KR100214313B1 - Method of e-mail service in satellite broadcasting receiver and system using this method - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a subscriber subscribed to an e-mail service in a satellite broadcasting receiver firstly finds an entry for his e-mail number in the menu of the satellite broadcasting receiver and inputs his or her own number. Enter the host computer modem access number in the appropriate menu to store these numbers in a specific memory area so that they will not be erased if the power is turned off. On the other hand, the reception of e-mail is via satellite, and the transmission of e-mail is via a modem using a telephone line. It is supposed to use.

Description

E-mail Implementation Method and System in Satellite Broadcasting Receiver

The present invention relates to a method and system for enabling an electronic mail service in a digital satellite broadcast receiver.

Recently, digital satellite broadcasting has been started in earnest, and viewers have a wider choice of channels, and various additional services are provided. However, the digital satellite broadcasting is provided in addition to a broadcasting channel that provides superior image quality and sound quality compared to conventional terrestrial broadcasting. Additional services such as online stock quotes, bus, rail and flight timetables are provided to satellite subscribers via data channels.

In the conventional electronic mail service, a service subscriber accesses a host computer of a telecommunication service company using a computer and sends it to another person by e-mail. Therefore, it is necessary to have a computer and to use a transmission / reception telephone line. The digital satellite broadcasting receiver can provide various types of additional services in addition to the general broadcasting service, but if it is not used, it cannot provide a differentiated service. Also, in order to receive the e-mail service, data is transmitted and received through the transmission line of the modem installed in the computer, so it takes a lot of time to view the mail transmitted by the speed limit of the modem. In particular, in the case of image data or multimedia data, a large amount of data has to be received for a long time.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a system for improving the quality of services by providing a faster and more diverse e-mail service using only a computer and a telephone line using a digital satellite broadcasting receiver capable of various types of additional services; In providing a method.

1 is a digital satellite broadcast receiving system according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an e-mail service packet indicating the start, middle, and end of the message of FIG.

3 is an e-mail transmission flowchart according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a digital satellite broadcast receiving system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A smart card 104 incorporating information for generating a control signal allowing only a designated viewer to view the satellite broadcast signal, an MPU 105 for controlling each part for processing a digital satellite signal, and A keyboard 101 for inputting a control key signal of the MPU 105, a modem 102 connected to a telephone line and modulating and demodulating the water transmission data under the control of the MPU 105, and under the control of the MPU 105; A channel section 103 for selecting a channel of the satellite input signal, an on-screen display section 108 for generating character data to be displayed on the display device under control of the MPU 105, and an EEPROM storing program data. 107, a descrambler 109 that descrambles an input signal under the control of the MPU 105, and an output selected by the channel unit 103 under the control of the MPU 105 into voice and video. Demultiplexer 110 and the MPU 105 It is composed of video and audio decoders 111 and 112 which are controlled and decode the output audio and video output data of the demultiplexer 110 by the data provided from the RAM 106.

2A-2C are diagrams of an e-mail service packet in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a transmission data packet at a message transmission start step, which is composed of a type field 206, a message field 208, and the like. FIG. 2B is a transmission data packet shown at a message transmission intermediate step. A receiver e-mail number field 203, a start bit field 204, a message field 208, etc., and FIG. 2C shows a transmission data packet at the end of a message transmission. Consists of recipient email field 203, start field 204, message field 208, CRC field 209, 00 00 ..... 00 (FF FF FF ... FF) field 210 It is.

3 is an email transmission flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A first step of confirming whether or not an e-mail number to be transmitted is sent from an e-mail transmission menu;

A second step of composing a message if an e-mail number exists in the first step, and inputting an e-mail number of a recipient if not present;

A third step of transmitting the created message by connecting a host computer to a modem after writing a message in the second step;

Transmitting a message in the third step, and comparing the length of the message with the length of the transmitted length of the message according to a time to detect which length is large;

If the length transmitted in the fourth step is larger than the message length, all the messages are transmitted, and thus the fifth step ends the message transmission and terminates the modem to terminate the e-mail transmission service.

Therefore, the specific date of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1-3.

