Broadcasting service system using mobile communication terminal

• US 7,849,485 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2009
• Issued: 12/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Paik, Woo Hyun, Park, Tae Jun, Lee, Seng Whan, Kang, Bae Guen
• Primary Examiner(s): Lonsberry; Hunter B.
• Application Number:
  US12/633,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20100146537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 364 Days
• Field of Search: 725/39, 725/62, 4555561-5562, 455/557, 370/487
• US Class Current: 725/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/06 among broadcast stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/24 Arrangements for distribution of identical information via broadcast system and non-broadcast system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A system capable of receiving a television signal and telephone signal on a mobile communication terminal. In particular, the system is capable of displaying each television broadcast on a monitor of the mobile communication terminal by receiving the video and audio signal, decoding it, and outputting it to the monitor of the mobile communication terminal. In addition, the system can transmit an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) data corresponding to a subscriber request and a selected broadcasting program in real time.

Claims

1. A digital video and audio data service system for a subscriber terminal using a mobile telecommunications network, comprising:

a digital video and audio data receiver which receives digital video and audio data from a content provider;

a format converter for converting the received digital video and audio data into format-converted data having a format that is compatible with the subscriber terminal;

a medium storage for storing at least one of said received digital video and audio data and the format-converted data; and

a transmitter which transmits the format-converted data via an allotted communication channel of the mobile telecommunications network,

wherein the format converter comprises a transcoder which includes a decoding means which decodes the received digital video and audio data complying with a digital television broadcasting standard and then encodes the thusly decoded digital video and audio data into a format compatible with transmission over the allotted communication channel of the mobile telecommunications network, and a converting-controlling means which controls an encoding rate of the transcoder to comply with a transmission rate of the mobile telecommunications network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital video and audio data received from the content provider is related to digital television broadcast signals.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter includes a means for putting the formatted digital video and audio signal onto the communication channel of the mobile telecommunications network, and a formatting-transmission means which formats and transmits the digital video and audio data with additional broadcasting information.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the format converter converts the received digital video and audio data complying with a MPEG-2 standard into the format-converted data complying with at least one of MPEG-4, H.26L, H.263, and H.26X standards.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the medium storage supports data storage techniques based upon at least one of a striping method and time-based data burst procedures using I-Frame value processing, Bit Rate Drop processing, and Macro Block and Intra/Inter compensation processing.

6. A method of receiving multimedia contents by a subscriber terminal, the method comprising:

receiving signals and additional information from a broadcast content provider via a mobile telecommunications network, the signals and additional information having been converted into a format compatible with the mobile telecommunications network after decoding the received signals complying with a digital television broadcasting standard and then encoding the thusly decoded signals into a format compatible with transmission over a communication channel of the mobile telecommunications network, and controlling an encoding rate of to comply with a transmission rate of the mobile telecommunications network;

receiving user selection of desired multimedia contents based on the received additional information;

informing the broadcast content provider via the mobile telecommunications network about the user selection of desired multimedia contents; and

receiving the desired multimedia contents from the broadcast content provider via a mobile telecommunications network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the signals and additional information received from the broadcast content provider comply with at least one of a ATSC standard, a DVB standard, an MPEG-2 standard, and an OFDM standard.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the additional information is related to at least one of program system information (PSI), service guide information, subscriber billing, subscriber password and access rights management, and subscriber certification.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the format compatible with the mobile telecommunications network comprises at least one of an MPEG-2 standard, an MPEG-4 standard, an H.26L standard, an H.263 standard, an H.26X standard, a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) standard, a PSIP (Program Stream Internet Protocol) standard, a HDML (Handheld Device Mark-up Language) format, a TTML (Tagged Text Mark-up Language) format, HDTP (Handheld Device Transport Protocol) format, an ITTP (Intelligent Terminal Transfer Protocol) format, MHEG/XHTML (Multimedia and Hypermedia Expert Group/XHyper-Text Mark-up Language) format.

