Television Receiver Idle Tuner Pre-tuning for Channel Change Delay
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In digital television networks, there is a significant delay between selecting a channel and its video being decoded and presented due to video compression and tuning requirements, which frustrates users during channel surfing.
Innovation Solution
A television receiver uses idle resources to pre-tune and decode predicted channels, including tuners, decoders, and buffers, before user input, to reduce channel change times by preparing channels with consecutive or popular channel numbers, allowing for immediate presentation when selected.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the television receiver waits for user input before tuning to the selected channel, then it conserves processing resources, but the channel change delay increases to multiple seconds
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary tuning and decoding actions by anticipating which channels the user will select next. When a user views the electronic programming guide, the system pre-tunes idle tuners to channels that are likely to be selected based on the guide viewing context, so that when the user actually selects a channel, it is already prepared and can be displayed immediately without the usual several-second delay.
2Speed
If the television receiver pre-loads all possible channels, then channel change speed improves, but device complexity and resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly pre-loading all channels, the system applies local quality by pre-loading only specific channels based on contextual information. When a user views the electronic programming guide, the system identifies which channels are most likely to be selected next and pre-loads only those specific channels using idle tuners, rather than pre-loading every possible channel. This selective approach maintains fast channel changes while avoiding unnecessary resource consumption.
3Ease of operation
If the television receiver uses idle tuners to prepare predicted channels, then channel surfing experience improves, but the system requires multiple idle tuners which increases hardware requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs self-service by automatically monitoring which tuners are idle and autonomously assigning them to pre-load predicted channels without requiring manual configuration. The television receiver itself identifies available resources and utilizes them to prepare channels in advance, making the channel surfing experience smoother without requiring the user to manage or configure multiple idle tuners manually.
Data Source
AI summary
Arrangements for preparing a television channel for presentation are presented. A tuner of a television receiver may tune to a first television channel and the first television channel may be output for presentation. One or more idle tuners of the television receiver may be identified. One or more television channels other than the first television channel may be selected for preparation. The one or more television channels may be selected prior to receiving user input selecting a television channel of the one or more television channels for presentation. Each of the one or more television channels may be prepared for presentation by tuning, by each tuner of the one or more idle tuners, to the one or more television channels prior to receiving the user input selecting the television channel of the one or more television channels for presentation.