WO2008143446A1

WO2008143446A1 - Method of receiving service guide information and apparatus for receiving service guide information

Info

Publication number: WO2008143446A1
Application number: PCT/KR2008/002779
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jin Young Choi; Sun Young Choi; Kyoung Soo Moon
Original assignee: Lg Electronics Inc.
Priority date: 2007-05-18
Filing date: 2008-05-19
Publication date: 2008-11-27
Also published as: KR101328951B1; EP2153642A4; EP2153642A1; KR20080101590A

Abstract

A method and apparatus for receiving service guide information is provided. The apparatus includes a receiving unit, a controller, and an output unit. The receiving unit receives a signal including bootstrap information containing identification information indicating whether or not service guide information is to be received through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel and receives service guide information according to the identification information. The controller causes the receiving unit to receive the service guide information through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel according to the bootstrap information received by the receiving unit and causes the received service guide information to be output. The output unit outputs the service guide information under control of the controller.

Description

METHOD OF RECEIVING SERVICE GUIDE INFORMATION

AND APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING FOR RECEIVING

SERVICE GUIDE INFORMATION

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a method of receiving service guide information and an apparatus for receiving service guide information. Background Art

[2] Contents indicate contents or information including an image, a sound and a text which are provided to a user via wired/wireless communication. Recently, contents are manufactured by a digital method and provided via a variety of broadcast channels and interactive channels. For example, the user can download and view the contents via the Internet. With a combination of a broadcast system and a communication system, a method of receiving the same contents from the broadcast system and the communication system has been considered. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[3] An object of the present invention devised to solve the problem lies on a method of receiving service guide information and an apparatus for receiving service guide information, which is capable of efficiently acquiring the service guide information. Technical Solution

[4] The object of the present invention can be achieved by providing an apparatus for receiving service guide information, the apparatus including a receiving unit for receiving a signal including bootstrap information containing identification information indicating whether or not service guide information is to be received through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel and receiving service guide information according to the identification information, a controller for causing the receiving unit to receive the service guide information through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel according to the bootstrap information received by the receiving unit and causing the received service guide information to be output, and an output unit for outputting the service guide information under control of the controller.

[5] In another aspect of the present invention, provided herein is a method for receiving service guide information, the method including receiving a signal including bootstrap information containing identification information indicating whether or not service guide information is to be received through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel and receiving service guide information according to the identification information, receiving the service guide information through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel according to the bootstrap information, and outputting the received service guide information.

Advantageous Effects

[6] The method and apparatus for receiving service guide information described above is advantageous in that efficient acquisition of service-related information is possible. Brief Description of the Drawings

[7] FIG. 1 illustrates an example data model of service guide information.

[8] FIG. 2 illustrates example bootstrap information expressed in a descriptor format, through which service guide information can be received.

[9] FIG. 3 illustrates example bootstrap information of service guide information.

[10] FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus for transmitting service guide information.

[11] FIG. 5 is a view showing a modulating and encoding unit shown in FIG. 4.

[12] FIG. 6 is a view showing a signal arrangement according to a result of building a frame by a frame builder in the example of FIG. 7.

[13] FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of transmitting a broadcast program, contents and data via a channel.

[14] FIGs. 8 and 9 are views showing an apparatus for receiving the service guide information.

[15] FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a protocol stack in the case where the service guide information and the description information of the service guide information are delivered.

[16] FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a method for receiving service guide information according to the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[17] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[18] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, information which is associated with serviced contents and can access the contents is called service guide information.

[19] The service guide information includes service schedule information for allowing a user to select a service, and information for allowing the user to purchase, access and store items in a terminal. The user can receive the service guide information and select and purchase a desired service via the terminal. [20] Hereinafter, an interactive channel indicates a bidirectional communication channel and a broadcast channel indicates a unidirectional communication channel in which a user is not specified in a multicast.