10. A method of receiving multimedia contents by a subscriber terminal, the method comprising:

receiving signals and additional information from a broadcast content provider via a mobile communications network, the signals and additional information having been converted into a format compatible with the mobile communications network after decoding the received signals complying with a digital television broadcasting standard and then encoding the thusly decoded digital signals into a format compatible with transmission over a communication channel of the mobile telecommunications network, and controlling an encoding rate of to comply with a transmission rate of the mobile telecommunications network;

displaying Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data to a subscriber of the subscriber terminal;

receiving subscriber selection of desired multimedia contents based on the displayed EPG data;

sending a request to the broadcast content provider in order to receive the desired multimedia contents selected by the subscriber from the displayed EPG data;

receiving authentication from the mobile communications network in order to receive the desired multimedia contents selected by the subscriber; and

receiving the desired multimedia contents from the broadcast content provider via a mobile communications network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the format compatible with the mobile telecommunications network comprises at least one of an MPEG-2 standard, an MPEG-4 standard, an H.26L standard, an H.263 standard, an H.26X standard, a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) standard, a PSIP (Program Stream Internet Protocol) standard, a HDML (Handheld Device Mark-up Language) format, a TTML (Tagged Text Mark-up Language) format, HDTP (Handheld Device Transport Protocol) format, an ITTP (Intelligent Terminal Transfer Protocol) format, MHEG/XHTML (Multimedia and Hypermedia Expert Group/XHyper-Text Mark-up Language) format.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the EPG data allows for broadcast schedule searching using keywords, program titles, actor names and other program related concepts.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the authentication comprises at least one of subscriber billing, subscriber password and access rights management, and subscriber certification is performed via the mobile telecommunications network.

14. A digital broadcasting service system comprising:

a digital television signal processing unit configured to perform demodulating, multiplexing and decoding of digital video and audio data, and to provide multiplexed output data and decoded output data;

a media storage unit configured to receive and store information from the digital television signal processing unit;

a data processing and converting unit configured to receive the decoded output data from the digital television signal processing unit, to perform further decoding and protocol conversion thereon, and to provide protocol-converted output data; and

a transcoder and transmission unit configured to receive the multiplexed output data from the digital television signal processing unit, to retrieve the information stored in the media storage unit, and to receive the protocol-converted output data from the data processing and converting unit, and configured to perform transcoding, media synchronization, wireless data protocol processing and rate control thereon to provide wireless streaming outputs to a user who receives and reproduces the digital video and audio data via a mobile terminal compatible with a mobile telecommunications network.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the protocol conversion involves conversion of the decoded output data that complies with a first MPEG standard into the protocol-converted output data that complies with a different MPEG standard.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the protocol conversion involves conversion of among at least one of an MPEG-2 standard, an MPEG-4 standard, an H.26L standard, an H.263 standard, an H.26X standard, a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) standard, a PSIP (Program Stream Internet Protocol) standard, a HDML (Handheld Device Mark-up Language) format, a TTML (Tagged Text Mark-up Language) format, HDTP (Handheld Device Transport Protocol) format, an ITTP (Intelligent Terminal Transfer Protocol) format, MHEG/XHTML (Multimedia and Hypermedia Expert Group/XHyper-Text Mark-up Language) format.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the information from the digital television signal processing unit comprises EPG (Electronic Program Guide) data that allows for broadcast schedule searching using keywords, program titles, actor names and other program related concepts.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the digital television signal processing unit, the media storage unit, the data processing and converting unit, and the transcoder and transmission unit further cooperate such that at least one of subscriber billing, subscriber password and access rights management, and subscriber certification is performed via the mobile telecommunications network.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the media storage unit supports data storage techniques based upon at least one of a striping method and time-based data burst procedures using I-Frame value processing, Bit Rate Drop processing, and Macro Block and Intra/Inter compensation processing.