WO2007086683A1

WO2007086683A1 - System and method to provide multi-modal epg service on dmb/dab broadcasting system using extended epg xml with voice tag

Info

Publication number: WO2007086683A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/000425
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bong-Ho Lee; Heejeong Kim; So-Ra Park; Chung-Hyun Ahn; Soo-In Lee
Original assignee: Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute
Priority date: 2006-01-24
Filing date: 2007-01-24
Publication date: 2007-08-02
Also published as: EP1977596A4; KR100833500B1; KR20070077757A; EP1977596A1

Abstract

Provided is an electronic program guide (EPG) service using an EPG extensible markup language (XML) in a digital audio broadcasting (DAB)/digital multimedia broad casting (DMB) system, and more particularly, a voice-enabled EPG provision method which enables a user to listen to desired program information without looking at a screen or a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel or make a desired input by voice or through other interfaces while watching a broadcasting program by adding a voice input/output function to an EPG service. In this method, a tag for an interactive voice input/output function, i.e., an interactive dialog between a user and a system, is added or extended to an EPG XML which was designed to provide a text or screen-based EPG service. Therefore, the DAB/DMB system can have the voice input/output function in addition to text and graphics output functions. These functions enable a user to listen to or view desired program information through a screen, by voice, or in an integrated mode of the screen and voice while on the move.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD TO PROVIDE MULTI-MODAL EPG SERVICE ON DMB/DAB BROADCASTING SYSTEM USING EXTENDED EPG XML WITH VOICETAG

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electronic program guide (EPG) service provi ded by digital data broadcasting of digital audio broadcasting (DAB)/digital multimedia b roadcasting (DMB), and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of providing a s ervice which can express EPG information in a voice form by adding and extending tag s and relevant functions to an EPG extensible markup language (XML) that was design ed to express EPG information using the text and screen input/output function.

BACKGROUND ART According to a conventional method of providing an electronic program guide (E

PG), a terminal processes service information received through a broadcasting channel and provides the processed service information to a user, so that the user can receive a desired service or view a desired program. Although the conventional method is inex pensive to implement, there is a limit to providing sufficient information due to the limitat ions of service information provided by conventional digital audio broadcasting (DAB)/di gital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) system.

\n order to supplement an EPG provision function and provide a more extensible EPG service, WorldDAB standardization organization has devised and standardized a DAB EPG XML(eXtensible Markup Language) method. In the DAB EPG XML method, program information in DAB or DMB system can be provided through tag which is defin ed using an XML technology. EPG information written in the EPG XML is transmitted in the form of a file or stream through a broadcasting network. Then, a terminal, which can receive the file or stream, restores the EPG information and provides the restored EP G information to the user in the text or graphic form. The text EPG information could b e provided into a speech format to the end user by employing the text-to-speech (TTS) engine. However, this case which simply outputs the text into speech has a limitation in providing interactive functionalities, such as the navigation through program by program or a program search, via the speech recognition engine. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will beco me more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with referenc e to the attached drawings in which: FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of electronic program guide (EPG) information in an EPG extensible markup language (XML);

FIG. 2 illustrates schedule information written in the EPG XML according to an e mbodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates service information written in the EPG XML according to an em bodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates group information written in the EPG XML according to an emb odiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the configuration of an EPG XML added with voice tags accordi ng to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 illustrates an integrated EPG application according to an embodiment of t he present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an integrated EPG provision server according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an integrated EPG data provision system according t o an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a voice-integrated EPG ser vice according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing integrated EPG data usin g EPG XML added with voice tags according to an embodiment of the present invention ; and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of processing EPG data in a terminal of a digital audio broadcasting (DAB)/digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) system and providing a voice EPG service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

To improve the conventional methods, the present invention provides a system a nd method which can provide a voice EPG service fully compatible with the EPG XML a nd, also, in a dialog form. The present invention provides a voice-integrated electronic program guiαe ^tK G) service, which includes voice information, using an integrated EPG extensible mark up language (XML). In this case, the integrated EPG XML is generated after dedicate d tags for providing an interactive and dialog-form voice (voice recognition and synthesi s) EPG service are integrated into a conventional EPG XML. When the dedicated tags are integrated into the conventional EPG XML, a method of guaranteeing backward co mpatibility must be considered. In addition, consistency with a transmission method fo r providing a conventional EPG service must be maintained. To this end, the following considerations must be taken into. First, voice tags must be defined. In this case, adding a relatively simple functio n is considered in order to provide a voice input/output function, which is a minimum fun ction pursued by the present invention.

