WO2002076099A1 - Realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using mobile terminal and method thereof - Google Patents

Realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using mobile terminal and method thereof Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002076099A1
WO2002076099A1 PCT/KR2002/000292 KR0200292W WO02076099A1 WO 2002076099 A1 WO2002076099 A1 WO 2002076099A1 KR 0200292 W KR0200292 W KR 0200292W WO 02076099 A1 WO02076099 A1 WO 02076099A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
multicast
wireless
data
content
mobile terminal
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/KR2002/000292
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Cheong Seok Oh
Original Assignee
Cheong Seok Oh
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from KR1020010008917A external-priority patent/KR20010044456A/en
Application filed by Cheong Seok Oh filed Critical Cheong Seok Oh
Publication of WO2002076099A1 publication Critical patent/WO2002076099A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/44—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream, rendering scenes according to MPEG-4 scene graphs
    • H04N21/44012—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream, rendering scenes according to MPEG-4 scene graphs involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q50/00—Systems or methods specially adapted for specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
    • G06Q50/10—Services
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
    • H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs
    • H04N21/2343—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements
    • H04N21/234318—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
    • H04N21/24—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests
    • H04N21/2402—Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
    • H04N21/414—Specialised client platforms, e.g. receiver in car or embedded in a mobile appliance
    • H04N21/41407—Specialised client platforms, e.g. receiver in car or embedded in a mobile appliance embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/472—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/472—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content
    • H04N21/4722—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content for requesting additional data associated with the content
    • H04N21/4725—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content for requesting additional data associated with the content using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
    • H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
    • H04N21/6106—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
    • H04N21/6131—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network involving transmission via a mobile phone network
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
    • H04N21/63—Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing
    • H04N21/64—Addressing
    • H04N21/6405—Multicasting
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
    • H04N21/63—Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing
    • H04N21/643—Communication protocols
    • H04N21/64322—IP
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
    • H04N21/8126—Monomedia components thereof involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
    • H04N7/17309—Transmission or handling of upstream communications
    • H04N7/17318—Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/06—Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/18—Service support devices; Network management devices

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system for acquiring or producing various contents, converting them into streamable multimedia data, classifying the data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program and transmitting the data through distributed servers to a mobile communication company in the form of a stream, thereby multicasting or unicasting (hereinafter, multicasting and unicasting is commonly referred to as multicasting) the data to mobile terminals, and a method thereof.
  • multicasting and unicasting is commonly referred to as multicasting
  • PDAs personal digital assistants
  • HPCs hand personal computers
  • WAP wireless application protocol
  • HHTs hand held terminals
  • Such mobile data communication services include a wireless Internet service, a mobile computing service, a wireless data communication service, a wireless Internet access service, and a satellite communication service.
  • various communication environments such as a variety of mobile solutions (a mobile device operating system (OS), an OS application, a development tool, a mobile browser, a moving picture solution, a voice-based/speaker authentication solution, a location-based solution, and so on), mobile contents (a mobile portal space, a download service (characters, music, initial screens, and so on), chatting, provision of life information (news, stock prices, entertainment, weather, and so on), a guide service, a location information service, Java game, mobile betting, and so on), M commerce (banking, stock trading, booking service, mobile shopping, mobile auction, mobile advertisement, billing, transfer settlement, business consultation, authentication and security, and so on), networks (optical transmission equipment and repeater, mobile network management and monitoring system, mobile network application, wireless LAN, home RF, Infrared Data Association (IrDA)
  • IrDA In
  • wireless multicast services are provided mainly by content providers (CPs) and mobile communication companies.
  • CPs content providers
  • existing wireless multicasting services just allow text-concentrated and uniform contents to be downloaded to personal information terminals so that they do not satisfy the demands of service users.
  • CPs content providers
  • existing wireless multicasting services just allow text-concentrated and uniform contents to be downloaded to personal information terminals so that they do not satisfy the demands of service users.
  • CPs content providers
  • existing wireless multicasting services just allow text-concentrated and uniform contents to be downloaded to personal information terminals so that they do not satisfy the demands of service users.
  • types of information such as voice, video, or text
  • time zone of information provision such as realtime or on-demand
  • CPs provide contents which do not cover a variety of fields and include just sensational episodic information targeting teen-agers. These CPs seem to neglect development of contents and content providing systems for general and systematic multimedia information which can be available through next-generation technology such as future IMT2000.
  • a telephone network access service does not have communication channels which are proper to multimedia data transmission, and a satellite multicasting service burdens users with expensive charges for using a satellite and rebroadcasting.
  • an object of the present invention to provide a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal, which converts various contents acquired from wired/wireless networks into streamable multimedia data such as audio, video, and text data, classifies the multimedia data as realtime data and on-demand data, transmits the data through distributed transmission servers to a mobile communication company in the form of a stream, thereby multicasting the data to the mobile terminal, and provides an object calling function so that a mobile terminal user can control an image object or access an information service server through the image object in generating the image object to be inserted into the content and mixing the content with the image object using an image analyzing technique, and a method thereof.
  • a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal.
  • the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system includes a multicasting request receiver for receiving multicast selection information, which contains user information and indicates a request of provision of realtime multicast or on-demand multicast, from a mobile terminal user through a mobile communication company connected thereto through a network; a multicast data generator including a multimedia data generation unit for receiving content from an audio/video device, application software, or a content provider connected thereto through a network and generating multimedia wireless multicast data, a Wireless Internet Protocol (WIP) data generation unit for generating WIP wireless multicast data, and a text data generation unit for generating text wireless multicast data; a multicast data manager including a database, the multicast data manager classifying the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program, separately storing them, recording the multicast selection information, multicast progress information about multicast of each of the
  • WIP Wireless Internet Protocol
  • the method includes the steps of (a) receiving broadcast content, audio/video device content, digital broadcast content, Internet content, or text content and generating wireless multicast data; (b) classifying the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program or an on-demand multicast program and storing the on-demand multicast program in a database; (c) receiving multicast selection information from a mobile terminal user, multicasting the wireless multicast data for a realtime multicast program to a mobile communication company, deriving the wireless multicast data for an on-demand multicast program from the database according to the multicast selection information, and multicasting the wireless multicast data for on-demand multicast to the mobile communication company; and (d) storing multicast data including user information, multicast progress information, and multicast program transmission information in the database to manage them.
  • the step (a) includes the steps of (a1) if the received content is analog content, converting it into a digital file for edition and if the content is encoded multimedia wireless multicast data, decoding it and converting the decoded content into a digital file for edition; (a2) analyzing the digital file of the content in units of image objects using an image analysis technique and extracting an image object; (a3) generating an image object for insertion including an advertisement, another object which can replace the extracted image object, and an image effect which can be applied to the extracted image object, in the form of text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data; (a4) performing an operation on the image object for insertion and the extracted image object included in the content and providing an image object call function when mixing the image objects so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal, at least one image object in the content can be selected and moved on a screen on which the content is displayed, the mobile terminal can be linked to a wire/wireless Internet server or a multicasting request receiver, or settlement of charges for use of information can be admitted by the mobile
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention, which is connected to external systems through a network.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the inner structure of a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a streaming service unit for a distributed process in a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 4 is schematic block diagram of a multimedia data generation unit for providing an image object mixing function according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a screen of a mobile terminal on which content mixed with an image object is displayed according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of data and information managed in a database of a multicast data manager according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 7A is a flowchart of a procedure for generating multimedia data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 7B is a flowchart of a procedure for mixing content with an image object in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 7C is a flowchart of a procedure for classifying multimedia data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program and streaming the classified multimedia data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 7D is a flowchart of a procedure providing information when a mobile terminal user accesses a multicasting request receiver through the image object in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention, which is connected to external systems through a network.
  • the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system 200 using a mobile terminal is connected to a content provider 100 and is connected to a mobile communication company 400 wirelessly managing a mobile terminal 500 through a network 300.
  • the wireless multicasting system 200 can be connected to a plurality of content providers 100 through the wire network 300 including private lines and Internet and the wireless network 300 including wireless Internet and mobile communication networks.
  • the content provider 100 may be an existing multicast content provider such as a multicasting station, recording company, or studio, or a correspondent having a terminal (such as a notebook, PDA, or handphone) having a data communication function.
