File distribution method and apparatus in a mobile broadcast system

• US 20060221882A1
• Filed: 03/31/2006
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Ji-Hye, Hwang, Sung-Oh, Kim, Eun-Jung, Jung, Bo-Sun
• Application Number:
  US11/393,850
• Publication Number:
  US 20060221882A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/38 Arrangements for distribution where lower stations, e.g. receivers, interact with the broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/14 Arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/90 Wireless transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 for selective distribution or broadcast

Abstract

A system and method are provided for providing a broadcast service (BCAST) in a mobile broadcast system. The system and method include a file application function (FA) that provides a file attribute related to the broadcast service, receives at least one file to be provided to at least one terminal and attribute information for the file, and delivers the received file and attribute information to a file delivery function (FD) in a BCAST service distribution/adaptation (BSD/A). The FD generates at least one bundle of files using the at least one received file based on service configuration information of a file transmitted from a BCAST subscription management (BSM) that manages subscriber information of the terminal, and generates a BCAST file including the at least one file or one bundle of files. The FD negotiates with a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the BDS and the interaction network, using configuration information for the BCAST file to set up a bearer for delivering the generated BCAST file. After completion of setting up the bearer, the FD delivers the BCAST file to a terminal subscribed to the broadcast service.

Claims

1. A method for providing a broadcast service (BCAST) in a mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by a file application function (FA), at least one file to be provided to at least one terminal and attribute information for the file, from the content creation, and delivering the received file and attribute information to a file delivery function (FD) in a BCAST service distribution/adaptation (BSD/A);

(b) generating, by the FD, a BCAST file comprising the at least one file or one bundle of files;

(c) negotiating, by the FD, with a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the BDS and the interaction network, using attribute information for the BCAST file to set up a bearer for delivering the generated BCAST file; and

(d) after completion of the setting up of the bearer, delivering by the FD, the BCAST file to a terminal subscribed to the broadcast service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (a) further comprises the step of performing, by the FA, content protection on the at least one file received from the content creation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (c) comprises the steps of:

sending, by the FD, a request for bearer assignment to the BDS-SD based on the attribute information; and

setting up, by the BDS-SD, a bearer and sending a response to the request to the FD.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (a) further comprises the step of providing, by the FD, notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file to the terminal subscribed to the broadcast service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (a) further comprises the step of providing, by the FD, notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file to BDS-SD.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (a) further comprises the step of:

after completion of the setting up of the bearer, performing, by the FD, service protection on the bearer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (b) further comprises the step of:

generating, by the FD, at least one bundle of files using the at least one received file based on service configuration information of a file transmitted from a BCAST subscription management (BSM) that manages subscriber information of the terminal.

8. A method for providing a broadcast service (BCAST) in a mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by a file application function (FA), at least one file to be provided to at least one terminal and attribute information for the file, from the content creation, and delivering the received file and attribute information to a file delivery function (FD) in a BCAST service distribution/adaptation (BSD/A);

(b) generating a BCAST file comprising the at least one file or one bundle of files;

(c) delivering, by the FD, the BCAST file to a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the BDS and the interaction network; and

(d) delivering, by the BDS-SD, the BCAST file to a file deliver client function (FD-C) of a terminal subscribed to the broadcast service over at least one of a broadcast channel and an interaction channel.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of performing, by the FA, content protection on the at least one file received from the content creation.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of, after completion of setting up the bearer, performing, by the BDS-SD, service protection on the bearer.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step (b) further comprises the step of:

generating, by the FD, at least one bundle of files using the at least one received file based on service configuration information of a file transmitted from a BCAST subscription management (BSM) that manages subscriber information of the terminal.

12. A method for repairing a damaged broadcast service (BCAST) file delivered from a terminal in a mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) sending, by a file deliver client function (FD-C) of the terminal, a retransmission request message comprising information on all or portion of the BCAST file;

(b) reconfiguring, by the FD, a BCAST file including all or portion of the requested BCAST file based on the received retransmission request message; and

(c) negotiating, by the FD, with a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the BDS and the interaction network, to set up a bearer for delivering the BCAST file, and delivering the BCAST file over the set bearer.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the retransmission request message comprises location information of the terminal.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the location information comprises an area identifier set in the BDS or an area identifier set in the broadcast service.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the FD is further configured to select a transmission area before delivering the BCAST file to the terminal.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the step (a) further comprises the step of sending, by the FD, a response to the retransmission request message to the FD-C of the terminal.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the step (c) comprises the steps of:

after completion of the setting up of the bearer, performing, by the FD, service protection on the bearer; and

delivering the service-protected BCAST file to the FD-C over a broadcast channel.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the step (c) comprises the steps of:

After completion of the setting up of the bearer, delivering, by the FD, the BCAST file to the interaction network;

upon receiving the BCAST file, performing, by the interaction network, service protection on the bearer; and

delivering, by the interaction network, the service-protected BCAST file to the FD-C.