Second, a method of classifying voice tags by namespace and a method of integ rating the voice tags into an EPG XML tag should be suggested in order to integrate the voice tags into the conventional EPG XML and guarantee backward compatibility.

Third, a method of efficiently transmitting integrated content through a broadcasti ng network must be suggested.

The present invention also provides a system and method of providing a voice E PG service which reflect the above three considerations.

TECHNICAL SOLUTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus f or providing a voice electronic program guide (EPG) service using EPG extensible mar kup language (XML) with added voice tags in a digital audio broadcasting (DAB)/digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) service providing system, the apparatus comprising: an integrated EPG data generation unit using an integrated EPG XML which can guide pr ogram information via voice by combining voice tags into EPG XML, and generating int egrated EPG data, which contains the program information of the voice tags, as data to be used in an EPG service; and a transmitting unit distributing the generated, integrated EPG data through a DAB/DMB network.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a user ter minal processing integrated EPG data and providing a voice EPG service, the user term inal comprising: an EPG data reception unit receiving the integrated EPG data, which w as generated based on an integrated EPG XML added with voice tags, through a DAB/ DMB network or a bi-directional network and restoring the integrated b^u αata; ana an integrated EPG processing unit interpreting the restored EPG data and providing DAB/ DMB EPG information in a voice form or in a voice-integrated form in which at least one of graphics and text is concurrently displayed with voice. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing a voice EPG service using an EPG XML with added voice tags, the method comprising: using an integrated EPG XML added with voice tags which can guide DAB /DMB program information via voice voice, and generating integrated EPG data, which contains the program information of the voice tags, as data to be used in an EPG servic e; and distributing the generated, integrated EPG data through a DAB/DMB network.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of processing integrated EPG data in a terminal and providing a voice EPG service, the method comprising: receiving the integrated EPG data containing the program informati on of voice tags, which was generated based on an integrated EPG XML added with th e voice tags in a DAB/DMB service providing system; and interpreting the received inte grated EPG data and providing DAB/DMB EPG information in a voice form or in a voice -integrated form in which at least one of graphics and text is concurrently displayed with voice.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS

As described above, the present invention integrates markup languages for differ ent purposes and provides a user with an EPG service in voice, text and graphic forms. Therefore, the user can easily receive desired program information by voice wherever the user is.

MODE OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of electronic program guide (EPG) information in an EPG extensible markup language (XML).

A method and apparatus for providing an EPG service in a voice form in addition to text and graphic forms by adding voice tags to an EPG XML are disclosed in the pre sent invention. The method and apparatus add voice tags to an existing digital audio b roadcasting (DAB) EPG XML of an EPG service provided by a conventional DAB/digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) system and provide the EPG service in the voice form in addition to the text and graphic forms. The method and apparatus may use a metho d or apparatus for adding voice tags to an existing EPG XML. According io me metno d or apparatus for adding voice tags to the existing EPG XML, <form> and <menu> tag s of a VoiceXML, which are dialog tags, are added to service, schedule and group docu ments which constitute EPG XML content. Specifically, the <form> and <menu> tags may independently exist in <servicelnformation>, <schedule> and <group> tags, which are the highest EPG XML tags, or may exist in other tags, which may be child nodes of the highest tags, so that relevant information can be provided to a user by voice and re quirements can be received from the user by voice.

In order to provide the EPG service, the DAB/DMB system defines the EPG XML . This markup language defines a logical structure for expressing program information , which can be provided by XML-based DAB/DMB, using an XML technology, i.e., tags and attributes. The present invention is designed to transmit content written in the XM L in the form of a file or a binary stream and thus provide program information desired b y a user. Referring to FIG. 1 , EPG information in the EPG XML is largely divided into servi ce information, schedule information, and group information using XML tags.