  • the wireless multicasting system is connected to the mobile communication company 400 through the network 300 including wire/wireless Internet and a private line. It is preferable to use existing Internet in order to save hardware installation cost.
  • the wireless multicasting system 200 includes a plurality of distributed transmission servers, checks the number of wireless channels allocated to the mobile terminal 500, and allocates a transmission channel in order to stream multimedia data without a transmission error. Accordingly, the mobile communication company 400 provided with a unique data transmission protocol for the wireless multicasting system 200 can multicast a stream of multimedia data to the mobile terminal 500 through each of the wireless channels. In other words, the mobile communication company 400 can receive multimedia data and control information about data transmission from the wireless multicasting system 200 without additional installation of hardware, thereby providing wireless multicasting to the mobile terminal 500 with only an existing system.
  • the mobile terminal 500 is provided with an interface program to control wireless multicast data through a keypad and includes at least one player in accordance with wireless multicast data formats (such as *.MP4, *.wmv, *.asf, and *.rm) and a platform based on a wireless Internet protocol (hereinafter, referred to as a Wireless Internet Protocol (WIP)) such as a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Mobile Explore (ME), or Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW).
  • WIP Wireless Internet Protocol
  • WAP Wireless Application Protocol
  • ME Mobile Explore
  • BREW Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the inner structure of the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system 200 using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system 200 using a mobile terminal includes a multicast data generator 210, a multicast data manager 220, a data transmitter 230, and a multicast request receiver 240.
  • the multicast data generator 210 includes a multimedia data generation unit 212, a WIP data generation unit 214, and a text data generation unit 216.
  • the multicast data manager 220 includes a data storing unit 222, a data search unit 224, an information recording unit 226, and a database 228.
  • the data transmitter 230 includes a WIP service unit 232, a streaming service unit 234, and a data service unit 236.
  • the multicast request receiver 240 receives multicast selection information from a mobile terminal user through the mobile communication company 400 connected thereto through the network 300.
  • the multicast selection information includes user information for identifying the mobile terminal to which the wireless multicasting system 200 is to transmit information and information for selecting one of realtime multicast and on-demand multicast. If the realtime multicast is selected, the wireless multicasting system 200 instantly provides wireless multicast data (such as a news flash) generated in real time to the mobile terminal 500. If the mobile terminal user selects the on-demand multicast of a particular program, the wireless multicasting system 200 transmits the corresponding wireless multicast data (such as drama on the over-the-air broadcast) at a particular time.
  • the wireless multicasting system 200 provides a multicast selection menu program to the mobile terminal 500 to receive the multicast selection information. This will be described later.
  • the multicast data generator 210 includes the multimedia data generation unit 212, the WIP data generation unit 214, and the text data generation unit 216.
  • the multimedia data generation unit 212 is connected to at least one content provider 100 through the network 300 and receives multimedia wireless multicast data from the content provider 100.
  • the multimedia wireless multicast data includes audio and video data which can be streamed to the mobile terminal 100. It needs to further go through image processing when an image object calling service is provided to the mobile terminal user.
  • the multicast data generation unit 212 can generate wireless multicast data using separate application software or receive wireless multicast data through an AV device connected thereto through a cable.
  • the WIP data generation unit 214 and the text data generation unit 216 are provided with contents in the same manner the multimedia data generation unit 212 and generate WIP wireless multicast data and text wireless multicast data, respectively.
  • the multimedia wireless multicast data is digital data which is compressed to be multicasted and streamed.
  • the digital data may be compressed into Moving Picture Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2) or MPEG-4 audio or video data or can be converted into a multimedia streaming file such as a streamable windows media file (such as a WMV or advanced streaming file (ASF)) or a real AV file.
  • MPEG-2 Moving Picture Experts Group-2
  • MPEG-4 audio or video data
  • a multimedia streaming file such as a streamable windows media file (such as a WMV or advanced streaming file (ASF)) or a real AV file.
  • WIP wireless multicast data is the result of converting existing wire Internet content to conform to WIP specifications.
  • the text wireless multicast data is used to express simple information composed of characters as in an existing short message service.
  • the multicast data generator 210 converts the analog data into digital data, compresses the digital data, and converts the compressed digital data into stream data.
  • the multicast data manager 220 includes the database 228.
  • the data storing unit 222 classifies the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast data and an on-demand multicast data and stores them separately.
  • the information recording unit 226 records multicast selection information, multicast progress information about multicast of a program, and multicast program transmission information in database recording fields.
  • the data search unit 224 receives the multicast selection information from the multicasting request receiver 240, searches the classified and stored wireless multicast data for particular data, and provides the particular data to the data transmitter 230.
  • the data transmitter 230 transmits the searched wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400 so that the mobile communication company 400 can stream the wireless multicast data to the mobile terminal 500.
  • the data transmitter 230 includes the streaming service unit 234, the WIP service unit 232, and the data service unit 236.
  • the streaming service unit 234 receives multimedia wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager 220 and transmits it together with corresponding user information to the mobile communication company 400.
  • the WIP service unit 232 and the data service unit 236 respectively receives WIP wireless multicast data and text wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager 220 and transmit them together with the corresponding user information to the mobile communication company 400.
  • the data transmitter 230 may be provided with a confirmation function of providing a confirmation screen for multicast reception to the mobile terminal 500 before providing realtime multicast or on-demand multicast and transmitting particular wireless multicast data in response to a multicasting request signal received from the mobile terminal 500.
  • a mobile terminal user accesses a server by using a received wireless short message including wireless multicast information, dialing an allocated number, or using a wireless Internet browser.
  • the wireless multicasting system 200 provides various multimedia data provided through existing over-the-air broadcasti ⁇ g, various storage media, wire Internet, and application software, it is inefficient and expensive to use unique communication channels of a mobile terminal to transmit the various multimedia data from the wireless multicasting system 200 to the mobile terminal 500. Accordingly, it is preferable to lease a particular channel among wireless frequency channels between a base station and a mobile terminal and allocate it as an exclusive channel for wireless multicast only.
  • the data transmitter 230 transmits multicast channel selection information together with wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400.
  • the mobile communication company 400 needs to be provided with a terminal such as IS95-C and an interrepeater procedure protocol in order to multicast data to the mobile terminal 500 through the exclusive channel.
  • the data transmitter 230 provides a multicast selection menu program to the mobile terminal 500.
  • the multicast selection menu program allows a list of realtime/on-demand multicast programs to be displayed on the mobile terminal and allows multicast selection information input by a mobile terminal user to be transmitted to the multicasting request receiver 240.
  • the data transmitter 230 can transmit the multicast selection menu program in the format of WIP wireless multicast data, multimedia wireless multicast data, or text wireless multicast data.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the streaming service unit 234 for a distributed process in the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system 200 using a mobile terminal according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that the streaming service unit
  • a method of distributedly processing data using one or more parallel data feeding servers and channel switching servers employs the following three methods for an efficient streaming service: a method of distributedly processing data using one or more parallel data feeding servers and channel switching servers; a method of managing a memory using a plurality of transmission buffer which linearly stores data packets by using overflow regions and memory pool which allocates a storage area for wireless multicast data to be transmitted to each of the transmission buffers and selects the storage area at the necessity of data storing in real time; and a method of calculating a transmission speed based on a predetermined number of transmission channels secured through the distributed feeding servers and switching servers and the operating speeds of a plurality of central processing units (CPUs), thereby streaming the wireless multicast data in real time without loosing the data.
  • CPUs central processing units
  • Such system structure provides essential functions to transmit data in real time using the network 300 including the existing Internet without errors.
  • the following description concerns a distributing server system, memory management, and transmission speed adjustment.
  • the distributing server system is distributed into first through n-th switching servers and first through n-th feeding servers as shown in FIG. 3 (the detailed inner structures of them are not shown in the attached drawings).
  • a plurality of distributed parallel switching servers are connected to a mobile communication client through the network 300, receive client packets from the mobile communication client according to distributing server identification information, transmit the client packets to the distributed feeding servers, manage received multimedia data through pool buffers, and transmit the multimedia data to the mobile communication client by allocating lines and controlling access.
