WO1999031883A1 - Procede et appareil permettant le telechargement a la demande d'applications sur un terminal d'abonne via un canal intrabande - Google Patents

Procede et appareil permettant le telechargement a la demande d'applications sur un terminal d'abonne via un canal intrabande Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1999031883A1
WO1999031883A1 PCT/US1998/026282 US9826282W WO9931883A1 WO 1999031883 A1 WO1999031883 A1 WO 1999031883A1 US 9826282 W US9826282 W US 9826282W WO 9931883 A1 WO9931883 A1 WO 9931883A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
programming
top terminal
application
terminal
channel
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1998/026282
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Navneeth Kannan
Abhijit Chatterjee
Original Assignee
General Instrument Corporation
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 General Instrument Corporation filed Critical General Instrument Corporation
Priority to AU18153/99A priority Critical patent/AU1815399A/en
Publication of WO1999031883A1 publication Critical patent/WO1999031883A1/fr

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
    • H04N21/434—Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream
    • H04N21/4348—Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
    • H04N21/4349—Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams by extracting from data carousels, e.g. extraction of software modules from a DVB carousel
    • 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
    • H04N21/433—Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
    • H04N21/4331—Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
    • 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
    • H04N21/433—Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
    • H04N21/4335—Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions
    • 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]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
    • H04N21/8166—Monomedia components thereof involving executable data, e.g. software
    • 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
    • H04N7/165—Centralised control of user terminal ; Registering at central
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
    • H04N7/17309—Transmission or handling of upstream communications
    • H04N7/17318—Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the field of cable television systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of application programming in set-top terminals which connect a subscriber's television to the cable network. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
  • Cable television systems are extremely popular in modern society. By subscribing to a cable television network, a subscriber can have access in his or her home to dozens of channels of television programming that are not otherwise available.
  • a set-top terminal is a box of electronic circuitry which is connected between the subscriber's television set and the cable network.
  • the set-top terminal usually includes a computer processor and is programmed to provide those advanced features which are offered by the cable network.
  • the present invention may be embodied and described as a method of providing application programming to a set- top terminal without storing the programming in a static memory of the terminal.
  • the method includes broadcasting application programming for execution by the set-top terminal over at least one dedicated channel which can be tuned and received by the set-top terminal .
  • the method of the present invention includes the steps of receiving a selection of an application through a user input device; tuning the at least one dedicated channel on which programming for the selected application is being broadcast; and retrieving the programming for the selected application. After the retrieval, the method continues with storing the programming in dynamic memory; and executing the programming. After the execution of the retrieved programming, the method may preferably include freeing the dynamic memory for other use. Retrieving the programming may also include determining a size of the programming; and allocating a sufficient portion of the dynamic memory in which to store the programming. To aid in the rapid transmission of the programming over the dedicated channel, the programming may be compressed. Where the programming is compressed, the method of the present invention includes the step of decompressing the programming prior to its execution.
  • the broadcasting of the programming over one or more dedicated channels includes periodically re-broadcasting programming for particular applications.
  • the re-broadcast should preferably be continuous to insure that programming needed by the set-top terminal is always available.
  • the present invention also encompasses a cable system and set-top terminal which include: at least one dedicated channel of the cable system on which application programming for the set-top terminal is broadcast; a tuner of the set-top terminal for tuning the at least one dedicated channel; and a processor of the set-top terminal for downloading the application programming.
  • the at least one dedicated channel over which application programming is broadcast includes at least one in-band channel .
  • the set-top terminal of the present invention also includes a dynamic memory for storing the application programming downloaded by the processor and a user input device through which a user can select an application to be executed by the set-top terminal. Selection of an application by the user with the user input device causes the processor to download application programming corresponding to that application from the at least one channel.
  • Fig 1 is a block diagram illustrating a set-top terminal according to the present invention.
  • Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
  • the present invention may be described as follows.
  • the programming is constantly broadcast over one or more of the in-band channels of the cable system.
  • the set-top terminal can tune to the channel or channels on which that application programming is being continually broadcast, download the application into the dynamic memory, execute the application and then clear the memory for other uses.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates a set-top terminal 100 according to the present invention.
  • the set-top terminal 100 is connected to the cable network through a terminal 102 and to a subscriber's television set (not shown) through a terminal 107.
  • the cable television signal which contains all the channel available on the cable network, is received through the terminal 102 and provided to a tuner 101.
