Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/4104—Peripherals receiving signals from specially adapted client devices
  • H04N21/4126—The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
  • H04N21/41265—The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
  • H04N7/162—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
  • H04N7/163—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing by receiver means only
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/08—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
  • H04N21/235—Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/418—External card to be used in combination with the client device, e.g. for conditional access
  • H04N21/4184—External card to be used in combination with the client device, e.g. for conditional access providing storage capabilities, e.g. memory stick
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/433—Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
  • H04N21/4331—Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/435—Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
  • H04N21/462—Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
  • H04N21/4622—Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
  • H04N21/4782—Web browsing, e.g. WebTV
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
  • H04N21/4784—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application receiving rewards
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
  • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
  • H04N21/8166—Monomedia components thereof involving executable data, e.g. software
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
  • H04N21/85—Assembly of content; Generation of multimedia applications
  • H04N21/858—Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
  • H04N21/8586—Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot by using a URL
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
  • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
  • H04N7/17309—Transmission or handling of upstream communications
  • H04N7/17318—Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an apparatus that enables a user to download, retrieve, utilize, and/or store software and data received through a digital receiver.
• the ATSC digital broadcast standard for digital television allows for the transmission of 19 Mbits/sec in an RF channel having a 6 MHZ bandwidth. Although this allocated bandwidth is adequate for a single analog NTSC television channel, the ATSC bit rate permits the same channel to support the concurrent transmission of several standard definition television (SDTV) programs (i.e., programs displayable with a resolution comparable to that of the NTSC analog program) . Alternatively, the allocated bandwidth at the ATSC bit rate permits a channel to support the transmission of a single high definition television (HDTV) program at a time.
• SDTV standard definition television
• HDTV high definition television
• the ATSC digital broadcast standard permits data to be transmitted in the channel along with digital programming. Therefore, data packets may be multiplexed in the channel with video and audio program packets .
• Various receivers such as digital televisions, digital VCRs , and computers equipped with digital television tuners and demodulator cards, may receive the digital programming. Because data may be transmitted along with one or more programs in a digital RF channel, it is possible to transmit program content that includes data.
• program content may be a commercial with an embedded uniform resource locator (URL) associated with a website containing additional information about the product or service being advertised, or may include a coupon for. the advertised product or application software adapted to access the embedded URL or to manipulate other data transmitted therewith.
• URL uniform resource locator
• the program content that includes the Internet or website address is broadcast in a digital RF channel, it is also receivable by digital receivers other than computers, such as digital televisions.
• digital televisions are not web enabled. Therefore, the user of such a digital television has no access to the additional information linked to the Internet or website address, or to any software transmitted with the received program.
• the digital television is not web enabled, the user also has no ability to transmit data responsive to the received data.
• the present invention is directed to a device which permits remote access to data, such as an Internet address, embedded in a program, which permits retrieval of software and other data transmitted in a digital broadcast signal and received by a digital receiver, which permits utilization of the software in association with data transmitted therewith, and/or which permits transmission of data in response to the received data.
• data such as an Internet address
• embedded in a program which permits retrieval of software and other data transmitted in a digital broadcast signal and received by a digital receiver, which permits utilization of the software in association with data transmitted therewith, and/or which permits transmission of data in response to the received data.
• a data retrieval system retrieves data from a digital broadcast signal .
• the digital broadcast signal includes at least one television packet and at least one data packet containing the data.
• a digital receiver is adapted to receive the digital broadcast signal with the at least one television packet and the at least one data packet .
• the data retrieval system includes a memory that stores the data from the at least one data packet, and the memory is separate from the digital . receiver .
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data retrieval system according to one embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a personal digital assistant linked to a personal computer according to another embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a data retrieval system according to a third embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 4 is a flow chart indicating a sequence of operation according to the third embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a data exchange system according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 6 is a flow chart indicating a sequence of operation according to the fourth embodiment of the invention.
• a data retrieval system 10 includes a digital receiver 12 , and a personal digital assistant (PDA) 14.
• the digital receiver 12 is assumed to be a digital television. However, as noted below, the digital receiver 12 may be other types of digital equipment. Assuming that the digital receiver 12 is a digital television, the digital receiver 12 includes a tuner 16 for tuning to one of a plurality of RF channels. The output of the tuner 16 is demodulated by a digital VSB demodulator 18 in order to recover the baseband digital signal which includes digital television (DTV) programming packets multiplexed with data packets.
• DTV digital television
• the portion of the baseband digital signal comprising the DTV programming packets is supplied by the digital VSB demodulator 18 to a set of video/audio processors 20 such that the video portion of the baseband digital signal is suitably decoded, processed, and supplied to a display- screen [not shown] , and such that the audio portion of the baseband digital signal is suitably decoded, processed, and supplied to speakers [not shown] .