  • a plurality of distributed parallel feeding servers process the client packets received from the switching servers, receive and store the multimedia data derived at the request of search, manage the stored multimedia data through the pool buffers, generate control packets including control codes and server packets including the multimedia data, and transmit them to the switching servers at a predetermined speed.
  • each of the feeding servers may include a controller for setting a session, adjusting the transmission speed of multimedia data, and managing the session by dynamically scheduling the session; a protocol processor for processing client packets, control packets, and server packets; a first accessor for setting a communication channel to a switching server, transmitting the client packets received from the switching server to the protocol processor, and transmitting the control packets and server packets received from the protocol processor to the switching server; a memory pool for assigning areas for a play file list, a mixer queue pool, and a transmission queue pool to control the multimedia data transmitted from the plurality of pool buffers; a second accessor for setting a communication channel to the multicast data manager 220, transmitting the client packets to the multicast data manager 220, and receiving the searched multimedia data from the multicast data manager 220; and a access buffer for providing a data storage space allowing two-way data output for smooth data transmission between the second accessor and the memory pool.
  • the transmission speed is adjusted based on a rate of data recovery of the mobile communication client and is additionally adjusted by calculating the CPU operation processing speed of each of the multicast data manager 220 and the multicasting request receiver 240 and the operation processing speed of each of the switching servers and feeding servers of the streaming service unit 234 in accordance with a predetermined number of distributed servers and a predetermined number of routine process loops, respectively, and reflecting the speeds in calculating a delay time.
  • the pool buffer which is managed together with the memory pool also includes an overflow buffer space in addition to the predetermined data storage space so that data can be recorded in the rented overflow buffer space according to locations of a read index and write index in the buffer.
  • the recorded data is copied and circular-buffered so that the multimedia data can be seamlessly stored and streamed.
  • the plurality of switching servers and feeding servers constituting the streaming service unit 234 are connected through fixed lines.
  • the plurality of switching servers are allocated a predetermined number of lines by the mobile communication company 400 and connected in parallel.
  • the plurality of feeding servers are connected to the multicast data manager 220 in parallel and intersectionally. Due to the above-mentioned constitution, it does not need to operate a separate protocol to distributedly process loads. In other words, burden of software process on the CPU can be reduced.
  • the multimedia data generation unit 212 may be provided with other functions of analyzing content using an image analysis technique, generating an image object which can be inserted into the content, and reconstructing the content to perform a predetermined data communication function when the inserted image object is selected on the mobile terminal 500.
  • FIG. 4 is schematic block diagram of the multimedia data generation unit 212 for providing an image object mixing function according to the present invention.
  • the multimedia data generation unit 212 includes an input conversion module 212a, an image analysis module 212b, an object generation module 212c, an object mixing module 212d, and an encoding module 212e.
  • the input conversion module 212a receives content from an AV device, application software, or the content provider through the network, decodes the content if the content is encoded (compressed or streaming) multimedia wireless multicast data, and converts the decoded content into a digital file for edition.
  • the image analysis module 212b analyzes the content in units of image objects using an image analysis technique and extracts an image object.
  • the image analysis technique may be an image processing through discontinuity detection, contour detection, thresholding calculation, and region and motion comparison and a image representation and description using a chain code, approximation, and descriptor.
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a screen of a mobile terminal on which content mixed with an image object is displayed according to the present invention.
  • the extracted image object may replace or be mixed with another image object through logical operation.
  • the object generation module 212c generates such an image object for insertion.
  • An image object for insertion has an advertisement image and a image effect, which can be applied to an image object, and may be generated in the form of text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data. For example, in FIG. 5, all of a person, a background, and matters may be extracted as image objects and may be replaced with image objects for insertion.
  • the object mixing module 212d performs a logical operation on the image object for insertion generated by the object generation module 212c and an image object included in the content to mix them.
  • the object mixing module 212d adds interface information to the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal 500, either the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion can be selected and controlled in the content displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal 500 through an interface program and a keypad provided in the mobile terminal 500 (that is, once an image object is selected and called, it can be moved on the screen or removed and replaced with another image object for insertion stored in a memory of the mobile terminal 500, or another image object for insertion can be added to the content, through operation of the keypad).
  • the object mixing module 212d adds link information (for example, a Wireless Markup Language (WML) code) to the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal 500, either the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion can be selected, as described above, and a wire/wireless Internet service server or the multicasting request receiver 240, which is related to information symbolized or indicated by the selected image object, can be linked.
  • link information for example, a Wireless Markup Language (WML) code
  • the mobile terminal 500 can be linked to a wireless Internet server providing a shopping mall site through the link information (Similarly, if the user selects a background image object or advertisement image object, the mobile terminal 500 can be linked to a travel site or a corresponding advertisement site through the link information, and if the user selects and calls the woman, the call is received by the multicasting request receiver 240 and the multicast data manager 220 derives her personal information and provides it to the mobile terminal 500).
  • the object mixing module 212d allows the user to admit settlement of charges through a mobile terminal settlement method and transmits admission information to the mobile communication company 400.
  • the encoding module 212e encodes the content in which the image objects are mixed into multimedia wireless multicast data and transmits the multimedia wireless multicast data to the multicast data manager 220.
  • FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of data and information managed in the database 228 of the multicast data manager 220 according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 7A is a flowchart of a procedure for generating multimedia data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • the multicast data generator 210 receives at least one type of content among broadcast content, AV device content, digital broadcast content, Internet content, and text content and classifies the received content in step S100.
  • the multimedia content is encoded into streaming data. If it is determined that the multimedia content is multicast content or analog AV device content in step S120, the multimedia content is divided into audio data and video data and then converted into digital data in step S125. The converted digital multimedia data is compressed in step S140.
  • the multicast data generator 210 converts the compressed digital multimedia data into streaming data to generate wireless multicast data in step S145. However, if it is determined that the multimedia content is digital broadcast content produced using application software in step S120, the multimedia content is compressed in step S140 without going through conversion into digital data. The compressed multimedia content is converted into streaming data in step S145.
  • FIG. 7B is a flowchart of a procedure for mixing content with an image object in the method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • the multimedia data generation unit 212 decompresses the content and converts the decompressed content into a digital file for edition in step S205 when the content is analog content and is compressed in step S200; and the multimedia data generation unit 212 decompresses the content, decodes the content, and converts the decoded content into a digital file for edition in step S205 when it is determined that the content is encoded multimedia wireless multicast data and is compressed in step S200.
  • the multimedia data generation unit 212 analyzes the content of the digital file in units of image objects using an image analysis technique to extract an image object in step S210. Then, it is determined whether an image object for image mixing has been generated in step S215.
  • the image object for insertion is prepared in the database 228.
  • the image object for insertion may be produced in advance or generated in real time to be inserted into the content. If it is determined that there is no image object for insertion in step S215, an image object for insertion is generated in the form of a text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data in step S220.
  • the image object for insertion includes an advertisement, another image object which can replace the existing image object in the content, or a image effect which can be applied to the existing image object.
  • the multimedia data generation unit 212 performs a logic operation on the existing image object included in the content and the image object for insertion to mix the image object for insertion with the content in step 225.
  • the image object for insertion or the existing image object can be provided with an object call function having the following features in step S230.
  • an image object included in the content transmitted to the mobile terminal 500 can be selected through an interface program and a keypad on the mobile terminal 500 (for example, contours or regions in an image are defined in units of image objects, and the defined contours or regions can be separately selected using a motion key on the keypad).
  • the selected image object can be moved on a full image of content displayed on a screen of the mobile terminal 500.
  • a user can call the particular image object (by, for example, pressing an OK button on the mobile terminal 500) and can move the particular image object on the image of content using the motion key on the keypad.
  • the user can be linked to a wire/wireless Internet service server or the multicasting request receiver 240 through the selected image object.
  • the user can use a link function by pressing a Call button on the mobile terminal 500.
  • an image object allows the user to admit settlement of charges for using information through a mobile terminal settlement method (for example, in the case where content having capacity of 10-minute playback is set to be provided free for one minute and charged for the next 9 minutes, the content is interrupted after being reproduced for one minute, and an image object screen requesting user's settlement is displayed. If the user admits the settlement by operating the keypad, the rest of the content is provided). If the object call function is provided and image mixing is completed, the content is encoded into the multimedia wireless multicast data in step S140 or S145 of FIG. 7A, as described above.