  • the tuner 101 selects or tunes a particular channel from all those available and passes the signal for that particular channel to the processor 103 of the set-top terminal 100.
  • the processor 103 controls the tuner 101, causing the tuner 101 to select the particular channel which is desired.
  • a user input device 106 is also provided in the set-top terminal 100.
  • the user input device 106 can be any of a number of equivalent devices.
  • the user input device 106 may be a keyboard, keypad, joystick or trackball which is on or connected to the set-top terminal 100.
  • the user input device 106 may be an optical (e.g., IR) , acoustic (e.g., ultrasonic) or radio frequency signal receiver which receives signals from a remote control device operated by the user.
  • the user input device 106 may be any device with which a user can input data to the processor 103 or select from among options offered by the processor. Using the user input device 106, the user can inform the processor 103 which channel the user wishes to view. The processor 103 then controls the tuner 101 to select and display the desired channel.
  • the user may also use the user input device 106 to operate the more advanced features of the cable system.
  • a user may instruct the set-top terminal 100 to set up the IR Blaster subsystem; set up parental control of the channels received, i.e., lock-out channels considered inappropriate for children; set or change passwords on controlled channels; set user preferences in the on- screen display, set up a listing of favorite channels for viewing, etc.
  • each of these functions requires an application program that is executed by the processor 103.
  • all such programming is stored in the static or flash memory 104 which requires that the static memory 104 be large and expensive.
  • the static memory 104 is, for example, a flash EEPROM.
  • the processor 103 instructs the tuner 101 to tune a particular in-band channel or channels on which the code for these applications will be continually broadcast.
  • This dedicated channel or channels preferably uses the vertical retrace portion also known as VBI .
  • the processor 103 then downloads the necessary application programming from the in-band channel broadcast and stores the application programming temporarily in the dynamic memory 105.
  • the processor 103 can then execute the application programming and then clear it from the dynamic memory 105 when it is no longer needed.
  • the present invention is not limited to those particular examples of applications listed above which can be broadcast over the in-band channel to the set- top terminal 100.
  • application programming for any application which is only needed periodically or occasionally by the set-top terminal can be provided over the dedicated in-band channel or channels for demand-based downloading by the set-top terminal 100.
  • Any application that is not accessible to the user via a single key-stroke on a remote control unit or the set- top terminal's key pad 106, is a candidate from for demand-based retrieval and execution under the principles of the present invention.
  • Fig. 2 illustrates the method of the present invention.
  • the user selects an application to be run. This selection may be from a main menu or a branch of the main menu which is displayed by the processor 103 on the screen of the television set (not shown), i.e. the on-screen display.
  • the processor 103 will determine whether the programming for the selected application is stored in the static memory 104. If yes, at block 203, the application is executed as requested.
  • the processor 103 will determine if the programming is available over a dedicated in- band channel or channels which continually broadcast application programming. If the programming is not available from the cable network 102 over a dedicated channel, then, in block 205, the selected application is not available and cannot be executed. The user is so informed using the on-screen display. If, however, the application programming is available over the cable network, in block 206, the processor 103 controls the tuner 101 to tune to the dedicated in-band channel carrying the necessary programming. In block 207, the processor 103 determines the memory requirements of the programming and allocates a portion of the dynamic memory 105 as needed.
  • the processor 103 then retrieves the programming for the selected application from the broadcast on the dedicated in-band channel and stores the programming in the allocated memory.
  • application programming on the dedicated in-band channel or channels may be compressed. Many methods of data compression will be widely known to those skilled in the art and are not detailed here. Any method of data compression may be used with present invention.
  • the processor 103 determines if the downloaded programming is compressed. If not, the processor 103 executes the application at block 211. If the programming is compressed, the processor 103 decompresses the programming in block 210 before executing the application in block 211. Finally, after the application programming has been executed and is no longer needed, the processor 103 can free the allocated memory for use by other software or software components. In this way, the memory required in the set-top terminal 100 is minimized, as is the cost of the terminal 100. It should be noted that while an in-band channel or channels is the preferred means of broadcasting application programming, out-of-band channels may also be used within the spirit and scope of the invention. The preceding description has been presented only to illustrate and describe the invention.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Software Systems (AREA)
  • Circuits Of Receivers In General (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé et un appareil permettant de réduire les exigences en matière de mémoire pour le stockage de la programmation des applications au niveau d'un terminal d'abonné, lequel procédé consiste à utiliser un canal ou des canaux intrabande sur lesquels la programmation qui n'est que rarement souhaitée est diffusée en continue. Lorsqu'une application particulière non stockée dans la mémoire statique est sélectionnée, le code de programme de cette application peut être téléchargé à partir du canal spécialisé qui diffuse en continu la programmation du terminal d'abonné. Par conséquent, de telles programmations n'ont pas besoin d'être constamment enregistrées dans une mémoire coûteuse à l'intérieur du terminal lui-même.
PCT/US1998/026282 1997-12-12 1998-12-10 Procede et appareil permettant le telechargement a la demande d'applications sur un terminal d'abonne via un canal intrabande WO1999031883A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU18153/99A AU1815399A (en) 1997-12-12 1998-12-10 Method and apparatus for providing demand-based application downloading via an in-band channel to a set-top terminal

