Radio link software distribution procedure

Abstract

A radio-link software distribution method to be implemented by a computerized software distribution system (1), characterized by: Splitting a software image to be distributed into a plurality of split image parts; Encapsulating the plurality of split image parts into a plurality of data streams, respectively, and parallel broadcasting of data streams, characterized in that each of the data streams is a private packet elementary stream in accordance with an MPEG-2 standard.

Description

[0001] The disclosure relates to a software distribution method and, more particularly, to an over-the-air software distribution method.

[0002] Recently, OAD (over-the-air download) has lost its importance in ATSC / DVB (ATSC: advanced television systems committee; DVB: digital video broadcasting) receivers. The main reason for the decline in OAD's popularity is the increased download time, especially for large software images transmitted as DSM-CC (digital storage media, command and control) sections, each of which has a maximum section size of 4 kilobytes in conventional OAD technology. ATSC-DVB receiver manufacturers now rely more heavily on IP-based software download technologies. However, it is difficult to perform software updates on all target devices without using OAD technology.

[0003] EP 1 879 355 A2 teaches a method for providing driver software by radio, wherein the software is divided into a number of download data blocks with identifiers and sent as a data stream of successive data blocks several times at different times to a receiver, which can supplement data blocks missing in a data stream due to interference with corresponding data blocks from one of the other data streams.

[0004] KR 10 2007 0 008 847 A describes an approach for upgrading a digital receiver by setting up a number of virtual channels and downloading software in chunks over these channels and merging the downloaded software chunks at the receiver end.

[0005] EP 1 688 834 A2 and Costa et al., IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 56 (1), pp. 261-268 (2010) deal with software upgrades of televisions, where software to be updated, including model identification, is packaged in, for example, MPEG data streams and broadcast to televisions, where it is received by the digital receiver and, if the model identification matches, is unpacked and saved as software.

[0006] US 5 768 539 A also uses MPEG coding to transmit programs over a channel that also carries media data.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide an over-the-air software distribution method that can alleviate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.

[0008] According to the disclosure, the over-the-air software distribution method is to be implemented by a computerized software distribution system and includes the features according to independent claim 1.

[0009] Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent from the dependent claims and in the following detailed description of the embodiment(s) with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of an embodiment of the over-the-air software distribution method according to the disclosure; and Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary implementation of the embodiment.

[0010] Before describing the disclosure in more detail, it should be noted that, where deemed appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated between the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements that may optionally have similar characteristics.

[0011] Referring to Fig. 1, the embodiment of the over-the-air software distribution method according to this disclosure is implemented by a computerized software distribution system 1 at a broadcaster end to provide software images or software updates to a plurality of receiver devices, such as DTV (digital television) set-top boxes. A software image may be a computer file containing all the software content. Fig. For clarity, only one receiver device 2 is shown in Figure 1. The embodiment will be described below based on an MPEG-2 standard, but this disclosure is not limited in this respect. The method is not dependent on video or audio coding standards and can be compatible with other standards such as MPEG-4, HEVC (high efficiency video coding), etc.

[0012] In this embodiment, the computerized software distribution system 1 is configured or programmed to include a software image splitter 11, a packet generator 12, and a multiplexer 13. The software image splitter 11 divides a software or software update image to be distributed to the recipient devices into a plurality of divided image parts so as to be organized into modules for data transport (each divided image part serving as a module for data transport), and then the divided image parts are provided to the packet generator 12.

[0013] Packet generator 12 encapsulates the split image parts into multiple private packet elementary streams (PESs, whose structures may be defined in a conventional standard, e.g., the MPEG-3 standard) (data streams), each with an individual PID (packet identifier), and encapsulates each of the privately wrapped elementary streams into a private transport stream (TS) packet stream. Specifically, packet generator 12 divides each module into multiple blocks and encapsulates the blocks into PES packets to form a correspondingly private PES for each module.It should be noted that in the MPEG-2 standard, packet elementary streams provide a mechanism for sending variable-size data identities with a maximum length of 64 kilobytes in a PES packet, which is much larger than a DSM-CC section (4 kilobytes). This results in a higher bit rate for data transmission and significantly reduced download times. Additionally, because the DSM-CC standard defines that each module can contain a maximum of 65,535 blocks, this implementation can allow vendors providing software or software updates (e.g., receiver manufacturers) to send software images with a larger image size using OAD technology.