19. A terminal report method for a broadcast service (BCAST) file delivered to a terminal in a mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) delivering, by a file deliver client function (FD-C) of the terminal, a report comprising quality information for the BCAST file to a file delivery function (FD) in a BCAST service distribution/adaptation (BSD/A);

(b) analyzing, by the FD, the received report and delivering the analysis result to a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the BDS and the interaction network; and

(c) improving, by the BDS-SD, channel quality based on the analysis result.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of, after the step (a), sending, by the FD, a response to the report to the FD-C.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step (c) comprises the step of checking whether forward error correction (FEC) and transmission power are appropriate.

22. A terminal report method for a broadcast service (BCAST) file delivered to a terminal in a mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) delivering, by a file deliver client function (FD-C) of the terminal, a report comprising quality information for the BCAST file to a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the interaction network;

(b) analyzing, by the BDS-SD, the received report and delivering the analysis result to a file delivery function (FD) in a BCAST service distribution/adaptation (B SD/A); and

(c) improving, by the FD, channel quality based on the analysis result.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step (c) comprises the step of checking whether forward error correction (FEC) and transmission power are appropriate.

24. A method for providing a broadcast service (BCAST) in a mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by a file application function (FA) that provides a file attribute related to the broadcast service, at least one file to be provided to at least one terminal and attribute information for the file, from the content creation, and performing content protection on the at least one file;

(b) delivering, by the FA, the content-protected at least one file and the attribute information for determining a bearer for transmitting the file, to a file delivery function (FD) in a BCAST service distribution/adaptation (BSD/A);

(c) generating, by the FD, at least one bundle of files by aggregating the at least one received file based on service configuration information of a file transmitted from a BCAST subscription management (BSM) that manages subscriber information of the terminal, and generating a BCAST file comprising the at least one file or one bundle of files;

(d) providing, by the FD, notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file and delivering the BCAST file to a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the BDS and the interaction network;

(e) upon receiving the BCAST file, performing, by the BDS-SD, service protection on the bearer whereby a terminal not subscribed to the broadcast service cannot receive the BCAST file; and

(f) after providing notification of the delivery start of the BCAST file, delivering the BCAST file to a file deliver client function (FD-C) of a terminal subscribed to the broadcast service over a broadcast channel or an interaction channel.

25. A mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services (BCAST) from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the system comprising:

a file application function (FA) for receiving at least one file to be provided to at least one terminal and attribute information for the file from the content creation, and delivering the content-protected at least one file and the attribute information for the file to the terminal;

a file delivery function (FD) for generating a BCAST file comprising the at least one file or one bundle of files, and delivering the BCAST file for the file to the terminal; and

a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) for receiving the BCAST file, and delivering the BCAST file to a file deliver client function (FD-C) of a terminal subscribed to the broadcast service over at least one of a broadcast channel and an interaction channel.

26. The mobile broadcast system of claim 25, wherein the FA is configured to perform content protection on the at least one file received from the content creation.

27. The mobile broadcast system of claim 25, wherein the BDS-SD is configured to perform service protection on a bearer used for file delivery after completing the bearer.

28. The mobile broadcast system of claim 25, wherein the FD is configured to generate at least one bundle of files using the at least one received file based on service configuration information of a file transmitted from a BCAST subscription management (BSM) that manages subscriber information of the terminal.

29. The mobile broadcast system of claim 25, wherein the FD is configured to deliver the BCAST file over a broadcast channel.

30. The mobile broadcast system of claim 25, wherein the BDS-SD is configured to set up a bearer to the interaction network as a channel for delivering the BCAST file.

31. A mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services (BCAST) from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the system comprising:

a file delivery function (FD) for, upon receiving a retransmission request message comprising a retransmission request for all or portion of a damaged BCAST file from the terminal, reconfiguring a BCAST file including all or portion of the requested BCAST file based on the retransmission request message, negotiating with a bearer setup means using a bearer setup request message for requesting setup of a bearer for delivering the BCAST file, and delivering the BCAST file to the terminal over a bearer set up after the bearer negotiation; and

a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) for, upon receiving the bearer setup request message from the FD, assigning a bearer for delivering the BCAST file and delivering a response over the broadcast channel to the bearer setup request message to the FD.