[21] The service guide information may be processed by a first process (hereinafter, referred to as a bootstrap process) of recognizing whether or not the service guide information is available or how the service guide information is acquired, a second process (hereinafter, an acquisition process) of acquiring and processing the service guide information by the terminal, and a third process (hereinafter, referred to as an update process) of updating the service guide information acquired by the terminal.

[22] The terminal can acquire information obtained by the first process from a received signal and then acquire the service guide information using the information obtained by the first process as trigger information. Hereinafter, the information obtained by the first process is called bootstrap information. The terminal can acquire the service guide information via the bootstrap information and acquire service information or access contents from the service guide information.

[23] FIG. 1 illustrates example service guide information. A basic structure of service guide information is described below with reference to FIG. 1.

[24] Service guide information can be provided in lower units, into which the service guide information is divided, to the user. Here, the divided lower units of service guide information will be referred to as fragments. The example of FIG. 1 includes a service fragment, a ScheduleEvent fragment, a content fragment, a serviceBundle fragment, a purchase fragment, a purchaseChannel fragment, and an acquisition fragment. Arrows shown in FIG. 1 represent reference relations. In the example of FIG. 1, the serviceBundle fragment can reference the service fragment. In FIG. 1, numbers written near each arrow represents the number of possible lower units. For example, "0..n" indicates that zero to n (n is a natural number) units are included.

[25] The service fragment includes information of a service (for example, a television channel) provided to the user. The serviceBundle fragment includes information of a service group. Examples of the service group include a sports service bundle and a cinema service bundle. The content fragment includes metadata of content. For example, the content fragment may include the type of content such as A/V, text, or image.

[26] The ScheduleEvent fragment includes schedule information of one content item included in a service. For example, the broadcasting time of the content item may be included in the schedule information. The purchase fragment includes information regarding purchase of services that are purchasable by the user. The purchaseChannel fragment is an interface through which the user communicates with a purchase system. The purchaseChannel fragment includes information regarding management of purchased channels or parameters associated with the purchase system.

[27] The acquisition fragment includes information regarding access to content or a service. The user can access and purchase a service or content through information regarding the acquisition fragment.

[28] The service guide information may have a hierarchical structure. Here, lower units of the hierarchical structure are referred to as "fragments". Fragments can be encoded and one or more fragments can be encapsulated and transmitted or a single greater unit can be created and transmitted. Each encapsulated unit is referred to as a "container". Each container of service guide information can be transmitted and received according to a protocol according to which the service guide information is transmitted. Such a transmitting/receiving system is illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5, 8, and 9 and the transmitting and receiving protocol is illustrated in FIG. 10.

[29] On the other hand, the service guide information can be obtained from bootstrap information as described above. Reference will now be made to a procedure for receiving bootstrap information of service guide information.

[30] An IP/MAC Notification Table (INT) among table information, which is transmitted through one or more sections in a broadcast signal, includes information of mapping between an IP address of an Internet Protocol (IP) stream in a transport stream of the broadcast signal and a Packet Identifier (PID) of the transport stream. When a terminal has obtained an IP address for receiving bootstrap information of service guide information from an INT that is mapping information in a broadcast signal, the terminal can determine a packet ID including the bootstrap information using a program number of a PMT in which the obtained IP address is defined. Then, when a packet corresponding to the determined packet ID has been MPE-encapsulated, the terminal can obtain bootstrap information by MPE-decapsulating the packet.

[31] FIG. 2 illustrates example bootstrap information expressed in a descriptor format, through which service guide information can be received. Bootstrap information of service guide information provides information that enables acquisition of possible service guide information or information regarding a provider of the service guide information. FIG. 2 illustrates a descriptor (ESG access descriptor) associated with acquisition of service guide information and FIG. 3 illustrates entry information (ESGEntity) obtained by parsing the descriptor of FIG. 2. The descriptor that enables acquisition of service guide information describes access to an entry point of service guide information that is transmitted through a broadcast channel.

