129results about "Information relaying among broadcast stations" patented technology

A novel network manager for use with a cable television system headend capable of monitoring and managing headend components and set top terminals in a television delivery system is described. The invention relates to methods and apparatus that manage and coordinate the reception of various programming and control signals at a headend. The invention manages and coordinates the storage of such signals for intelligent selection and distribution to set top terminals. The invention makes use of a receiver or set of receivers, a work station, a program control information processing component, a network management CPU, databases, control software and an instruction memory. The invention uses these components to manage and monitor certain headend components, such as signal reception equipment, an authorization component, a file server, MPEG decoders, a digital buffer with frame repeat and channel modulators. The invention is particularly useful in processing and responding to upstream information and subscriber communications received from set top terminals. In so doing, the invention accommodates various system services, including (1) near video on demand (NVOD), (2) virtual video on demand (VVOD), (3) video on demand (VOD), (4) interactive program services, (5) program suggestion features, (6) advertisement targeting, (7) generation of standard and custom menus, and (8) data spooling and text overlaying.

A system and method for switching targeted advertisements is described. In one embodiment one primary advertisement is assigned to a first channel, where the first channel carries a program. At least one alternate advertisement is assigned to one or more alternate channels. Selected set top terminals switch to one or more of the alternate channels to display alternate advertisements, where the selection of the alternate channel is based on information related to users of the set top terminals.

A situational awareness system includes a first local network having a plurality of digital communication devices, each device capable of gathering information pertinent to an area in proximity of the device and providing information to a control station capable of collaborating the information and provide such information to the devices on the local network; a first regional network having a plurality of local networks, including the first local network, within an area of responsibility, the first regional network having a regional control station capable of collaborating information from the devices and provide said information to devices on the local network; and a central network having a plurality of regional networks including the first regional network, the central network having a central control station capable of collaborating information from the regional control stations and provide the information to devices on a local network.

Live television broadcast and other information and entertainment programs, e.g., videos-on-demand (VOD), are provided to a user through a communications network, e.g., a cable network. A processing unit is employed at an headend of the communications network to respond to user requests for PVR-like functions, e.g., pausing, rewinding and fast-forwarding, to be performed on the program content being viewed. The processing unit in accordance with the invention causes a delivery of an appropriate version of the program content to meet such user requests.

A digital broadcast channel reception system and a portable terminal allow watching a digital broadcast on the terminal. In the examples, a receiver unit for receiving digital broadcasts transmits video data to a display unit, using its TX data manipulator, modulator, TX circuit, and antenna. The TX data manipulator manipulates the output from an OFDM demodulator into data to transmit from the TX circuit and appends error correction codes to the data. The modulator modulates the output from the TX data manipulator. A display unit for digital broadcast display receives video data transmitted from the receiver unit, using its antenna, TX / RX section, and modulator / demodulator. After error correction codes in the received signals are decoded by a TX / RX data manipulator, video data is extracted. After the video data is decoded by a MPEG4 decoder, a picture is output on the display.

A processor in a television program delivery system receives programs watched information from terminals in a television delivery system. The processor arranges the programs watched information in a database or programs watched matrix so that the frequency of programs watched may be determined. The programs watched matrix may consist of time slots and program categories. The processor determines a program count for programs or program categories. The program count may then be used to send programming to the terminals. The terminals may provide the programs watched information in response to a cyclic polling message generated by the processor or by using a random access routine. The programs watched information may be provided over a cable or a telephone line.

A method of generating a program signal stream comprises creating a sequence of serial programs that include a first event and a second, later occurring event and inserting a plurality of messages in the sequence of serial programs, between the first event and the second event. The messages may be indicative of a time to the second event, as measured from each respective message of an elapsed time since the first event, to each respective message. Alternatively or in addition, the messages may be at equal time intervals between the first event and second events. The first and second events may be the start and end of a program or a program portion, such as a chapter, an advertisement, unscheduled content or an entire program, for example. At least one message indicative of the time to the second event may be inserted in the sequence of serial programs prior to the first event.

A method of converting legacy HFC CATV cable systems, which transmit data over the optical fiber portion of the system using the optical counterpart of analog RF waveforms, such as RF QAM waveforms transduced to corresponding optical QAM waveforms, to improved HFC CATV systems that transmit data over the optical fiber using optical fiber optimized protocols, such as Ethernet frames and other optical fiber optimized digital transport protocols. According to the method, most aspects of the legacy HFC CATV system may be retained, however at the CATV head end, the optical fiber transmitter system is replaced by an improved system that extracts the underlying symbols from legacy waveforms, packages these symbols into optical fiber optimized packets, and transmits downstream. The legacy optical fiber nodes are replaced with improved nodes capable of receiving the packets and remodulating the symbols into RF waveforms suitable for injection into the system's CATV cable.