  • FIG. 7C is a flowchart of a procedure for classifying multimedia data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program and multicasting the data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • the data transmitter 230 classifies the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program, stores the on-demand multicast programs in the database 228, transmits a multicast selection menu program to the mobile terminal 500, and receives multicast selection information from the user in step S300.
  • the realtime multicast programs may include relay of sports, a news flesh, stock information and so on
  • the on-demand multicast programs may include on-demand video, a TV drama, a concert, and so on.
  • wireless multicast data classified as the realtime multicast program is provided.
  • the data transmitter 230 transmits a final confirmation screen for realtime multicast reception to the mobile terminal 500 and receives a wireless multicasting request signal in step S315, it receives the realtime multicast programs (the wireless multicast data) from the multicast data manager in step S320 and transmits them to the mobile communication company 400.
  • the data transmitter 230 can provide the summary of the stock information and can transmit a final confirmation screen asking the user whether to receive the entire multicast data to the mobile terminal 500. If the user selects on-demand multicast in step S310, the multicast data manager 220 derives wireless multicast data corresponding to order information from the database 228 and transmits the derived wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400.
  • Each of the realtime multicast programs and the on-demand multicast programs may be multimedia wireless multicast data
  • WIP wireless multicast data (corresponding to a streaming service), WIP wireless multicast data, or text wireless multicast data.
  • the following description concerns procedures of multicasting each type of wireless multicast data.
  • the streaming service is selected in step S330. Then, the streaming service unit 234 derives streaming data from the database 228 in step S335 and transmits the streaming data to the mobile communication company 400 in step S340.
  • the WIP service unit 232 derives wireless multicast data, which has been converted into WIP content from the database 228 and transmits the derived wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400 (this service may be divided into a streaming service and a hypertext service using, for example, WML) in steps S350 and S355.
  • the data service unit 236 derives text data from the database 228 in step S365 and transmits it to the mobile communication company 400 in step S370.
  • FIG. 7D is a flowchart of a procedure for providing information when the mobile terminal user accesses the multicasting request receiver 240 through the image object in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
  • the multicast data manager 220 checks the transmission, stores multicast-related data such as relevant user information, multicast progress information, and multicast program transmission information in the database 228, and manages the stored data in step S400.
  • multimedia wireless multicast data provided to the mobile terminal 500 is decoded by a playback device of the mobile terminal 500 and is displayed, if the user watching the displayed multicast multimedia data selects and calls an image object and accesses the multicasting request receiver 240 in step S405, the multicast data manager 220 analyzes an image object call signal in step S410, derives detailed image object information corresponding to the image object call signal in step S415, and transmits the detailed image object information to the mobile communication company 400. For example, if an actor or actress on an image is selected, the wireless multicasting system 200 can provide personal information about him or her. Transmission of the detailed image object information can be performed through the steps S330 through S370.
  • various types of content received through a wire/wireless network are converted into streaming audio, video, and text multimedia data, and the streaming multimedia data is transmitted to a mobile communication company through distributed transmission servers, so that high-quality audio and video multimedia data can be multicasted to the mobile terminal without data loss and transmission delay.
  • generated streaming data is classified as realtime data and on-demand data so that wireless multicast can be performed in real time according to setting information selected by a mobile terminal user and stored multimedia data can be immediately multicasted wirelessly at the mobile terminal user's order. Accordingly, the present invention can provide two-way wireless multicast which enhances the user's option.
  • an image object call function can be performed such that an image object included in content is selected through an interface program and a keypad on a mobile terminal, the selected image object is moved on, added to, removed from, or transformed on a displayed content image, a wire/wireless Internet service server related to the image object is linked, and settlement of charges for use of information through the image object can be admitted by a mobile terminal settlement method.

Abstract

A realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal and a method thereof are provided. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system includes a multicasting request receiver for receiving multicast selection information from the mobile terminal; a multicast data generator including a multimedia data generation unit for receiving content, generating multimedia wireless multicast data, generating an image object, inserting the image object into the content, and providing an object call function, a Wireless Internet Protocol (WIP) data generation unit for receiving content and generating WIP wireless multicast data, and a text data generation unit for receiving content and generating text wireless multicast data; a multicast data manager for classifying the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program, seperately storing them, recording the multicast selection information, multicast progress information, and multicast program transmission information, deriving wireless multicast data corresponding to the multicast selection information, and providing the derived wireless multicast data; and a data transmitter including a streaming service unit for receiving the derived multimedia wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager and transmitting it together with the user information to a mobile communication company, a WIP service unit for transmitting WIP wireless communication data, and a data service unit for transmitting text wireless multicast data.

Description

REALTIME/ON-DEMAND WIRELESS MULTICASTING SYSTEM USING MOBILE TERMINAL AND METHOD THEREOF
Technical Field The present invention relates to a wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system for acquiring or producing various contents, converting them into streamable multimedia data, classifying the data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program and transmitting the data through distributed servers to a mobile communication company in the form of a stream, thereby multicasting or unicasting (hereinafter, multicasting and unicasting is commonly referred to as multicasting) the data to mobile terminals, and a method thereof.
Background Art
Recently, mobile data communication services using personal information terminals such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), hand personal computers (HPCs), web pads, notebooks, smart phones, wireless application protocol (WAP) phones, palm PCs, e-book terminals, and hand held terminals (HHTs) are widely used.
Such mobile data communication services include a wireless Internet service, a mobile computing service, a wireless data communication service, a wireless Internet access service, and a satellite communication service. For these mobile data communication services, there are provided various communication environments such as a variety of mobile solutions (a mobile device operating system (OS), an OS application, a development tool, a mobile browser, a moving picture solution, a voice-based/speaker authentication solution, a location-based solution, and so on), mobile contents (a mobile portal space, a download service (characters, music, initial screens, and so on), chatting, provision of life information (news, stock prices, entertainment, weather, and so on), a guide service, a location information service, Java game, mobile betting, and so on), M commerce (banking, stock trading, booking service, mobile shopping, mobile auction, mobile advertisement, billing, transfer settlement, business consultation, authentication and security, and so on), networks (optical transmission equipment and repeater, mobile network management and monitoring system, mobile network application, wireless LAN, home RF, Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Bluetooth, mobile modem, and so on), and peripheral devices (a mobile keyboard, printer, digital camera, MP3 player, portable input/output device, external device connector, and so on).
In mobile data communication services using personal information terminals, the field of wireless multicast services providing various contents to personal information terminals is a most leading field which attracts attention due to business diversification, marketability, and technical improvement. At present, wireless multicast services are provided mainly by content providers (CPs) and mobile communication companies. However, existing wireless multicasting services just allow text-concentrated and uniform contents to be downloaded to personal information terminals so that they do not satisfy the demands of service users. In other words, in providing information to service users, they do not allow the users to have rights to select a type of information, type of medium (such as voice, video, or text), time zone of information provision, multicasting type (such as realtime or on-demand) according to the characteristics of information, and so on. Consequently, service providers miss very important points in providing information.
Particularly, CPs provide contents which do not cover a variety of fields and include just sensational episodic information targeting teen-agers. These CPs seem to neglect development of contents and content providing systems for general and systematic multimedia information which can be available through next-generation technology such as future IMT2000. In terms of communication media for wireless multicasting, a telephone network access service does not have communication channels which are proper to multimedia data transmission, and a satellite multicasting service burdens users with expensive charges for using a satellite and rebroadcasting. Unlike wired Internet, it is difficult to variously utilize technology in application of advertising techniques and information transmission due to network environments and the characteristics of hardware in wireless Internet services using mobile terminals.
Accordingly, low-cost and high-efficiency network access and transmission technology allowing acquisition of multimedia data, stream transmission, and multicasting by linking existing Internet networks, mobile communication networks, and wireless Internet networks to minimize loads on the networks is desired. Development of a wireless multicasting system which allows user to select or demand content such as news, sports, music, drama, or educational program and performs realtime stream transmission and multicasting of high-quality audio and video data, is also desired. In addition, with development of mobile terminal manufacturing technology and wireless channel application technology and improvement of wireless communication protocols, users can be provided with multimedia information including moving picture data through mobile terminals at present. Accordingly, development of technology of transmitting wireless Internet information through analysis and processing of multimedia data is desired.
