Multi-channel network television playing system based on fusion gateway

Abstract

The invention relates to a multi-channel audio and video processing technology, discloses a multi-channel network television playing system based on a fusion gateway, and solves the problem that personalized program selection cannot be realized in a multi-channel audio and video playing scheme of a traditional network television. The system comprises a fusion gateway and a plurality of display terminals, the fusion gateway comprises a gateway subunit, a set top box subunit and n interface conversion modules; the set top box subunit comprises a system main control center, n physical network adapters and n audio and video processing subsystem groups; each physical network adapter is accessed to the gateway subunit through one interface conversion module; each audio and video processing subsystem group comprises m audio and video processing subsystems, and each subsystem comprises a virtual network adapter, a streaming media downloading module, a streaming media caching module, an audio and video decoding module and an audio and video resource sharing pool service module; the system master control center comprises a special virtual network adapter, a network management and scheduling module, an audio and video sharing pool management and scheduling module, an interaction service module, a display terminal information management module and a data storage module.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a multi-channel audio and video processing technology, and in particular to a multi-channel network television playing system based on a fusion gateway. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development and in-depth promotion of 5G technology, online TV has undergone a qualitative leap in terms of content, transmission and user experience. In particular, the development of multi-channel audio and video technology has further enhanced the user's viewing experience.

[0003] At present, traditional network TV usually uses a set-top box sharer for the playback of multi-channel audio and video, that is, multiple playback terminals share a set-top box, a multi-user shared viewing mode. The disadvantage is that each playback terminal can only watch the same program content at the same time, and personalized program selection cannot be achieved. Summary of the invention

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to propose a multi-channel network television playback system based on a converged gateway to solve the problem that the multi-channel audio and video playback solution of traditional network television cannot realize personalized program selection.

[0005] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve the above technical problems is:

[0006] A system for multi-channel network television playback based on a converged gateway, comprising a converged gateway and a plurality of display terminals connected to the converged gateway; each display terminal is installed with a client APP supporting multi-channel network television;

[0007] The converged gateway includes a gateway subunit, a set-top box unit and n interface conversion modules;

[0008] The set-top box unit includes a system main control center, n physical network adapters and n audio and video processing subsystem groups; the n audio and video processing subsystem groups are configured in a one-to-one correspondence with the n physical network adapters, and each physical network adapter is connected to the gateway subunit through an interface conversion module;

[0009] Each audio and video processing subsystem group includes m audio and video processing subsystems, and each audio and video processing subsystem includes a virtual network adapter, a streaming media download module, a streaming media cache module, an audio and video decoding module, and an audio and video resource sharing pool service module connected in sequence;

[0010] The system main control center is responsible for the UI interaction between the system and multiple display terminals, as well as the management and scheduling of various audio and video processing subsystems, which includes: a dedicated virtual network adapter, a network management and scheduling module, an audio and video sharing pool management and scheduling module, an interactive service module, a display terminal information management module and a data storage module.

[0011] Furthermore, the virtual network adapter is implemented through software and is configured with an independent static IP address, a virtual MAC address, a gateway address and a DNS address.

[0012] Furthermore, the n audio and video processing subsystem groups in the set-top box unit support a total of n*m display terminals to watch different programs simultaneously.

[0013] Furthermore, the dedicated virtual network adapter is implemented through software and is equipped with a dedicated IP address and port, so that after the display terminal starts the client APP, it can access the interactive service module through the dedicated IP address and port to communicate user interactive information.

[0014] Furthermore, the network management and scheduling module and the audio and video sharing pool management and scheduling module are used to manage and schedule the network and audio and video resources in the system through the same resource configuration table;

[0015] The resource configuration table includes: audio and video processing subsystem ID, subsystem audio and video resource sharing pool service address, whether activated, program name, playback URL and display terminal ID group. The display terminal ID group records the display terminal ID linked to the audio and video processing subsystem of this channel, and supports multiple display terminals to be bound to the same audio and video processing subsystem.

[0016] Furthermore, the interactive service module is used to provide UI interaction with the display terminal, and has a monitoring function, which detects whether a display terminal sends an audio or video service request by monitoring the port of the dedicated virtual network adapter, and returns response information.