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US6957897P 1997-12-12 1997-12-12
US60/069,578 1997-12-12
US19510498A 1998-11-18 1998-11-18
US09/195,104 1998-11-18

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1999031883A1 true WO1999031883A1 (fr) 1999-06-24

Family

ID=26750221

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US1998/026282 WO1999031883A1 (fr) 1997-12-12 1998-12-10 Procede et appareil permettant le telechargement a la demande d'applications sur un terminal d'abonne via un canal intrabande

Country Status (2)

Country Link
AU (1) AU1815399A (fr)
WO (1) WO1999031883A1 (fr)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2001047250A2 (fr) * 1999-12-14 2001-06-28 Motorola, Inc. Selection entre un canal intrabande et extrabande en vue telecharger des codes vers un boitier decodeur
EP1139590A2 (fr) * 2000-03-01 2001-10-04 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Appareil pour la réception et le stockage de programmes de reproduction avec une probabilité élevée d'être utilisé pour la reproduction de données audiovisuelles
US7600239B2 (en) 2000-06-19 2009-10-06 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Method of automatic execution receiving station
US7640571B1 (en) * 1999-07-15 2009-12-29 General Instrument Corporation Method and apparatus for preventing disruptions in set-top terminal function due to the download of updated programming or data to the set-top terminal

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5585838A (en) * 1995-05-05 1996-12-17 Microsoft Corporation Program time guide
US5619250A (en) * 1995-02-19 1997-04-08 Microware Systems Corporation Operating system for interactive television system set top box utilizing dynamic system upgrades
US5635979A (en) * 1994-05-27 1997-06-03 Bell Atlantic Dynamically programmable digital entertainment terminal using downloaded software to control broadband data operations
WO1997030549A1 (fr) * 1996-02-14 1997-08-21 Powertv, Inc. Telechargement par diffusion multiple de modules de logiciels et de donnees en fonction des exigences de ceux-ci en matiere de compatibilite

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5635979A (en) * 1994-05-27 1997-06-03 Bell Atlantic Dynamically programmable digital entertainment terminal using downloaded software to control broadband data operations
US5619250A (en) * 1995-02-19 1997-04-08 Microware Systems Corporation Operating system for interactive television system set top box utilizing dynamic system upgrades
US5585838A (en) * 1995-05-05 1996-12-17 Microsoft Corporation Program time guide
WO1997030549A1 (fr) * 1996-02-14 1997-08-21 Powertv, Inc. Telechargement par diffusion multiple de modules de logiciels et de donnees en fonction des exigences de ceux-ci en matiere de compatibilite

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7640571B1 (en) * 1999-07-15 2009-12-29 General Instrument Corporation Method and apparatus for preventing disruptions in set-top terminal function due to the download of updated programming or data to the set-top terminal
WO2001047250A2 (fr) * 1999-12-14 2001-06-28 Motorola, Inc. Selection entre un canal intrabande et extrabande en vue telecharger des codes vers un boitier decodeur
WO2001047250A3 (fr) * 1999-12-14 2002-02-07 Motorola Inc Selection entre un canal intrabande et extrabande en vue telecharger des codes vers un boitier decodeur
EP1139590A2 (fr) * 2000-03-01 2001-10-04 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Appareil pour la réception et le stockage de programmes de reproduction avec une probabilité élevée d'être utilisé pour la reproduction de données audiovisuelles
EP1139590A3 (fr) * 2000-03-01 2008-10-01 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Appareil pour la réception et le stockage de programmes de reproduction avec une probabilité élevée d'être utilisé pour la reproduction de données audiovisuelles
US7600239B2 (en) 2000-06-19 2009-10-06 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Method of automatic execution receiving station

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU1815399A (en) 1999-07-05

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