A multimedia broadcast multicast type service (MBMS) is offered to mobile subscribers. A RAN node communicates with one or more radio base stations that transmit and receive information with mobile subscriber terminals, some of which subscribe to the MBMS. The RAN node communicates with multiple core network packet data nodes that receive MBMS data for delivery to the RAN node. One of the multiple core network packet data nodes is selected to provide the MBMS data associated with the MBMS to the RAN node. The others are instructed not to provide the MBMS data, but they still perform other MBMS support functions for their mobile terminals such as MBMS charging, etc.

A head end installation for multi-channel video feed broadcasting to a plurality of user TV receiver installations, comprises: a transmitter for transmitting said multi-channel video feed to said user installations, and a router for receiving a return link from a core IP network and regional terrestrial networks, said user TV receiver installations forming nodes of said terrestrial networks, said return link allowing user interactions to be received by said installation and thereby supported.

A switched broadcast service and a network personal video recorder (NPVR) service are provided synergistically in a cable TV system having limited resources. For example, in providing the switched broadcast service, a resource manager allocates network bandwidth for broadcast of materials from selected program channels on an as needed basis. Such allocation is conducive to an effective provision of the NPVR service which requires dedicated bandwidth for transmitting recorded broadcast program material in a headend to each set-top terminal requesting the NPVR service. Thus, unlike the switched broadcast service where a program stream containing program material is shared by one or more set-top terminals, the NPVR service provides a dedicated program stream to each set-top terminal so that a user at the terminal may manipulate (e.g., rewind, pause and / or fast-forward) a presentation of program material at will.

According to a first aspect, the invention proposes a method for processing a transport stream (TS) received as an input transport stream in a processing device (SDR), the transport stream comprising a plurality of elementary streams (ES), each elementary stream (ES) being a set of transport stream packets having the same Packet IDentifier (PID), at least one of these elementary streams being time-sliced so as to be sent in bursts, timing information indicating within a burst the time to the beginning of the next burst, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: applying a filtering operation to the input transport stream so as to filter out from the input transport stream part or all of one or more time-sliced elementary streams; modifying the bursts scheduling of the input transport stream so as to generate a DVB-H compliant output transport stream from the filtered input transport stream. The invention also relates to a device for processing a transport stream comprising a plurality of time-sliced elementary streams, said device means for performing the method according to the first aspect of the invention, and to a transport stream carrying in-band configuration messages intended to be interpreted by the device for determination of the filtering operation to be applied to the input transport stream.

Systems and methods for transmitting and receiving diverse signals across regions using a minimum of frequency capacity and maintaining compatibility with the heritage system. A system of the invention comprises at least one broadcast transmitter for transmitting a broadcast signal in a first frequency band to a receiver, at least one gapfiller transmitter for transmitting a gapfiller signal in a second frequency band to the receiver and at least one set of reuse transmitters for transmitting a plurality of spotbeam signals in the first frequency band to define coverage regions and at least one coverage gap where the spotbeam signals are not transmitted. A method of the invention comprises receiving a first signal, receiving a second signal, generating a first intermediate frequency (IF) signal from the first signal, generating a second IF signal from the second signal, filtering the second IF signal to produce a filtered second IF signal and combining the filtered second IF signal and the first IF signal.

A system capable of receiving a television signal and telephone signal on a mobile communication terminal. In particular, the system is capable of displaying each television broadcast on a monitor of the mobile communication terminal by receiving the video and audio signal, decoding it, and outputting it to the monitor of the mobile communication terminal. In addition, the system can transmit an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) data corresponding to a subscriber request and a selected broadcasting program in real time.

Systems and methods for transmitting and receiving diverse signals across regions using a minimum of frequency capacity and maintaining compatibility with the heritage system. A system of the invention comprises at least one broadcast transmitter for transmitting a broadcast signal in a first frequency band to a receiver, at least one gapfiller transmitter for transmitting a gapfiller signal in a second frequency band to the receiver and at least one set of reuse transmitters for transmitting a plurality of spotbeam signals in the first frequency band to define coverage regions and at least one coverage gap where the spotbeam signals are not transmitted. A method of the invention comprises receiving a first signal, receiving a second signal, generating a first intermediate frequency (IF) signal from the first signal, generating a second IF signal from the second signal, filtering the second IF signal to produce a filtered second IF signal and combining the filtered second IF signal and the first IF signal.

