Abstract:
A system and a method for transmitting data contents, which are able to provide a user with various contents by suggesting a standard for data synchronization in a two-way data broadcasting using data contents related between a broadcasting device and the user, comprises a step of classifying predetermined data contents into basic data and additional data, a step of generating synchronizing information according to timing dependencies of basic data and additional data with each other; and a step of transmitting basic data and synchronizing information through the air according to programming information, and thereby a standard for the two-way data broadcasting can be provided.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a system and a method for transmitting data contents and particularly, to a synchronization in data broadcasting.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Background Art  
           [0004]    Generally, a data broadcasting is a kind of broadcasting which supplies additional data contents with broadcasting program from a broadcasting station, unlike the general broadcasting by which users should see only the programs broadcasted by the broadcasting station. And in the data broadcasting, a receiver and the broadcasting station interact with each other using the data contents, and the user of the receiver is able to obtain desired information in more detail.  
           [0005]    That is, the data broadcasting is a two-way service providing the users with information required by the users from the broadcasting station so that the user can identify casts or historical background while watching a certain history program, and identify profiles of a singer or a sports player while watching TV show or sports program.  
           [0006]    However, standards of the data broadcasting are different from countries, and are different from others even in a country. That is, focuses are audio contents and video contents of the broadcasting program, and to provide data contents related to the audio and video contents through an air. And the two-way service by which the broadcasting equipment and the receiver interact with each other is only suggested, and not practiced actually.  
           [0007]    [0007]FIG. 1 is a view showing a service model of the data broadcasting according to the conventional art. As shown therein, the service model comprises a broadcasting device  100  for providing receivers of the users with produced broadcasting program and the data contents related to the program through the air  160  or through the internet  170 , and receivers  180 A,  180 B, . . . ,  180 N receiving the broadcasting program and the data contents.  
           [0008]    The broadcasting device  100  comprises: a broadcasting server  120  storing audio contents and video contents of the produced program and managing the contents; a data server  140  storing and managing predetermined data contents related to the program; a scheduler  110 , in which programming information is stored, controlling input/output of the broadcasting server  120  and the data server  140  according to the programming information; and a broadcast transmitter  130  for transmitting the audio contents, the video contents and the data is contents after combining the contents through the air  160  according to the scheduler  110 .  
           [0009]    Herein, the data contents can be varied according to international standards, generally the data contents are formed as Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Java script, image file, multimedia, hypermedia information coding expert group (MHEG) file and Java program.  
           [0010]    Operations of the broadcasting service model configured as above according to the conventional art will be described as follows.  
           [0011]    The broadcasting server  120  outputs predetermined audio contents and video contents corresponding to the programming information among the contents stored therein according to the programming information programmed in the scheduler of the broadcasting device  100 , and the data server  140  outputs predetermined data contents corresponding to the programming information among the contents stored therein to the broadcast transmitter  130 . Then, the broadcast transmitter  130  combines the audio contents, the video contents and the data contents appropriately, and transmits the contents through the air  160 .  
           [0012]    The transmitted audio contents, the video contents and the data contents are received through the receivers  180 A,  180 B, . . . ,  180 N such as a digital television receiver and a set-top box installed in respective houses and offices. Then, the receiver  180 A,  180 B, . . . ,  180 N displays the audio contents and the video contents, and displays the data contents as a certain signs after decoding the contents, and thereby, the user can identify that the data contents has received.  
           [0013]    When the user chooses the data contents after identifying the receipt of the data contents by the signal displayed on the screen, the contents of the selected data are displayed on the screen of the receiver  180 A,  180 B, . . . ,  180 N. For example, in case that the user connects to the internet  170  using an internet browser on the receiver  180 A,  180 B, . . . ,  180 N and performs operations for getting information provided by the broadcasting device  100 , the corresponding information according to the selection of the user is displayed on the screen of the browser.  
           [0014]    At that time, the command of the user to the broadcasting device  100  can not be transmitted through the air  160  since the air is one-way communication. Therefore, the standard of the data broadcasting uses a communication media (for example, a telephone line or a cable) through which the two-way communication can be made so that the interaction between the receiver  180 A,  180 B, . . . ,  180 N and the broadcasting device  100  by communicating the data with each other.  
