Crowdsourced Over-the-Air Channel Mapping for TV Receivers

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Users of over-the-air television are often unaware of the available channels in their area due to geographical limitations and changes, leading to incomplete or inaccurate channel mappings on content receivers, which can result in missed channels or unnecessary ones being displayed.

Innovation Solution

A system and method where a channel management server generates a customized over-the-air channel mapping based on crowdsourced data from content receivers, providing this mapping to new receivers without the need for an initial scan, and periodically updates it using a round-robin background scan process to reflect changes in available channels.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If a content receiver performs an initial scan to identify available over-the-air channels, then the channel mapping accuracy is improved, but the setup time is increased

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechannel mapping accuracyVSAvoidsetup time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs channel scans in advance by selected content receivers and stores the results in a database. When a new content receiver is installed, it retrieves pre-scan data from the database instead of performing its own initial scan, thereby obtaining accurate channel mappings without the time penalty of scanning.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

Existing content receivers automatically participate in scanning operations to update the shared database. These receivers self-organize into scanning groups and perform scans during idle periods, contributing to the collective knowledge base without requiring manual intervention or affecting user experience.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Reliability

If all content receivers perform background scans frequently to update channel mappings, then the channel information freshness is improved, but the system resource consumption is increased

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechannel information freshnessVSAvoidsystem resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system divides content receivers into multiple scanning groups. Only one group performs background scans at a time, while other groups remain inactive. This segmentation ensures that scanning resources are distributed across the network rather than all receivers consuming resources simultaneously, reducing overall system load while maintaining updated channel information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Background scans are performed periodically rather than continuously. The system schedules scans at intervals and allows receivers to perform scans during idle periods. This periodic approach maintains channel information freshness while minimizing resource consumption by avoiding constant scanning activity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

3Measurement precision

If content receivers manually scan for channel changes, then the channel mapping accuracy is improved, but the user effort is increased

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechannel mapping accuracyVSAvoiduser effort

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically detects channel changes through background scanning and updates the database without requiring user initiation. Content receivers autonomously participate in scanning operations and the system automatically propagates updates to all receivers, eliminating the need for users to manually scan or reconfigure their devices when channel changes occur.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

4Stability of the object's composition

If a centralized system maintains channel mapping for all receivers, then the consistency of channel information is improved, but the system complexity is increased

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechannel information consistencyVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Stability of the object's compositionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system introduces a centralized database as an intermediary between content receivers and channel information. Instead of receivers directly managing their own channel mappings, they all query and update the shared database. This intermediary layer ensures consistency across the network while providing a clear architectural boundary that simplifies individual receiver design.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS11310545B2Customized over-the-air television channel mapping for geographical area using crowdsourcing of over the air television channels

Publication Date: 2022.04.19 SLING MEDIA PVT LTD

AI summary

Embodiments are directed toward providing a customized over-the-air channel mapping to each content receiver in a geographical area based on crowdsourced mappings of available channels from at least a subset of the content receivers in that geographical area. When a new content receiver is installed in the geographical area, the customized over-the-air channel mapping is provided to the new content receiver and used by the new content receiver as its internal list of available over-the-air channels without performing a scan of its own. At least a portion of the content receivers in the geographical area perform a round-robin-type scan to identify new or missing channels in the geographical area. The customized over-the-air channel mapping is then updated when a new channel or missing channel threshold is reached. And the updated customized over-the-air channel mapping is provided to each content receiver in the geographical area.