The service information illustrated in FIG. 1 lists a plurality of services 101 includ ed in an ensemble 100, which denotes a physical frequency, and provides relevant con nection information, i.e., link information. The schedule information provides information regarding programs and relevant I inks which correspond to a schedule 110 related to a particular service as illustrated in FIG. 1. In addition, a service provides information regarding one or more programs 11 1 classified by time and event information 112 related to the programs 111.

Finally, the group information includes sub-groups 121 , which form a group 120, such as genre, and programs 122 which form each group 120.

FIG. 2 illustrates schedule information written in the EPG XML according to an e mbodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, information regarding services which form an ensemble can be provided to a user in various forms using content that is written using the highest <s ervicelnformation> tag.

An <ensemble> tag is specified under the <servicelnformation> tag as a child no de. If the EPG service includes one or more ensembles, a plurality of <ensemble> tag s may exist. If the EPG service provides information regarding a single ensemble, one <ensemble> tag may exist. Similarly, one or more <service> tags, which contain sen/ ice information to be provided, exist under one <ensemble> tag as child nodes.

In addition, tags of common data types (for example, <shortname>, <mediumna me>, <frequency>, and <servicelD> tags) for providing additional information regarding the <servicelnformation>, <ensemble> and <service> tags are placed under the upper t ags. The common data types are detailed information required to express EPG inform ation and basic information required to form the entire EPG information.

FIG. 3 illustrates service information written in the EPG XML according to an em bodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the schedule information includes a <schedule> tag as the hi ghest node and <program> tags for one or more programs as child nodes. In addition, each program tag includes a plurality of common data type tags, such as the <servicel nformation> tag, and one or more <event> tags as child nodes.

FIG. 4 illustrates group information written in the EPG XML according to an emb odiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a <programGroup> tag includes an <epg> tag as the highest tag and one or more <programgroup> tags under the <epg> tag. In addition, one or more <program> tags are placed under the <programGroup> tag. As in the service an d schedule information, a plurality of common data type tags exist under respective upp er tags in order to provide detailed information of the respective upper tags. EPG cont ent provided using the above tags offer brief and detailed information regarding progra ms classified according to a particular purpose.

FIG. 5 illustrates the configuration of an EPG XML added with voice tags accordi ng to an embodiment of the present invention. An EPG XML document 500 includes highest EPG XML tags S510, i.e., <schedu le>, <servicelnformation> and <group> tags, and lower EPG XML tags 520 under the hi ghest EPG XML tags S510. A dialog tag 530 for including voice information may exist in the highest EPG XML tags S510 or the lower EPG XML tags 520.

The dialog tag 530 is a dialog tag of a VoiceXML. In order to profile a number o f important tags of the VoiceXML, which express the concept of a dialog between a use r and a system - similar to a human-human dialog - and integrate the tags to the EPG XML, the VoiceXML will now be described in detail.

The VoiceXML has been devised for interactive voice response applications, whi ch were approved by a W3C consortium as standards. The VoiceXML is an XML-bas ed markup language designed to provide a voice service in a dialog form using compon ents, such as a voice recognizer, a button input unit, a text-to-speech (TTS) engine and an audio player, integrated with an interpreter interpreting and driving VoiceXML conte nt. The VoiceXML can provide a voice Web service. Unlike conventional HTML-based Internet browsers, VoiceXML-based browsers can input or express all kinds of information, which can be created in HTML, by voice. For this function, the VoiceXML defines a form called the dialog tag 530. The form sp ecifies a logical dialog between a user and a system and is embodied using <form> and <menu> tags. In each form, text for inducing a response, as in the human-human dia log, or text for providing general descriptions is included.

Such text is provided to a user by voice using a text-to-speech (TTS) or audio re production engine. Then, the user just listens to information or issues a desired comm and after listening to the information. If the user inputs a particular word, the voice rec ognizer recognizes the input word. If the input word matches a designated grammar, a corresponding operation is performed.

