquired from the network by the user through interactive operation.

In addition, the acquiring module 220 comprises mapping file creating means 222 for creating a mapping file which reflects the correspondence relation between the network destination address of the network data and a local destination address. The local destination address is a specific storage address, which can be set in advance or determined after the network data is stored in the local storage.

Of course, the mapping file creating means 222 may not be a part of the acquiring module 220, and can be provided separately.

The local destination address is a storing address of the storage 240 included in the apparatus 200. The local destination address also can be a storing address of a storage (not shown in the drawing, such as a DVD burner) which does not belong to the apparatus 200. In this case, the apparatus 200 further includes sending means (not shown in the drawing) for sending the acquired network data to the storing address.

The recording module 230 is used to record the digital program iTV, the network data acquired by the acquiring module 220 and the mapping file created by the acquiring module 220. In the recording module 230, the iTV program recording module 232 is used to record the digital program iTV, the network data recording module 236 is used to record the network data, and the mapping file recording module 238 is used to record the mapping file. The recording module 230 can be provided outside the apparatus 200 separately.

The digital program, the network data and the mapping file are recorded into the local storage 240 included in the apparatus 200. Of course, the digital program, the network data and the mapping file can also be recorded into an independent storage provided separately with the apparatus 200.

If the local destination address is determined after the network data is stored in the local storage, the network data is first stored in the local storage 240 by the network data recording module 236, and the local storing information, such as a file path and a file name, of the stored network data is sent to the mapping file creating means 222. The mapping file creating means 222 thereby creates a corresponding mapping file.

Of course, the mapping file can be created by a device provided outside the apparatus 200.

A mapping file is listed below in an exemplary manner.

<Link_Info>

<Link_loop>

<Original_link>ftp://userl :TVuser@ TV.com.cn/animationl .sfw </Original_link>

<Content_ref> /TV_com_cn/animationl .sfw</Content_ref>

</Link_loop>

<Link_loop>

<Original_link>ftp://userl:TVuser@TV.com.cn/player2.jpg </Original_link>

<Content_ref> /TV_com_cn/player2.jpg </Content_ref>

</Link_loop>

<Link_loop>

</Link_loop>

Where "Original_link" is the URL information for a link, and "Content_ref ' is the storing position in the local storage of the linked content. If during playing back, the stored digital program is to connect to a network server to obtain a player2.jpg, the playing back system can acquire this player2.jpg from the local storage.

Thus, during playing back the digital program, the mapping information and the network data used by the interactive applications can be stored in the storage 240 together with the digital program signal iTV. When playing back the recorded digital program in the future, the player can access the network data stored in the storage 240, so that this digital program can be reproduced completely, to reduce or avoid the access to a network.

The above described storage 240 may be a hard disk or an optical disc (a DVD or Blu-ray optical disc).

Following will explain how to acquire network link information and network data.

The acquiring module 220 shown in Fig. 2 can be implemented in the following two ways.

The first way is to use an IP module to acquire all IP packets. Since the network link information and the network data transmission are based on Internet protocol (IP), the IP packets are the carrier to carry the network data. This acquiring module 220 is also called packet filter. The technology of the packet filter has been wildly used in the firewall of the computers. This is a direct way to acquire the network link information and the network data.

The second way is to use a proxy to acquire IP packets. All the network link information is directed to a proxy module. The proxy module will record the network connection request and also record the network data got from a network.

The packet filter module could be a module that filters all IP packets, and the proxy module could be combined with the middleware of the playing back module. The interactive application just initiates a connection to the network, and the proxy module gets the response from the network, records the network data and directs the returned data to the interactive applications.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method of reproducing a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention.

As shown in Fig. 3, in step S310, a digital program is played back. As described above, the digital program may be an iTV program, and may have one or more applications. The applications in the digital program are associated with network connection. That is, the digital program is associated with link information.

In step S320, the applications in the digital program are run.

In step S330, it is judged whether the applications need to acquire network data. If the judged result in step S330 is positive, the process proceeds to step S340; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S360.

In step S340, the local stored mapping file is searched for, to acquire the correspondence relation between the network connection required by the applications and the local stored network data or the network data required to be downloaded from network.

In step S350, according to the correspondence relation acquired in step S340, the network data is obtained from either the local or network, and the obtained network data is reproduced.

In step S360, it is judged whether the played back digital program is finished.

If the judged result in step S360 is negative, the process returns to step S330; otherwise, the process ends.

The step S340 is alternative.

The step S320 is also alternative. It can directly reproduce the local stored network data.

In order to use the local stored network data together with the digital program, a proxy may be set in the playing back apparatus. When the local stored digital program is played back and the application initiates to get the network data, the proxy will determine whether the related network data is gotten from network or from a local storage, by parsing the mapping file stored in the local.

