CA2346300A1 - Apparatus and method for preventing unauthorized circumvention of television program blocking function - Google Patents

Apparatus and method for preventing unauthorized circumvention of television program blocking function Download PDF

Info

Publication number
CA2346300A1
CA2346300A1 CA002346300A CA2346300A CA2346300A1 CA 2346300 A1 CA2346300 A1 CA 2346300A1 CA 002346300 A CA002346300 A CA 002346300A CA 2346300 A CA2346300 A CA 2346300A CA 2346300 A1 CA2346300 A1 CA 2346300A1
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
preventing unauthorized
blocking
television program
cable box
controller
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
CA002346300A
Other languages
French (fr)
Other versions
CA2346300C (en
Inventor
Wing P. Leung
Tony T. Tam
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Gemstar Development LLC
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of CA2346300A1 publication Critical patent/CA2346300A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA2346300C publication Critical patent/CA2346300C/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/438—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
    • H04N21/4383—Accessing a communication channel
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/44—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs
    • H04N21/44008—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/4508—Management of client data or end-user data
    • H04N21/4532—Management of client data or end-user data involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/454—Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/08—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division
    • H04N7/087—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division with signal insertion during the vertical blanking interval only
    • H04N7/088—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division with signal insertion during the vertical blanking interval only the inserted signal being digital
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/162—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
    • H04N7/163—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing by receiver means only

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
  • Circuits Of Receivers In General (AREA)

Abstract

A method and apparatus for preventing unauthorized circumvention of blocking of television programs. The system of the present invention prevents an unauthorized person from circumventing the VChip blocking of a specific show or channel through tuning with the cable box. A controller monitors the vertical synchronization (VSyncs) of the video signal coming into the TV
(102). If a video interrupt is identified by the controller without the TV
sending an IR command to the cable box, the controller redials the cable box to the channel it was on before detecting the video interrupt. This hinders an unauthorized person from working around VChip blocking functions.
CA002346300A 1998-10-08 1999-10-08 Apparatus and method for preventing unauthorized circumvention of television program blocking function Expired - Fee Related CA2346300C (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US10362998P 1998-10-08 1998-10-08
US60/103,629 1998-10-08
PCT/US1999/023710 WO2000021297A1 (en) 1998-10-08 1999-10-08 Apparatus and method for preventing unauthorized circumvention of television program blocking function

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2346300A1 true CA2346300A1 (en) 2000-04-13
CA2346300C CA2346300C (en) 2003-12-30

Family

ID=22296183

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA002346300A Expired - Fee Related CA2346300C (en) 1998-10-08 1999-10-08 Apparatus and method for preventing unauthorized circumvention of television program blocking function

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1135932A1 (en)
JP (1) JP2002527959A (en)
CN (1) CN1145358C (en)
AU (1) AU6426299A (en)
CA (1) CA2346300C (en)
WO (1) WO2000021297A1 (en)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20040210947A1 (en) 2003-04-15 2004-10-21 Shusman Chad W. Method and apparatus for interactive video on demand
US20030196206A1 (en) 2002-04-15 2003-10-16 Shusman Chad W. Method and apparatus for internet-based interactive programming

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5495282A (en) * 1992-11-03 1996-02-27 The Arbitron Company Monitoring system for TV, cable and VCR
US5420647A (en) * 1993-01-19 1995-05-30 Smart Vcr Limited Partnership T.V. viewing and recording system
US5715014A (en) * 1996-09-03 1998-02-03 Motorola, Inc. Circuit and method of providing parental discretionary control on a PIP IC

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CN1145358C (en) 2004-04-07
JP2002527959A (en) 2002-08-27
WO2000021297A1 (en) 2000-04-13
CA2346300C (en) 2003-12-30
EP1135932A1 (en) 2001-09-26
CN1325593A (en) 2001-12-05
AU6426299A (en) 2000-04-26

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
CA2164897A1 (en) Method and Apparatus for Channel Spinning Off a Channel
CA2099797A1 (en) Remote control system
CA1265611C (en) Television receiver
CA2266982A1 (en) System and method for subscriber controlled signal blocking
WO1996003835A3 (en) Apparatus and method for comprehensive copy protection for video platforms and unprotected source material
WO1999012346A3 (en) Program guide system for recording television programs
WO1996032815A3 (en) Cable television control apparatus and method
EP0571761A3 (en) Video apparatus for processing supplementary signals, which are transmitted during the blanking interials of tv-signals
CA2157532A1 (en) Noise suppressing device
CA2283215A1 (en) Imaging system and method for interactive control of image quality
GB2334645A (en) Computer interface extension system and method
JP2002502138A5 (en)
AU3374999A (en) System for deinterlacing television signals from camera video or film
EP0323258A3 (en) Communications distribution system
US20040155961A1 (en) Apparatus and method for controlling display of video camera signals received over a powerline network
CA2346300A1 (en) Apparatus and method for preventing unauthorized circumvention of television program blocking function
GB9109613D0 (en) A television system having an ultrablack video signal blanking level for an on-screen character display
EP1056283A4 (en) Program selecting device and program selecting method
TW428412B (en) TV monitoring system with addressing function
KR100516431B1 (en) Program signal blocking system
KR100620339B1 (en) Use of on-screen displayosd for supplying control and auxiliary information to external devices
CA2063105A1 (en) Method and apparatus for securing television signals using sideband interdiction
SG55050A1 (en) A television system having an ultrablack video signal blanking level for an on-screen character display
NO941668D0 (en) Television signal compatible with a conventional television standard, method of transmitting the television signal, and video equipment for processing the television signal
KR20040039106A (en) Method for preventing copy of image signal

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
EEER Examination request
MKLA Lapsed
MKLA Lapsed

Effective date: 20051011