Real-time signal strength measurement and display of digital television signals

• US 20060033843A1
• Filed: 09/19/2005
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital CE Patent Holdings SAS (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing SA (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Dinwiddie, Aaron Hal, Schneidewend, Daniel Richard, Klopfenstein, Scott Edward
• Granted Patent: US 7,286,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/570
• 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 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control

Abstract

An HDTV receiver coupled to a terrestrial antenna displays real-time signal strength of terrestrial digital television signals. A graphical user interface preferably displays various data relating to all terrestrial television signals in a scrollable grid format. The grid is displayed within an active video display of a selected television signal from the grid. Audio for the selected channel is also active. A list of all channels tuned or selected is maintained to aid in searching. Channel lists are updated during certain channel searches.

Claims

1-3. -3. (canceled)

4. A video processing apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of television signals having audio and video information components and selecting a television signal from the plurality of received television signals;

means for displaying the video information component of a selected said television signal on a display device coupled to said video processing apparatus;

means for determining signal strength of each one of the plurality of said received television signals; and

means for selectively displaying the signal strength of each one of the plurality of said received television signals while the audio and video of the selected channel is active.

5. The video processing apparatus of claim 4, wherein said means for selectively displaying includes means for selectively displaying signal strengths of each one of the plurality of television signals in a grid format while the audio and video of the selected television signal is active.

6. The video processing apparatus of claim 4, wherein said means for selectively displaying includes means for selectively displaying whether a television signal is analog or digital.

7. The video processing apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

means for updating in real-time the signal strength of the selected television signal.

8. The video processing apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for storing in memory a channel number associated with the television signals when the signal strength exceeds a predetermined threshold level.

9. A method of positioning an antenna for receiving digital television signals comprising:

a. selecting an initial position for said antenna;

b. displaying the signal strength of each one of the plurality of received digital signals concurrently; and

c. selecting a final reception position for said antenna based on the measured signal strength of at least one of said plurality of received digital signals.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of selecting an initial position and the step of displaying is repeated until the signal strength of each received digital signal is optimized.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the digital signals are concurrently audible and during real-time display of signal strength for a selected channel.