Disclosure of the Invention To overcome the above shortcomings, it is an object of the present invention to provide a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal, which converts various contents acquired from wired/wireless networks into streamable multimedia data such as audio, video, and text data, classifies the multimedia data as realtime data and on-demand data, transmits the data through distributed transmission servers to a mobile communication company in the form of a stream, thereby multicasting the data to the mobile terminal, and provides an object calling function so that a mobile terminal user can control an image object or access an information service server through the image object in generating the image object to be inserted into the content and mixing the content with the image object using an image analyzing technique, and a method thereof.
To achieve the above object of the present invention, in one embodiment, there is provided a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system includes a multicasting request receiver for receiving multicast selection information, which contains user information and indicates a request of provision of realtime multicast or on-demand multicast, from a mobile terminal user through a mobile communication company connected thereto through a network; a multicast data generator including a multimedia data generation unit for receiving content from an audio/video device, application software, or a content provider connected thereto through a network and generating multimedia wireless multicast data, a Wireless Internet Protocol (WIP) data generation unit for generating WIP wireless multicast data, and a text data generation unit for generating text wireless multicast data; a multicast data manager including a database, the multicast data manager classifying the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program, separately storing them, recording the multicast selection information, multicast progress information about multicast of each of the programs, and multicast program transmission information, deriving wireless multicast data corresponding to the multicast selection information, and providing the derived wireless multicast data; and a data transmitter including a streaming service unit for receiving the derived multimedia wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager and transmitting it together with the user information to the mobile communication company so that the multimedia wireless multicast data is multicasted to the mobile terminal, a WIP service unit for receiving WIP wireless multicast data and transmitting it together with the user information to the mobile communication company, and a data service unit for receiving text wireless multicast data and transmitting it together with the user information to the mobile communication company. There is also provided a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal. The method includes the steps of (a) receiving broadcast content, audio/video device content, digital broadcast content, Internet content, or text content and generating wireless multicast data; (b) classifying the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program or an on-demand multicast program and storing the on-demand multicast program in a database; (c) receiving multicast selection information from a mobile terminal user, multicasting the wireless multicast data for a realtime multicast program to a mobile communication company, deriving the wireless multicast data for an on-demand multicast program from the database according to the multicast selection information, and multicasting the wireless multicast data for on-demand multicast to the mobile communication company; and (d) storing multicast data including user information, multicast progress information, and multicast program transmission information in the database to manage them. The step (a) includes the steps of (a1) if the received content is analog content, converting it into a digital file for edition and if the content is encoded multimedia wireless multicast data, decoding it and converting the decoded content into a digital file for edition; (a2) analyzing the digital file of the content in units of image objects using an image analysis technique and extracting an image object; (a3) generating an image object for insertion including an advertisement, another object which can replace the extracted image object, and an image effect which can be applied to the extracted image object, in the form of text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data; (a4) performing an operation on the image object for insertion and the extracted image object included in the content and providing an image object call function when mixing the image objects so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal, at least one image object in the content can be selected and moved on a screen on which the content is displayed, the mobile terminal can be linked to a wire/wireless Internet server or a multicasting request receiver, or settlement of charges for use of information can be admitted by the mobile terminal user through a mobile terminal settlement method, through an interface program and a keypad provided in the mobile terminal; and (a5) encoding the content, in which the image objects are mixed, into multimedia wireless multicast data.
Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention, which is connected to external systems through a network.
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the inner structure of a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a streaming service unit for a distributed process in a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is schematic block diagram of a multimedia data generation unit for providing an image object mixing function according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a screen of a mobile terminal on which content mixed with an image object is displayed according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of data and information managed in a database of a multicast data manager according to the present invention.
FIG. 7A is a flowchart of a procedure for generating multimedia data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
FIG. 7B is a flowchart of a procedure for mixing content with an image object in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention. FIG. 7C is a flowchart of a procedure for classifying multimedia data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program and streaming the classified multimedia data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention. FIG. 7D is a flowchart of a procedure providing information when a mobile terminal user accesses a multicasting request receiver through the image object in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
Best mode for carrying out the Invention Hereinafter, a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system using a mobile terminal according to the present invention, which is connected to external systems through a network.
Referring to FIG. 1 , the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system (hereinafter, referred to as a wireless multicasting system) 200 using a mobile terminal according to the present invention is connected to a content provider 100 and is connected to a mobile communication company 400 wirelessly managing a mobile terminal 500 through a network 300.
The wireless multicasting system 200 can be connected to a plurality of content providers 100 through the wire network 300 including private lines and Internet and the wireless network 300 including wireless Internet and mobile communication networks. The content provider 100 may be an existing multicast content provider such as a multicasting station, recording company, or studio, or a correspondent having a terminal (such as a notebook, PDA, or handphone) having a data communication function.
The wireless multicasting system is connected to the mobile communication company 400 through the network 300 including wire/wireless Internet and a private line. It is preferable to use existing Internet in order to save hardware installation cost. The wireless multicasting system 200 includes a plurality of distributed transmission servers, checks the number of wireless channels allocated to the mobile terminal 500, and allocates a transmission channel in order to stream multimedia data without a transmission error. Accordingly, the mobile communication company 400 provided with a unique data transmission protocol for the wireless multicasting system 200 can multicast a stream of multimedia data to the mobile terminal 500 through each of the wireless channels. In other words, the mobile communication company 400 can receive multimedia data and control information about data transmission from the wireless multicasting system 200 without additional installation of hardware, thereby providing wireless multicasting to the mobile terminal 500 with only an existing system.
The mobile terminal 500 is provided with an interface program to control wireless multicast data through a keypad and includes at least one player in accordance with wireless multicast data formats (such as *.MP4, *.wmv, *.asf, and *.rm) and a platform based on a wireless Internet protocol (hereinafter, referred to as a Wireless Internet Protocol (WIP)) such as a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Mobile Explore (ME), or Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW).
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the inner structure of the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system 200 using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 2, the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system 200 using a mobile terminal according to the present invention includes a multicast data generator 210, a multicast data manager 220, a data transmitter 230, and a multicast request receiver 240. The multicast data generator 210 includes a multimedia data generation unit 212, a WIP data generation unit 214, and a text data generation unit 216. The multicast data manager 220 includes a data storing unit 222, a data search unit 224, an information recording unit 226, and a database 228. The data transmitter 230 includes a WIP service unit 232, a streaming service unit 234, and a data service unit 236.
The multicast request receiver 240 receives multicast selection information from a mobile terminal user through the mobile communication company 400 connected thereto through the network 300. The multicast selection information includes user information for identifying the mobile terminal to which the wireless multicasting system 200 is to transmit information and information for selecting one of realtime multicast and on-demand multicast. If the realtime multicast is selected, the wireless multicasting system 200 instantly provides wireless multicast data (such as a news flash) generated in real time to the mobile terminal 500. If the mobile terminal user selects the on-demand multicast of a particular program, the wireless multicasting system 200 transmits the corresponding wireless multicast data (such as drama on the over-the-air broadcast) at a particular time.
The wireless multicasting system 200 provides a multicast selection menu program to the mobile terminal 500 to receive the multicast selection information. This will be described later. As described above, the multicast data generator 210 includes the multimedia data generation unit 212, the WIP data generation unit 214, and the text data generation unit 216.
The multimedia data generation unit 212 is connected to at least one content provider 100 through the network 300 and receives multimedia wireless multicast data from the content provider 100. The multimedia wireless multicast data includes audio and video data which can be streamed to the mobile terminal 100. It needs to further go through image processing when an image object calling service is provided to the mobile terminal user. The multicast data generation unit 212 can generate wireless multicast data using separate application software or receive wireless multicast data through an AV device connected thereto through a cable.
The WIP data generation unit 214 and the text data generation unit 216 are provided with contents in the same manner the multimedia data generation unit 212 and generate WIP wireless multicast data and text wireless multicast data, respectively.
