FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to broadcasting and distributing useful data, like weather report, local movie listing / ratings, bill statements, etc. over DVB / IPTV network.
In particular it relates to a Digital TV broadcast or IPTV where either the TV at the receiving end has a processing power or a set-top box is used to receive digital broadcast.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
US Patent 7,113,998A provides a system and method for grouping recipients of streaming data. Individual groups receive requested data streams. The groups can be arranged on the basis of the requested data or the time period during which requests are made. The individual requests can be arranged

from one group to another or from one data store to another location changing location in the data stream from which the data is sent to the requester or the time of transmission of the data sent from the data store.
Documents EP 1,612,992 Al) discloses a method to provide multicast data transmission to users in a discontinuous network.
The group of at least two users belong to or connectable to a discontinuous coverage network via their respective terminals. The method comprises caching or temporarily storing during downstream transmission of multicast data or part of it at adapted point(s) on the transmission path to the group of users and further transmitting downstream the cached or stored data or part of it, to the user(s) of the group or to a more downstream situated caching or storing point on the transmission path.
The prior art method relates to DTV (digital television broadcast, such as DTH) and IPTV. In general the suggested method is applicable for all networks where information is broadcasted from one or from a few transmission points to large number of user (server to users). In such

network sending data in reverse direction (user to server) has limited bandwidth.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to provide data like weather reports, local movie listing, ratings and utility bills over DVB or IPTV network to users in an efficient manner.
To make the broadcasting efficient the information is classified in user group. The user can be grouped based on parameters like location (city, state etc), customer type, (special groups and individual etc.). A larger group can contain smaller subgroups. Further information is subdivided recursively in parts these are format of presentation (constant part which is common for whole group) and individual part which is specific to a sub group or individual (individual is also a group). Now the common part can be broadcast to the corresponding group in one go and the individual part of information is sent to the user individually. The information is complete when common and individual parts are combined.
In a preferred embodiment the invention provides a method of broadcasting and distributing useful data / information on a plurality of services, said

method comprising the steps of: classifying user groups of DVB / IPTV receivers based on customer parameters; recursively breaking down data / information into parts or segments to be sent to different user groups; storing the classified data segments in an information server for broadcasting; retrieving particular data / information by recursively determining the dependencies and downloading the file if required; and obtaining back said useful data / information by combining said fragments of data / information.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The invention can now be described with the help of the accompanying drawings, where,
Fig. 1 shows the bill as to be shown to the User.
Fig. 2 shows the bill common part of bill which also contains formatting can be sent to all user in one go.
Fig. 3 shows user specific part of information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In this method each set top box is assigned with set of groups to which it belong for example groups can be assigned as given in Table 1.


The information to be presented is classified in two parts generic and user specific information. For example in case of bill the user specific information like bill amount due date etc. can be user specific while information like text in the bill like the word "Amount:" etc can be put in formatted way.
XML can be used to create these file, however, to save bandwidth binary file format can be more useful. The example below is shown in XML to help readability.
Each information type is marked with an id. The user has a configuration file which contains the service type list (like weather or mobile bill) and a corresponding service code. When the user requires some selects to view particular information the code corresponding to that file is matched with the available files in the Set-top box itself for that code. If the end date of these

file have not yet passed the user is presented with the information.
The Configuration file contains a unique code for each service. This code maps to a file list other required files can be obtained by parsing and obtaining the required files recursively.
The information can be displayed dynamically as it is obtained. That is first only the presentation file is displayed and as other fragments of information are obtained it is updated.
Information relating to a particular group in the purality of groups can be broken down to be sent in parts to the respective groups.
The classified data segments can be stored in an information server for broadcasting to the groups. A mechanism is provided to retrieve particular data / information by recursively determining the dependencies and downloading the file if required. A mechanism is also provided to obtain information back by combining fragments of information for a particular group of users.

The Operation is performed by two entities.
1. The data server. The server is a virtual database of the information which is to be presented to the user.
2. STB / End Point. The end user device with processing power which receives the information and displays to the user.
The data servers store the information which is useful to user as per subscription.
When a user requests a file the file instead of sending a file to only the user the file is sent to whole group. Each member of group saves the file. This is to save bandwidth as when other user shall require that file they need not request again.
When a user selects to view particular information the file name of presentation file is determined from the configuration file and if the file is

not present on the system the file is requested. Once the presentation file (file which contain page formatting information) is in the system the other dependency of this file are listed and downloaded if required.
After combining the file dependency tree final output is shown to the user.

WE CLAIM
1. A method of broadcasting and distributing useful data / information on a plurality of services, said method comprising the steps of:
- classifying user groups of DVB / IPTV receivers based on customer parameters;
- recursively breaking down data / information into parts or segments to be sent to different user groups;
- storing the classified data segments in an information server for broadcasting;
- retrieving particular data / information by recursively determining the dependencies and downloading the file if required; and
- obtaining back said useful data / information by combining said fragments of data / information.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said classification of user groups may comprise larger user groups, which may be sub-divided into smaller sub-groups.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said customer parameters comprise customer type, location, services subscribed and languages.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data segments which are constant parts common to all groups are broadcast in one go.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein data segments for smaller groups or individuals can be sent to smaller groups / individuals.
6. A method of broadcasting and distributing useful data / information on a plurality of services, substantially as herein described and illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

One object of the present invention is to provide data like weather reports, local movie listing, ratings and utility bills over DVB or IPTV network to users in an efficient manner.
To make the broadcasting efficient the information is classified in user group. The user can be grouped based on parameters like location (city, state etc), customer type, (special groups and individual etc.). A larger group can contain smaller subgroups. Further information is subdivided recursively in parts these are format of presentation (constant part which is common for whole group) and individual part which is specific to a sub group or individual (individual is also a group). Now the common part can be broadcast to the corresponding group in one go and the individual part of information is sent to the user individually. The information is complete when common and individual parts are combined.
In a preferred embodiment the invention provides a method of broadcasting and distributing useful data / information on a plurality of services, said method comprising the steps of: classifying user groups of DVB / IPTV receivers based on customer parameters; recursively breaking down data / information into parts or segments to be sent to different user groups; storing the classified data segments in an information server for broadcasting; retrieving particular data / information by recursively determining the dependencies and downloading the file if required; and obtaining back said useful data / information by combining said fragments of data / information.