A dialog is embodied using the above mechanism. In addition, since dialogs ar e organically connected to one another, the movement among dialogs between docume nts or within a document can be perfectly guaranteed, and a user is always put in a dial og state or a standby state. Specifically, the <form> and <menu> tags are defined for the form. The <form> tag is virtually the highest tag of the VoiceXML and is a structure which logicalizes a di alog between a user and a system. The <form> tag includes, as a child node, a <bloc k> or <prompt> tag for requesting a user to issue a command or for outputting informati on by voice. In addition, the <form> tag includes, as a basic child node, a <grammar> tag for matching an input from a user with a grammar and performing a next job. A us age example of the <form> tag is as follows. <form>

<prompt> What kind of genre would like to get? </prompt> <grammar src ="genre.grxml" type="application/srgs+xml7>

</field> </form>

In the above example, after an execution engine, i.e., an interpreter, interprets th e <form> tag, a TTS voice synthesizer voice-synthesizes information specified in the <p rompt> tag and outputs the voice-synthesized information to a user. Then, the user list ens to the output voice information, inputs genre desired or sought to be found and pert orms a next job (i.e., moving to another dialog in another document or in the same docu ment). The<form> tag includes <field>, <record>, <object> and <subdialog> tags as c hild nodes and input items. In addition, the <form> tag includes <block> and <initial> t ags as control items. In order to embody a basic dialog, the <form> tag provides an ex ecution structure for performing a next job, i.e., a dialog, using a <goto> tag in addition t o the above tags. The <goto> tag is used to move to another dialog. Unlike the <for m> tag, the <menu> tag is designed to provide choices to a user. To this end, the <m enu> tag is used together with a <choice> tag as follows. <menu>

<prompt> Welcome EPG home, Say one of : <enumerate/> </prompt> <choice next="..//dab/servicejnformation.vxml">

Service information </choice>

Schedule </choice>

<choice next="..//dab//group.vxml"> Group

</choice> </menu>

Referring to the operation of the above example, after the interpreter interprets th e <menu> form, the content of the <prompt> tag is transmitted to a user. In this case, the interpreter outputs words, which include keywords specified in each <choice> tag a nd are necessary for choice, using an <enumerate> tag.

Next, if a user inputs a keyword and the input keyword matches (one in the <choi ce tag>), the operation proceeds according to a uniform resource locator (URL) or a uni form resource identifier (URI) about the matched one in the <choice> tag. The URL or URI is used to move to another document or dialog.

Therefore, the present invention can integrate the <form> and <menu> tags of th e VoiceXML to the EPG XML and provide an integrated EPG service whose characteris tic feature is a dialog-form voice EPG service that the conventional EPG XML could not support easily. To this end, defining a host language must be considered first. The p resent invention defines the EPG XML as the host language.

FIG. 6 illustrates an integrated EPG application according to an embodiment of t he present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, integrated EPG data is generated by integrating VoiceXML t ags into an EPG document and further into tag. Specifically, voice tags exist within an EPG XML document and must exist as child tags under the upper <schedule>, <service lnformation> and <schedule> tags of the EPG XML. In addition, the voice tags may be placed under other tags (for example, the <program> tag), which exist, as child tags, u nder the <schedule>, <servicelnformation> and <group> tags. The voice tags should be able to provide a voice input/output function. The voice tag may also exist alone wit hin the highest EPG XML tag and provide a voice EPG function in addition to the voice i nput/output function.

In the process of generating the integrated EPG data, two different markup langu ages are separated using the following namespace. Then, a terminal can easily separ ate the two languages, interpret the separated languages using different processing mo dules or an integrated processing module, and provide a relevant function. The Voice XML has "vxml," which is a secondary language, as a namespace.

The namespace of the EPG XML is <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<epg xmlns:epg="http://www. worlddab.org/schemas/epg" xmlns:xsi="http:// www.w3. org/2001/XMLSchemainstance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www. worlddab.org/schemas/epg epgSchedule_13. x sd" system="DAB">. Namespaces for voice tags use vxml and are as follows.