The multimedia wireless multicast data is digital data which is compressed to be multicasted and streamed. For example, the digital data may be compressed into Moving Picture Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2) or MPEG-4 audio or video data or can be converted into a multimedia streaming file such as a streamable windows media file (such as a WMV or advanced streaming file (ASF)) or a real AV file. The WIP wireless multicast data is the result of converting existing wire Internet content to conform to WIP specifications. The text wireless multicast data is used to express simple information composed of characters as in an existing short message service.
When multicast data received by the multicast data generator 210 is analog data, the multicast data generator 210 converts the analog data into digital data, compresses the digital data, and converts the compressed digital data into stream data.
The multicast data manager 220 includes the database 228. The data storing unit 222 classifies the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast data and an on-demand multicast data and stores them separately. The information recording unit 226 records multicast selection information, multicast progress information about multicast of a program, and multicast program transmission information in database recording fields. The data search unit 224 receives the multicast selection information from the multicasting request receiver 240, searches the classified and stored wireless multicast data for particular data, and provides the particular data to the data transmitter 230.
The data transmitter 230 transmits the searched wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400 so that the mobile communication company 400 can stream the wireless multicast data to the mobile terminal 500. The data transmitter 230 includes the streaming service unit 234, the WIP service unit 232, and the data service unit 236.
The streaming service unit 234 receives multimedia wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager 220 and transmits it together with corresponding user information to the mobile communication company 400. The WIP service unit 232 and the data service unit 236 respectively receives WIP wireless multicast data and text wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager 220 and transmit them together with the corresponding user information to the mobile communication company 400. The data transmitter 230 may be provided with a confirmation function of providing a confirmation screen for multicast reception to the mobile terminal 500 before providing realtime multicast or on-demand multicast and transmitting particular wireless multicast data in response to a multicasting request signal received from the mobile terminal 500. In an existing mobile communication network, a mobile terminal user accesses a server by using a received wireless short message including wireless multicast information, dialing an allocated number, or using a wireless Internet browser. Since the wireless multicasting system 200 according to the present invention provides various multimedia data provided through existing over-the-air broadcastiηg, various storage media, wire Internet, and application software, it is inefficient and expensive to use unique communication channels of a mobile terminal to transmit the various multimedia data from the wireless multicasting system 200 to the mobile terminal 500. Accordingly, it is preferable to lease a particular channel among wireless frequency channels between a base station and a mobile terminal and allocate it as an exclusive channel for wireless multicast only. Under this environment, it is necessary for the data transmitter 230 to transmit multicast channel selection information together with wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400. Here, the mobile communication company 400 needs to be provided with a terminal such as IS95-C and an interrepeater procedure protocol in order to multicast data to the mobile terminal 500 through the exclusive channel. As described above, in order to allow the multicasting request receiver 240 to receive multicast selection information from the mobile terminal 500, the data transmitter 230 provides a multicast selection menu program to the mobile terminal 500. The multicast selection menu program allows a list of realtime/on-demand multicast programs to be displayed on the mobile terminal and allows multicast selection information input by a mobile terminal user to be transmitted to the multicasting request receiver 240. The data transmitter 230 can transmit the multicast selection menu program in the format of WIP wireless multicast data, multimedia wireless multicast data, or text wireless multicast data.
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the streaming service unit 234 for a distributed process in the realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system 200 using a mobile terminal according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that the streaming service unit
234 of the data transmitter 230 employs the following three methods for an efficient streaming service: a method of distributedly processing data using one or more parallel data feeding servers and channel switching servers; a method of managing a memory using a plurality of transmission buffer which linearly stores data packets by using overflow regions and memory pool which allocates a storage area for wireless multicast data to be transmitted to each of the transmission buffers and selects the storage area at the necessity of data storing in real time; and a method of calculating a transmission speed based on a predetermined number of transmission channels secured through the distributed feeding servers and switching servers and the operating speeds of a plurality of central processing units (CPUs), thereby streaming the wireless multicast data in real time without loosing the data.
Such system structure provides essential functions to transmit data in real time using the network 300 including the existing Internet without errors. The following description concerns a distributing server system, memory management, and transmission speed adjustment.
It is preferable that the distributing server system is distributed into first through n-th switching servers and first through n-th feeding servers as shown in FIG. 3 (the detailed inner structures of them are not shown in the attached drawings). A plurality of distributed parallel switching servers are connected to a mobile communication client through the network 300, receive client packets from the mobile communication client according to distributing server identification information, transmit the client packets to the distributed feeding servers, manage received multimedia data through pool buffers, and transmit the multimedia data to the mobile communication client by allocating lines and controlling access.
A plurality of distributed parallel feeding servers process the client packets received from the switching servers, receive and store the multimedia data derived at the request of search, manage the stored multimedia data through the pool buffers, generate control packets including control codes and server packets including the multimedia data, and transmit them to the switching servers at a predetermined speed. Particularly, each of the feeding servers may include a controller for setting a session, adjusting the transmission speed of multimedia data, and managing the session by dynamically scheduling the session; a protocol processor for processing client packets, control packets, and server packets; a first accessor for setting a communication channel to a switching server, transmitting the client packets received from the switching server to the protocol processor, and transmitting the control packets and server packets received from the protocol processor to the switching server; a memory pool for assigning areas for a play file list, a mixer queue pool, and a transmission queue pool to control the multimedia data transmitted from the plurality of pool buffers; a second accessor for setting a communication channel to the multicast data manager 220, transmitting the client packets to the multicast data manager 220, and receiving the searched multimedia data from the multicast data manager 220; and a access buffer for providing a data storage space allowing two-way data output for smooth data transmission between the second accessor and the memory pool.
The transmission speed is adjusted based on a rate of data recovery of the mobile communication client and is additionally adjusted by calculating the CPU operation processing speed of each of the multicast data manager 220 and the multicasting request receiver 240 and the operation processing speed of each of the switching servers and feeding servers of the streaming service unit 234 in accordance with a predetermined number of distributed servers and a predetermined number of routine process loops, respectively, and reflecting the speeds in calculating a delay time.
The pool buffer which is managed together with the memory pool also includes an overflow buffer space in addition to the predetermined data storage space so that data can be recorded in the rented overflow buffer space according to locations of a read index and write index in the buffer. The recorded data is copied and circular-buffered so that the multimedia data can be seamlessly stored and streamed.
The plurality of switching servers and feeding servers constituting the streaming service unit 234 are connected through fixed lines. The plurality of switching servers are allocated a predetermined number of lines by the mobile communication company 400 and connected in parallel. The plurality of feeding servers are connected to the multicast data manager 220 in parallel and intersectionally. Due to the above-mentioned constitution, it does not need to operate a separate protocol to distributedly process loads. In other words, burden of software process on the CPU can be reduced.
In generating the multimedia wireless multicast data, the multimedia data generation unit 212 may be provided with other functions of analyzing content using an image analysis technique, generating an image object which can be inserted into the content, and reconstructing the content to perform a predetermined data communication function when the inserted image object is selected on the mobile terminal 500.
FIG. 4 is schematic block diagram of the multimedia data generation unit 212 for providing an image object mixing function according to the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 4, the multimedia data generation unit 212 includes an input conversion module 212a, an image analysis module 212b, an object generation module 212c, an object mixing module 212d, and an encoding module 212e. The input conversion module 212a receives content from an AV device, application software, or the content provider through the network, decodes the content if the content is encoded (compressed or streaming) multimedia wireless multicast data, and converts the decoded content into a digital file for edition. The image analysis module 212b analyzes the content in units of image objects using an image analysis technique and extracts an image object. The image analysis technique may be an image processing through discontinuity detection, contour detection, thresholding calculation, and region and motion comparison and a image representation and description using a chain code, approximation, and descriptor.
FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a screen of a mobile terminal on which content mixed with an image object is displayed according to the present invention. The extracted image object may replace or be mixed with another image object through logical operation. The object generation module 212c generates such an image object for insertion. An image object for insertion has an advertisement image and a image effect, which can be applied to an image object, and may be generated in the form of text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data. For example, in FIG. 5, all of a person, a background, and matters may be extracted as image objects and may be replaced with image objects for insertion.
The object mixing module 212d performs a logical operation on the image object for insertion generated by the object generation module 212c and an image object included in the content to mix them.