           [0015]    In the standard of the data broadcasting, there is regulation only about the two-way communication media, however, details (especially, synchronizing information) are not decided. Therefore, the user who received the broadcasting program and the data contents through the air  160  can not obtain the data contents provided through the internet  160  timely.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0016]    Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method suggesting a standard of two-way data broadcasting by classifying data contents into basic data and additional data and generating synchronizing information, and after that, transmitting basic data and synchronizing information through the air and providing additional data through internet.  
           [0017]    Also, another object of the present invention is a system and a method for data broadcasting which provides various additional services according to individual requirements of users by making a two-way data broadcasting possible.  
           [0018]    To achieve the objects of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a system for transmitting data contents comprising: a broadcasting server storing audio contents and video contents of produced broadcasting program and managing the contents; a data server for storing predetermined data contents related to the, broadcasting program, classifying the data contents into basic data and additional data, generating synchronizing information according to timing dependencies of the basic data and of the additional data, and after that, transmitting the basic data and the synchronizing information and transmitting the additional data to a receiver through the internet; a scheduler, in which predetermined programming information is stored, for controlling input/output of the broadcasting server and the data server according to the programming information; and a broadcast transmitter for combining the audio contents, the video contents and the data contents according to the programming information of the scheduler and transmitting the contents through the air.  
           [0019]    Also, to achieve the objects of the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting data contents comprising: a step of classifying predetermined data contents into basic data and additional data; a step of generating synchronizing information according to timing dependency for each other of the basic data and the additional data; and a step of transmitting the corresponding basic data and synchronizing information through the air according to programming information.  
           [0020]    The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]    The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
         [0022]    In the drawings:  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 1 is a view showing a data broadcasting service model according to the conventional art;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 is a view showing a data broadcasting service model according to the present invention,  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a data server shown in FIG. 2; and  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating operations of the data broadcasting service model according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0027]    Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 2 is a view showing a data broadcasting service model according to the present invention. As shown therein, the service model comprises: a broadcasting device  200  for providing receivers  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N of users with a produced broadcasting program and data contents related to the program through the air  260  or through internet  270 ; and receivers  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N for receiving the broadcasting program and the data contents.  
         [0029]    The broadcasting device  200  comprises: a broadcasting server  220  for storing audio contents and video contents of the produced program and managing the contents; a data server  240  for storing and managing predetermined data contents related to the program; a user database  250  for storing information such as tastes of users; a scheduler  210 , in which broadcasting programming information is stored, for controlling input/output of the broadcasting server  220  and the data server  240  according to the programming information; and a broadcast transmitter  230  for combining the audio contents, video contents and the data contents according to the scheduler  210  and transmitting the contents through the air  260 .  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the data server shown in FIG. 2. As shown therein, the data server  240  comprises: a data contents register  241  for registering the data contents which are produced for data broadcasting; a data contents sorter  242  for classifying the registered data contents into the basic data and the additional data and generating synchronizing information according to broadcasting timing dependencies of the basic data and the additional data; a data contents manager  243  for storing the synchronizing information in a data storing unit  245  and reading the information; and a data contents extractor  244  transmitting the basic data and the synchronizing information through the broadcast transmitter  230  and the air  260  according to the programming information of the scheduler, and reading the additional data from the data storing unit  245  and providing the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N with the data through the internet  270  in case that the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N connects to the broadcasting device  200  through the internet  270  using the synchronizing information.  
         [0031]    Herein, the data contents sorter  242  classifies a file in the registered data contents (generally comprising a plurality of files), which will be shown to the user of the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N at first, as the basic data, and classifies other files besides the above file as the additional data. At that time, the classification of the basic data and the additional data is completed, the data contents sorter  242  generates the synchronizing information by deciding timing dependencies of the basic data and the additional data. At that time, the synchronizing information includes information about a location where the additional data files are stored and broadcasting time information.  
         [0032]    Transmitting operation of the data broadcasting service model according to the present invention will be described as follows with reference to FIG. 4.  
         [0033]    The broadcasting server  220  outputs corresponding audio contents and the video contents among the contents stored therein to the broadcast transmitter  230  according to the broadcasting programming information in the scheduler of the broadcasting device  200 . In addition, the data server  240  outputs the corresponding data contents among the data contents stored therein to the broadcast transmitter  230 . Then, the broadcast transmitter  230  combines the audio contents, the video contents and the data contents appropriately, and transmits the contents through the air  260 .  