[0017] Furthermore, the UI interaction between the interactive service module and the display terminal adopts a server-client mode, and the communication adopts a private protocol for encapsulating data in key-value pairs.

[0018] Furthermore, the display terminal information management module is used to manage the information of the connected display terminal, including: device MAC, device ID, device status, ID of the audio and video processing subsystem connected to the device and the name of the program played by the device.

[0019] Furthermore, the data storage module stores data including: resource configuration table, display terminal information table, UI tree mapping table and application-level screenshot data;

[0020] The UI tree mapping table consists of three types of nodes: root node, trunk node and leaf node; each node contains: node ID number, name, type, parent node ID, X coordinate response range, Y coordinate response range, link address, among which only the link address of the leaf node is the playback address.

[0021] Furthermore, the UI interaction method includes:

[0022] The interface displayed by the display terminal is a screenshot of the application interfaces at various levels pre-stored in the set-top box unit. The focus area is selected by clicking on the display terminal, and the coordinates of the center of the focus area are sent to the system main control center. The system main control center compares the coordinates of the focus center with the UI tree mapping table and searches for matching node information. If the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the focus center are respectively within the X coordinate response range and Y coordinate response range of a certain node information, the match is completed, and the system main control center encapsulates the node information and the associated screenshot data and feeds it back to the display terminal.

[0023] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0024] Based on the system architecture provided by the present invention, without the need to configure a set-top box for each display terminal separately, thereby saving costs, the same set-top box can simultaneously support audio and video playback of m*n display terminals, and the content played by each display terminal can be different, so that family members can choose to watch different programs according to their respective preferences, thereby meeting the user's personalized viewing needs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 A system structure diagram of multi-channel network television playback based on a converged gateway in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the structure of the audio and video processing subsystem in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the system main control center in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a UI tree mapping table in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The present invention aims to provide a system for multi-channel network television playback based on a converged gateway, so as to solve the problem that the multi-channel audio and video playback solutions of traditional network television cannot realize personalized program selection. The system of the present invention includes a converged gateway and multiple display terminals, wherein the converged gateway includes a gateway side and a set-top box side, the gateway side is responsible for the LAN access of the display terminal; the set-top box side is responsible for the reception and processing of multi-channel audio and video signals; the set-top box side is configured with n (n≥2, the specific number is related to the number of LAN ports supported by the gateway) physical network adapters (physical network cards) to access the gateway side through an interface conversion module, thereby providing a data transmission channel; the present invention sets n audio and video processing subsystem groups on the set-top box side of the converged gateway; the n audio and video processing subsystem groups are connected to the n physical network adapters One-to-one configuration binding, and each audio and video processing subsystem group contains m (m ≥ 1, the specific number is related to the performance of the gateway) audio and video processing subsystems, thus forming m*n independent audio and video processing subsystems, which can provide m*n display terminals with simultaneous and independent playback of different audio and video programs. The management and scheduling of the network and audio and video resources within the system are completed by the system main control center on the set-top box side based on the same resource configuration table, and through technical means such as UI tree mapping table, screenshots, coordinate positioning, etc., the interactive services in the display terminal and the system main control center are used for UI interaction.

[0030] Therefore, based on the system architecture provided by the present invention, the audio and video playback of m*n display terminals can be supported simultaneously through the same set-top box, and the content played by each display terminal can be different, so that family members can choose to watch different programs according to their respective preferences, thereby meeting the user's personalized viewing needs.

[0031] Example

[0032] See also Figure 1 The multi-channel network TV playback system based on the converged gateway provided in this embodiment includes a converged gateway and multiple display terminals connected to the converged gateway; these display terminals can support terminal devices of various sizes of screens, such as smart phones, PCs, Pads and TVs.

