Service Discovery Mechanism in Broadcast Telecommunication Network

• US 20080225778A1
• Filed: 03/15/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Vesma, Jussi, Auranen, Tommi, Vare, Jani, Pekonen, Harri
• Granted Patent: US 7,903,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/26 Arrangements for switching distribution systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/72 using electronic programme guides [EPG] focusing on identifying broadcast space time H04H60/39 ; menu type display of EPG in television receivers H04N21/47
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• 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 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts

Abstract

Aspects of the invention are directed to service discovery in a digital broadcast network. A service discovery descriptor, which may be electronic service guide-provider and cell specific, provides mapping between a service identifier, a logical channel identifier, and a physical channel, which may be characterized by a frame identifier and a slot identifier, that is, each physical channel may have one or more slots within one or more frames. A neighboring service discovery descriptor provides mapping for the service available within neighboring cells. Aspects of the invention are directed to an encapsulation protocol that encapsulates variable length data, including, but not limited to, the service discovery descriptor and the neighboring service discovery descriptor, into fixed length data stream packets.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

discovering a service identifier of a selected service from electronic service guide-level signaling data;

creating a filter for Internet Protocol addresses associated with the service identifier of the selected service;

discovering a cell, frame, and slot mapping associated with a logical channel of the service identifier; and

receiving the selected service.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

discovering the cell, frame, and slot mapping comprises parsing the cell, frame, and slot mapping from a service discovery descriptor.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the service discovery descriptor is specific to an electronic service guide and is specific to a digital broadcast cell.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the service discovery descriptor provides a mapping between a service identifier, a logical channel identifier, and a physical channel.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the physical channel includes one or more slots with one or more frames

6. A method comprising:

discovering and accessing a neighboring service discovery descriptor;

parsing a cell loop of the neighboring service discovery descriptor;

investigating availability of signals for a list of candidate cells; and

if a current service is available within any of the candidate cells, and a handover should be performed, performing the handover.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor provides a mapping for the services available within neighboring cells.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor carries information for a single network.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor carries information for multiple networks.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising updating the list of candidate cells based on the availability of signals for the list of candidate cells.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a fixed size data stream protocol packet on a requested physical channel;

inspecting a payload type and a logical channel identifier of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet; and

if the logical channel identifier of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet matches a requested logical channel identifier, decapsulating the fixed size data stream protocol packet.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein decapsulating the fixed size data stream protocol packet further comprises decapsulating the payload of the fixed size data stream protocol packet in an order based on the fragmentation index from the fixed size data stream protocol packet.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a fixed size data stream protocol packet on a plurality of physical channels;

inspecting a payload type of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet;

if the payload type of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet indicates that the payload contains service discovery descriptor data or neighboring service discovery descriptor data, decapsulating the fixed size data stream protocol packet;

determining whether at least one additional fixed size data stream protocol packet with a payload that contains service discovery descriptor data or neighboring service discovery descriptor data should be received; and

if at least one additional fixed size data stream protocol packet with a payload that contains service discovery descriptor data or neighboring service discovery descriptor data should be received, then repeating the receiving, inspecting, decapsulating, and determining steps.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the fixed size data stream protocol packet is configured to carry variable length signaling descriptors.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether at least one additional fixed size data stream protocol packet with a payload that contains service discovery descriptor data or neighboring service discovery descriptor data should be received further comprises using at least one of a fragmentation index and a last fragment indicator from the fixed size data stream protocol packet.

16. An apparatus having a computer readable medium that contains computer executable instructions for causing the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

discovering a service identifier of a selected service from electronic service guide-level signaling data,

creating a filter for Internet Protocol addresses associated with the service identifier of the selected service,

discovering a cell, frame, and slot mapping associated with a logical channel of the service identifier, and

receiving the selected service.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein discovering the cell, frame, and slot mapping comprises parsing the cell, frame, and slot mapping from a service discovery descriptor.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the service discovery descriptor is specific to an electronic service guide provider and is specific to a digital broadcast cell.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the service discovery descriptor provides a mapping between a service identifier, a logical channel identifier, and a physical channel.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the physical channel includes one or more slots with one or more frames.