< ?xml version= "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8" ?> <vxml version = "2.0" xmlns= "http://www.w3.org/2001/vxml" xmlns :xsi= http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance xsi :schemaLocation= "http://www.w3.org/2001/vxml> http://www.w3/org/TR/voicexml20/vxml.xsd">

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an integrated EPG provision server 700 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In a method of providing an EPG service using the EPG XML, a terminal with a Ii mited display capability may provide an EPG service in a text form on a small liquid crys tal display (LCD) panel thereof, and a graphic-supported terminal, such as a DMB termi nal, may provide the EPG service in a graphic form using a graphical user interface (GU I). In addition, a terminal into which a TTS (engine) can be loaded and which has a na vigation capability may voice-synthesize and output relevant program guide information. The above methods are widely introduced techniques. To improve these methods a nd enable users to browse and select program information more easily, the present inv ention discloses a method and apparatus for extending a dialog tag, which makes a dial og between a user and a system possible, to the EPG XML and receiving a relevant ser vice in a dialog form. To achieve the above objectives, an apparatus for generating and transmitting in tegrated EPG data is required. In an embodiment of the present invention, the appara tus may be embodied as an apparatus or server, such as an integrated EPG provision s erver. The server generates an EPG application using the two integrated languages a nd distributes a generated document through a broadcasting network or a bi-directional network.

On the whole, an integrated EPG service provision system includes an integrate d EPG provision server, which generates integrated EPG data and distributes the EPG data through a broadcasting network and a bi-directional network, a DAB/DMB system, which encodes and multiplexes the integrated EPG data and transmits the encoded an d multiplexed EPG data as a broadcasting signal through a DAB/DMB network, and an i ntegrated EPG provision terminal which receives and decodes the integrated EPG data received through the broadcasting network or the bi-directional network and provides to a final user a program and relevant information in text, graphic and voice forms.

When the integrated EPG data or the integrated EPG content is generated, the EPG XML may be used as the host language, and a voice tag language may be used a s a secondary language. In this case, voice tags are integrated into an EPG XML tag using different namespaces, such as ".vxmlV

Referring to FIG. 7, the integrated EPG provision server 700 for generating and d istributing an integrated EPG application distributes common integrated EPG data to us ers through the broadcasting network and additionally disseminates personal or additio nal integrated EPG data to the users through a communication network. The integrate d EPG provision server 700 includes an integrated EPG data generation unit 701 and a transmission unit 702. The integrated EPG data generation unit 701 generates integra ted EPG data, which is to be used in an EPG service and includes voice information, us ing an integrated EPG XML. Here, the integrated EPG XML includes an EPG XML ad ded with voice tags for providing EPG information by voice. The transmission unit 702 distributes the generated, integrated EPG data through a DAB/DMB network or a bi-dire ctional network. The integrated EPG data distributed by the integrated EPG provision server 700 i s multiplexed and encoded by a DAB/DMB system and transmitted to a DAB/DMB termi nal through the DAB/DMB network. In addition, if bi-directional transmission is possibl e, data that cannot be transmitted through the broadcasting network can be disseminat ed through the bi-directional network. When the bi-directional network is used, the bi-d irectional, integrated EPG service can be provided.

When the integrated EPG application is transmitted through the DAB/DMB netwo rk, the integrated EPG data is transmitted through the broadcasting network using a file transmission method based on a multimedia object transfer (MOT) compatible with the existing EPG XML or a binary stream conversion method in which the integrated EPG d ata is converted into a binary stream and transmitted accordingly.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an integrated EPG data provision system according t o an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, an integrated EPG data provision terminal 820 processes int egrated EPG data received via an integrated EPG provision server 800 and a DAB/DM B system 810. The integrated EPG data provision terminal 820 includes a broadcastin g network reception unit 831 , which receives data transmitted through a broadcasting n etwork, restores the received data, and transmits the restored data to an integrated EP G processing unit 840, a bi-directional reception unit 832, which receives and restores a dditional data disseminated through a bi-directional network and provides the restored a dditional data, and the integrated EPG processing unit 840 which interprets and proces ses the EPG data received from an EPG data reception unit 830.

The integrated EPG processing unit 840 may include an agent module 842 comp rehensively supervising and managing an integrated EPG reception processing function , an EPG XML execution module 841 processing data corresponding to the EPG XML a nd providing EPG information in text and screen forms, and a voice execution module 8 43 interpreting VoiceXML elements specified in the EPG XML and performing a relevan t voice input/output function.

Specifically, the agent module 842 separates an integrated markup language in addition to performing the above functions. Furthermore, the agent module 842 mana ges and controls three execution environment modes, i.e., an EPG XML mode, a voice mode, and an integrated mode of the EPG XML mode and the voice mode. The agent module 842 reflects a user input, which was received by the EPG XML execution mod ule 841 , in the voice execution module 843. Conversely, the agent module 842 reflect s a voice command, which was received by the voice execution module 843, in the EP G XML execution module 841 in order to simultaneously execute applications.

