Method and apparatus for maintaining a digital television receiver database

• US 20040194149A1
• Filed: 04/29/2004
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kessler, Damien
• Granted Patent: US 7,496,944 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/134
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/434 Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream demultiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream

Abstract

A method and apparatus for building and maintaining a database in a digital television receiver from information received in MPEG and PSIP tables uses the MPEG tables as a master to facilitate creating, updating, and deleting the database. Each database entry is encapsulated in a memory chain control structure such that freeing memory does not require consideration of the specific content of data in the database.

Claims

1-28. -28. (Cancelled)

29. A method for maintaining a database in memory of a digital television receiver for display of digital television broadcast signals carried by a digital broadcast stream comprising system control data, the system control data comprising first information relating to an ATSC broadcast standard and also comprising second information relating to an MPEG-2 broadcast standard, the method comprising:

receiving the digital broadcast stream;

extracting the first information from the system control data;

storing a first set of data entries from the extracted first information;

extracting the second information from the system control data; and

storing a second set of data entries only if the extracted second information is consistent with the first set of data entries.

30. A method for maintaining a database in memory of a digital television receiver for display of digital television broadcast signals carried by a digital broadcast stream comprising system control data, the system control data comprising first information relating to a first broadcast standard and also comprising second information relating to a second broadcast standard, the method comprising:

receiving the digital broadcast stream;

extracting the first information from the system control data, the extracted information comprising a plurality of types of information having respective minimum quantities of information;

storing a first set of data entries from the extracted first information, storing comprising;

creating a database entry for a first one of the types of information;

allocating a first portion of memory corresponding to the respective minimum quantity of information for the first one of the types;

storing the database entry in the first portion of memory;

extracting additional first information for the database entry;

allocating a second portion of memory, non-contiguous with the first portion; and

storing the additional first information in the second portion of memory;

extracting the second information from the system control data; and

storing a second set of data entries only if the extracted second information is consistent with the first set of data entries.