The general operation principle of the receiver equipped with the smart card 104 of the present invention is as follows. When the subscriber selects a channel for e-mail transmission, the MPU 105 informs the demultiplexer 110 of PIDs of TS packets having video and audio signals of the corresponding channel. Since the satellite input signal of the multiple channels passed through) is multiplexed, when this signal is input to the demultiplexer 110, the demultiplexer 110 selects only the PID of the corresponding channel and the video signal is the video decoder 111. Transmits to audio decoder 112. Each decoded signal is delivered to the receiver via an output device. At this time, when the smart card 104 receives a signal from the MPU 106 that the input signal is scrambled, the smart card 104 checks whether the viewer is entitled to view the program (or channel). If it is determined to be qualified, the encrypted control word included in the input signal is decrypted and sent to the MPU 106. The MPU 106 transfers it to the descrambler 109, and demultiplexer 110. Before the scrambled video or audio signal is sent to the respective decoding processing circuits of the video decoder 111 and the audio decoder 112, the descrambler 109 restores the signal before the scrambling. In addition, when viewing a paid program such as Pay-Per-View, the watch history is stored in the scart card 104, and after a certain period of time, the subscriber is connected to the host computer using the modem 102. The RAM 106 uses the receiver's MPU 105, video, audio decoders 111 and 112, and the EEPROM or flash memory 107 area should be kept even when the receiver is powered off. System programs, setting parameters and data are stored. The on-screen display 108 is also used to display menus and the like on the screen. In other words, the present invention can be used as it is, without changing the existing hardware, and additional services can be made by only changing the software of the EEPROM 107. First, a subscriber subscribed to an e-mail service is a satellite broadcast receiver. In the menu, find the entry for your e-mail number and enter your number. In addition, the host computer modem access number of the e-mail service provider is input in a corresponding menu. The MPU 105 stores these numbers in a specific memory area (EEPROM or Flash Memory) so that they are not erased even when the power is turned off. In the present invention, the reception of an e-mail is performed through a satellite, and the transmission of an e-mail is performed using a telephone line. First, a method of receiving an e-mail will be described. The satellite broadcast receiver is used for transmission by an e-mail service provider. It should be programmed to always decode MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS), packet's PID (Packet Identification) number. This is because, unlike the subscriber's choice of broadcast channel, e-mail can arrive no matter which channel the subscriber is watching. Therefore, when the TS packet with the PID used for the corresponding e-mail arrives, the MPU 105 first compares the e-mail number field with the subscriber's e-mail number as shown in FIG. Discard the packet and start decoding if it is the same. The e-mail number field consists of N bytes and is a unique number for each subscriber of numbers or letters. In general, an e-mail message is large enough to be transmitted in one TS packet, and thus, the e-mail message should be divided into several packets. In the present invention, the transmission efficiency is improved by defining a packet format different from the packet from which the message originates. Place the start field immediately after the postal code field as shown in the example of Figs. 2A and 2B to define the format of the packet differently when the start field 204 is 1 and 0. If the start field 204 of the packet shown in FIG. 2A is 1, a new message is started and decoding is continued. However, if the start field 204 of the first packet received by the receiver is 0 as shown in FIG. 2B, the message has already started in the packet and it is impossible to completely recover the message. You must continue to ignore the packet until it arrives. In the packet where the start field 204 is 1, the identification number field 205 of the sender following the start field is defined. The message type field 206 is then defined. The message type field 206 indicates the format of the message sent. For example, when using the 3-bit service type field 206, the type of message can be defined as follows.

000: General English Message

001: Hangul Message

010: Voice Message (WAV Format)

011: Voice Message (MPEG)

100: Still picture message (JPG Format)

101: Still image message (GIF Format)

110: Video message (AVI Format)

111: Video Message (MPEG Format)