A switched broadcast service and a network personal video recorder (NPVR) service are provided synergistically in a cable TV system having limited resources. For example, in providing the switched broadcast service, a resource manager allocates network bandwidth for broadcast of materials from selected program channels on an as needed basis. Such allocation is conducive to an effective provision of the NPVR service which requires dedicated bandwidth for transmitting recorded broadcast program material in a headend to each set-top terminal requesting the NPVR service. Thus, unlike the switched broadcast service where a program stream containing program material is shared by one or more set-top terminals, the NPVR service provides a dedicated program stream to each set-top terminal so that a user at the terminal may manipulate (e.g., rewind, pause and / or fast-forward) a presentation of program material at will.

In a data broadcast material transmission system for ground wave digital broadcasting which cannot be achieved without simultaneously transmitting to many locations (places) nationwide via a cable communications network of a communication provider, redundant information having a data carousel (rotating carousel) format used by a data broadcasting service for the ground wave digital broadcasting is eliminated and transferred to a digital broadcast material relay network serving as the cable communications network to be simultaneously broadcasted, and on each receiving side, the original data carousel is restored.

A method of generating a program signal stream comprises creating a sequence of serial programs that include a first event and a second, later occurring event and inserting a plurality of messages in the sequence of serial programs, between the first event and the 5 second event. The messages may be indicative of a time to the second event, as measured from each respective message of an elapsed time since the first event, to each respective message. Alternatively or in addition, the messages may be at equal time intervals between the first event and second events. The first and second events may be the start and end of a program or a program portion, such as a chapter, an advertisement, unscheduled content or an 10 entire program, for example. At least one message indicative of the time to the second event may be inserted in the sequence of serial programs prior to the first event.

An apparatus and method for transmitting audio signals in a mobile terminal receiving digital multimedia broadcast signals. The apparatus includes a broadcast reception process part for receiving a digital multimedia broadcast signal having at least an audio signal, separating the audio signal from the received digital multimedia broadcast signal, and outputting the separated audio signal; a Digital-to-Analog Converter for converting the separated audio signal into an analog audio signal; a controller for determining whether a predetermined request for transmitting the audio signal contained in the digital multimedia broadcast signal is entered during a voice call time; a synthesizer for receiving a control signal from the controller, and synthesizing the analog audio signal received from the DAC and a user's voice signal to create a synthesized signal; and a communication part for wirelessly transmitting the synthesized signal.

Provided is a demodulation apparatus capable of reducing time delay of an on-channel repeater in a terrestrial digital television (TV) broadcasting system and a demodulation method thereof. The demodulation method includes the steps of a) converting an analogue intermediate frequency (IF) signal into a digital IF signal; b) generating an in-phase (I) signal and a quadrature (Q) signal by converting the frequency of the digital IF signals and down-converting the frequencies of the pilot components of the I and Q signals so that the center frequencies of the I and Q signals could be shifted to 0; c) filtering the down-converted I and Q signals and maximizing signal-to-noise ratio; d) up-converting the filtered I and Q signals into baseband signals in which the center frequencies of the filtered I and Q signals are placed in baseband and shifting the frequency of the pilot components of the filtered I and Q signals to 0; and e) adding up the up-converted I and Q signals to restore the signals into baseband signals for broadcasting.

In a digital TV broadcast signal receiving system, an outdoor appliance comprises a tuner for receiving a TV broadcast signal transmitted from a TV tower or a broadcast satellite, a signal demodulator for demodulating the TV broadcast signal, and a first wireless interface for transmitting data with a second wireless interface provided in an indoor appliance. The indoor appliance further has a signal decoder for separating an audio signal and a visual signal and outputs them to a monitor apparatus. An appliance such as a personal computer having no tuner circuit can receive the TV broadcast signal if it has a wireless interface such as a wireless LAN. Furthermore, the data communication between the outdoor appliance and the indoor appliance is performed by wireless interfaces, so that a cable connecting between an outdoor appliance and an indoor appliance can be omitted.