The EPG XML execution module 841 expresses program information receives a user input in a text or graphic form using EPG XML tags separated by the agent module 842. The voice execution module 843 provides and receives the program information by voice using the VoiceXML and EPG XML tags separated by the agent module 842.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a voice-integrated EPG ser vice according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, integrated EPG data including voice information is generated using an EPG XML added with voice tags (operation 900). If the generated, integrate d EPG data is bi-directional data, it is transmitted through a bi-directional network. Oth erwise, the integrated EPG data is transmitted through a general DAB/DMB network (op eration 903).

A user terminal, which receives the integrated EPG data, interprets the integrate d EPG data and provides a voice-integrated EPG service to a user (operation 904). S pecifically, the user terminal provides program information in a voice form or in an integr ated form of voice and at least one of graphic and text forms (operation 904).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing integrated EPG data usin g an EPG XML added with voice tags. Referring to FIG. 10, an integrated EPG XML added with voice tags which can g uide DAB/DMB program information via voice is used and integrated EPG data containi ng the program information of the voice tags is generated as data to be used in an EPG service (operation 1001). The generated, integrated EPG data is distributed through a DAB/DMB network (operation 1002). FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of processing EPG data in a terminal of a DAB/DMB system and providing a voice EPG service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

That is, FIG. 11 illustrates that the terminal receiving the distributed integrated E PG data processes the integrated EPG data. Referring to FIG. 11 , the integrated EPG data containing the program information of the voice tags generated based on the inte grated EPG XML added with the voice tags is received by the terminal (operation 1101) . The integrated EPG data is interpreted and DAB/DMB EPG information is provided t o a user in a voice form or a voice-integrated form in which at least one of graphics or t ext is concurrently displayed with voice (operation 1102). Here, in addition to the provi ding of the DAB/DMB program guide information to the user, information can be receive d from the user by voice. The integrated EPG XML is a language generated after a di alog tag of a VoiceXML is combined to EPG XML content.

The operation 1102 includes distinguishing and separating an EPG XML tag and a VoiceXML tag in the integrated EPG data, providing EPG information in the separate d EPG XML tag in a text and/or graphic form, receiving information input by a user, prov iding EPG information in the separated VoiceXML and EPG XML tags via voice, and re ceiving information input by the user via voice.

The present invention can also be implemented as computer-readable code on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include read-only me mory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, and carrier waves (such as data transmission through the Internet).

The computer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over network-c oupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed i n a distributed fashion. Also, functional programs, code, and code segments for acco mplishing the present invention can be easily construed by programmers skilled in the a rt to which the present invention pertains.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with refer ence to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill i n the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departin g from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing a voice electronic program guide (EPG) service usi ng EPG extensible markup language (XML) with added voice tags in a digital audio bro adcasting (DAB)/digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) service providing system, the a pparatus comprising: an integrated EPG data generation unit using an integrated EPG XML which can guide program information via voice by combining voice tags into EPG XML, and gener ating integrated EPG data, which contains the program information of the voice tags as data to be used in EPG service; and a transmitting unit distributing the generated, integrated EPG data through a DA B/DMB network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the integrated EPG XML is a language genera ted after a dialog tag of a VoiceXML is combined to EPG XML content.

3.

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the dialog tag of the VoiceXML comprises a fo rm tag indicating a dialog form between a user and a system and a menu tag for inputti ng a choice of the user and exists as a children tag in at least one of a service tag, a sc hedule tag and a group tag or in a child tag of at least one of the service tag, the sched ule tag and the group tag.

4.

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the integrated EPG data generation unit gener ates the integrated EPG XML using the EPG XML as a host language and the VoiceXM L as a secondary language, and the two languages are distinguished by different name spaces in the integrated EPG data.

5.

The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmission unit transmits bi-directional i ntegrated EPG data to the user through a bi-directional network in order to provide EPG information to the user via voice as well as to receiver the user input from the user via voice.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmission unit distributes the integrated

EPG data through the DMB/DAB network if the integrated EPG data is common data t o a plurality of users and disseminates the integrated EPG data through the bi-direction al network if the integrated EPG data is personal or additional integrated EPG data.