• the tuner 16, the digital VSB demodulator 18, and the video/audio processors 20 are controlled by a television controller 22 as is conventional.
• the digital VSB demodulator 18, as controlled by the television controller 22, supplies the portion of the digital baseband signal comprising the data packets to a memory 24 for storage.
• the television controller 22 may read the packet codes transmitted with the video, audio, and data packets in the digital signal received by the digital receiver 12.
• the data packets transmitted in the digital VSB signal and stored in the memory 24 may or may not be related to the DTV programming transmitted via the DTV programming packets and being displayed. by the digital television 12.
• the DTV programming includes a television commercial for advertising a product [not shown] and the data packets transmitted therewith include Internet data containing, for example, a URL for a website sponsored by the manufacturer of the product .
• the data transmitted with the television commercial further includes either data for generating a coupon for the product advertised in the commercial, or application software, such as that of an Internet service provider enabling access to the Internet and thus, ultimately, access to the specific website of the manufacturer of the product, or both.
• the television commercial prompts the user to download the data for the purpose of retrieving the website URL, or the television commercial prompts the user to generate the coupon, and/or the television commercial prompts the user to download the application software associated therewith.
• the data transmitted may include a list of merchandise offered by a manufacturer. The list could be likened to an electronic catalog.
• the data could further include application software in the form of a search engine enabling the user to search the electronic catalog for a particular item or items .
• the digital television 12 includes an IR transceiver 26 that communicates with an IR transceiver 28 disposed in the PDA 14.
• the PDA 14 further includes an input device, such as a button pad 30 which includes a set of buttons used to enter, for example, a download command.
• the download command is thereafter routed to a processor 32 also residing within the PDA 14.
• the processor 32 causes the IR transceiver 28 to transmit a download command signal to the transceiver 26 in the digital television 12.
• the television controller 22 residing within the digital television 12 responds to the download command signal received by the transceiver 26 by causing the data stored in the memory 24 to be transmitted in a data signal by the transceiver 26 to the transceiver 28 of the PDA 14.
• the processor 32 of the PDA 14 causes the transceiver 28 to transfer the data in the data signal to a memory 34 coupled to the transceiver 28.
• the processor 32 causes a sound generating circuit 36 to generate a tone or beep that alerts the user that the data has been successfully retrieved from the digital television 12.
• the PDA 14 may generate any other notification signal to alert the user that the data has been stored, including, for example, causing a light emitting diode (LED) [not shown] to flash, to remain lit or to change from a flashing state indicating that the data transfer is taking place to a steady on state indicating that data transfer is complete .
• LED light emitting diode
• a prompt may be included in the program content and may be displayed by the digital receiver 12 either visually or audibly to the user in order to notify the user that Internet content is available for retrieval by the PDA 14.
• the user operates the button pad 30 as described above in order to retrieve the data and software content if data retrieval is desired.
• no prompt need be given so that the user operates the PDA 14 on the chance that data and software may be available for retrieval .
• the notification signal provided by the PDA 14 indicates to the user whether the data and software has been retrieved.
• the television controller 22 may be arranged to provide a prompt to the user.
• Such a prompt may be an on-screen prompt, an audible prompt, or a signal transmitted by the transceiver 26 to the PDA 14 in order to initiate a local prompt by the PDA 14.
• the PDA 14 further includes a data port 38 by which the data is transferred to a data port 42 associated with the personal computer 40.
• the data ports 38 and 42 may both be serial data ports, such as RS-232 data ports, that are interconnected by a cable 44.
• the data ports 38 and 42 may instead be wireless transceivers capable of infra-red, radio frequency, or ultrasonic signal transmission/reception and/or the like.
• the data includes
• the personal computer 40 may immediately launch the web-browsing software program and further cause the personal computer to seek the URL website address provided at the data port 42.
• the personal computer 40 preferably includes a software program [not shown] that enables web-browsing and may further be programmed such that the supply of the data stored in the PDA 14 to the data port 42 causes the personal computer 40 to launch the web-browsing software program and further causes the personal computer to seek the URL website address provided at the. data port 42.
• additional data codes that designate the URL website address as having been downloaded from a digital VSB broadcast signal and/or that identify the user could also be included with the website URL data. By reading these additional codes, the website provider could determine which users accessing the website have actually viewed the television commercial.
• the present invention offers advertisers a mechanism for indicating the viewership and possibly the success of a given television commercial. Additionally, these codes could be used to enable the user to download a coupon from the website that would not otherwise be accessible.
• the data stored in the PDA 14 contains coupon generating data instead of Internet data
• the data upon being transferred to the personal computer 40, may be used by the personal computer 40 to print the coupon [not shown] .
• the coupon provided in the data signal may be an electronic coupon that is redeemable by bringing the PDA 14 to a retailer having the capability to download the data from the PDA 14.
• the coupon information could also be down-loaded to a device that stores the data on a smart card [not shown] that is scanned for redemption by a retailer.
