Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
  • H04N5/44—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
  • H04N5/50—Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
  • H04N5/76—Television signal recording
  • H04N5/91—Television signal processing therefor
• • 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
  • H04N21/439—Processing of audio elementary streams
  • H04N21/4394—Processing of audio elementary streams involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams
• • 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
  • H04N21/43—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
  • H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
  • H04N21/44209—Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network
• • 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
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/482—End-user interface for program selection
• • 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
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof

Definitions

• the inventive arrangements relate generally to video systems and more particularly to video systems that receive video signals containing numerous channels for viewer display.
• Many televisions that receive analog video signals can program into memory those channels that actually contain a broadcast signal. Such an arrangement can permit the television to skip automatically those channels that do not contain broadcast signals thereby eliminating the delay associated with channel surfing through these channels. This skipping of channels is possible because the channels carrying no signals in traditional analog format merely contain random noise or "snow." As such, the television can quickly distinguish between those channels actually carrying a signal from those that do not.
• the receiving box normally outputs a video signal that contains a still video pattern that may include a message relating to the unavailability of that particular channel.
• the signal may also include instructions for subscribing to a particular channel and may also include date and time displays.
• the method can also include the step of analyzing at least a portion of an audio signal in the predetermined channels to determine which of the predetermined number of channels contain programming.
• each encoded signal can be an MPEG video signal containing pictures selected from the group comprising intra pictures or non-intra pictures.
• the processing step can further include one or more of the steps selected from the group including: counting a number of bits in at least one of the non-intra pictures in the MPEG video signal; analyzing motion vectors in at least one of the non-intra pictures in the MPEG video signal; analyzing discrete cosine coefficients of at least one of the intra pictures in the MPEG video signal; or obtaining a sample picture from one or more of the plurality of channels containing no programming, storing information from the sample picture in memory, and comparing information from at least one of the intra pictures in the MPEG video signal with the stored information from the sample picture.
• the present invention also concerns a system for creating a subset of channel indicators for channels with programming from a plurality of channels including: a receiver for receiving a plurality of channels, wherein the plurality of channels comprises at least one channel with programming; a video processor programmed to encode at least a portion of a predetermined number of channels from the plurality of channels to provide a corresponding encoded signal for each predetermined channel and process each encoded signal to determine which of the predetermined number of channels contain programming to provide the subset of channel indicators and memory for storing the subset of channel indicators.
• the present invention also concerns a system for creating a subset of channel indicators for channels with programming from a plurality of channels including: a receiver for receiving a plurality of channels, wherein the plurality of channels comprises at least one channel with programming including audio and/or video; an audio detection circuit for processing at least a portion of an audio signal in a predetermined number of channels from the plurality of channels to determine which of the predetermined number of channels contain programming to provide a program channel indicator subset containing at least video and/or audio; and memory for storing the program channel indicator subset.
• the system also includes suitable software and circuitry to implement the methods as described above.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system that can create a subset of programming channel indicators in accordance with the inventive arrangements herein.
• FIG. 2 is a flow chart that illustrates an operation of creating a subset of programming channel indicators in accordance with the inventive arrangements.
• FIG. 1 A system 100 for implementing the various advanced operating features in accordance with the inventive arrangements is shown in block diagram form in FIG. 1.
• the system 100 can include a receiver or set top box 112, a storage medium device 114 and a display device 122.
• the storage medium device 114 can include an encoder 116, memory 118, a microprocessor 120 and an audio detection circuit 124.
• the encoder 116 and the microprocessor 120 can be collectively referred to as a video processor 121.
• control and data interfaces can also be provided for permitting the microprocessor 120 to control the operation of the encoder 116, memory 118 and the audio detection circuit 124.
• the display device 122 can contain the encoder 116, memory 118, the microprocessor 120 and the audio detection circuit 124 thereby eliminating the use of the storage medium device 114.
• the set top box 112 can receive a digital DBS signal, such as a satellite or cable transmission, containing one or more broadcast channels. Generally, the set top box 112 converts the digital DBS signal into an analog signal and then transfers the analog signal to the storage medium device 114 (if the system 100 contains the storage medium device 114). The storage medium device 114 can then send the signal to the display device 122.
• the display device 122 can be any suitable device for displaying multimedia data contained in the DBS signal such as an analog or digital television.
• the storage medium device 114 can process one or more of these channels to determine which of the incoming channels contains programming.
• the encoder 114 can encode a portion of one or more of the incoming channels.
• an encoded signal can be created for one or more of these channels.
• the microprocessor 120 can then process a portion of one or more of these encoded signals to determine which channels contain actual programming and which channels contain still video patterns.
• the microprocessor 120 determines that a particular channel contains programming, that channel number or channel indicator can be stored in memory 118, which can then be accessed by the display device 122.