[32] Service guide information transmitted through the bootstrap information illustrated in

FIG. 2 can be transmitted according to, for example, Asynchronous Layered Coding/ Layered Coding Transport (ALC/LCT) through a File Delivery over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) session that operates on the IP protocol. An example protocol according to which bootstrap information can be transmitted will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 9.

[33] The terminal can acquire bootstrap information of service guide information from an

IP address described in table information (for example, an INT) according to PSI/SI. For example, bootstrap information can be obtained from 224.0.23.14 when the IP address is transmitted in an IP version 4 format according to the DVB-H system and can be obtained from FF0X:0:0:0:0:0:0:12D when the IP address is transmitted in an IP version 6 format. In FIG. 2, "n_o_ESGEntries" represents the number of entries of service guide information (ESGEntries).

[34] FIG. 3 illustrates example fields included in the entry information (ESGEntry) of service guide information illustrated in FIG. 2. An ESGEntryVersion field in the entry information ESGEntry of service guide information, which indicates a version of entry information (ESGEntry), can be set to "1". An ESGEntryLength field represents the length of ESGEntry in bytes. When a MultipleStreamTransport field is " 1", this indicates that an IP address is provided through a session announcement channel for implementing service guide information and service guide information is provided at a position indicated by the IP address. When the MultipleStreamTransport field is "0", this indicates that all containers of service guide information are provided in a session for implementing the service guide information. When IPVersionβ is "1", Sour- ceIP Address and DestinationIP Address are set according to IP version 6.

[35] Bootstrap information may also describe information of access to entry information of service guide information transmitted not only through a broadcast channel but also through an interactive channel. BroadcastFlag included in bootstrap information of FIG. 2 is identification information that can describe whether service guide information is transmitted through a broadcast channel or an interactive channel. For example, the BroadcastFlag can indicate that service guide information is transmitted through a broadcast channel when the BroadcastFlag is " 1 " and can indicate that service guide information is transmitted through an interactive channel when the BroadcastFlag is "0".

[36] When the BroadcastFlag is " 1 ", a ProviderID field set next to a 5-bit reserved region indicates an identifier of a provider of the service guide information. The bootstrap information of the service guide information may include both a source IP address (SourcelP Address) and a destination IP address (DestinationIP Address) operating in a session (for example, a FLUTE session) for transmitting service guide information according to the value of the IPVersionβ field. The source and destination IP addresses can be described in IP version 6 or IP version 4 according to the value of the IPversionβ field.

[37] A Port field indicates a port of an IP stream of a FLUTE session in which service guide information is transmitted. A Transport Session Identifier (TSI) of a session for operating service guide information is set in a TSI field.

[38] The terminal can acquire service guide information from a broadcast channel according to the BroadcastFlag field of entry information (ESGEntry) of the service guide information.

[39] If service guide information is received from an interactive channel when the

BroadcastFlag is "0", a 2-bit mode field indicates mode information for setting a relationship between service guide information received from an interactive channel and service guide information received from a broadcast channel. For example, a mode field value of "00" is information for replacing service guide information received from a broadcast channel with service guide information received from an interactive channel. In addition, a mode field value of "01" is information for adding service guide information received from an interactive channel to service guide information received from a broadcast channel. When the mode field is "00" or "01", service guide information may be information in units of containers or fragments. A mode field value of "10" or "11" is information for giving priority to service guide information received from a broadcast channel and permits corresponding service guide information to be generated using the service guide information received only from the broadcast channel. The received service guide information may be in units of containers or fragments according to the mode.

[40] When service guide information is received from an interactive channel, position information indicating the position of description information that describes a file containing the service guide information is set in a FileDescURL field and a FileDes- cURLLength field indicates the length of the description information. When service guide information in units of containers or fragments is received from an interactive channel, position information of the service guide information can be set in a RequestURL field and length information of the position information can be set in a RequestURLLength field. Accordingly, when the terminal receives service guide information from an interactive channel, description of service guide information can be received in units of files from FileDescURL and service guide information can be received in specific units (for example in units of fragments or containers) from RequestURL. Reference will now be made to a broadcast communication system that transmits and receives service guide information or bootstrap information of the service guide information illustrated in FIGs. 2 to 4.