         [0034]    That is, when the data contents register  241  of the data server  240  registers the data contents produced for broadcasting in itself, the data contents sorter  242  classifies the basic data from the registered data contents. At that time, the data contents sorter  242  classifies the file which will be shown to the users at first among those the content files as the basic data (S 410  and S 420 ).  
         [0035]    When the classification of the basic data is completed, the data contents sorter  242  classifies other data besides the classified basic data as the additional data, and generates the synchronizing information according to the timing dependencies of the basic data and the additional data. At that time, the synchronizing information includes the broadcasting times of the programs (that is, the basic data and the additional data) decided by the scheduler, and location information of the additional data in the data server for the programs (S 430  and S 440 ).  
         [0036]    After that, the classified basic data, the additional data and the synchronizing information are stored in the data storing unit  245  by the data contents manager  243  (S 450 ). Then, the data contents extractor  244  extracts predetermined basic data and the synchronizing information from the data storing unit  245  through the data contents manager  243  according to the programming information of the scheduler, and transmits the extracted basic data and the synchronizing information to the air  260  through the broadcast transmitter  230  (S 460 ).  
         [0037]    After that, operations of the data broadcasting service model after the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N receives the basic data and the synchronizing information will be described as follows.  
         [0038]    The transmitted audio contents, the video contents and the data contents are received by the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N such as a digital television receiver and a set-top box installed on respective houses and offices. Then, the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N displays the audio contents and the video contents, and after that, notifies the user of the data contents receipt by decoding and displaying the data contents on the screen as a signal.  
         [0039]    When the user identifies the receipt of data contents by the signal displayed on the screen and selects the data contents through the signal, the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N connects to the broadcasting device  200  through the internet  270  using the transmitted synchronizing information to require the additional data (S 470 ). Then, the data contents extractor  244  of the data server  240  extracts the additional data corresponding to the location information included in the synchronizing information from the data storing unit  245 , and supplies the data to the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N through the internet  270  (S 480 ).  
         [0040]    That is, the synchronizing information includes. broadcasting times of the programs (basic data and additional data) decided by the scheduler, and includes location information of the additional data in the data server  240  for the programs which will be broadcasted. Therefore, the receiver  280 A,  280 B, . . . ,  280 N is able to know the storing location of the additional data for the broadcasting program in the data server  240 , and when the user requires the additional data, the additional data can be displayed on the screen promptly. The timing information and the additional data are very useful when different additional services are provided to users.  
         [0041]    As described above, in the data broadcasting service model, an advanced television enhanced forum (ATVEF) will be described as follows among the standards for transmitting the synchronizing information of respective countries.  
         [0042]    The data contents in the ATVEF is the HTML, image or sound. Also, there is the HTML having timing interrelation among those HTML, image or sound. Therefore, according to the programming time of the broadcasting programs which will be shown to the users by being displayed on the screen of the receiver  280 A, the data contents transmitted through the air  260  are synchronized using the timing information of the HTML as the synchronizing information. The synchronizing information includes the broadcasting time and function name of a Java script which will be performed, and therefore, the receiver  280 A executes the corresponding Java script at the time defined by the synchronizing information. After that, the receiver  280 A performs the functions according to the Java script function, and after that, receives the additional data according to the requirement of the user from the broadcasting device  200  through the internet  270 .  
         [0043]    Also, in case of applying the present invention to a personalization, common contents which will be transmitted to all users are transmitted through the air  260 , and information according to the users&#39; tastes is stored in the user database  250  as constructing the information into groups and provided through the internet  270 . Therefore, the user is able to watch the information suitable for the user&#39;s taste selectively. That is, if the function of the Java script of the synchronizing information transmitted through the air  260  is “viewFavorite( )”, the receiver  280 A executes the above function at the set time (since the synchronizing information includes broadcasting time information). After that, the receiver  280 A requires the additional data according to the selection of the user (the additional data according to the user&#39;s taste) to the broadcasting device  200  and receives the data through the internet  270 .  
         [0044]    As described above, the present invention classifies the data contents into the basic data and the additional data and generates the synchronizing information, and transmits the basic data and the synchronizing information through the air and provides the additional data through the internet to suggest a standard for the two-way data broadcasting.  
         [0045]    Also, according to the present invention, the two-way data broadcasting can be made and various additional services can be provided according to the individual needs of the users.  
         [0046]    As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.