During the live broadcasting, the linked content will be fetched by an interactive application from network through network connection. When the digital program with embedded link is stored and played back from a local storage, the application will also try to be connected to the network. Therefore, when the application is stored its application code should be modified, or a playing back apparatus (such as a player) has to redirect the application to get the network data from the local storage. Modification of the application when it is stored is not a feasible solution, because the recorder (such as a video recorder) needs to parse all of the application code. It is not suitable for real-time recording, and the modified applications even need to be multiplexed into transport stream again if the applications are not stored separately from the transport stream.

In practical case, some linked contents can be local stored and some linked contents can be obtained from network.

Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus for reproducing a digital program according to an embodiment of the invention. In general, the playing back apparatus in this embodiment comprises means for playing back the recorded digital program, and network data acquiring means for acquiring the local pre-stored network data when the network data corresponding to the link information in the digital program needs to be played back. Alternatively, the playing back apparatus in this embodiment may further comprise means for searching for the local stored mapping file to obtain the relation between said network connection and said network data before the local stored network data is reproduced.

More specifically, the reference number 410 indicates a playing back module, the reference number 420 indicates a proxy module, the reference number 430 indicates a decision module, the reference number 440 indicates an access module, the reference number 450 indicates a local located nonvolatile memory, and the reference number 460 indicates a network.

The playing back module 410 obtains the recorded digital program from the nonvolatile memory 450. The stored digital program includes audio/video streams and applications. Then, the playing back module 410 playbacks the audio/video streams, and runs the applications according to the scenario. When the run application issues a network connection request, the network connection request is forwarded to the proxy module 420.

The proxy module 420 reads link information from the nonvolatile memory 450. The link information can be stored in a link information file (not shown), or stored directly in a mapping file.

Then, the decision module 430 judges whether the linked network data has already been recorded in the nonvolatile memory 450.

If the linked network data has not been recorded in the nonvolatile memory 450, the access module 440 directs the connection request to a corresponding server in the network 460, and obtains the linked network data from the network 460.

If the linked network data has already been recorded in the nonvolatile memory 450, the access module 440 will fetch the recorded network data from the nonvolatile memory 450 through a file IO (input and output file), and forwards the fetched network data to the reproducing module 410.

The playing back module 410 shown in Fig. 4 may be a player, or a set top box with storage, or a burner with a playing back function. When the playing back module 410 plays back the live program with a network link, the proxy module 420 can be disabled, so as to acquire data directly from the network. When the playing back module 410 plays back the program recorded in the nonvolatile memory 450, the proxy module 420 is used to get the network data. As described above, the network data is fetched from the nonvolatile memory 450 or from the network 460.

For example, when an interactive application initiates a network connection request, the proxy module 420 will check the URL. If the URL is listed in the recorded link information file or the mapping file, then the proxy module 420 will obtain the linked network data from the local nonvolatile memory 450; otherwise, obtain the linked network data from the network 460. Alternatively, the proxy module 420 could also try to obtain the linked network data from the network 460 first. When the linked network data can not be obtained from the network 460, the proxy module 420 then would try to obtain the linked network data from the local nonvolatile memory 450.

Exempt for the iTV program, the digital program may employ other forms. The different forms of the digital program do not constitute limitation to the invention.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that such a disclosure is not to be construed as limiting. Various alternations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the above disclosure. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alternations and modifications as falling into the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of playing back a digital program, comprising the steps of:

(a) playing back a digital program associated with link information; and (b) acquiring network data corresponding to the link information, for recording the network data in a specific address.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising step of: receiving said digital program.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising step of: recording said digital program.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising step of: recording said network data.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising step of: creating a mapping file which reflects the correspondence relation between said specific address and said link information.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising step of: recording said mapping file.

7. An apparatus for playing back a digital program, comprising: playing back means for playing back a digital program associated with link information; and acquiring means for acquiring network data corresponding to the link information, for recording the network data in a specific address.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising: recording means for recording said digital program and said network data.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising: sending means for sending said network data to said specific address.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein said acquiring means further comprises mapping file creating means for creating a mapping file which reflects the correspondence relation between said specific address and said link information.

11. A method of reproducing a digital program, comprising the steps of: playing back a digital program associated with link information; and playing back the local pre- stored network data when the network data corresponding to the link information needs to be played back.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising step of: acquiring the local pre- stored network data according to a mapping file and said link information.

13. An apparatus for reproducing a digital program, comprising: playing back means for playing back a digital program associated with link information; and network data acquiring means for acquiring the local pre- stored network data when the network data corresponding to the link information needs to be played back.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said playing back means is further used to play back said network data.