[0033] The converged gateway includes a gateway subunit, a set-top box unit and n interface conversion modules;

[0034] The set-top box unit is mainly responsible for the downloading, decompression / decoding, data access services and other processing of streaming media (live / on-demand), and prepares audio and video data for the display terminal. It includes a system main control center, n physical network adapters and n audio and video processing subsystem groups; the n audio and video processing subsystem groups are configured one-to-one with the n physical network adapters, and each physical network adapter is connected to the gateway subunit through an interface conversion module;

[0035] Each audio and video processing subsystem group includes m audio and video processing subsystems. The structure of each audio and video processing subsystem is shown in Figure 2 , which includes a virtual network adapter, a streaming media download module, a streaming media cache module, an audio and video decoding module and an audio and video resource sharing pool service module connected in sequence.

[0036] Among them, the virtual network adapter is implemented through software, configured with an independent static IP address, virtual MAC address, gateway address, and DNS address, bound to the physical network adapter, and can communicate with the external network. One physical network adapter can be bound to m virtual network adapters.

[0037] The streaming media download module is mainly used to receive the playback instructions from the system main control center, create a network link according to the playback URL address brought in by the instruction, download the streaming media data, and save it to the streaming media cache module.

[0038] The audio and video decoding module is mainly used to further process the data in the streaming media cache and restore the audio and video data. The system supports set-top box decoding or transparent transmission, and the transparent transmission is decoded by the display terminal.

[0039] The audio and video resource sharing pool service module is mainly used to save and manage audio and video resources, and provide audio and video resource services to all display terminals bound to this subsystem.

[0040] The system control center is responsible for the UI interaction between the system and multiple display terminals, as well as the management and scheduling of various audio and video processing subsystems. Its structure is as follows: Figure 3 As shown, it includes: a dedicated virtual network adapter, a network management and scheduling module, an audio and video sharing pool management and scheduling module, an interactive service module, a display terminal information management module and a data storage module.

[0041] Among them, the dedicated virtual network adapter is implemented through software and is equipped with a dedicated IP address and port, so that after the display terminal starts the client APP, it can access the interactive service module through the dedicated IP address and port to communicate user interactive information.

[0042] The network management and scheduling module and the audio and video sharing pool management and scheduling module are used to manage and schedule the network and audio and video resources in the system through the same resource configuration table.

[0043] The resource configuration table includes: audio and video processing subsystem ID, subsystem audio and video resource sharing pool service address, whether activated, program name, playback URL and display terminal ID group. The display terminal ID group records the display terminal ID linked to the audio and video processing subsystem of this channel, and supports binding multiple display terminals to the same audio and video processing subsystem. It can be understood that for multiple display terminals bound to the same audio and video processing subsystem, the same program content is played at the same time. Therefore, this embodiment not only supports different audio and video playback of different display terminals at the same time, but also supports the playback of the same program content by all or part of the display terminals at the same time, and has strong flexibility.

[0044] An exemplary resource configuration table is shown in Table 1 below:

[0045] Table 1: Resource configuration table

[0046]

[0047] The interactive service module mainly supports the interaction of information and UI between the display terminal and the interactive service through technical means such as UI tree mapping table, screenshots, coordinate positioning, etc. The interactive service has a monitoring function. After the system service is started, it starts to monitor the port on the dedicated virtual network adapter, detects whether there is a display terminal sending an audio and video service request, and returns a response message. The communication between the display terminal and the interactive service adopts a communication mode similar to that between the client and the server. The communication adopts a private protocol that encapsulates data in key-value pairs. Among them, an exemplary display terminal request main keywords include: service name, device mac, device type, set-top box UI resolution, current display node ID number, focus coordinates; wherein, the focus coordinates need to be converted into coordinate values ​​corresponding to the resolution of the set-top box UI. The definitions of these main keywords are shown in Table 2 below:

[0048] Table 2: Definition of main keywords for display terminal requests

[0049]

[0050] The main keywords returned by an exemplary interactive service include: service name, device mac, device type, resource type, set-top box UI resolution, current display node ID, audio and video resource sharing pool service address, and screenshot data. Among them, resource types are divided into pic and vedio. pic sends screenshot data, and vedio sends the address of the audio and video resource sharing pool service. The definitions of these keywords are shown in Table 3:

[0051] Table 3: Definition of main keywords returned by interactive services

[0052]

[0053] The interaction method between the interactive service and the display terminal includes: the interface displayed by the display terminal is a screenshot of the application interfaces at various levels pre-stored in the set-top box unit, the focus area is selected by clicking on the display terminal, and the coordinates of the center of the focus area are sent to the system main control center, the system main control center compares the coordinates of the focus center with the UI tree mapping table, searches for matching node information, if the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the focus center are respectively within the X coordinate response range and Y coordinate response range of a certain node information, then the match is completed, the system main control center encapsulates the node information and the associated screenshot data and feeds it back to the display terminal, and repeats this process to complete the UI interaction.

