Measurement of IR emissions and adjustment of output signal

• US 10,341,649 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2018
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Inventors: Bly, Jr., Allan Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Yenke, Brian P
• Application Number:
  US16/130,831
• Publication Number:
  US 20190014313A1
• Time in Patent Office: 292 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/04 for receivers

Abstract

Various arrangements for monitoring and mitigating infrared (IR) interference from a display device are presented. IR emissions from a display device are measured the IR signaling characteristics may be adjusted to mitigate interference from the emissions. Calibration methods may be used determine display emission characteristics by displaying test patterns and video clips. Characteristics of the display patterns and video clips may be correlated to high IR emissions.

Claims

1. A television receiver to mitigate IR interference from a display device, the television receiver comprising:

one or more processors;

a non-transitory memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

initiate a calibration mode;

cause a series of images of video content to be displayed on a display device, the series of images to induce infrared (IR) emissions from the display device;

process a measurement of IR emissions during display of the series of images;

determine IR emission characteristics of the measurement of IR emissions;

determine an IR configuration based at least in part based on the IR emission characteristics, the IR configuration comprising settings for IR signaling to mitigate interference from the IR emissions; and

initiate the IR configuration to account for incoming programming content to be displayed on the display device with images and/or video characteristics corresponding to the series of images that were determined to cause the IR emission characteristics that cause interference with received IR command signals.

2. The television receiver to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 1, wherein the series of images corresponds to a video clip, and the measurement of the IR emissions corresponds to measuring during the display of the video clip.

3. The television receiver to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 2, wherein the series of images comprises rapidly changing images and slowly changing images.

4. The television receiver to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 2, wherein the television receiver adaptively generates the video clip during calibration operations based on sensor readings.

5. The television receiver to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 2, wherein the series of images corresponds to programming content comprising the video content received by a tuner of the television receiver and displayed on the display device, and the measurement of the IR emissions corresponds to measuring during the display of the video content.

6. The television receiver to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 1, wherein the television receiver is further caused to:

monitor for error rates on received IR signals from an IR remote control; and

when the monitored error rates are determined to satisfy a threshold, automatically initiate the calibration mode.

7. The television receiver to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 6, wherein the television receiver is further caused to:

receive IR signals during the calibration mode, the IR signals processed according to the IR configuration;

determine an error rate of the IR signals; and

adjust the IR configuration to reduce the error rate.

8. A non-transitory, processor-readable medium comprising processor-readable instructions to mitigate IR interference from a display device, which processor-readable instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a receiver device, cause the receiver device to:

initiate a calibration mode;

cause a series of images of video content to be displayed on a display device, the series of images to induce infrared (IR) emissions from the display device;

measure IR emissions during display of the series of images;

determine IR emission characteristics of the measured IR emissions;

determine an IR configuration based at least in part based on the IR emission characteristics, the IR configuration comprising settings for IR signaling to mitigate interference from the IR emissions; and

initiate the IR configuration to account for incoming programming content to be displayed on the display device with images and/or video characteristics corresponding to the series of images that were determined to cause the IR emission characteristics that cause interference with received IR command signals.

9. The non-transitory, processor-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein the series of images corresponds to a video clip, and the measuring the IR emissions corresponds to measuring during the display of the video clip.

10. The non-transitory, processor-readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein the series of images comprises rapidly changing images and slowly changing images.

11. The non-transitory, processor-readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein the receiver device adaptively generates the video clip during calibration operations based on sensor readings.

12. The non-transitory, processor-readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein the series of images corresponds to programming content comprising the video content received by a tuner of the receiver device and displayed on the display device, and the measuring the IR emissions corresponds to measuring during the display of the video content.

13. The non-transitory, processor-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein the receiver device is further caused to:

monitor for error rates on received IR signals from an IR remote control; and

when the monitored error rates are determined to satisfy a threshold, automatically initiate the calibration mode.

14. The non-transitory, processor-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the receiver device is further caused to:

receive IR signals during the calibration mode, the IR signals processed according to the IR configuration;

determine an error rate of the IR signals; and

adjust the IR configuration to reduce the error rate.

15. A method to mitigate IR interference from a display device, the method comprising:

initiating a calibration mode at a particular time or in response to a detected condition;

causing a series of images of video content to be displayed on a display device, the series of images to induce infrared (IR) emissions from the display device;

measuring IR emissions during display of the series of images;

determining IR emission characteristics of the measured IR emissions;

determining an IR configuration based at least in part based on the IR emission characteristics, the IR configuration comprising settings for IR signaling to mitigate interference from the IR emissions; and

initiating the IR configuration to account for incoming programming content to be displayed on the display device with images and/or video characteristics corresponding to the series of images that were determined to cause the IR emission characteristics that cause interference with received IR command signals.

16. The method to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 15, wherein the series of images corresponds to a video clip, and the measuring the IR emissions corresponds to measuring during the display of the video clip.

17. The method to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 16, wherein the series of images comprises rapidly changing images and slowly changing images.

18. The method to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising adaptively generates the video clip during calibration operations based on sensor readings.

19. The method to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 16, wherein the series of images corresponds to programming content comprising the video content received by a tuner of a receiver device and displayed on the display device, and the measuring the IR emissions corresponds to measuring during the display of the video content.

20. The method to mitigate IR interference from a display device as recited in claim 15, the method further comprising:

monitoring for error rates on received IR signals from an IR remote control;

when the monitored error rates are determined to satisfy a threshold, automatically initiating the calibration mode;

receiving IR signals during the calibration mode, the IR signals processed according to the IR configuration;

determining an error rate of the IR signals; and

adjusting the IR configuration to reduce the error rate.