• the data downloaded from the PDA 14 may be used by the personal computer 40 to generate an advertisement that lists, for example, retailers that carry the advertised product, the location of such retailers and sale information for the advertised product.
• the data transmitted via the digital VSB broadcast signal may include a variety of information that may be of varying degrees of interest to the user.
• the data may include both an electronic coupon and a website URL.
• the processor 32 of the PDA 14 is programmed to be able to analyze the data received by the transceiver 28 for the purpose of identifying the desired portions of the data for subsequent storage in the memory 34.
• the keypad 30 of the PDA 14 preferably includes buttons that enable the user to specify which portions of the data signal are desired.
• the processor 32 may simply be programmed to store all of the received data in the memory 34 and in response to a user-entered command the processor 32 may cause all of the data to be transmitted to the personal computer 40 which may be programmed to be able to identify the data selected by the user.
• the personal computer 40 may be programmed to launch a data guide program [not shown] that causes a listing of the various data sets stored in the PDA memory 34 to be displayed.
• the television controller 22 (see FIG. 1) may be programmed to be able to analyze the data transmitted in the digital VSB broadcast signal and may further be programmed to respond to a request from the PDA 14 for a specific set of data by transmitting only the specific set of requested data to the PDA 14.
• the PDA 14, in addition to having the data transfer and storage capabilities described herein may further include features that enable, for example, the organization and storage of a daily calendar, and/or the storage and retrieval of data such as telephone numbers and/or addresses.
• the PDA 14 may additionally include other features such as, for example, telephone signal reception/processing in order to facilitate retrieval of telephone messages and/or to notify the. user of an incoming telephone call, as is performed by a conventional telephone paging system.
• the PDA 14 could additionally include a display and other conventional componentry necessary to support these features .
• the data retrieval system 10 further includes a data writer 50, through which the electronic coupon, URL data, or other received data can be downloaded from the PDA 14, the personal computer 40, or directly from the digital television 12.
• the data writer 50 can be any one of a number of commercially available units capable of writing data to a portable memory device 52.
• portable memory device is defined as any form of smart card, including a credit card or debit card having a magnetic strip 54 thereon and/or an embedded microprocessor 56 and associated memory 58. Accordingly, the data writer 50 is capable of writing information to the magnetic strip 54 and/or the memory 58.
• the smart card 52 containing the downloaded coupon for example, can then be taken to, and electronically read by, a retailed for redemption of the coupon.
• the data writer 50 may be positioned within the data retrieval system 10 in a number of convenient locations including, but not limited to, in the digital television 12, in the PDA 14, in the PC 40, in an external module 60 connected to the digital television, or in a remote control unit 62 for the digital television.
• FIG. 4 shows a typical sequence of steps conducted in connection with such a data retrieval system 10.
• the digital broadcast signal is received by the digital receiver 12, as indicated by step 64.
• the data contained within the digital broadcast signal is then separated from the television programming signal as indicated by step 66, and more fully described above.
• the processor of the digital receiver monitors the received data to determine if a coupon, URL, or other downloadable data of interest is available in the received data. If such data is available, the user is prompted, as by an on screen display, to download the data (step 70) . If the user wishes to download the data
• step 72 the system 10 verifies that the smart card 52 is present in the data writer 50 (step 74) . If the user does not wish to download the data, the system 10 returns to normal operation (step 76) .
• the verification step 74 will be affirmative (step 78) in the event that a smart card 52 of the type having the magnetic strip 54 and/or the embedded processor 56 and memory 58 is being used and is temporarily loaded into the data writer 50. If the smart card 52 is not present (step 80) , the system 10 prompts the user to enter the smart card 52 into the data writer 50 (step 82) . When the smart card 52 is placed in the data writer 50, the data may be downloaded as indicated by step 84. Alternatively, the data may be sent to the data writer 50 for automatic downloading without such a prompt on the chance that the card 52 is present.
• the system 10 may further identify the type of card 52 present (step 86) . This may entail determining if the card 52 is a credit card, debit card, preferred card, or the like. For example, if it is a preferred card, the downloaded coupon may be doubled or otherwise increased in value, or a number of frequency flier miles may be accredited to the account. After such identification, the data is downloaded in step 84. The smart card 52, containing the downloaded data, may then be taken to a retailer or other provided of goods and services for redemption of the coupon, or to a personal computer, kiosk, or the like for access to the designated URL (step 88) .
• a data exchange system 90 is provided wherein information may be transmitted by the user such as in response to data received by the digital receiver 12. For example, financial account numbers and other identifying information may be read from the smart card 52 for transmission to a source 92 of the digital broadcast signal, or to a related website 94, to purchase goods or services related to the data received by the digital receiver 12.
• a data reader/writer 96 In order to enter such upstream data into the data exchange system 90, a data reader/writer 96 is provided.