[0014] The multiplexer 13 combines PES packets of the private TS packet streams with, for example, audio TS packet streams (originating from audio packet elementary streams), video TS packet streams (originating from video packet elementary streams), and DSM-CC section data TS packets (originating from DSM-CC section data), etc., to form a transport stream (data stream group), where the DSM-CC section data may contain information related to packet elementary streams, such as OUIs (Organizationally Unique Identifiers), DSI (Download Server Initiated) messages, DII (Download Information Indication) messages, etc. The transport stream is transmitted after modulation, whereby the private packet elementary streams are broadcast in parallel together with other audio / video packet elementary streams and DSM-CC section data at a specific frequency that may fall within a range of radio frequencies.

[0015] On the receiver side, the receiver device 2 may include a tuner 21 for receiving the modulated transport stream at the specific frequency, a demodulator 22 (which may be either hardware-implemented or software-implemented) for demodulating the modulated transport stream, and a processor 23. The processor 23 may be configured / programmed to demultiplex the (demodulated) transport stream (i.e., to separate the packet elementary streams and the DSM-CC section data from the transport stream) and to parse and extract the OUIs, DSI, and / or DII messages from the DSM-CC section data of the transport stream. Then, the processor 23 may download the blocks of the modules in parallel from the private packet elementary streams based on the DSI and / or DII messages. After completing the download of all blocks of any of the modules, the processor 23 may reassemble the blocks into the corresponding module.After all modules have been assembled, the processor 23 merges the modules into the full software or software update image and then initiates the installation or update process for the software or software update.

[0016] Fig. Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the embodiment employing an existing DSM-CC protocol, where a software update image is divided into four target modules (Module_1 to Module_4), each forming a corresponding split image part, and each of which is further divided into a plurality of blocks (DDB). Each target module can be clustered with modules of other software images of the manufacturer to form a group according to the manufacturer (however, in Fig. 2 For clarity, only the target modules are shown), where the group has a corresponding DII message describing all of the modules in the group. A plurality of groups, which may originate from the same manufacturer or different manufacturers, and each of which has a corresponding DII message (it should be noted that only the DII messages corresponding to the target modules are shown in Fig.2 for clarity), may be clustered to form a super-group corresponding to a respective packet elementary stream and having a corresponding DII message describing all the groups in the super-group and a group info indication (gi_1 to gi_4) referring to the corresponding OUI (OUI_A1 to OUI_A4). In such a case, a PMT (Program Mapping Table), which may be included in the DSM-CC section data of the transport stream, may contain four Data_Broadcast_ID_Descriptors, each containing an OUI (OUI_A1 to OUI_A4) identifying the manufacturer of the software update and indicating a corresponding DSI message. This scenario enables parallel download for the four target modules (Module_1 to Module_4), reducing the time required for downloading.

[0017] In view of the above, the over-the-air software distribution method according to this disclosure can achieve efficient downloading for software or software update images by: 1) dividing the software image to be distributed into multiple parts, thereby enabling parallel downloading to save download time; and 2) encapsulating each divided software part as a private packet elementary stream having a larger maximum block size compared to the conventional DSM-CC section data, thereby increasing the download speed.

[0018] In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment(s). However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference in this specification to "an embodiment," "an embodiment," an embodiment with a serial number, etc., means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should further be appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped into a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for purposes of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in understanding the various inventive aspects.

Claims

[1] Radio software distribution method to be implemented by a computerized software distribution system (1), characterized by : Splitting a software image to be distributed into a plurality of split image parts; Encapsulating the plurality of split image parts into a plurality of data streams, respectively, and parallel broadcasting of data streams, characterized by that each of the data streams is a private packet elementary stream in accordance with an MPEG-2 standard. [2] Radio link software distribution method according to claim 1, characterized by that the parallel broadcasting of data streams involves: Forming the data streams into a data stream group; and Broadcasting the data stream group. [3] Radio link software distribution method according to claim 2, characterized by that the data stream group is an MPEG transport stream. [4] Radio link software distribution method according to claim 2, characterized by that the data stream group contains section data containing information relating to the data streams; wherein the radio link software distribution method is implemented by the computerized software distribution system (1) in cooperation with a receiver device (2) receiving the data stream group, and further comprising: Parsing and extracting, by the receiver device (2), the information relating to the data streams from the data stream group; parallel downloading, by the receiver device (2), the plurality of divided image parts from the data streams based on the information relating to the data streams; and Merging, by the receiving device (2) after complete downloading of the plurality of split image parts, the plurality of split image parts into the software image to be distributed. [5] Radio link software distribution method according to claim 4, characterized by that the data stream group is an MPEG transport stream and the section data is in accordance with a section data format defined in a DSM-CC standard.

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