[0054] The display terminal information management module is mainly responsible for the management of the connected display terminal information, including: device MAC, device ID, device status (online / offline), the ID of the audio and video processing subsystem connected to the device, the name of the program played by the device, etc.

[0055] The data storage module stores data including: resource configuration table, display terminal information table, UI tree mapping table, application-level screenshot data, etc.

[0056] The specific content of an exemplary UI tree mapping table is as follows: Figure 4 As shown, it consists of three types of nodes: root, trunk, and leaf. Each node is a focusable / responsive View, including: node ID, name, type, parent node ID, X-coordinate response range, Y-coordinate response range, and link address (screenshot address or playback address). Only the link address of the leaf node is the playback address.

[0057] The creation of the UI tree mapping table supports the self-study mode: the focus coordinates in the initial state start from (0.0), and traverse each page's focusable / responsive View according to the principle of from left to right and from top to bottom. By alternating and cyclically operating the confirmation key / return key, the browsing of all levels of pages is completed. All processes automatically trigger remote control events through the system background service to complete the creation of the UI tree mapping table and screenshots. Among them, the node coordinate range is obtained by capturing the key data of the starting coordinates, width and height of the focus VIew redrawn.

[0058] The workflow of the above-mentioned system for multi-channel network television playback based on the converged gateway provided in this embodiment is as follows:

[0059] 1. After the set-top box is started, check the version information of the application in the system preset application list. If the version is updated, create or update the UI tree mapping table and screenshots.

[0060] 2. Before using the display terminal, you need to pre-install a client APP that supports multi-channel network TV. After the application is started, it will connect to the interactive service of the system main control center on the set-top box side by default, send a requestMultiService (multi-service request) request, and obtain audio and video services.

[0061] 3. After receiving the request information, the interactive service of the system main control center on the set-top box side sends the screenshot information of the home page to the terminal display and simultaneously updates the display terminal information table.

[0062] 4. The display terminal makes a judgment based on the keyword dataType in the response data of the system main control center:

[0063] A. If the type is pic, the screenshot is displayed. After the user continues to select the menu (such as "Watch TV"), the display terminal converts the focus coordinates according to the UI resolution of the set-top box in the response data, and encapsulates the converted coordinates and other information according to the private protocol, and sends a getNextPage request to the interactive service of the system main control center on the set-top box side again to request the next level page.

[0064] B. If the type is vedio, then according to the address of the audio and video resource sharing pool service of the audio and video processing subsystem redirected by the vedioUrl program in the response data, send a requestToPlay request, create a network link with the specified audio and video processing subsystem, and pull down the audio and video stream to start playing the live / on-demand program.

[0065] 5. The interactive service of the system main control center on the set-top box side is also determined according to the type of action in the request data:

[0066] A. If it is getNextPage (next page), then compare the node information in the UI tree mapping table with the coordinates focus coordinates (X, Y) in the request information. If the X coordinate and Y coordinate are respectively within the response range of the X coordinate and the response range of the Y coordinate of a certain node information, the node matching is completed. Check the type of the node. If it is a trunk node, encapsulate and package the screenshot data associated with the node through a private protocol and send it to the display terminal. If it is a leaf node, query the resource configuration table to see if the playback URL of the node is being played. If the resource exists, send the address of the audio and video resource sharing pool service of the audio and video processing subsystem being played to the display terminal. If the resource does not exist, start an unactivated audio and video processing subsystem, start playing the URL, and simultaneously send the address of the audio and video resource sharing pool service of the audio and video processing subsystem to the display terminal.

