Television Receiver Resource Sharing via Intermediary Server
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Solution Overview
Problem
Television receivers lack efficient mechanisms for communication, collaboration, and resource sharing across separate locations, limiting their ability to synchronize settings, share media files, and allocate hardware resources effectively.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an IP network-based system that allows television receivers to identify and transmit data, including DVR timers, configuration settings, and resource availability, enabling secure data exchange and resource allocation between associated receivers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If television receivers operate independently at separate locations, then device simplicity is maintained, but data synchronization and resource sharing capabilities are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary component that mediates communication between television receivers at different locations. The server stores receiver data and facilitates data exchange, allowing receivers to synchronize settings, timers, and resource availability without direct peer-to-peer communication. This resolves the contradiction by enabling versatile data synchronization while keeping individual receiver devices relatively simple.
2Productivity
If television receivers share resources across locations, then resource allocation efficiency improves, but network communication requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The server acts as a central intermediary that manages resource sharing between receivers. It maintains information about tuner availability, storage capacity, and recording schedules across multiple locations, enabling efficient resource allocation without requiring complex direct communication protocols between receivers. The server handles the networking complexity centrally.
Solution Approach 2:
The server provides multiple functions including data storage, resource management, communication coordination, and synchronization services. This multi-functional approach consolidates complexity into a single system that can handle various communication and resource sharing tasks, improving resource allocation efficiency while managing system complexity centrally.
3Adaptability or versatility
If receivers transmit data over IP network, then remote communication capability is enabled, but data transmission reliability challenges increase
Solution Approach 1:
The server serves as a reliable intermediary that receives, stores, and manages data transmissions between receivers over the IP network. By routing communications through the server rather than direct receiver-to-receiver transmission, the system improves data transmission reliability through centralized control, error handling, and data validation at the server level.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the server acknowledges data reception, confirms successful data exchange between receivers, and provides status information about resource availability and synchronization state. This feedback ensures reliable communication by allowing receivers to verify successful data transmission and retry if necessary.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments described herein provide various techniques for communication, collaboration, and resource sharing between television receivers operating at separate locations. In some embodiments, a television receiver device may be configured to identify and transmit various receiver data to other associated television receivers at separate physical locations. In order to transmit data from one receiver to another, the transmitting receiver device may establish a connection to an Internet Protocol (IP) network, contact a television provider server to obtain network addresses for one or more related receiver devices, and then transmit the data over the IP network to the related receiver devices. Additional aspects relate to identifying and sharing resources between associated television receivers operating at separate locations. For example, associated television receivers operating at separate locations may use IP network communication to coordinate collaboration and sharing of tuners, storage space, and/or other hardware and software components of the receivers.