[41] FIG. 4 is a view showing an embodiment of an apparatus for transmitting contents.

The embodiment of the apparatus for transmitting contents will be described with reference to FIG. 4. In the example of FIG. 4, it is assumed that the contents are transmitted via a broadcast service. [42] The broadcast system shown in FIG. 4 includes encoders 310, 320 and 330, a multiplexer 340 and a modulating and encoding unit 350. The encoders include a first encoder 310, a second encoder 320 and a third encoder 330.

[43] The first encoder 310 can encode the contents such as audio, video and data according to, for example, a transmission/reception protocol of an MPEG-2 transport stream (TS). The data including the service guide information may be transmitted in units including the IP address. The second encoder 320 can encode the data including the service guide information in an IP datagram format. The IP datagram indicates a signal processing format for transmitting a signal by an Internet protocol (IP) packet and may include a header including the IP address and a data container for transmitting information. In the IP datagram of the packet unit, the data container may include data such as video, audio and service guide data. That is, in the example of FIG. 4, the video signal, the audio signal and the data signal are divided by packet units, and compressed and transmitted by an IP datacasting method.

[44] The IP data may be encapsulated by the MPE and embedded in the MPEG-2 TS. The

MPE may be MPE-FEC section data to which a forward error correction (FEC) code is added. If the transmitted signal is arranged by the MPE-FEC, a carrier-to-noise (CN) ratio of the transmitted signal can be improved. The MPE-FEC data including the FEC or the MPE data including no FEC may include the transmitted signal of the IP data format.

[45] The second encoder 320 may multiplex the IP datagram encapsulated by the MPE using a time slicing method in order to decrease power consumption. The multiplexed signal is converted into the transport stream and multiplexed with the MPEG-2 TS packet in which the video or audio signal is carried. The second encoder 320 then can encode service guide information into an IP datagram format.

[46] The third encoder 330 may encode the multiplexed information of the stream packet associated with the program or the service. The multiplexed information includes table information on PSFSI. The table information encoded by the third encoder 330 may include INT including mapping information between the PID including the IP datagram encoded by the second encoder 320 and the IP address of the IP datagram. Accordingly, the third encoder 330 can encode and transmit INT information including IP address information of information regarding bootstrap information. Bootstrap information, which is located at a position corresponding to the IP address information, may include the information illustrated in FIG. 3.

[47] The multiplexer 340 may multiplex and output the transport packets output from the first encoder 310, the second encoder 320 and the third encoder 330, and the modulating and encoding unit 350 may modulate and encode the multiplexed signal and transmit the encoded signal. [48] The multiplexer 340 multiplexes the packet data encoded by the first encoder 310, the second encoder 320 and the third encoder 330 and outputs the multiplexed signal, and the modulating and encoding unit 350 modulates and encodes the multiplexed signal according to a transmission system and transmits a radio frequency (RF) signal. The modulating and encoding unit 350 may use the various modulating methods and the various encoding methods of the broadcast system, for example, a DMB method, a DVB-H method, a VSB method and an ISDB-T method.

[49]

[50] FIG. 5 is a view showing the modulating and encoding unit shown in FIG. 4. In FIG.

5, the modulating and encoding method may use, for example, a digital video broadcasting-terrestrial/handheld (DVB -T/H) method.

[51] A first encoder 410 includes an outer coder 411 and an outer interleaver 412. The first encoder 410 may code and interleave multiplexed data in order to improve transmission capability of the multiplexed signal. For example, a Reed-Solomon coding method may be used as the outer coding method and a convolution interleaving method may be performed as the interleaving method.

[52] A second encoder 420 includes an inner encoder 421 and an inner interleaver 422.

The inner coder 421 and the inner interleaver 422 code and interleave a signal to be transmitted in order to prevent an error from occurring in the transmitted signal. The inner coder may code the transmitted signal according to a punctured convolution code. As the inner interleaving method, a native interleaving method or an in-depth interleaving method may be used according the use of a memory based on transmission modes of 2k, 4k and 8k.

