ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE SERVICE SYSTEM AND ESTABLISHING AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20080127273A1
• Filed: 12/17/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: CHEN, Jun
• Application Number:
  US11/957,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20080127273A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2405 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the server, e.g. server load allocation of resources in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/50; performance measurement of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26603 for automatically generating descriptors from content, e.g. when it is not made available by its provider, using content analysis techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

The present invention discloses an establishing method of an electronic program guide and corresponding operation method, system and device thereof. The establishing method includes: grouping electronic program guide servers that have the same processing ability and/or the same service processing flow together, making the number of server group correspond to users'"'"' attribute-determining characteristic values so as to form a scheduling policy which is then stored in the scheduling server. The users'"'"' terminal initiates a request for scheduling to the scheduling server. After that, the scheduling server designates an electronic program guide server for the users'"'"' terminal, thereby establishing an interactive connection between the users'"'"' terminal and the electronic program guide server. As a result, the data flow bypasses the metropolitan area network, and the bandwidth of the backbone network is thus less affected, so that the number of users able to use the service may continuously expand.

Claims

1. An establishing method of an electronic program guide service system that comprises plural electronic program guide servers, comprising:

arranging the plural electronic program guide servers of the system at an access layer on the edge of a metropolitan area network;

grouping the plural electronic program guide servers according to their characteristics; and

setting a scheduling policy according to users'"'"' attributes and characteristics of the electronic program guide server groups, and storing the set scheduling policy into a scheduling server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the process of grouping the plural electronic program guide servers comprises:

grouping electronic program guide servers that have the same processing ability and/or the same service processing flow together to form an electronic program guide server group; and

the electronic program guide servers in the same group being backup devices of each other.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling policy comprises at least one of the following policies:

predetermined corresponding relations between users and electronic program guide server groups;

a payload equalizing policy of the electronic program guide servers; and

a minimal routing cost policy between users and the electronic program guide servers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the users'"'"' attributes comprise at least one of the following:

users'"'"' type, service level, and network area where the users are located.

5. An operating method of an electronic program guide service system, comprising:

receiving a request for electronic program guide service from a user'"'"'s terminal; and

selecting an electronic program guide server according to a scheduling policy to provide service for the users'"'"' terminal on receiving the request for electronic program guide service, and sending a scheduling notification to the users'"'"' terminal.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the request for electronic program guide service comprises users'"'"' attributes and the process of selecting an electronic program guide server further comprises selecting an electronic program guide server according to the users'"'"' attributes and the scheduling policy.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the scheduling policy comprises at least one of the following policies:

predetermined corresponding relations between users and electronic program guide server groups, wherein each of the electronic program guide server groups includes plural electronic program guide servers according to their characteristics;

a payload equalizing policy of electronic program guide servers; and

a minimal routing cost policy between users and the electronic program guide servers.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein if the scheduling policy comprises the payload equalizing policy of electronic program guide servers, the method further comprises:

monitoring payload status of the electronic program guide servers, and selecting an electronic program guide server according to the payload status of the electronic program guide servers.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the process of selecting an electronic program guide server comprises:

selecting the scheduling policy according to information on the users'"'"' attributes included in the request for electronic program guide service;

determining a group number according to the selected scheduling policy;

designating an electronic program guide server from an electronic program guide server group with the group number according to the selected scheduling policy so as to provide service for the users'"'"' terminal; and

sending the scheduling notification to the users'"'"' terminal with the scheduling notification comprising information on address of the designated electronic program guide server.

17. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, by an electronic program guide server, a request for connection from the users'"'"' terminal, and establishing interactive connection with the users'"'"' terminal.

18. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

authenticating the user on receiving the request for connection and establishing an interactive connection with the users'"'"' terminal if the authentication succeeds.

10. An electronic program guide service system, comprising:

plural electronic program guide servers, which are arranged at an access layer on the edge of a metropolitan area network and adapted to establish interactive connection with a user'"'"'s terminal according to a request for connection from the users'"'"' terminal, wherein the request for connection is determined according to a scheduling notification sent from a scheduling server; and

the scheduling server, adapted to receive a request for electronic program guide service from the users'"'"' terminal, select an electronic program guide server according to a scheduling policy stored thereon to provide service for the users'"'"' terminal and send the scheduling notification to the users'"'"' terminal.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein

the plural electronic program guide servers are grouped into at least one electronic program guide server group according to their characteristics;

and

the scheduling server is adapted to select the electronic program guide server from a corresponding electronic program guide server group according to at least one of the following policies contained in the scheduling policy;

corresponding relations set according to users'"'"' attributes and the characteristics of the electronic program guide server groups, a payload equalizing policy of the electronic program guide servers, and a minimal routing cost policy between users and the electronic program guide servers.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein

the electronic program guide servers in each group have the same processing ability and/or the same service processing flow, and the electronic program guide servers in the same group are backup devices of each other.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the scheduling server is located at an operation center on the metropolitan area network or the access layer on the edge of the metropolitan area network.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the scheduling server is a domain name server located at the access layer on the edge of the metropolitan area network, and the electronic program guide servers are grouped by area with each group of electronic program guide servers connected to one domain name server.

15. A scheduling server, comprising:

a storage unit, adapted to store a scheduling policy; and

a scheduling unit, adapted to schedule electronic program guide servers according to the stored scheduling policy and designate a corresponding electronic program guide server for users'"'"' terminal on receiving a request for electronic program guide service from the users'"'"' terminal.

16. The scheduling server of claim 15, wherein the scheduling policy comprises at least one of the following policies:

predetermined corresponding relations between users and electronic program guide server groups;

a payload equalizing policy of electronic program guide servers; and

a minimal routing cost policy between users and the electronic program guide servers.