Method, apparatus and system for controlling a scene structure of multiple channels to be displayed on a mobile terminal in a mobile broadcast system

• US 20070107018A1
• Filed: 10/16/2006
• Published: 05/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industry-University Cooperation Foundation Hanyang University
• Original Assignee: Industry-University Cooperation Foundation Hanyang University
• Inventors: Jung, Ki-Ho, Song, Young-Joo, Lim, Young-Kwon, Lee, Kook-Heui, Jeong, Je-Chang
• Granted Patent: US 8,442,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23412 for generating or manipulating the scene composition of objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234318 by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43074 of additional data with content streams on the same device, e.g. of EPG data or interactive icon with a TV program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• 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 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80

Abstract

A method, apparatus and system are provided for controlling a scene structure of a mobile terminal for receiving and displaying data streams in a mobile broadcast system. When logical channels are multiplexed into one physical channel, the multiplexed channels are sequentially decoded and are displayed on an image. A channel circulation scene alternately displays the channels on one image in designated order. In a combination scene structure, a new node is added to a conventional Lightweight Application Scene Representation (LASeR) technology. To compose a scene, fields for time information and scene transition effect are provided. A delay time due to a channel change is reduced. A multi-channel image is effectively provided to address a problem when a user retrieves service content while directly switching a channel. The terminal dynamically composes the multi-channel image using stream source node information from a service provider without an additional mosaic channel.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a scene structure of multiple channels to be displayed on a mobile terminal in a mobile broadcast system, comprising

receiving a physical channel into which multiple logical channels are multiplexed for a broadcast service from a service provider and stream source node information for controlling the scene structure;

demultiplexing and decoding the received physical channel on a logical channel-by-logical channel basis; and

displaying logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams on an image in at least one display mode provided from the stream source node information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising

determining the at least one display mode of a group identifier of the physical channel after receiving the physical channel.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising

dividing the image into multiple regions using a clip path when the at least one display mode comprises a channel mosaic scene structure;

and

allocating the multiple regions on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis and displaying frames of the elementary streams on the multiple regions on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising

circulating and displaying the elementary streams during a slot time on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis when the at least one display mode comprises a channel circulation scene structure.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising

determining whether scene transition effect is applied when the slot time has elapsed;

and

applying a scene transition effect when the elementary streams are circulated when the scene transition effect is applied.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing the image into a main image region and a sub-image region using a clip path when the at least one display mode comprises a combination scene structure;

circulating and displaying the elementary streams on the main image region during a slot time on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis; and

dividing and displaying the elementary streams on the sub-image region on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the stream source node information comprises at least one of:

a static mosaic field for indicating a static mosaic composition method for an image representation; and

a dynamic mosaic field for indicating a dynamic mosaic composition method for an image representation.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the static mosaic field comprises at least one of a source field for indicating a list of identifiers of logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams to be referred to by a stream source, a source index field for indicating an index of an elementary stream used to compose a current scene, and a field for indicating a size of a buffer storing the elementary streams.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the static mosaic field further comprises at least one of a replace field for switching the image when a source index is changed, a useOld field for continuously composing an elementary stream of a previous source index on the image until image composition of a new source index is prepared, and a keepOld field for decoding the elementary stream of the previous source index and composing the decoded elementary stream on the image while continuously receiving the elementary stream of the previous source index until the image composition of the new source index is prepared.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the dynamic mosaic field comprises at least one of a playList field for sequentially displaying different streams of a group on an image in the at least one display mode, a tile field for displaying all streams of the group on one image in the at least one display mode, and a combination field in which the channel circulation scene structure and the channel mosaic scene structure are combined in the at least one display mode.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the stream source node information comprises a slotTime field for indicating a slot time in which the logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams are displayed.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the stream source node information comprises a transitionEffect field for indicating scene transition effect when the logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams are switched.

31. The method of claim 9, wherein the static mosaic field further comprises at least one of a replace field for immediately switching the image when a source index is changed, a useOld field for continuously composing an elementary stream of a previous source index on the image until image composition of a new source index is prepared, and a keepOld field for decoding the elementary stream of the previous source index and composing the decoded elementary stream on the image while continuously receiving the elementary stream of the previous source index until the image composition of the new source index is prepared.