21. An apparatus having a computer readable medium that contains computer executable instructions for causing the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

discovering and access a neighboring service discovery descriptor,

parsing a cell loop of the neighboring service discovery descriptor,

investigating availability of signals for a list of candidate cells, and

if a current service is available within any of the candidate cells, and a handover should be performed, performing the handover.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor provides a mapping for the services available within neighboring cells.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor carries information for a single network.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor carries information for multiple networks.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the apparatus is configured to update the list of candidate cells based on the availability of signals for the list of candidate cells.

26. An apparatus having a computer readable medium that contains computer executable instructions for causing the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a fixed size data stream protocol packet on a requested physical channel,

inspecting a payload type and a logical channel identifier of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet, and

if the logical channel identifier of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet matches a requested logical channel identifier, decapsulating the fixed size data stream protocol packet.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the apparatus is configured to decapsulate the payload of the fixed size data stream protocol packet in an order based on the fragmentation index from the fixed size data stream protocol packet.

28. An apparatus having a computer readable medium that contains computer executable instructions for causing the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a fixed size data stream protocol packet on a plurality of physical channels,

inspecting a payload type of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet,

if the payload type of the received fixed size data stream protocol packet indicates that the payload contains service discovery descriptor data or neighboring service discovery descriptor data, decapsulating the fixed size data stream protocol packet,

determining whether at least one additional fixed size data stream protocol packet with a payload that contains service discovery descriptor data or neighboring service discovery descriptor data should be received, and

if at least one additional fixed size data stream protocol packet with a payload that contains service discovery descriptor data or neighboring service discovery descriptor data should be received, then repeating the receiving, inspecting, decapsulating, and determining operations.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the fixed size data stream protocol packet is configured to carry variable length signaling descriptors.

30. A method comprising:

encapsulating signaling metadata and digital broadcast content into encapsulated data stream protocol packets, wherein the signaling metadata includes at least one of a service discovery descriptor and a neighboring service discovery descriptor; and

outputting the data stream protocol packets for transmission over a digital broadcast network.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the service discovery descriptor is electronic service guide-provider specific and cell specific.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the service discovery descriptor provides a mapping between a service identifier, a logical channel identifier, and a physical channel.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor provides a mapping for one or more services available within one or more neighboring cells.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the data stream encapsulation protocol encapsulates variable length data, including at least one of the service discovery descriptor and the neighboring service discovery descriptor, into fixed length data stream packets.

35. An apparatus having a computer readable medium that contains computer executable instructions for causing the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

encapsulating signaling metadata and digital broadcast content into encapsulated data stream protocol packets, wherein the signaling metadata includes at least one of a service discovery descriptor and a neighboring service discovery descriptor; and

outputting the data stream protocol packets for transmission over a digital broadcast network.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the service discovery descriptor is electronic service guide-provider specific and cell specific.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the service discovery descriptor provides a mapping between a service identifier, a logical channel identifier, and a physical channel.

38. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the neighboring service discovery descriptor provides a mapping for one or more services available within one or more neighboring cells.

39. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the data stream encapsulation protocol encapsulates variable length data, including at least one of the service discovery descriptor and the neighboring service discovery descriptor, into fixed length data stream packets.

40. A system comprising:

a digital broadcast transmitter having a first computer readable medium that contains computer executable instructions for causing the digital broadcast transmitter to perform operations comprising;

encapsulating signaling metadata and digital broadcast content into encapsulated data stream protocol packets, wherein the signaling metadata includes at least one or a service discovery descriptor and an neighboring service discovery descriptor, and

transmitting the data stream protocol packets over a digital broadcast network; and

a digital broadcast receiver having a second computer readable medium that contains computer executable instructions for causing the digital broadcast receiver to perform operations comprising;

receiving the transmitted data stream protocol packets, and

parsing the service discovery descriptor to determine a mapping between a service identifier, a logical channel identifier, and a physical channel.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the service discovery descriptor is electronic service guide-provider specific and cell specific.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the data stream encapsulation protocol encapsulates variable length data, including at least one of the service discovery descriptor and the neighboring service discovery descriptor, into fixed length data stream packets.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein the second computer readable medium contains further computer executable instructions for causing the digital broadcast receiver to perform operations comprising:

parsing the neighboring service discovery descriptor to determine a mapping for one or more services available within one or more neighboring cells.