[53] A mapper 430 may map the transmitted signal to a symbol according to formats such as 16QAM, 640QAM and QPSK in consideration of a transmission-mode-based pilot signal generated by a system signal generator 425 and a transmission parameter signaling (TPS).

[54] A frame builder 440 modulates the mapped signal by an orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) method and builds a frame in which a guard zone is inserted in a data zone including the modulating signal. Each frame includes 68 OFDM symbols and four frames build a super frame. Each symbol includes 6817 carriers in the 8k mode and includes 1705 carriers in the 2k mode. The guard zone is a cyclic continuation in which the data of the data zone is duplicated, and the length thereof may vary according to the transmission mode. The OFDM frame includes a scattered pilot signal, a continual pilot signal and a TPS carrier. The example of the signal frame built by the frame builder of FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 5.

[55] A digital/analog converter 450 converts a digital broadcast signal having the guard zone and the data zone into an analog signal, and a transmitter 460 transmits the analog signal converted by the digital/analog converter 450 by the RF signal.

[56] FIG. 6 is a view showing a signal arrangement according to a result of building a frame by a frame builder in the example of FIG. 5. In FIG. 6, Tu denotes the number of effective useful carriers, Dt denotes a distance between the scattered pilots in a time direction, and Df denotes a distance between the scattered pilots in a frequency direction. The distance Df between the scattered pilots in the frequency direction decides a delay range of ghost which can be estimated in a channel. FIG. 6 shows a location where the signal is interpolated when the terminal receives the signal built by the frame builder.

[57] In the case where the signal arranged as shown in FIG. 8 is received, time interpolation is performed at a pilot location and symbols are arranged such that the same pilot pattern appears every four symbols. That is, if the same scattered pilot signal as a symbol which is input at t=5 is arranged in a symbol which is first input (t=l), the terminal which receives the signal can perform the time interpolation with respect to the symbols received at t=2, 3 and 4 at the locations of the scattered pilot signals.

[58] Since a symbol which is input at t=6 has the same scattered pilot pattern as the symbol which is input at t=2, the terminal which receives the signal may perform the time interpolation with respect to the signals of t=3, 4 and 5 on the scattered pilot locations of the symbol which is input at t=6 and the symbol which is input at t=2.

[59] If the time interpolation is performed by the above-described method after the symbol is input at t=7 at the time of the reception of the signal, since the scattered pilots are located at every four carrier locations in the symbol which is input at t=4, the interval between the scattered pilot signals in the frequency direction of the symbol which is input at t=4 is reduced to 1/4 of the original interval between the scattered pilot signals, and the symbol which is input at t=4 has a pattern in which the scattered pilot signal is located at every four carrier locations. Accordingly, the terminal which receives the signal can obtain the effect that the signal can be processed as if a larger amount of pilot signals is located at the symbol. Accordingly, if the signal is transmitted using the continual pilot signal and the scattered pilot signal, it is possible to adaptively compensate for the channel according to the status of the reception channel at the time of the reception of the signal.

[60] FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of transmitting a broadcast program, contents and data via a channel. A service using a DVB-H type slicing method and a service transmitted via a common channel of the DVB_T and the DVB-H may be transmitted by the broadcast system shown in FIGs. 6 and 7. A program may be transmitted via the channels of the DVB-H and the DVB-T, and, according to the DVB-H, the program is time-divisionally multiplexed and transmitted by time slicing method. The contents including the video/audio and the service guide information may be included in the IP datagram by the DVB-H system and processed by the MPE or MPE-FEC, and the MPEG-2 TS in which the MPE or MPE-FEC is embedded may be transmitted.

[61] FIG. 8 is a view showing an apparatus for receiving the service guide information.

