Method and system for devices efficiently sharing information regarding the content of a digital television bit-stream

Abstract

A method and system for efficiently allowing a controller device to receive information from a tuner device regarding the content of a digital television bit-stream. The present invention first receives a digital television bit-stream at a tuner device. The digital television bit-stream comprises video, audio, and data information, as well as tables that describe the content of the bit-stream. Next, to obtain a table, a controller device sets a value specifying a desired table in an attribute field of a command. Next, the controller sets at least one flag in a flag field of the command. The setting of the flag indicates the table which is being requested. Additionally, because a single attribute field may hold different types of information, the flags indicate which type of information is in the attribute field for this issuance of the command. The controller, then issues the command to the tuner, which determines what table is being requested, based upon the flags set. The tuner then returns that table to the controller.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 596,853, filed Jun. 19, 2000, naming Sho Kou as the inventor, and having attorney docket number SONY-50N3456.01, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 146,071, filed Jul. 28, 1999. These applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and for all purposes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The process of transmitting digital television signals, whether terrestrially or over cable, involves digitizing, compressing, and multiplexing video and audio signals into a single bit-stream before transmitting them. The bandwidth in a typical terrestrial broadcast is wide enough to transmit a number of compressed digitized television channels over the same bit-stream. Additionally, data such as, weather reports, stock prices, news, pay-per-view information, and classified advertisements may be multiplexed into the bit-stream.[0...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Therefore, it would be advantageous, then, to provide a method and system for efficiently allowing a controller device to receive information from a tuner device regarding the content of a digital television bit-stream. What is further needed is a method and system which does not require substantial memory space in the devices. What is even further needed is a method and system which takes a minimum of bandwidth to transfer the information between the devices.

[0010]The present invention provides a method and system for efficiently allowing a controller device to receive information from a tuner device regarding the content of a digital television bit-stream. The present invention does so with an efficient command structure which does not waste memory space in the devices. Furthermore, the present invention provides for a method and system which uses bandwidth efficiently. Further still, the present invention is compatible with existing standards. The present invention provides these advantages and others not specifically mentioned above but described in the sections to follow.

[0011]A method and system for efficiently allowing a controller device to receive information from a tuner device regarding the content of a digital television bit-stream is disclosed. The present invention first receives a digital television bit-stream at a tuner device. The digital television bit-stream comprises video, audio, and data information, as well as tables that describe the content of the bit-stream. Next, to obtain a table, a controller device sets a value specifying a desired table in an attribute field of a command. Next, the controller sets at least one flag in a flag field of the command. The setting of the flag indicates the table which is being requested. Additionally, because a single attribute field may hold different types of information, the flags indicate which type of information is in the attribute field for this issuance of the command. The controller, then issues the command to the tuner, which determines what table is being requested, based upon the flags set. The tuner then returns that table to the controller. Using the present invention, the command data structure only reserves space for valid data and does not require the allocation of data space for invalid data, thereby making the present invention more efficient over the prior art.

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, many bytes in the DSD command data structure are not used.

Therefore, the command structure 200 is inefficient, and many of these command structures are issued during the normal course of system activity.

Consequently, memory space on the devices is wasted.

Additionally, bandwidth is wasted transmitting a command 200 with bytes that have no meaning or use.

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