Program reception/execution apparatus that can commence execution of a machine program having only received the program in part, and a program transmission apparatus that enables such execution

• US 20050238334A1
• Filed: 06/27/2005
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ikuo Minakata, Junichi Hirai, Kazuo Okamura, Masahiro Oashi, Masayuki Kozuka, Naoya Takao, Shinji Inoue, Takashi Kakiuchi, Tatsuya Shimoji, Toshiya Mori, Yoshihiro Mimura, Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Yuki Kusumi
• Inventors: Inoue, Shinji, Takao, Naoya, Shimoji, Tatsuya, Kozuka, Masayuki, Oashi, Masahiro, Kakiuchi, Takashi, Okamura, Kazuo, Kusumi, Yuki, Miyabe, Yoshiyuki, Hirai, Junichi, Mori, Toshiya, Mimura, Yoshihiro, Minakata, Ikuo
• Granted Patent: US 7,948,867 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/234
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1087 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. a camera
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2516 Hard disks
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234318 by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4305 Synchronising client clock from received content stream, e.g. locking decoder clock with encoder clock, extraction of the PCR packets arrangements for synchronising receiver with transmitter by comparing receiver clock with transmitter clock H04L7/0012; arrangements for synchronising receiver with transmitter wherein the receiver takes measures against momentary loss of synchronisation H04L7/0083
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• 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 21/45452 : applied to an object-based stream, e.g. MPEG-4 streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 : Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 : Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 : Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 : involving data reduction

Abstract

When a program transmission apparatus divides a program into a plurality of partial programs before transmission, a program reception execution apparatus executes a partial program when the partial program has already been received, and, when the execution needs to proceed to from a present partial program to a next partial program, executes the other partial program when the next partial program has been received.

Claims

1-48. -48. (canceled)

49. A program reception execution apparatus that receives and executes a program, the program having been transmitted by a program transmission apparatus after being divided into a plurality of partial programs that each include a set of next partial program information which shows what partial program should be executed following a present partial program,

the program reception execution apparatus comprising:

storage means including a program storage area;

reception means for receiving the plurality of partial programs and storing the plurality of partial programs in the storage means; and

execution control means for executing the plurality of partial programs that are stored in the storage means,

wherein the execution control means includes;

a program presence judgment unit for judging whether an indicated partial program is stored in the storage means;

a program preparation unit

(1) for referring to a set of next partial program information, for indicating, when a first partial program is being executed and a second partial program is to be executed next, the second partial program based on the set of next partial program information, and for having the program presence judgment unit judge whether the second partial program is stored in the storage means,

(2) for preparing for an execution of the second partial program when the program presence judgment unit has judged that the second partial program is present,

(3) for waiting and not allowing an execution of the program to advance when the program presence judgment unit has judged that the second partial program is not present, and for preparing for an execution of the second partial program when the program presence judgment unit judges that the second partial program is present; and

a program execution unit for executing a plurality of instructions in a partial program whose execution has been prepared by the program preparation unit and for activating the program preparation unit.

50. program transmission apparatus for transmitting a program to a program reception execution apparatus, comprising:

storage means for storing the program beforehand;

dividing means for dividing the program stored in the storage means into a plurality of partial programs;

identifier assigning means for assigning a different identifier to each of the partial programs generated by the dividing means to identify each of the partial programs; and

transmission means for transmitting the plurality of partial programs.