The apparatus for receiving the service guide information will be described with reference to FIG. 8. The apparatus for receiving the contents via the service guide includes a receiving unit, an input unit 530, a memory 550, an output unit 560 and a controller 600. The receiving unit may include a broadcast receiving unit 510 for receiving a signal from a broadcast channel and a communication unit 520 for receiving a signal from an interactive channel and transmitting a signal to the interactive channel. For example, the interactive channel of the communication unit 520 may be a wired/wireless channel for realizing bidirectional data communication.

[62] The broadcast receiving unit 510 receives and demodulates a broadcast signal and outputs the demodulated signal. For example, the broadcast receiving unit 510 may include a tuner for receiving the DVB-H broadcast signal and a demodulator for demodulating a DVB signal frame according to the OFDM method. The broadcast receiving unit 510 demodulates and outputs the received broadcast signal to the controller 600. The broadcast signal received by the broadcast receiving unit 510 includes service guide information or bootstrap information of the service guide information. The bootstrap information includes the information illustrated in FIG. 3.

[63] The controller 600 may include a system decoder 610, a decoder 620, a service guide information controller 630, a channel map storage unit 640, and a communication system encoder/decoder 670. The controller 600 can control the peripheral control function blocks illustrated in FIG. 8 and can process a control command received from a user.

[64] FIG. 9 is a view showing the system decoder 610 of FIG. 8.

[65] The system decoder 610 may process the broadcast signal received from the broadcast receiving unit 510. The system decoder 610 may include an IP decapsulator 611, a user datagram protocol (UDP) decoder 612, a RTP decoder 613, a FLUTE decoder 614, a container parser 615, a BiM parser 616 and an XML parser 617.

[66] The system decoder 610 decodes content data transmitted in real time according to a decoding scheme. For example, the system decoder 610 can decode a signal including service guide information, which is transmitted in an IP datagram format, according to a system decoding scheme.

[67] An example of decoding the content data transmitted in real time by the system decoder 610 will now be described. The IP decapsulator 611 decapsulates data included in a pay load by referring to a header of an IP packet. The UDP decoder 612 can acquire the content data transmitted in real time from the decapsulated payload. The RTP decoder 613 controls a coding rate of the content data decoded by the UDP decoder 612 using a RTP control protocol (RTCP) and outputs coded content data. The audio/video signal output from the RTP decoder 613 may be decoded by the decoder 620 for decoding the audio/video signal.

[68] When the system decoder 610 decodes data of service guide information in a file format, the data decoded by the UDP decoder 612 is output to the FLUTE decoder 614.

[69] The FLUTE decoder 614 decodes data in a FLUTE format (where FLUTE stands for

File Delivery over Unidirectional Transport according to IETF RFC3926) and can output a file such as binary data, image data, or text. The decoded data output by the FLUTE decoder 614 may include a file including service guide information.

[70] The container parser 615 decodes a container-based file of the service guide information and outputs the decoded file. If the result output from the container parser is data of a BiM format, the BiM parser 616 decodes the data and transmits the decoded data to the XML parser 617. The XML parser 617 may decode the file of the XML format output from the container parser 615 or the BiM parser 617.

[71]

[72] Referring back to FIG. 8, the decoder 620 may decode video, audio, and data information produced through system decoding by the system decoder 610 and the communication system encoder/decoder 670. The decoder 620 may include a video decoder, an audio decoder, and a data decoder that decodes MPEG-2 TS data. The video decoder can decode and output video data, for example in H.264 format, and the audio decoder can decode and output audio data, for example in AAC+ format. The decoder 620 may include a data decoder (not shown) that can decode program information/service information in a table format according to PSI/SI.

[73] For example, the decoder 620 can decode table information such as a Program Association Table (PAT), a Program Map Table (PMT), or a Network Information Table (NIT) or can decode a broadcast signal for data broadcasting. The decoder 620 can parse an IP/MAC Notification Table (INT), which is table information, from the PMT. The INT includes information of mapping between the PID of a transport stream and the IP address of an IP stream in the transport stream. Accordingly, when the apparatus for receiving service guide information has obtained an IP address for receiving bootstrap information of service guide information from the INT, the apparatus for receiving service guide information can receive the bootstrap information through a broadcast channel or an interactive channel using the obtained IP address. An example of the bootstrap information that the apparatus for receiving service guide information receives through a broadcast channel or an interactive channel is illustrated in FIG. 3. The apparatus for receiving service guide information can receive and decode service guide information according to the procedure illustrated above when the bootstrap in- formation has been obtained. An example of how the decoded service guide information is output (or presented) is described below.

