Interactive TV Infrastructure API for Service Authorization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing satellite-based television broadcasting systems face challenges in managing and controlling interactive services, particularly in determining the status of video programs and enforcing service authorizations and geographical restrictions for mosaic channels.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an infrastructure that uses an Application Program Interface (API) to query and determine the status of video programs, allowing selective display based on service authorization and geographical location, with features like Conditional Access (CA) integration, Store and Forward (S&F) mechanisms, and Secure Return Path (SRP) for secure data transmission and authorization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an infrastructure with API and CA integration is implemented to control interactive services, then service authorization and geographical restriction control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an Application Program Interface (API) as an intermediary layer between the video program data and the conditional access control system. This API mediates the interaction by providing standardized query functions that applications can use to determine program status, authorization state, and geographical restrictions without directly accessing complex CA data structures. The intermediary simplifies the interface while maintaining secure control.
Solution Approach 2:
The infrastructure is segmented into distinct functional modules: a Conditional Access module for authorization management, a Store and Forward module for data caching, a Secure Return Path module for encrypted communication, and an Application Program Interface module for standardized queries. This segmentation allows each component to handle specific tasks independently, improving maintainability and reducing overall system complexity.
2Reliability
If Conditional Access and Store and Forward mechanisms are integrated, then security and authorization management is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The Store and Forward mechanism performs preliminary action by caching authorization data and program status information in advance. The system pre-loads necessary data into local memory or temporary storage, so that when a program needs to be displayed, the authorization information is already available and does not require real-time remote queries. This significantly reduces processing time while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The Secure Return Path implements feedback mechanisms where the system continuously monitors and updates authorization status, cache validity, and security states. This feedback allows the system to make rapid decisions about program display based on current authorization states without requiring repeated complex queries, thereby reducing processing delays.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatuses for selectively displaying a video program are disclosed. A system for selectively displaying a video program in accordance with the present invention comprises a transmission station, including a server for attaching information to the video program, a plurality of satellites receiving at least an uplink signal which includes the information and the video program from the transmission station and producing a downlink signal based on the uplink signal, an antenna, the antenna receiving the downlink signal, and at least one receiver, coupled to the antenna, for receiving the downlink signal and interpreting the information in the downlink signal, wherein the at least one receiver selectively displays the video program based on at least the interpreted information.