• the audio detection circuit 124 can determine whether any audio exists on a particular channel. Detecting audio can improve the accuracy of the system 100, as the channels that do not contain programming typically do not carry an audio signal. In an alternative arrangement, the audio detection circuit 124 can be used by itself to determine whether a channel contains programming.
• the display device 122 Since the channels with programming can be stored in memory 118, the display device 122 is permitted to limit its display to only these channels, and channels with no programming can be automatically skipped. This process of receiving, encoding, processing and storing into memory one or more DBS channels will be explained in greater detail below.
• Suitable software or firmware can be provided in memory for the conventional operations performed by the microprocessor 120. Further, program routines for creating a subset of programming channels in accordance with the inventive arrangements can be provided in memory for the microprocessor 120 as well. In one arrangement, the microprocessor 120 and other relevant elements of the system 100 can be programmed to perform automatically the steps necessary for receiving, encoding, processing and storing into memory one or more DBS channels. In addition, those skilled in the art can appreciate that the control CPU 120 can be one or more hardware components or a software program suitable for determining which DBS channels contain actual programming.
• FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart 200 that demonstrates one way in which a subset of channels with programming can be created thereby permitting the automatic skipping of channels with no programming.
• Programming can include video, audio or a combination thereof.
• a plurality of channels can be received.
• these channels can be channels from a digital DBS signal such as a cable or satellite transmission; however, the invention is not so limited, as any other signal containing a plurality of channels in which the channels carry a broadcast signal and one or more of them may carry no programming can be received.
• a portion of a predetermined number of these plurality of channels can be encoded to provide a corresponding encoded signal for each of the predetermined channels. It should be noted that any number of the plurality of channels can be encoded, including all the plurality of channels.
• the encoding step can be performed by encoding a portion of each of the predetermined number of channels into MPEG formatted pictures such as intra
• Non-l pictures can include predictive (P) or bi-directional predictive (B) pictures.
• the encoded signals can contain any number of I or non-l pictures. In fact, the encoded signal can be limited to merely a single I picture, a single I picture and a single non-l picture or a single non-l picture such as a P picture that contains a number of I macroblocks. As will be explained below, however, the accuracy of the invention may improve as the number of encoded pictures increases for each of the encoded signals.
• each of the encoded signals can be processed to determine which of the predetermined number of channels contains programming. Once the channels that contain programming are distinguished from those that do not, a subset of channels with programming can be created. In one arrangement, the pictures that were created from the encoding step can be processed to determine whether the particular channel from which they were encoded contains programming.
• a particular encoded signal contains one or more non-l pictures
• the number of bits in one or more of these non-l pictures can be counted. If the number of bits is lower than a typical non-l picture, for example, 20% lower than typical non-l picture, then there is a good possibility that the encoded signal is a DBS signal that carries no programming. This determination can be made because the non-l pictures from these types of signals contain very little encoded information, as the signal display almost never varies. It should be noted, however, that the invention is not limited to the particular example discussed above, as other thresholds can be used to determine whether a non-l picture is from a non- programming channel.
• the motion vectors in one or more non-intra pictures in the encoded signals can be analyzed to determine whether a particular signal contains a still video pattern. If all the motion vectors have a value of zero or substantially close to zero, then there is a good chance that the non-l pictures from which they are measured are from a signal carrying a still video pattern. To improve the accuracy of the invention, a greater number of these non-l pictures can be checked in accordance with the examples listed above. It should be noted, however, that the invention is not limited to the above examples, as any other suitable means of processing non-l pictures can be used to determine which of the plurality of channels contains programming.
• the DCT-ac coefficients of all or a portion of the macroblocks contained in an I picture being analyzed can then be compared to the sample picture DCT-ac information stored in memory. If there is a correlation between the DCT-ac coefficients of the macroblocks contained in the I picture being analyzed and the DCT-ac coefficients of the macroblocks contained in the sample picture from the particular channel being examined, then there is a good chance that the I picture is from a non-programming channel.
• a sample picture can be retrieved from one or more of the non-programming channels and other relevant information from these sample pictures can be stored in memory. As an example, the number of bits in each of these sample pictures can be counted and stored in memory.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Compression Or Coding Systems Of Tv Signals (AREA)
• Stereophonic System (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
• Television Signal Processing For Recording (AREA)
• Circuits Of Receivers In General (AREA)
• Compression, Expansion, Code Conversion, And Decoders (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (3)

Family

ID=25438038

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (12)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (13)

• 2001
  • 2001-07-27 US US09/916,903 patent/US7383567B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2002
  • 2002-07-25 JP JP2003518179A patent/JP4070720B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-07-25 WO PCT/US2002/023711 patent/WO2003013136A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2002-07-25 CA CA2454661A patent/CA2454661C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-07-25 CN CNB028181948A patent/CN100493154C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-07-25 MX MXPA04000742A patent/MXPA04000742A/es active IP Right Grant
  • 2002-07-25 BR BRPI0211446A patent/BRPI0211446B1/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2002-07-25 KR KR1020047000872A patent/KR100889157B1/ko not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-07-25 AU AU2002322664A patent/AU2002322664A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-07-25 EP EP02756671A patent/EP1425911B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-07-26 MY MYPI20022831A patent/MY138714A/en unknown
  • 2002-07-26 TW TW091116715A patent/TWI221736B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation

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