Modularization of broadcast receiver driver components

• US 20050097227A1
• Filed: 12/01/2004
• Published: 05/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McDowell, Sean C., Borseth, Jay Alan, Pritchett, Thaddeus C., Backman, Terje K., Goll, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,882,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/438 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859

Abstract

A modularized broadcast receiver driver architecture includes one or more control nodes, under control of a network module, that perform a series of one or more functions to receive a broadcast signal and extract content information from the signal. None of the multiple control nodes requires knowledge of the network type via which the signal is being received. Rather, a network module is aware of the network type and configures the control nodes to carry out their respective functions.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a network module to control extraction of information from a received signal; and

a broadcast receiver driver, coupled to receive control from the network module, including a plurality of control nodes each to perform a particular step of the information extraction without concern for what other steps other control nodes are performing.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the network module is to control extraction of the information based at least in part on the network type.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a transport information filter to extract information from the signal and make the extracted information available to the network module.

4. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a transport information filter to extract information from the signal and make the extracted information available to the network module, wherein the network module is to control extraction of the information based at least in part on the information extracted by the transport information filter.

5. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of control nodes includes an interface via which the network module can configure the control node.

6. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the network module is to control extraction of the information based at least in part on information regarding a format of the received signal and is to configure a control node of the plurality of control nodes wherein the signal format was unforeseen when the broadcast receiver driver was developed.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the network module is to control extraction of the information based at least in part on information regarding a format of the received signal and is to configure a control node of the plurality of control nodes wherein the signal format was foreseen when the broadcast receiver driver was developed.

8. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the broadcast receiver driver further includes an interface via which the network module can identify an interface on each of the plurality of control nodes.

9. A broadcast receiver driver including:

a plurality of control nodes in combination operating to extract data from a received signal, each of the plurality of control nodes including one or more interfaces; and

a driver interface to identify, when accessed, each of the one or more interfaces of the plurality of control nodes.

10. A broadcast receiver driver as recited in claim 9, wherein the plurality of control nodes include one or more of:

a frequency selector to filter particular frequencies, a demodulator to translate analog signals into bit streams, a tuner capturer to separate the digital stream into packets and perform Forward Error Correction (FEC), a stream selector to select particular packets from the stream, and a stream decryptor to decrypt encrypted content.

11. A broadcast receiver driver as recited in claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of control nodes requires no knowledge of a network type via which the received signal is received.

12. A method in a broadcast receiver driver having a plurality of control nodes, the method comprising:

receiving a request to identify one or more interfaces for each of the plurality of control nodes; and

returning, to the requester, an identification of one or more interfaces for each of the plurality of control nodes.

13. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by a processor to perform acts of:

receiving a request to identify one or more interfaces for each of the plurality of control nodes; and

returning, to the requestor, an identification of one or more interfaces for each of the plurality of control nodes.

24. A control node as recited in claim 13, wherein the control node is responsive to configuration information extracted from a signal format wherein the signal format was unforeseen when the one or more broadcast receiver drivers associated with the control node was developed.

14. In a combined set of one or more broadcast receiver drivers, a control node to receive an input that corresponds to a signal received via a network type, the control node comprising:

a transformation module to transform the input to an output without requiring any knowledge of the network type; and

a network module interface to receive, from a network module, configuration information for use by the transformation module in transforming the input to the output.

15. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the control node comprises a frequency selector and wherein the configuration information comprises an identification of a frequency to be tuned to.

16. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the control node comprises a demodulator and wherein the configuration information comprises an identification of a sampling rate to use to generate a digital output stream based on an analog input.

17. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the control node comprises a stream selector and wherein the configuration information comprises an identification of packets in an input bit stream that are to be output by the stream selector.

18. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the network module interface includes a void transform interface via which the network module can instruct the control node to stop receiving input.

19. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the network module interface includes a null transform interface via which the network module can instruct the control node to provide an output identical to the input.

20. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the network module interface includes an auto tune frequency filter interface via which the network module can identify, as at least part of the configuration information, a frequency of a transponder, a polarity of the transponder, and a range of the transponder.

21. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the network module interface includes a frequency filter interface via which the network module can identify, as at least part of the configuration information, a center frequency of a carrier that should be locked.

22. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the network module interface includes a frequency filter interface via which the network module can identify, as at least part of the configuration information, a polarity of a carrier that should be locked.

23. A control node as recited in claim 14, wherein the control node is responsive to configuration information extracted from a signal format wherein the signal format was foreseen when the one or more broadcast receiver drivers associated with the control node was developed.

25. One or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a computer program that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform acts including:

receiving a request to tune to a particular transport identifier;

configuring a receiver topology based on both information in the request and signal information embedded in a signal received when the receiver topology is tuned to the particular transport identifier;

transmitting, to each of a plurality of control nodes, sufficient information for the control nodes to perform their respective functions in extracting information from the signal without requiring the control nodes to have knowledge of a network type via which the signal is received or of what functions other control nodes are performing, wherein transmitting comprises accessing, on each of the plurality of control nodes, a network module interface;

identifying when the signal information changes; and

reconfiguring the receiver topology as necessary in response to changes in the signal information.