[0067] B. If it is getPrePage (home page), then compare the node information in the UI tree mapping table with the ID number of the nodeID in the request information. After searching for a matching node, search the parent node information of the node again. After two searches, obtain the parent node information and send the relevant information to the display terminal through the definition of the private protocol.

[0068] By repeating the above steps 4 and 5, the display terminal completes the interactive operation of the UI and starts playing the live / on-demand program.

[0069] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only preferred implementations and are not intended to limit the present invention. It should be pointed out that for those skilled in the art, several modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention and the scope of protection of the claims, and all of these should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A system for multi-channel network television playback based on a converged gateway, characterized in that: It includes a converged gateway and multiple display terminals connected to the converged gateway; each display terminal is installed with a client APP supporting multi-channel network television; The converged gateway includes a gateway subunit, a set-top box unit and n interface conversion modules; The set-top box unit includes a system main control center, n physical network adapters and n audio and video processing subsystem groups; the n audio and video processing subsystem groups are configured in a one-to-one correspondence with the n physical network adapters, and each physical network adapter is connected to the gateway subunit through an interface conversion module; Each audio and video processing subsystem group includes m audio and video processing subsystems, and each audio and video processing subsystem includes a virtual network adapter, a streaming media download module, a streaming media cache module, an audio and video decoding module, and an audio and video resource sharing pool service module connected in sequence; The system main control center is responsible for the UI interaction between the system and multiple display terminals, as well as the management and scheduling of various audio and video processing subsystems, which includes: a dedicated virtual network adapter, a network management and scheduling module, an audio and video sharing pool management and scheduling module, an interactive service module, a display terminal information management module and a data storage module.

2. A system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The virtual network adapter is implemented by software and is configured with an independent static IP address, a virtual MAC address, a gateway address and a DNS address.

3. The system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The n audio and video processing subsystem groups in the set-top box unit support a total of n*m display terminals to watch different programs simultaneously.

4. The system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The dedicated virtual network adapter is implemented through software and is equipped with a dedicated IP address and port, so that after the display terminal starts the client APP, it can access the interactive service module through the dedicated IP address and port to communicate user interactive information.

5. The system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The network management and scheduling module and the audio and video sharing pool management and scheduling module are used to manage and schedule the network and audio and video resources in the system through the same resource configuration table; The resource configuration table includes: audio and video processing subsystem ID, subsystem audio and video resource sharing pool service address, whether activated, program name, playback URL and display terminal ID group. The display terminal ID group records the display terminal ID linked to the audio and video processing subsystem of this channel, and supports multiple display terminals to be bound to the same audio and video processing subsystem.

6. The system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The interactive service module is used to provide UI interaction with the display terminal. It has a monitoring function. By monitoring the port of the dedicated virtual network adapter, it detects whether a display terminal sends an audio and video service request and returns response information.

7. A system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that: The UI interaction between the interactive service module and the display terminal adopts a server-client mode, and the communication adopts a private protocol for key-value pair encapsulation of data.

8. A system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The display terminal information management module is used to manage the information of the connected display terminal, including: device MAC, device ID, device status, ID of the audio and video processing subsystem connected to the device and the name of the program played by the device.

9. The system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The data storage module stores data including: resource configuration table, display terminal information table, UI tree mapping table and application-level screenshot data; The UI tree mapping table consists of three types of nodes: root node, trunk node and leaf node; each node contains: node ID number, name, type, parent node ID, X coordinate response range, Y coordinate response range, link address, among which only the link address of the leaf node is the playback address.

10. The system for multi-channel network television broadcasting based on a converged gateway as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that: The UI interaction methods include: The interface displayed by the display terminal is a screenshot of the application interfaces at various levels pre-stored in the set-top box unit. The focus area is selected by clicking on the display terminal, and the coordinates of the center of the focus area are sent to the system main control center. The system main control center compares the coordinates of the focus center with the UI tree mapping table and searches for matching node information. If the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the focus center are respectively within the X coordinate response range and Y coordinate response range of a certain node information, the match is completed, and the system main control center encapsulates the node information and the associated screenshot data and feeds it back to the display terminal.

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