Gateway apparatus and information distribution system

• US 20030106066A1
• Filed: 10/16/2002
• Published: 06/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Communications Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Graphic Communication Systems, Inc. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Sakai, Junichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,636,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/105
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A home gateway apparatus receives a request for desired contents from a program selection terminal storing a program guide at a home. When an IP packet addressed to a home network from the Internet is retrieved, it is checked whether the retrieved IP packet includes the desired contents, a reception of which is being requested. When the IP packet includes the desired contents, such contents are delivered to a TV apparatus via IEEE1394 network. When the IP packet does not include such contents, the IP packet is forwarded to other destination terminals in the home network.

Claims

1. A gateway apparatus comprising:

a receiver that receives a reception request of desired contents from a program selection terminal at a home;

a retriever that retrieves an IP packet addressed to a home network via an IP network outside of the home; and

a transmitter, when the retrieved IP packet includes the desired contents, a reception of which is being requested, that transmits the contents to a TV apparatus, and when the retrieved IP packet does not include the desired contents, that forwards the IP packet to another destination terminal in the home network.

2. The gateway apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display data converter that retrieves the desired contents from the IP packet, which is received from the IP network outside of the home, and converts into a data format with which the TV apparatus can display the contents

wherein when said transmitter transmits to the TV apparatus, a conversion process is performed by said display data converter.

3. The gateway apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a protocol converter that retrieves the desired contents from the IP packet, which is received from the IP network outside of the home, and converts the desired contents into a data format that matches with a protocol of the home network to which the TV apparatus is connected,

wherein when said transmitter transmits to the TV apparatus, a conversion process is performed by said protocol converter.

4. The gateway apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a composite signal converter that retrieves the desired contents from the IP packet, which is received from the IP network outside of the home, and converts the desired into composite signals with which the TV apparatus can display the contents, and directly outputs to a composite signal input terminal of the TV apparatus,

wherein when said transmitter transmits to the TV apparatus, a conversion process is performed by said composite signal converter.

5. The gateway apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an outputter that retrieves the desired contents, which is encoded at a sender side from the IP packet received from the IP network outside of the home, and outputs to a decoder of the TV apparatus,

wherein the desired contents is decoded in the TV apparatus.

6. A program selection terminal that matches with the gateway apparatus according to claim 1, the program selection terminal comprising:

a downloading section that downloads a program guide by accessing a program guide server via the IP network outside of the home, upon receiving a retrieval request of the program guide; and

outputter that, when the desired contents are selected from the program guide, outputs a request of the desired contents toward the gateway apparatus.

7. An information distribution system that distributes information from a distribution server in a multicast method, the system comprising:

a terminal that is connected via a gateway apparatus;

a program selection terminal that is connected via the gateway apparatus;

a TV apparatus that is connected via the gateway apparatus; and

a program guide server that distributes a program guide and a multicast address in response to a request from said program selection terminal,

wherein, upon receiving data from said program server, the gateway apparatus forwards the data to said program selection terminal, and upon receiving data from the distribution server, the gateway apparatus distributes the data to said TV apparatus.

8. A program reception method comprising:

receiving a reception request of desired contents from a program selection terminal at a home;

retrieving an IP packet addressed to a home network from an IP network outside of the house;

transmitting the contents to a TV apparatus when the retrieved IP packet includes the desired contents, a reception of which is being requested; and

forwarding the IP packet to another destination terminal in the home network when the retrieved IP packet does not include the desired contents.

9. The program reception method according to claim 8, wherein when the contents is forwarded to the TV apparatus, the desired contents are retrieved from the IP packet, which is received from the IP network outside of the home, and converted into a data format with which the TV apparatus can display the contents.