Apparatus and method for measuring signal quality in a portable broadcasting network and system supporting the same

• US 8,855,631 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2009
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Lee, Tae-Soo, Kim, Young-Jip, Cho, Jeong-Sik, Choe, Jun-Young, Lee, Kyung-Shin
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): AU, SCOTT D
• Application Number:
  US12/366,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20090197600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,070 Days
• Field of Search: 455/434, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.5
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/12 Arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• 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: H04H 60/85 which are mobile communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

An apparatus and method for measuring signal quality information in a mobile broadcasting network are provided, as well as a system supporting the same. A broadcast server provides a reporting condition for signal quality to a mobile terminal using a control message. The mobile terminal, when it satisfies the reporting condition, transmits a reporting message for signal quality to a management server managing signal qualities. The reporting message includes signal quality measurement results at the current location. In this way, information on the low-signal quality area is automatically collected from the mobile terminal, making it possible to rapidly and easily comprehend the sate of the mobile broadcasting network depending on the collected information.

Claims

1. A system for measuring signal quality in a mobile broadcasting network, the system comprising:

a broadcast server for transmitting mobile broadcasting signals, generating a control message including a reporting condition for signal quality, and broadcasting the control message within the mobile broadcasting network;

at least one mobile broadcasting terminal for providing a mobile broadcasting service using the mobile broadcasting signals received from the broadcast server through the mobile broadcasting network, upon receipt of the control message, measuring signal quality at a current location in accordance with the reporting condition of the received control message, and transmitting a reporting message including the measured signal quality and area information corresponding to the current location through a mobile communication network; and

a management server for collecting signal quality measurements of each area based on the reporting message transmitted from the at least one mobile broadcasting terminal, and managing the collected signal quality measurements of each area,

wherein the at least one mobile broadcasting terminal transmits the reporting message when the measured signal quality is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold,

wherein the broadcast server is included in the mobile broadcasting network, and the management server is included in the mobile communication network, which is different from the mobile broadcasting network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile broadcasting terminal measures signal quality at the current location when the reporting condition is in the control message.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting condition comprises an address of the management server, a time period for measuring signal quality, and a threshold used for determining a level of the measured signal quality.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one mobile broadcasting terminal measures signal quality at the current location during the time period, and transmits the reporting message when the measured signal quality is less than or equal to the threshold.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control message comprises an Electronic Service Guide (ESG) message, and the reporting condition is inserted into a “

PrivateAuxiliaryData”

element defined in an ESG Provider Descriptor of the ESG message.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting message comprises a transmission time of the reporting message, a model number of a corresponding mobile broadcasting terminal, a unique number of the corresponding mobile broadcasting terminal, the measured signal quality, and area information corresponding to the current location.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile broadcasting terminal transmits the reporting message to the management server via a mobile communication network that uses a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST protocol.

8. A method for measuring signal quality in a mobile broadcasting terminal of a mobile broadcasting system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a control message broadcasted from a broadcast server through a mobile broadcasting network;

measuring signal quality at a current location in accordance with a reporting condition of the received control message;

generating a reporting message using the measured signal quality and area information corresponding to the current location; and

transmitting the generated reporting message to a management server through a mobile communication network,

wherein the reporting message is generated when the measured signal quality is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold,

wherein the broadcast server is included in the mobile broadcasting network, and the management server is included in the mobile communication network, which is different from the mobile broadcasting network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the signal quality is measured when a reporting condition is in the control message.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the reporting condition comprises an address of a management server from which the transmitted reporting message is received, a time period for measuring signal quality, and a threshold used for determining a level of the measured signal quality.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein generating a reporting message comprises:

measuring signal quality at the current location during the time period; and

generating the reporting message when the measured signal quality is less than or equal to the threshold.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the control message comprises an Electronic Service Guide (ESG) message, and the reporting condition is inserted into a “

PrivateAuxiliaryData”

element defined in an ESG Provider Descriptor of the ESG message.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the reporting message comprises a transmission time of the reporting message, a model number of a corresponding mobile broadcasting terminal, a unique number of the corresponding mobile broadcasting terminal, the measured signal quality, and area information corresponding to the current location.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the generated reporting message is transmitted to a management server via a mobile communication network that uses a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST protocol.

15. An apparatus for measuring signal quality in a mobile broadcasting terminal of a mobile broadcasting system, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving a control message broadcasted from a broadcast server through a mobile broadcasting network;

a reporting manager for measuring signal quality at a current location in accordance with a reporting condition of the received control message, and generating a reporting message using the measured signal quality and current location information; and

a transmitter for transmitting the generated reporting message to a management server through a mobile communication network,

wherein the reporting manager generates the reporting message when the measured signal quality is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold,

wherein the broadcast server is included in the mobile broadcasting network, and the management server is included in the mobile communication network, which is different from the mobile broadcasting network.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the reporting manager measures signal quality at the current location when the reporting condition is included in the control message.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the reporting condition comprises an address of a management server from which the transmitted reporting message is received, a time period for measuring signal quality, and a threshold used for determining a level of the measured signal quality.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the reporting manager measures signal quality at the current location during the measurement time period, and generates the reporting message when the measured signal quality is less than or equal to the threshold.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the control message comprises an Electronic Service Guide (ESG) message, and the reporting condition is inserted into a “

PrivateAuxiliaryData”

element defined in an ESG Provider Descriptor of the ESG message.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the reporting message comprises a transmission time of the reporting message, a model number of a corresponding mobile broadcasting terminal, a unique number of the corresponding mobile broadcasting terminal, the measured signal quality, and area information corresponding to the current location.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the reporting manager comprises:

an analyzer for analyzing the reporting condition included in the received control message;

a location information extractor for providing current location information of the mobile broadcasting terminal;

a signal quality measurer for measuring quality of a signal received from the receiver; and

a reporting message generator for generating the reporting message using the measured signal quality and the current location information in accordance with the analyzed reporting condition.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the transmitter transmits the reporting message to a management server via a mobile communication network that uses a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST protocol.