Anticipatory video signal reception and processing

• US 20050216951A1
• Filed: 01/28/2005
• Published: 09/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: MacInnis, Alexander G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,842,175 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/135
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4382 Demodulation or channel decoding, e.g. QPSK demodulation analog front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4384 involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4623 Processing of entitlement messages, e.g. ECM [Entitlement Control Message] or EMM [Entitlement Management Message] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/04 Synchronising for television systems using pulse code modulation H04N7/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A system and method that provide reduced latency in a video signal processing system. Various aspects of the present invention may comprise receiving a current request from a user for first video information. Such a request may, for example, be received with a user interface module. A first video stream and a second video stream may be received simultaneously, where the first video stream comprises the first video information currently requested by the user, and the second video stream comprises second video information not currently requested by the user. A video receiver module may, for example, perform such receiving. The first video stream may be processed to present the first video information to the user at the current time. Further, the second video stream may be pre-processed in preparation for being presented to the user in the future. A video processing module may, for example, perform such video stream processing.

Claims

1. A method for receiving video information, the method comprising:

receiving a current request from a user for first video information;

receiving a first video stream and a second video stream simultaneously, wherein the first video stream comprises the first video information, and the second video stream comprises second video information that is not currently requested by the user;

processing the received first video stream to present the first video information to the user at the current time; and

pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the current request comprises a channel change request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the second video stream to be pre-processed based, at least in part, on previously presented video information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the second video stream to be pre-processed based, at least in part, on a sequential list of video information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the second video stream to be pre-processed based, at least in part, on monitored user request behavior.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future comprises buffering video data associated with the second video stream.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future comprises performing error correction processing on data from the second video stream.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future comprises communicating conditional access information corresponding to the second video stream with a source of the second video stream.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future comprises tracking timing of the second video stream.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future comprises parsing components of the second video stream.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future comprises decoding at least a portion of the second video stream.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-processing the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future comprises managing data from the received second video stream such that a next applicable access point and subsequent compressed data are generally available for decoding upon user request for the second video information.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third video stream simultaneously with the first and second video streams, wherein the third video stream comprises third video information that is not currently requested by the user; and

processing the received third video stream in preparation for presenting the third video information to the user in the future.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the first video stream corresponds to a current video channel;

the second video stream corresponds to a first video channel adjacent to the current video channel; and

the third video stream corresponds to a second video channel adjacent to the current video channel.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the received first video stream to present the first video information to the user at the current time comprises generating a video display driver signal corresponding to the first video information.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the received first video stream to present the first video information to the user at the current time comprises generating a human-perceivable signal corresponding to the first video information.

17. A system for receiving video information, the system comprising:

a user interface module that receives a current request from a user for first video information;

a video receiver module that simultaneously receives a first video stream and a second video stream, wherein the first video stream comprises the first video information, and the second video stream comprises second video information that is not currently requested by the user; and

a video processing module that processes the first video stream to present the first video information to the user at the current time, and pre-processes the second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the current request comprises a channel change request.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising a video stream selection module that determines the second video stream to be pre-processed based, at least in part, on previously presented video information.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising a video stream selection module that determines the second video stream to be pre-processed based, at least in part, on a sequential list of video information.

21. The system of claim 17, further comprising a video stream selection module that determines the second video stream to be pre-processed based, at least in part, on monitored user request behavior.

22. The system of claim 17, further comprising a video buffer, and wherein the video processing module pre-processes the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future by, at least in part, storing data associated with the second video stream in the buffer.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the video processing module pre-processes the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future by, at least in part, performing error correction processing on data from the second video stream.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the video processing module pre-processes the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future by, at least in part, communicating conditional access information corresponding to the second video stream with a source of the second video stream.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the video processing module pre-processes the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future by, at least in part, tracking timing of the second video stream.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the video processing module pre-processes the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future by, at least in part, parsing components of the second video stream.

27. The system of claim 17, further comprising a decoder, and wherein the video processing module pre-processes the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future by, at least in part, utilizing the decoder to decode at least a portion of the second video stream.

28. The system of claim 17, further comprising a buffer, and wherein the video processing module pre-processes the received second video stream in preparation for presenting the second video information to the user in the future by, at least in part, storing data from the received second video stream in the buffer such that a next applicable access point and subsequent compressed data are generally available for decoding upon user request for the second video information.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the video receiver module further receives a third video stream simultaneously with the first and second video streams, wherein the third video stream comprises third video information that is not currently requested by the user; and

the video processing module processes the received third video stream in preparation for presenting the third video information to the user in the future.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein:

the first video stream corresponds to a current video channel;

the second video stream corresponds to a first video channel adjacent to the current video channel; and

the third video stream corresponds to a second video channel adjacent to the current video channel.

31. The system of claim 17, further comprising a video display driver module, communicatively coupled to the video processing module, that generates a video driver signal corresponding to the first video information.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising a video display, coupled to the video display driver module, that generates a human-perceivable signal corresponding to the first video information.