A loop interference canceller that carries out an adaptive operation of responding to time variations of the phase or level of loop interference wave or key station wave at high speed and with high accuracy and reduces the size of an apparatus. The loop interference canceller of the present invention limits the number of data pieces of the transmission path characteristic estimation section, realizes expansion to the entire band not through interpolation but through 0 insertion in a frequency domain and windowing after time domain transformation to reduce the number of data pieces processed and speed up the adaptive operation of the loop interference canceller, and can thereby realize high trackability for time variations of the phase and level of loop interference wave or key station wave, increase the accuracy of processing inside, perform high accuracy cancellation operation, reduce the circuit scale and achieve an advantageous effect of realizing miniaturization of the apparatus.

A method and system for Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) over Mobile Multi-hop Relay (MMR) network using dynamic modification of Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level are provided. The base station of the system for MBS over MMR network using dynamic modification of MCS level comprises: Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) table for storing the MCS level for the transmission between the BS and relay station (RS), throughput corresponding to the MCS level, and spectrum efficiency corresponding to the MCS level; and Dynamic Modulation and Coding (DMC) table for storing the MCS level for the transmission between the RS and MS to be changed upon update of the AMC table. If there is any change of the MCS level for the transmission between the RS and MS, the BS transmits a MCS control message to the RS informing of the MCS level change such that MBS data is transmitted with the changed MCS level.

An augmented broadcasting stream transmission device and method and an augmented broadcasting service providing device and method capable of ensuring that augmented broadcasting metadata arrive at a receive terminal in a time more rapid as compared to a corresponding video frame by a predetermined time are provided.

The invention relates to wireless communication field, discloses a localization method for the broadcasting network, base station and broadcasting network blind zone. A low power broadcasting base station and / or a broadcasting repeater for blind complement shares one set of components with base stations of other network base station for providing a main control, transmission and clock, therefore reducing the construction cost of blind complement in the broadcasting network. The broadcasting repeater is made into the radio frequency unit form to share public modules of other network base station, and the remote repeater can be configured and controlled by the main control, transmission and clock provided by the public modules. A multi-module terminal measures the signal quality of the broadcasting network, submits the measuring result and the position information of the multi-module terminal when measuring to a function entity at the network side which determines the position of the blind zone based on the result and the position information, therefore locating the blind zone without increasing the maintenance cost.

Disclosed is a media gateway that processes AV signals offered over various channels into AV stream data and wirelessly transmits the AV stream data to a client such as PC or TV The media gateway includes: a broadcast signal receiver for selecting a broadcast signal and dividing the selected broadcast signal into video and audio signals; a video decoder for decoding the video signal into a displayable image signal; an A / D converter for digitally converting the audio signal; an encoder for encoding the digitally converted audio signal and the image signal; a data communication unit for transmitting / receiving AV stream data and a client control command to / from a data communication unit on a client side; and a main processor for controlling a tuner in the broadcast signal receiver according to a client control command conforming to HTTP standards received through the data communication unit and transmitting AV stream data obtained by encoding a broadcast signal of a channel selected by the tuner to a client side.

Disclosed are a conditional access transmission system and method, and a receiving terminal and method. The transmission system transmits scrambled broadcasting signals including a network identification code (NIC) in the digital broadcasting service. A repeating system repeats the broadcasting signals transmitted by the transmission system to a subscriber station. In this instance, the NIC of the repeating system is different from that of a main broadcasting network. A receiving terminal descrambles the scrambled broadcasting signals by using the NIC and a descrambling key. According to the present invention, the charged subscriber can receive broadcasting signals or TPEG messages in the repeating network.

Herein disclosed are a mobile communication terminal recognizing system, a mobile communication terminal, a relay apparatus, a center apparatus, and a mobile communication terminal recognizing method, which enable a user to receive contents related to a cable television service, as well as are capable of easily identifying the service area where the user is located and accordingly communicating with the user regardless of whether or not the user moves into a service area other than the service area of the CATV station which the user has subscribed to. When a vehicle (5) moves into a service area of a CATV station (3, 4) other than the service area of the CATV station which the user has subscribed to and a CATV mobile terminal (6) receives contents from the ATV station (3, 4) by wireless, the CATV station (3, 4) is operated to store therein delivery history information indicative of a history of delivering the contents, and the CATV mobile terminal (6) is operated to store therein utilization history information indicative of a history of utilizing the contents. A subscriber station (2) is operated to collect and count the delivery history information and the utilization history information after transmitting an inquiry about the delivery history information and the utilization history information to the CATV station (3, 4) and the CATV mobile terminal (6) by way of multicast communication.