• the data reader/writer 96 can be any one of a number of commercially available units having the writing capabilities referenced above, as well as the capability of reading data from the portable memory device 52. For example, upon viewing a television advertisement or website offering a product for sale, a user could scan a credit card through the reader/writer 96 to pay for the product .
• the data exchange system 90 may include a bar code reader, such as an infrared reader 98.
• a bar code reader such as an infrared reader 98.
• the bar code may be provided in a printed advertisement for the product, a company catalog, a package already in possession, or the like.
• the system 90 scans the data received by the digital television in search of matching bar codes related to a product, price, and source and/or the like. If the data is not received, the system 90 may conduct a search of the Internet to identify the product, price, and source. If the product is identified, a suitable display screen depicting the product, price and source may be provided. The data reader/writer 96 may then be used to purchase the product as indicated above. If the product is not immediately identified, the system 90 may continue to monitor the received data for a set length of time, e.g., two days, for a match and inform the user when received.
• a set length of time e.g., two days
• the bar code reader 98 may be positioned in a number of convenient locations including, but not limited to, in the digital receiver 12, in the personal digital assistant 14, in the personal computer 40, in the external module 60, or in the remote control unit 62. Alternatively or additionally, the bar code reader 98 may be provided in the same structure with the data reader/writer 96. Once the data is read into the data exchange system 90, the data is transmitted by the transmitter 102 associated with the digital television 12 to the source 92 of the digital broadcast, and/or a website 94 associated with the goods or services, for purchase of the goods .
• FIG. 6 depicts a possible sequence of steps performed by the data exchange system 90.
• the digital broadcast signal is received by the digital television 12 and the data contained therein is separated from television programming as indicated by step 106.
• a user may scan a bar code into the system 90 as indicated by step 108.
• the system 90 searches the received data to identify the product associated with the bar code as indicated by step 110. If the bar code 100 is identified in the received data (step 112) , the system may prompt the user to purchase the product identified, as indicated by step 114.
• the system 90 may conduct a search of the Internet to identify the bar code 100 (step 118) . If found (step 120) , the system prompts the user to purchase the product as indicated by step 114. If not found immediately (step 122) , the system 90 may continue searching for a number of days, possibly dictated by the user, as indicated by step 124. If the bar code 1200 is identified in the continued search (step 126) , the suer is prompted tp purchase the product (114) . If not (step 128), the search may be aborted as indicated by step 130.
• step 132 the system 90 determines if the smart card 52 is present as indicated by step 134. If the user does not wish to purchase, the system 90 returns to normal operation as indicated by step 136.
• step 138 the user is prompted to enter the card 52 as indicated by step 138
• step 142 the system 90 identifies the type of card, as indicated by step 144, and explained above.
• Data from the smart card 52 is then uploaded to the system 90 as shown by step 148.
• Such data may include financial account information, personal identification, and the like.
• the uploaded data is then transmitted (step 150) to the source of the digital broadcast signal 92, and/or a website 94, to purchase the product.
• further information such as shipping address, quantity, and the like may be transmitted after being entered through the PDA 14 or PC 40.
• the IR transceivers 26 and 28 enable communication between the digital television 12 and the PDA 14.
• the IR transceivers 26 and 28 may instead be any other type of wireless link such as an RF or ultrasonic link.
• the IR transceiver 26 and 28 may instead be replaced with a set of serial data ports that are coupled by a data transmission cable.
• the digital receiver 12 may be a tunable receiver such as a digital television.
• the digital receiver 12 may be any receiver capable of receiving digital data.
• the digital receiver 12 may be a radio, a VCR, or a game .
• data is stored in the memory 24 for instantaneous or later retrieval by the PDA 14. Instead, however, the data need not be stored in the memory 24, in which case the PDA 14 must retrieve the data from the digital receiver 12 when it is received by the digital receiver 12 or not at all.
• the present invention has been described above at least in part in relation to downloading data transmitted in a digital vestigial sideband (VSB) broadcast signal.
• VSB vestigial sideband
• the present invention also is applicable to downloading data transmitted in other types of digital broadcast signals such as COFDM signals, QAM signals, QPSK signals, and/or the like.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Software Systems (AREA)
• Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
• Circuits Of Receivers In General (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=27032078

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (2)

Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (1)

• 2000
  • 2000-10-18 AU AU19693/01A patent/AU1969301A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-10-18 BR BR0015498-9A patent/BR0015498A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-10-18 CA CA002390237A patent/CA2390237A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-10-18 KR KR1020027006047A patent/KR100711750B1/ko active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-10-18 WO PCT/US2000/041255 patent/WO2001035642A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2000-11-10 TW TW089123847A patent/TW515201B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-11-10 AR ARP000105947A patent/AR033502A1/es unknown

Patent Citations (6)

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