[74] The service guide information controller 630 can cause service-guide -related information decoded and output by the system decoder 610 to be stored, processed, and output (or presented). The service guide information controller 630 includes a control unit 631, a channel map memory 633, and a browser driver 635.

[75] The control unit 631 can store the received service guide information in the memory

550. The control unit 631 can extract channel map information from the service guide information and store the extracted channel map information in the channel map memory 633. The control unit 631 can drive the browser driver 635, which drives applications or the like, to output (or present) received or stored service guide information.

[76] The memory 550 can store service guide information, content data, and a file received in an IP datagram format and can store data before and after the data is decoded by the decoder 620. The input unit 530 can receive a control command input by the user and then can output the received control command to the controller 600. The output unit 560 can output audio or video signals output by the controller 600. The controller 600 may drive an application to output the audio or video signal. For example, a service-guide-information-related application can provide service guide information to the user.

[77] The controller 600 may include the communication system encoder/decoder 670 that can transmit and receive signals to and from an interactive channel. The communication system encoder/decoder 670 can encode a signal for transmission through an interactive channel or can decode a signal received through an interactive channel from the communication unit 520. When a signal is received through an interactive channel, the communication unit 520 can demodulate the received signal according to a communication system. When the communication system encoder/decoder 670 outputs an encoded signal, the communication unit 520 can modulate and transmit the encoded signal. For example, when the communication unit 520 receives service guide information from an interactive channel and demodulates and outputs the received service guide information, the communication system encoder/decoder 670 can receive, decode, and output the service guide information. In the case where the communication system encoder/decoder 670 acquires service guide information included in an IP datagram, the communication system encoder/decoder 670 may include an IP- related block that is included in the system decoder 610. Service guide information decoded by the communication system encoder/decoder 670 is output to the service guide information controller 630.

[78] The decoder 620 in the controller 600 obtains an IP address at which bootstrap in- formation is located from table information such as an INT and then receives the bootstrap information using the obtained IP address. The apparatus for receiving service guide information receives bootstrap information from a broadcast channel or an interactive channel. When the controller 600 has received the bootstrap information from the broadcast receiving unit 510 or the communication unit 520, service guide information can be received through a broadcast channel or an interactive channel according to identification information included in the bootstrap information. Then, when the controller 600 has obtained service guide information from a broadcast channel, the service guide information can be decoded through the system decoder 610 and, when the controller 600 has obtained service guide information from an interactive channel, the service guide information can be decoded through the communication system encoder/decoder 670.

[79] That is, the apparatus for receiving service guide information can receive identification information, which enables determination of whether or not service guide information is to be received through a broadcast channel or an interactive channel, from the bootstrap information illustrated in FIG. 3. When the service guide information is received from a broadcast channel or an interactive channel, the bootstrap information may include information of a mode for constructing the received service guide information.

[80] According to this embodiment, the apparatus for receiving service guide information can implement and output (or present) service guide information taking into consideration a service guide information receiving mode according to the identification information.

[81] FIG. 10 illustrates an example protocol stack, according to which service guide information is transferred. In the protocol stack, if the service guide information is delivered according to the DVB-T/H 710, the delivered signal follows a protocol 720 associated with the transport stream defined by the DVB. According to the DVB-H, the transport stream may follow a time slicing rule 725 and may include a signal of an MPE or an MPE-FEC format (729). PSFSI information may be delivered via the transport stream. A signal of an IP datagram format 730 may be included in the transport stream. The data according to the IP datagram follows the UDP 740 or TCP rule. Among the contents delivered by the UDP, the contents transmitted/received in a real-time streaming format follows the RTP 750 and the contents delivered in the file format follows the FLUTE/ ALC. The contents of the streaming format according to the RTP 750 may be transmitted according to H.264/AAC+. The contents delivered in the file format may become data of an XML, a binary and a text or service guide information according to XML/SDP. The XML is an object-oriented language, and the service guide information or the description information of the service guide in- formation may be transmitted in a state of being included in a layered signal in object units via the FLUTE.