When mixing the image objects, the object mixing module 212d adds interface information to the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal 500, either the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion can be selected and controlled in the content displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal 500 through an interface program and a keypad provided in the mobile terminal 500 (that is, once an image object is selected and called, it can be moved on the screen or removed and replaced with another image object for insertion stored in a memory of the mobile terminal 500, or another image object for insertion can be added to the content, through operation of the keypad). For example, the female shown on the screen of FIG. 5 can be replaced with a male image, and the male image can be moved on the screen through the user's operation on the keypad of the mobile terminal 500. To provide another object call function, during the mixing of the image objects, the object mixing module 212d adds link information (for example, a Wireless Markup Language (WML) code) to the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal 500, either the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion can be selected, as described above, and a wire/wireless Internet service server or the multicasting request receiver 240, which is related to information symbolized or indicated by the selected image object, can be linked. For example, if the user selects and calls the cloths that the woman wears on the screen, the mobile terminal 500 can be linked to a wireless Internet server providing a shopping mall site through the link information (Similarly, if the user selects a background image object or advertisement image object, the mobile terminal 500 can be linked to a travel site or a corresponding advertisement site through the link information, and if the user selects and calls the woman, the call is received by the multicasting request receiver 240 and the multicast data manager 220 derives her personal information and provides it to the mobile terminal 500). In addition, in the case where use of the content including the image objects and use of information service provided by a wire/wireless Internet service server or the multicasting request receiver 240 are charged, if an image object is selected, as described above, the object mixing module 212d allows the user to admit settlement of charges through a mobile terminal settlement method and transmits admission information to the mobile communication company 400.
The encoding module 212e encodes the content in which the image objects are mixed into multimedia wireless multicast data and transmits the multimedia wireless multicast data to the multicast data manager 220. FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of data and information managed in the database 228 of the multicast data manager 220 according to the present invention.
Hereinafter, a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 7A is a flowchart of a procedure for generating multimedia data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention. The multicast data generator 210 receives at least one type of content among broadcast content, AV device content, digital broadcast content, Internet content, and text content and classifies the received content in step S100.
If it is determined that the received content is multimedia content in step S105, and if it is determined that the multimedia content is a compressed digital file in step S115, the multimedia content is encoded into streaming data. If it is determined that the multimedia content is multicast content or analog AV device content in step S120, the multimedia content is divided into audio data and video data and then converted into digital data in step S125. The converted digital multimedia data is compressed in step S140. The multicast data generator 210 converts the compressed digital multimedia data into streaming data to generate wireless multicast data in step S145. However, if it is determined that the multimedia content is digital broadcast content produced using application software in step S120, the multimedia content is compressed in step S140 without going through conversion into digital data. The compressed multimedia content is converted into streaming data in step S145.
If it is determined that the content is Internet content in step S110, the multicast data generator 210 converts the Internet content into WIP content to generate wireless multicast data in step S150. If it is determined that the content is not Internet content in step S110, the content is classified as text content and converted to have a format which can be transmitted through a WIP protocol in step S160. FIG. 7B is a flowchart of a procedure for mixing content with an image object in the method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
When it is set to provide an object call function by mixing the content with an image object in step S130 or S135 during generation of wireless multicast data, the multimedia data generation unit 212 decompresses the content and converts the decompressed content into a digital file for edition in step S205 when the content is analog content and is compressed in step S200; and the multimedia data generation unit 212 decompresses the content, decodes the content, and converts the decoded content into a digital file for edition in step S205 when it is determined that the content is encoded multimedia wireless multicast data and is compressed in step S200.
Next, the multimedia data generation unit 212 analyzes the content of the digital file in units of image objects using an image analysis technique to extract an image object in step S210. Then, it is determined whether an image object for image mixing has been generated in step S215. Here, the image object for insertion is prepared in the database 228. The image object for insertion may be produced in advance or generated in real time to be inserted into the content. If it is determined that there is no image object for insertion in step S215, an image object for insertion is generated in the form of a text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data in step S220. The image object for insertion includes an advertisement, another image object which can replace the existing image object in the content, or a image effect which can be applied to the existing image object. The multimedia data generation unit 212 performs a logic operation on the existing image object included in the content and the image object for insertion to mix the image object for insertion with the content in step 225. The image object for insertion or the existing image object can be provided with an object call function having the following features in step S230.
First, an image object included in the content transmitted to the mobile terminal 500 can be selected through an interface program and a keypad on the mobile terminal 500 (for example, contours or regions in an image are defined in units of image objects, and the defined contours or regions can be separately selected using a motion key on the keypad).
Second, the selected image object can be moved on a full image of content displayed on a screen of the mobile terminal 500. For example, a user can call the particular image object (by, for example, pressing an OK button on the mobile terminal 500) and can move the particular image object on the image of content using the motion key on the keypad.
Third, the user can be linked to a wire/wireless Internet service server or the multicasting request receiver 240 through the selected image object. For example, the user can use a link function by pressing a Call button on the mobile terminal 500.
Fourth, an image object allows the user to admit settlement of charges for using information through a mobile terminal settlement method (for example, in the case where content having capacity of 10-minute playback is set to be provided free for one minute and charged for the next 9 minutes, the content is interrupted after being reproduced for one minute, and an image object screen requesting user's settlement is displayed. If the user admits the settlement by operating the keypad, the rest of the content is provided). If the object call function is provided and image mixing is completed, the content is encoded into the multimedia wireless multicast data in step S140 or S145 of FIG. 7A, as described above.
FIG. 7C is a flowchart of a procedure for classifying multimedia data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program and multicasting the data in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
The data transmitter 230 classifies the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program, stores the on-demand multicast programs in the database 228, transmits a multicast selection menu program to the mobile terminal 500, and receives multicast selection information from the user in step S300. For example, the realtime multicast programs may include relay of sports, a news flesh, stock information and so on, and the on-demand multicast programs may include on-demand video, a TV drama, a concert, and so on.
Thereafter, if the mobile terminal user selects a realtime multicast program in step S305, wireless multicast data classified as the realtime multicast program is provided. Specifically, if the data transmitter 230 transmits a final confirmation screen for realtime multicast reception to the mobile terminal 500 and receives a wireless multicasting request signal in step S315, it receives the realtime multicast programs (the wireless multicast data) from the multicast data manager in step S320 and transmits them to the mobile communication company 400.
For example, if the user selects realtime provision of stock information, the data transmitter 230 can provide the summary of the stock information and can transmit a final confirmation screen asking the user whether to receive the entire multicast data to the mobile terminal 500. If the user selects on-demand multicast in step S310, the multicast data manager 220 derives wireless multicast data corresponding to order information from the database 228 and transmits the derived wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400.
Each of the realtime multicast programs and the on-demand multicast programs may be multimedia wireless multicast data
(corresponding to a streaming service), WIP wireless multicast data, or text wireless multicast data. The following description concerns procedures of multicasting each type of wireless multicast data.
First, when a multicast program requested by the user is to be multicasted through a streaming service, the streaming service is selected in step S330. Then, the streaming service unit 234 derives streaming data from the database 228 in step S335 and transmits the streaming data to the mobile communication company 400 in step S340.
Second, if it is determined that the multicast program selected by the user is an object of a WIP service in step S345, the WIP service unit 232 derives wireless multicast data, which has been converted into WIP content from the database 228 and transmits the derived wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company 400 (this service may be divided into a streaming service and a hypertext service using, for example, WML) in steps S350 and S355.
Third, if it is determined that the multicast program selected by the user is an object of a text service in step S360, the data service unit 236 derives text data from the database 228 in step S365 and transmits it to the mobile communication company 400 in step S370.
FIG. 7D is a flowchart of a procedure for providing information when the mobile terminal user accesses the multicasting request receiver 240 through the image object in a method of providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal according to the present invention.
When the data transmitter 230 transmits wireless multicast data, the multicast data manager 220 checks the transmission, stores multicast-related data such as relevant user information, multicast progress information, and multicast program transmission information in the database 228, and manages the stored data in step S400.