13. An apparatus for receiving a broadcast service in a mobile terminal of a mobile broadcast system, comprising:

a receiver for receiving a physical channel into which multiple logical channels are multiplexed for a broadcast service from a service provider and stream source node information for controlling a scene structure;

a demultiplexer for demultiplexing the received physical channel on a logical channel-by-logical channel basis;

a buffer for dividing and storing logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams; and

an image compositor for controlling an operation for displaying the logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams on an image in at least one display mode provided from the stream source node information.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the image compositor is further configured to determine the at least one display mode of a group identifier of the physical channel after receiving the physical channel.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the image compositor further controls an operation for dividing the image into multiple regions using a clip path when the at least one display mode comprises a channel mosaic scene structure, allocating the multiple regions on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis, and displaying frames of the elementary streams on the multiple regions on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the image compositor further controls an operation for circulating and displaying the elementary streams during a slot time on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis when the at least one display mode comprises a channel circulation scene structure.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the image compositor further controls an operation for determining whether scene transition effect is applied when the slot time has elapsed and applying a scene transition effect when the elementary streams are circulated when the scene transition effect is applied.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the image compositor further controls an operation for dividing the image into a main image region and a sub-image region using a clip path when the at least one display mode comprises a combination scene structure, circulating and displaying the elementary streams on the main image region during a slot time on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis, and dividing and displaying the elementary streams on the sub-image region on the logical channel-by-logical channel basis.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the stream source node information comprises at least one of:

a static mosaic field for indicating a static mosaic composition method for an image representation; and

a dynamic mosaic field for indicating a dynamic mosaic composition method for an image representation.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the static mosaic field comprises at least one of a source field for indicating a list of identifiers of logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams to be referred to by a stream source, a source index field for indicating an index of an elementary stream used to compose a current scene, and a field for indicating a size of a buffer storing the elementary streams.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the static mosaic field further comprises at least one of a replace field for switching the image when a source index is changed, a useOld field for continuously composing an elementary stream of a previous source index on the image until image composition of a new source index is prepared, and a keepOld field for decoding the elementary stream of the previous source index and composing the decoded elementary stream on the image while continuously receiving the elementary stream of the previous source index until the image composition of the new source index is prepared.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the dynamic mosaic field comprises at least one of a playList field for sequentially displaying different streams of a group on an image in the at least one display mode, a tile field for displaying all streams of the group on one image in the at least one display mode, and a combination field in which the channel circulation scene structure and the channel mosaic scene structure are combined in the at least one display mode.

23. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the stream source node information comprises a slotTime field for indicating a slot time in which the logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams are displayed.

24. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the stream source node information comprises a transitionEffect field for indicating scene transition effect when the logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams are switched.

32. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the static mosaic field further comprises at least one of a replace field for immediately switching the image when a source index is changed, a useOld field for continuously composing an elementary stream of a previous source index on the image until image composition of a new source index is prepared, and a keepOld field for decoding the elementary stream of the previous source index and composing the decoded elementary stream on the image while continuously receiving the elementary stream of the previous source index until the image composition of the new source index is prepared.

25. A mobile broadcast system for providing a broadcast service to at least one mobile terminal, comprising:

a service provider for receiving a physical channel into which multiple logical channels are multiplexed for the broadcast service and stream source node information for controlling a scene structure; and

a mobile terminal for receiving the physical channel and the stream source node information through a communication network and displaying a multi-channel image,

the mobile terminal comprising;

a demultiplexer for demultiplexing the received physical channel on a logical channel-by-logical channel basis;

a buffer for dividing and storing logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams; and

an image compositor for controlling an operation for displaying the logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams on the image in at least one display mode provided from the stream source node information.

26. A receiver in a mobile broadcast system, comprising:

a demultiplexer for separating multiple logical channels transmitted in one physical channel on a channel-by-channel basis;

a plurality of decoding buffers for storing a plurality of logical channel frames;

a decoder for connecting to the plurality of decoding buffers and for selecting the plurality of logical channel frames;

a composition memory for storing frames of decoded logical channels; and

a compositor for composing and displaying frames of each of the decoded logical channels stored in the composition memory.

27. The receiver of claim 26, wherein the compositor composes and displays frames of each of the decoded logical channels stored in the composition memory on a screen of a terminal.

28. An apparatus for receiving a broadcast service in a mobile terminal of a mobile broadcast system, comprising:

a receiver for receiving a physical channel into which multiple logical channels are multiplexed for a broadcast service from a service provider and stream source node information for controlling a scene structure;

a demultiplexer for demultiplexing the received physical channel on a logical channel-by-logical channel basis; and

a buffer for dividing and storing logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising an image compositor for controlling an operation for displaying the logical channel-by-logical channel elementary streams on an image in at least one display mode provided from the stream source node information.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the image compositor is further configured to determine the at least one display mode of a group identifier of the physical channel after receiving the physical channel.