7.

The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmission unit transmits the integrated EPG data through the DAB/DMB network by using a file transmission method based on a multimedia object transfer (MOT) or a binary stream conversion method in which the integrated EPG data is converted into a binary stream and transmitted accordingly.

8.

A user terminal processing integrated EPG data and providing a voice EPG servi ce, the user terminal comprising: an EPG data reception unit receiving the integrated EPG data, which was genera ted based on an integrated EPG XML added with voice tags, through a DAB/DMB netw ork or a bi-directional network and restoring the integrated EPG data; and an integrated EPG processing unit interpreting the restored EPG data and provid ing DAB/DMB EPG information in a voice form or in a voice-integrated form in which at I east one of graphics and text is concurrently displayed with voice.

9.

The user terminal of claim 8, wherein the EPG data reception unit comprises: a DAB/DMB network reception unit receiving and restoring integrated EPG data t ransmitted through the DAB/DMB network; and a DAB/DMB bi-directional communication unit receiving and restoring additional

EPG data transmitted through the bi-directional network.

10.

The user terminal of claim 8, wherein the integrated EPG processing unit compri ses: an agent module distinguishing and separating VoiceXML tag from EPG XML tag in the integrated EPG data; an EPG XML execution module providing EPG information in the EPG XML tag s eparated by the agent module in a text and/or graphic form and receiving information in put by a user; and a voice execution module providing EPG information in the VoiceXML and EPG XML tags separated by the agent module via voice and processing user command from the user via voice.

11.

The user terminal of claim 10, wherein the agent module manages an entire inte grated EPG service, determines one of a visual mode, a voice mode and an concurrent mode that visual and voice mode are integrated, as an execution mode of the integrate d EPG service, reflects the user command generated from the EPG XML execution mo dule to the voice execution module or reflects the user command made from the voice execution module to the EPG XML execution module respectively.

12.

A method of providing a voice EPG service using an EPG XML with added voice tags, the method comprising: using an integrated EPG XML added with voice tags which can guide DAB/DMB program information via voice, and generating integrated EPG data, which contains the program information of the voice tags, as data to be used in an EPG service; and distributing the generated, integrated EPG data through a DAB/DMB network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the integrated EPG XML is a language generat ed after a dialog tag of a VoiceXML is combined to EPG XML content.

14.

The method of claim 13, wherein the dialog tag of the VoiceXML comprises a for m tag indicating a dialog form between a user and a system and a menu tag for inputtin g a choice of the user and exists as a children tag in at least one of a service tag, a sch edule tag and a group tag or in a child tag of at least one of the service tag, the schedul e tag and the group tag.

15.

The method of claim 13, wherein the integrated EPG XML is generated using the EPG XML as a host language and the VoiceXML as a secondary language, and the tw o languages are distinguished by different namespaces in the integrated EPG data.

16.

The method of claim 12, wherein when the integrated EPG data is bi-directional data, the integrated EPG data is transmitted through a bi-directional network.

17.

A method of processing integrated EPG data in a terminal and providing a voice EPG service, the method comprising: receiving the integrated EPG data containing the program information of voice ta gs, which was generated based on an integrated EPG XML added with the voice tags in a DAB/DMB service providing system; and interpreting the received integrated EPG data and providing DAB/DMB EPG infor mation in a voice form or in a voice-integrated form in which at least one of graphics an d text is concurrently displayed with voice.

18.

The method of claim 17, wherein the integrated EPG XML is a language generat ed after a dialog tag of a VoiceXML is combined to EPG XML content.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the integrated EPG XML is generated using the

EPG XML as a host language and the VoiceXML as a secondary language, and the tw o languages are distinguished by different namespaces in the integrated EPG data.

20.

The method of claim 19, wherein the interpreting of the received integrated EPG data and providing of the DAB/DMB program guide information comprises: distinguishing and separating an EPG XML tag and a VoiceXML tag in the integr ated EPG data; providing EPG information in the separated EPG XML tag in a text and/or graphi c form and receiving information input by a user; and providing EPG information in the separated VoiceXML and EPG XML tags by voi ce and receiving information input by the user by voice.