[82] FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a method for receiving service guide information according to the present invention. The embodiment of the method for receiving service guide information according to the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 11.

[83] First, bootstrap information including identification information indicating whether or not service guide information is to be received through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel is received (Sl 10). The bootstrap information can be received using an IP address obtained from table information such as an INT of a broadcast channel. The bootstrap information can be received from a broadcast channel or an interactive channel. The received bootstrap information may include information illustrated in FIG. 3.

[84] Service guide information is received from at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel according to the identification information of the bootstrap information (S 120).

[85] The service guide information received from a broadcast channel may be subjected to a system decoding process after it is demodulated through an OFDM process. The system decoding process is illustrated above in the description of the system decoder of FIG. 8. A process to which the service guide information received from an interactive channel is subjected is illustrated above in the description of the communication system decoder of FIG. 8.

[86] This embodiment may further include the following step S 130.

[87] When service guide information is received from an interactive channel, corresponding service guide information is produced and output according to service guide generation mode information of the bootstrap information (S130). A process to which the service guide information received according to the mode information of the bootstrap information is subjected is illustrated above in the description of the service guide information controller of FIG. 8. Accordingly, when a service guide is received, a service guide information browser or the like can be activated to output (or present) the received and stored service guide information containing channel map information to the user.

[88] When service guide information can be received from an interactive channel according to identification information of bootstrap information, the bootstrap information may include mode information describing relations between generation of service guide information from fragment data of service guide information received from a broadcast channel and generation of service guide information from fragment data of service guide information received from an interactive channel. Mode for the Invention

[89] Modes for the present invention have been described above together with the best mode of the invention. Industrial Applicability

[90] The present invention has industrial applicability in that it is possible to transmit and receive content using service guide information in broadcast and communication fields.

Claims

[1] An apparatus for receiving a service guide, the apparatus comprising: a receiving unit for receiving a signal including bootstrap information containing identification information indicating whether or not service guide information is to be received through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel and receiving service guide information according to the identification information; a controller for causing the receiving unit to receive the service guide information through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel according to the bootstrap information received by the receiving unit and causing the received service guide information to be output; and an output unit for outputting the service guide information under control of the controller.

[2] The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the service guide information can be received through an interactive channel, the bootstrap information includes mode information indicating whether service guide information to be output by the output unit is generated from service guide information received from the interactive channel or from service guide information received from the broadcast channel.

[3] The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the apparatus receives the service guide information through an interactive channel, the bootstrap information includes link information of a position at which the service guide information is located.

[4] The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the apparatus receives the service guide information through an interactive channel, the bootstrap information includes link information of a position at which description information of the service guide information is located.

[5] A method for receiving a service guide, the method comprising: receiving a signal including bootstrap information containing identification information indicating whether or not service guide information is to be received through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel and receiving service guide information according to the identification information; receiving the service guide information through at least one of a broadcast channel and an interactive channel according to the bootstrap information; and outputting the received service guide information.

[6] The method according to claim 5, wherein, when the service guide information can be received through an interactive channel, the bootstrap information includes mode information indicating whether service guide information to be output is generated from service guide information received from the interactive channel or from service guide information received from the broadcast channel.

[7] The method according to claim 5, wherein, when the service guide information is received through an interactive channel, the bootstrap information includes link information of a position at which the service guide information is located.

[8] The method according to claim 5, wherein, when the service guide information is received through an interactive channel, the bootstrap information includes link information of a position at which description information of the service guide information is located.