32. The mobile broadcast system of claim 31, wherein the location information comprises an area identifier set in the BDS or an area identifier set in the broadcast service.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the retransmission request message comprises location information of the terminal.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the location information comprises an area identifier set in the BDS or an area identifier set in the broadcast service.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the FD is configured to select a transmission area before delivering the BCAST file to the terminal.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein the FD is configured to send a response to the terminal for the retransmission request message.

37. A mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services (BCAST) from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the system comprising:

a file delivery function (FD) for, upon receiving a retransmission request message comprising a retransmission request for all or portion of a damaged BCAST file from the terminal, reconfiguring a BCAST file including all or portion of the requested BCAST file based on the retransmission request message, selecting a transmission area of the terminal, and delivering the BCAST file to the terminal over the bearer set up; and

a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) for, upon receiving the bearer setup request message from the FD, assigning a bearer for delivering the BCAST file and delivering a response to the bearer setup request message to the FD.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising an interaction network for negotiating with the BDS-SD for setting up the bearer used for the BCAST file delivery.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the FD is configured to provide notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file to the BDS-SD.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the interaction network is configured to provide notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file to the terminal subscribed to the broadcast service over an interactive channel.

41. A method for providing a broadcast service (BCAST) in a mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by a file application function (FA) that provides a file attribute related to the broadcast service, at least one file to be provided to at least one terminal and attribute information for the file from the content creation, and performing content protection on the at least one received file;

(b) delivering, by the FA, the content-protected at least one file and the attribute information for the file to a file delivery function (FD) in a BCAST service distribution/adaptation (BSD/A);

(c) generating, by the FD, at least one bundle of files by aggregating the at least one received file based on service configuration information of a file transmitted from a BCAST subscription management (BSM) that manages subscriber information of the terminal, and generating a BCAST file comprising the at least one file or one bundle of files;

(d) negotiating, by the FD, with a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) that controls the BDS and the interaction network using configuration information for the BCAST file to set up a bearer for delivering the generated BCAST file;

(e) after completion of setting up the bearer, performing, by the FD, service protection on the bearer whereby a terminal not subscribed to the broadcast service cannot receive the BCAST file;

(f) providing, by the FD, notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file to a file deliver client function (FD-C) of a terminal subscribed to the broadcast service; and

(g) delivering, by the FD, the BCAST file to the FD-C of the terminal subscribed to the broadcast service over a broadcast channel.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the step (d) comprises the steps of:

sending, by the FD, a request for assignment of a bearer to the BDS-SD based on the configuration information; and

setting up, by the BDS-SD, a bearer and sending a response message to the FD.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising the steps of:

if all or portion of the received BCAST file is lost in the terminal, receiving, by an FD-C in the terminal, a retransmission request message comprising information on all or portion of the BCAST file to the FD and receiving a response thereto;

generating, by the FD, a BCAST file to be retransmitted with all or portion of the requested BCAST file based on the received retransmission request message, and selecting a transmission area;

negotiating, by the FD, with the BDS-SD to set up a bearer for delivering the BCAST file; and

after the setting up of the bearer, delivering, by the FD, the BCAST file to the terminal over the broadcast channel or an interaction channel.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the retransmission request message comprises location information of the terminal.

45. A mobile broadcast system that receives contents of broadcast services (BCAST) from a content creation and provides the broadcast services to at least one terminal or at least one group of terminals via one of a broadcast distribution system (BDS) and an interaction network, the system comprising:

a file application function (FA) for receiving at least one file to be provided to at least one terminal and attribute information for the file, from the content creation, and delivering the received file and attribute information to a file delivery for the file to the terminal;

a file delivery function (FD) for generating a BCAST file comprising the at least one file or one bundle of files, and delivering the BCAST file through a bearer to a terminal subscribed to the broadcast service; and

a BDS service distribution (BDS-SD) for negotiating with the FD to set up the bearer.

46. The mobile broadcast system of claim 45, wherein the FA is configured to perform content protection on the at least one file received from the content creation.

47. The mobile broadcast system of claim 45, wherein the BDS-SD is configured to receive a request for an assignment of a bearer used for the BCAST file delivery from the FD, and send a response for the request after completing the bearer.

48. The mobile broadcast system of claim 45, wherein the FD is configured to provide notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file to the terminal subscribed to the broadcast service.

49. The mobile broadcast system of claim 45, wherein the FD is configured to provide notification of a delivery start of the BCAST file to BDS-SD.

50. The mobile broadcast system of claim 45, wherein the FD is configured to perform service protection on the bearer after completion of the setting up of the bearer.

51. The mobile broadcast system of claim 45, wherein the FD is configured to generate at least one bundle of files using the at least one received file based on service configuration information of a file transmitted from a BCAST subscription management (BSM) that manages subscriber information of the terminal.