The MPU 105 should perform a corresponding service program according to the type of message. In addition to the above examples, a variety of message types can be defined by increasing the length of the message. When the start field 204 is 1 (START = 1), the length field 206 is defined as in the example of FIG. 2A. Since the length field 206 represents the total length of only the message to be subsequently output, the length field 206 can be decoded correctly even if the message is spread over several packets. The message field 208 can have a maximum length according to the number of bits of the length field 207. Is determined. For example, when using the 8-bit length field 207, a message of 255 bytes is possible, and in the case of 16 bits, a message of 65535 bytes is possible. When the MPU 105 finishes decoding the message, it is called using an OSD on the screen. It informs that the data has arrived and waits for the subscriber's input for a certain time. If the subscriber wants to see the information, the MPU 105 displays information or voice information on the screen according to the type of the message. When the subscriber finishes viewing, the MPU 105 returns to the previous service and inputs the subscriber for the predetermined time. If not found, it will automatically revert to the previous service. As shown in FIG. 2C, a CRC field 209 may be placed at the end of the message field 208 to selectively search for errors in the data. In this case, the MPU 105 searches for the CRC error and ignores the entire message that was decoded. Since the length of the MPEG2 TS packet is 184 bytes except for the TS header 201, when the message field 208 of the last packet fails to fill the TS packet, the transmitting side fills the subsequent byte with 0 or OxFF, and ignores it when receiving. When defining fields other than the fields defined in the present invention, the transceiver must use the same standard. In addition, the number of bits in each field can be efficiently determined in consideration of the number of subscribers, the length of a general message, the type of message, etc. The following e-mail transmission method is described below. If the receiver already knows the e-mail number of the person to whom the e-mail is to be sent, but needs to send a new e-mail, the receiver must enter the e-mail number of the recipient. In either case, a separate keyboard 101 must be used for transmission. After writing the letter and selecting a transmission item from the menu, it is checked in step 301 whether the e-mail number to be transmitted exists. If it is not present, the recipient enters the e-mail number in step 315. In step 303, a message is created in the format defined in FIG. Access the message through the modem 102 and transmit the message in step 307 using the promised transmission protocol (eg, Z-modem), and the message length and the length of the message sent in step 309. If the transmission length of the message is large, the process ends in step 311. When the message transmission ends, the subscriber is notified, the modem connection is terminated in step 313, and the e-mail service is terminated.

Another embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the case of a digital SET-TOP-BOX using cable or optical communication without using satellites. In this case, since no telephone line is used, the same channel for transmission and reception of electronic mail is used, that is, a cable or an optical communication network.

As mentioned above, if you already have a satellite broadcasting receiver compared to the conventional computer-based e-mail service, you can receive e-mail service at no extra cost. Also, since service providers can use the wide bandwidth of satellite channels, At the same time, there is an advantage in serving more subscribers.

Claims (6)

In the electronic mail implementing apparatus of the satellite broadcasting receiver, A restoration unit for receiving a receiver identification number of the e-mail service packet, a field indicating a beginning of a message, and a transmission packet including the message and restoring the message; A satellite receiver which receives the transmission packet by satellite; A network receiver for receiving the transmission packet into a network; A modem for transmitting said recipient identification number, sender identifier, type and length of messages, and messages to a host computer; And a keyboard for inputting a command according to the operation of the function. In the electronic mail transmission method of the satellite broadcasting system having a host computer, A first step of confirming whether an e-mail number to be transmitted in the e-mail transmission menu exists; A second step of composing a message if an e-mail number exists in the first step, and inputting an e-mail number of a receiver if not present; A third step of transmitting the created message by connecting a host computer to a modem after writing a message in the second step; Transmitting a message in the third step, and comparing the length of the message with the time of the transmission of the message according to a time to detect which length is large; If the length transmitted in the fourth step is larger than the message length, all the messages are transmitted, and thus the fifth step of terminating the message transmission, terminating the modem, and terminating the e-mail transmission service is performed. How to implement mail. The satellite broadcasting according to claim 2, wherein the message uses a transmission packet including a receiver identification number, a field indicating a start, middle or end, a sender identification number, a service type, a message length, and a packet including a message. A method of implementing email in a receiver. According to claim 3, If the start field is not set does not include the sender's identification number or the length of the message, but only the receiver identification number and the message, if set, to indicate the type of service to vary the message according to the type E-mail implementation method for a satellite broadcast receiver, characterized in that using a transmission packet. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising adding a CRC for measuring a last error occurrence to the transmission packet of the message. 5. In the satellite broadcasting receiving system, A smart card 104 incorporating information for generating a control signal allowing only a designated viewer to view the satellite broadcast signal, an MPU 105 for controlling each part for processing a digital satellite signal, and A keyboard 101 for inputting a control key signal of the MPU 105, a modem 102 connected to a telephone line and modulating and demodulating the water transmission data under the control of the MPU 105, and under the control of the MPU 105; A channel section 103 for selecting a channel of the satellite input signal, an on-screen display section 108 for generating character data to be displayed on the display device under control of the MPU 105, and an EEPROM storing program data. 107, a descrambler 109 that descrambles an input signal under the control of the MPU 105, and an output selected by the channel unit 103 under the control of the MPU 105 into voice and video. Demultiplexer 110 and the MPU 105 In the satellite broadcasting receiver, characterized in that the control is composed of video, audio decoders (111, 112) for decoding the output audio and video output data of the demultiplexer 110 by the data provided from the RAM 106. Postal implementation system.

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