PC-based personal video recorder
First Claim
1. A personal video recorder system comprising:
- a general-purpose computer having a host processor and memory; and
at least one video recorder card implemented in the general-purpose computer, the video recorder card being configured to receive video content and record the video content into the memory in form that cannot be perceptibly displayed by the general-purpose computer, the video recorder card being further configured to retrieve the video content from the memory and output the video content for playback on a display.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A PC-based personal video recorder (PVR) system enables recordation of video content on a general-purpose computer in a way that the computer is unable to perceptively display the recorded content, but is able to playback and distribute the content to a decoder box (e.g., set-top box) for display on a television. In one implementation, the general-purpose computer is equipped with a personal video recorder (PVR) card having a video tuner, a network connection, and scrambling capabilities. The PVR card is configured to receive video content and produce compressed digital video. The card scrambles the video content and stores it in the computer'"'"'s memory. The scrambled video content is in a form that cannot be perceptibly displayed by the computer. During playback, the PVR card retrieves the scrambled video content from the memory, descrambles it, and outputs the video content to the decoder box for playback on the television.
92 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A personal video recorder system comprising:
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a general-purpose computer having a host processor and memory; and
at least one video recorder card implemented in the general-purpose computer, the video recorder card being configured to receive video content and record the video content into the memory in form that cannot be perceptibly displayed by the general-purpose computer, the video recorder card being further configured to retrieve the video content from the memory and output the video content for playback on a display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A personal recorder system comprising:
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a general-purpose computer configured to receive content and record the content blindly into memory in form that prevents the general-purpose computer from perceptibly playing the recorded content, the general-purpose computer being further configured to retrieve the content from the memory and output the content for playback; and
a decoder box, separate from but networked to the general-purpose computer, to decode the content for playback. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer comprising:
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a memory;
a tuner to tune a receiver for reception of video content;
a content scrambler to scramble the video content;
a memory access device to designate where the scrambled video content is stored in the memory and to retrieve the scrambled video content from the memory;
a content descrambler to descramble the video content read from the memory; and
a network connection to enable transmission of the video content to a remote decoder unit for decoding and display. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A video recorder card that is installable in a general-purpose computer, the video recorder card comprising:
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a tuner to tune a receiver for reception of video content;
a key management processor to derive keys based on a local secret maintained on the video recorder card but kept unknown to the general-purpose computer;
a content scrambler to encrypt the video content using ones of the keys derived by the key management processor; and
a direct memory access (DMA) engine to direct storage of the encrypted video content in memory external of the video recorder card. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A personal video recorder system comprising:
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recording means for encrypting the video content and storing the encrypted video content on a memory of a general-purpose computer; and
playback means for retrieving the encrypted video content from the memory of the general-purpose computer, decrypting the video content, and transmitting the decrypted video content to a display unit. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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34. A method comprising:
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receiving a program in an original form;
recording the program in memory of a general-purpose computer in a converted form that prevents the general-purpose computer from perceptibly displaying the recorded video content; and
upon request by a viewer, retrieving the program from the memory and outputting the program in the original form for playback on a display device. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method comprising:
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receiving content at a general-purpose computer;
generating keys using a secret unknown to the general-purpose computer;
encrypting the content using a first set of the keys;
storing the encrypted content in memory of the general-purpose computer at selected memory addresses;
encrypting the memory addresses using a second set of the keys;
storing the encrypted memory addresses in the memory;
encrypting the first and second sets of the keys; and
storing the encrypted first and second sets of the keys in the memory. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44)
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Specification