Method for sending multimedia content to at least one multimedia unit, method for processing said multimedia content and multimedia unit for the implementation of these methods

• US 20080163313A1
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nagravision SA (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: Nagravision SA (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: Thomas, Frederic, Molyneaux, Wendy, Robyr, Sebastien
• Granted Patent: US 8,316,398 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/93
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23608 Remultiplexing multiplex streams, e.g. involving modifying time stamps or remapping the packet identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26266 for determining content or additional data repetition rate, e.g. of a file in a DVB carousel according to its importance arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26275 for distributing content or additional data in a staggered manner, e.g. repeating movies on different channels in a time-staggered manner in a near video on demand system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17327 with deferred transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

The present invention relates in particular to a method for processing multimedia content memorised in the form of digital data in at least one multimedia unit. This method includes the following steps:

• • reception of a program map table containing at least one indication of a proprietary type of data associated to a packet identification data (PID) as well a flag;
  • reception of a matching table between the flag value and the real type of data;
  • search for the flag values appearing in the program map table PMT received by the multimedia unit;
  • search for the corresponding flag values in the matching table between the flag value and the real type of data; and
  • modification of the program map table by replacing the indication of the proprietary type of data of the program map table with the corresponding real type of data of the matching table.

The invention furthermore concerns a method for sending multimedia content in the form of digital data, as well as a multimedia unit for implementing these methods.

Claims

1. Method for sending multimedia content in the form of digital data to at least one multimedia unit, this method comprising the following steps:

separation of the digital data of said multimedia content into content segments;

integration of service data into these content segments;

preparation of a program map table PMT, this table containing at least one indication of a real type of data, associated to a packet identification data as well as a flag, this flag being such that it is not modified between the moment when the table is prepared and the moment of the reception by the multimedia unit;

modification of the program map table PMT by transforming the indication of the real type of data into a proprietary type of data, the proprietary type of data being such that the multimedia unit does not interpret the data directly;

sending of at least one content segment to the multimedia unit on a first channel;

storage of said content segment in a memory of the multimedia unit;

sending said modified program map table PMT to the multimedia unit;

sending on a channel second of synchronisation packets that indicate at least the start of the sending of a content segment, an identifier of the content to which this segment is related, an identifier of this segment and an identifier of the first channel;

sending on said second channel of synchronisation packets that indicate at least the end of the sending of said content segment, an identifier of the content to which this segment is related, a segment identifier and an identifier of the first channel;

sending of a matching table between the value of the flag and the associated real type of data;

search for the flag values appearing in the program map table PMT received by the multimedia unit, search of the corresponding flag values in the matching table between the flag value and the associated real type of data and modification of the program map table by replacing the indication of the proprietary type of data of the program map table with the corresponding real type of data of the matching table.

2. Method for sending multimedia content according to claim 1, characterised in that the synchronisation stream includes at least one indication amongst:

an event identifier, an identifier of the segment of this event, the total number of segments that this event includes, the indication of the start or end of this segment, the total size of the event, an expiration date, a priority or a quality index.

3. Method for sending multimedia content according to claim 1, characterised in that the real type of data is chosen from among audio, video, teletext or data associated to interactive applications.

4. Method for sending multimedia content according to claim 1, in which several content segments are sent simultaneously on several different channels, characterised in that the choice of which segment is memorised to the detriment of other segments sent simultaneously depends on at least one priority rule.

5. Method for sending multimedia content according to claim 1, characterised in that the priority rule is defined by a category chosen by a user.

6. Method for sending multimedia content according to claim 1, characterised in that the priority rule depends on the relation between the number of content segments already memorised for a given content and the total number of segments of this content.

7. Method for sending multimedia content according to claim 1, characterised in that the priority rule is imposed by the content provider.

8. Method for processing multimedia content memorised in the form of digital data in at least one multimedia unit, this method comprising the following steps:

reception of a program map table containing at least one indication of a proprietary type of data associated to a packet identification data as well as a flag;

reception of a matching table between the flag value and the real type of data;

search for the flag values appearing in the program map table PMT received by the multimedia unit;

search for the corresponding flag values in the matching table between the flag value and the real type of data; and

modification of the program map table by replacing the indication of the proprietary type of data of the program map table with the corresponding real type of data of the matching table.

9. Method for processing multimedia content according to claim 8, characterised in that for a given content, the number of segments memorised and received is counted and then compared to the total number of segments corresponding to this content.

10. Method for processing multimedia content according to claim 9, characterised in that the processing of the segments of a content is stopped when the number of segments received exceeds the total number of segments corresponding to this content.

11. Multimedia unit including at least one memory intended to memorise multimedia content in the form of digital data, this multimedia unit being characterised in that it includes:

reception means of a program map table containing at least one indication of a proprietary type of data associated to a packet identification data (PID) as well as a flag;

reception means of a matching table between the flag value and the real type of data;

means allowing the search for the flag values appearing in the program map table PMT received by the multimedia unit;

means allowing the search for the corresponding flag values in the matching table between the flag value and the real type of data; and

modification means of the program map table by replacing the indication of the proprietary type of data of the program map table with the corresponding real type of data of the matching table.