After multimedia wireless multicast data provided to the mobile terminal 500 is decoded by a playback device of the mobile terminal 500 and is displayed, if the user watching the displayed multicast multimedia data selects and calls an image object and accesses the multicasting request receiver 240 in step S405, the multicast data manager 220 analyzes an image object call signal in step S410, derives detailed image object information corresponding to the image object call signal in step S415, and transmits the detailed image object information to the mobile communication company 400. For example, if an actor or actress on an image is selected, the wireless multicasting system 200 can provide personal information about him or her. Transmission of the detailed image object information can be performed through the steps S330 through S370. While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, members specifically described in the above embodiments of the present invention can be modified. It will be understood that differences made by modifications and applications of the embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention defined by the appended claims.
Industrial Applicability According to the present invention, various types of content received through a wire/wireless network are converted into streaming audio, video, and text multimedia data, and the streaming multimedia data is transmitted to a mobile communication company through distributed transmission servers, so that high-quality audio and video multimedia data can be multicasted to the mobile terminal without data loss and transmission delay.
In addition, according to the present invention, generated streaming data is classified as realtime data and on-demand data so that wireless multicast can be performed in real time according to setting information selected by a mobile terminal user and stored multimedia data can be immediately multicasted wirelessly at the mobile terminal user's order. Accordingly, the present invention can provide two-way wireless multicast which enhances the user's option. Moreover, according to the present invention, an image object call function can be performed such that an image object included in content is selected through an interface program and a keypad on a mobile terminal, the selected image object is moved on, added to, removed from, or transformed on a displayed content image, a wire/wireless Internet service server related to the image object is linked, and settlement of charges for use of information through the image object can be admitted by a mobile terminal settlement method.

Claims

What is claimed is:
1. A realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system for providing information using a mobile terminal, comprising: a multicasting request receiver for receiving multicast selection information, which contains user information and indicates a request of provision of realtime multicast or on-demand multicast, from a mobile terminal user through a mobile communication company connected thereto through a network; a multicast data generator comprising multimedia data generation means for receiving content from an audio/video device, application software or content provider connected thereto through a network and generating multimedia wireless multicast data; a multicast data manager comprising a database, the multicast data manager classifying the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program and an on-demand multicast program, separately storing them, recording the multicast selection information, multicast progress information about multicast of the program, and multicast program transmission information, deriving wireless multicast data corresponding to the multicast selection information, and providing the derived wireless multicast data; and a data transmitter comprising streaming service means for receiving the derived multimedia wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager and transmitting it together with the user information to the mobile communication company so that the multimedia wireless multicast data is multicasted to the mobile terminal.
2. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of claim 1 , wherein the multicast data generator further comprises Wireless Internet Protocol (WIP) data generation means for receiving content from the audio/video device, application software or a content provider connected thereto through the network and generating WIP wireless multicast data, and the data transmitter further comprises WIP service means for receiving the derived WIP wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager and transmitting it together with the user information to the mobile communication company so that the WIP wireless multicast data is multicasted to the mobile terminal.
3. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of claim 1 , wherein the multicast data generator further comprises text data generation means for receiving content from the audio/video device, application software or a content provider connected thereto through the network and generating text wireless multicast data, and the data transmitter further comprises text service means for receiving the derived text wireless multicast data from the multicast data manager and transmitting it together with the user information to the mobile communication company so that the text wireless multicast data is multicasted to the mobile terminal.
4. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of any one of claims 1 through 3, wherein the data transmitter provides a confirmation screen for multicast reception to the mobile terminal before providing realtime or on-demand multicast and transmits relevant wireless multicast data to the mobile communication company in response to a multicasting request signal from the mobile terminal.
5. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of any one of claims 1 through 3, wherein the data transmitter transmits the wireless multicast data together with multicast channel selection information to the mobile communication company so that the wireless multicast data is multicasted through an exclusive channel for wireless multicast, which is allocated from the mobile communication company.
6. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of any one of claims 1 through 3, wherein the data transmitter receives a multicast selection menu program, which allows a list of realtime/on-demand multicast programs displayed on the mobile terminal and allows the multicast selection information input by the mobile terminal user to be transmitted to the multicasting request receiver, from the multicast data manager and transmits the multicast selection menu program to the mobile communication company in the format of WIP wireless multicast data, multimedia wireless multicast data, or text wireless multicast data.
7. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of claim 1 , wherein the multimedia data generation means comprises: an input conversion module for receiving content from the audio/video device, application software or the content provider through the network, decoding the content if the content is encoded multimedia wireless multicast data, and converting the decoded content into a digital file for edition; an image analysis module for analyzing the content in units of image objects using an image analysis technique and extracting an image object; an object generation module for generating another image object, which can replace the extracted image object, and an image object for insertion with a image effect which can be applied to the extracted image object in the form of text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data; an object mixing module for performing an operation on the image object for insertion and the extracted image object included in the content to mix them; and an encoding module for encoding the content, in which the image objects are mixed, into multimedia wireless multicast data.
8. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of claim 7, wherein when mixing the image objects, the object mixing module adds interface information to the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal, either the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion can be selected, called, and controlled to be moved, removed, replaced with another image object for insertion, or combined with another image object for insertion through an interface program and a keypad provided in the mobile terminal.
9. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of claim 7, wherein when mixing the image objects, the object mixing module adds link information to the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal, either the image object included in the content or the image object for insertion can be selected, and the mobile terminal can be linked to a wire/wireless Internet service server or the multicasting request receiver, which is related to information symbolized or indicated by the selected image object, through an interface program and a keypad provided in the mobile terminal.
10. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of claim 8 or 9, wherein in the case where use of the content including the image objects and use of information service provided by the wire/wireless Internet service server or the multicasting request receiver are charged, if the image objects are selected, the object mixing module allows the user to admit settlement of charges through a mobile terminal settlement method and transmits admission information to the mobile communication company.
11. The realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting system of claim 1 , wherein the streaming service means distributedly processes data using one or more parallel data feeding servers and channel switching servers, manages a memory using a plurality of transmission buffer which linearly stores data packets in overflow regions and memory pool, which allocates a storage area for wireless multicast data to be transmitted to each of the transmission buffers and selects the storage area at the necessity of data storing in real time, and calculates a transmission speed based on a predetermined number of transmission channels secured through the distributed feeding servers and switching servers and the operating speeds of a plurality of central processing units (CPUs), thereby streaming the wireless multicast data in real time without loosing the data.
12. A method of providing information by providing realtime/on-demand wireless multicasting using a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving broadcast content, audio/video device content, digital broadcast content, Internet content, or text content and generating wireless multicast data;
(b) classifying the generated wireless multicast data as a realtime multicast program or an on-demand multicast program and storing the on-demand multicast program in a database;
(c) receiving multicast selection information from a mobile terminal user, multicasting the wireless multicast data for a realtime multicast program to a mobile communication company, deriving the wireless multicast data for an on-demand multicast program from the database according to the multicast selection information, and multicasting the wireless multicast data for on-demand multicast to the mobile communication company; and
(d) storing multicast data comprising user information, multicast progress information, and multicast program transmission information in the database to manage them, wherein the step (a) comprises the steps of:
(a1) if the received content is analog content, converting it into a digital file for edition and if the content is encoded multimedia wireless multicast data, decoding it and converting the decoded content into a digital file for edition;
(a2) analyzing the digital file of the content in units of image objects using an image analysis technique and extracting an image object; (a3) generating an image object for insertion including an advertisement, another object which can replace the extracted image object, and an image effect which can be applied to the extracted image object, in the form of text, multi-dimensional image, or audio data;
(a4) performing an operation on the image object for insertion and the extracted image object included in the content to mix them; and
(a5) encoding the content, in which the image objects are mixed, into multimedia wireless multicast data.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step (a4) comprises providing an image object call function when mixing the image objects so that when the content is received by the mobile terminal, at least one image object in the content can be selected and moved on a screen on which the content is displayed, the mobile terminal can be linked to a wire/wireless Internet server or a multicasting request receiver, or settlement of charges for use of information can be admitted by the mobile terminal user through a mobile terminal settlement method, through an interface program and a keypad provided in the mobile terminal.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein when the mobile terminal user receives the content and accesses the multicasting request receiver by calling a predetermined image object of the content, detailed image object information corresponding to the selected image object is derived and transmitted to the mobile communication company.
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