POD MODULE AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20070250872A1
• Filed: 03/21/2007
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Syndefense
• Original Assignee: Robin Dua
• Inventors: Dua, Robin
• Granted Patent: US 8,887,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/81
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/10 Program control for peripheral devices G06F13/14 - G06F13/42 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4221 being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2347 involving video stream encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4181 for conditional access
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4183 providing its own processing capabilities, e.g. external module for video decoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42607 for processing the incoming bitstream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4363 Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43635 HDMI
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440218 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 : for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 : IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 : by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 : Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 : Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 : Mobility data transfer

Abstract

A POD module system includes a housing, a coaxial cable connector formed on the housing and connectable to a first device to receive a cable signal, a port formed on the housing to receive a wire or wireless signal from a second device, a module unit to process at least one of the cable signal and the at least one of the wireless signal to generate at least one of a copy protection signal and one of video and audio signals, respectively, and a connector formed on the housing and connectable to a third device to transmit the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of video and audio signals to the third device such that the third device generates at least one of an image and a sound to correspond to the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of video and audio signals.

Claims

1. A POD module apparatus, comprising:

a housing;

a coaxial cable connector formed on the housing and connectable to a first device to receive a cable signal;

a port formed on the housing to receive a wire or wireless signal from a second device;

a module unit to process at least one of the cable signal and wire or wireless signal to generate at least one of a copy protection signal and one of video and audio signals, respectively; and

a connector formed on the housing and connectable to a third device to transmit the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of the video and audio signals to the third device such that the third device generates at least one of an image and a sound to correspond to the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of the video and audio signals.

2. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first device comprises:

a cable network to receive the cable signal including an in-band signal and an out-of-band signal.

3. The POD module of claim 1, wherein the second device comprises:

a computer to generate a computer signal as the wire or wireless signal;

an Internet to receive network data as the wire or wireless signal;

a remote controller to generate a remote control signal as the wire or wireless signal to control the module unit and the third device;

a radio station to generate a radio signal as the wire or wireless signal; and

a media player to generate a signal corresponding to the video and audio signals as the wire or wireless signal.

4. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the third device comprises at least one of a display apparatus and an amplifier.

5. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the port comprises at least one of a radio transceiver, an Ethernet port, a Bluetooth transceiver, an Internet connection terminal, a USB terminal, and an IEEE 1394 format signal terminal.

6. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the connector comprises:

a PCMCIA connector.

7. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises:

a first housing formed with the connector to be connected to the third device; and

a second housing formed with the coaxial cable connector and the port, and to accommodate the module.

8. The POD module apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second housing has a thickness greater than the first housing such that the coaxial cable connector and the port having a second thickness greater than or equal to the first housing are formed on the housing.

9. The POD module apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second housing comprises:

a groove formed on a side thereof.

10. The POD module apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second housing comprises a plurality of grooves formed on a side thereof in a direction from the first housing to the second housing.

11. The POD module apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second housing comprises:

a first side extended from the first housing;

a second side disposed opposite to the first side and formed with the coaxial cable connector and the port; and

a third side disposed between the first side and the second side and formed with a groove as a hand grip.

12. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises first and second opposite ends, the connector is formed on the first end of the housing, and the coaxial cable connector and the port are formed on the second end of the housing.

13. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a lamp to indicate a status of a power supplied to the module and a status of the wire or wireless signal.

14. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the connector comprises pins arranged thereon in a direction, and the coaxial connection cable and the port are disposed on the housing in the direction.

15. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module unit comprises:

a tuner to generate the in-band signal from the cable signal;

an OOB modem to generate out-of-band signal from the cable signal;

a cryptographic unit to generate the copy protection signal from the in-band signal; and

a processing unit to process the out-of-band signal and the wire or wireless signal to generate a processed signal to be transmitted to the third device.

16. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module unit comprises:

a radio transceiver connected to the port to process the wire or wireless signal.

17. The POD module apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module unit comprises:

an Ethernet module connected to the port to process the wire or wireless signal.

18. A POD module apparatus, comprising:

a housing;

a coaxial cable connector formed on the housing and connectable to an external cable to receive a cable signal;

an Ethernet port formed on the housing and connectable to an external network to receive network data;

a wireless port formed on the housing to receive a wireless signal;

a module unit to process at least one of the cable signal, the network data, and the radio signal, to generate at least one of in-band and out-of-band signals and a copy protection signal; and

a connector formed on the housing and connectable to an external apparatus to transmit the in-band and out-of-band signals and the copy protection signal to the display apparatus such that the external apparatus generates at least one of an image and a sound to correspond to at least one of the in-band and out-of-band signals and the copy protection signal.

19. A POD module system, comprising:

a display apparatus; and

a module comprising;

a coaxial cable connector formed on the housing and connectable to a first device to receive a cable signal,

a port formed on the housing to receive a wire or wireless signal from a second device;

a module unit to process at least one of the cable signal and the at least one of the wireless signal to generate at least one of a copy protection signal and one of video and audio signals, respectively, and

a connector formed on the housing and connectable to a third device to transmit the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of video and audio signals to the third device such that the third device generates at least one of an image and a sound to correspond to the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of video and audio signals.

20. A POD module system comprising:

a display apparatus; and

a module comprising;

a housing,

a coaxial cable connector formed on the housing and connectable to an external cable to receive a cable signal,

an Ethernet port formed on the housing and connectable to an external network to receive network data,

a wireless port formed on the housing to receive a radio signal;

a module to process at least one of the cable signal, the network data, and the radio signal to generate at least one of in-band and out-of-band signals and a copy protection signal, respectively, and

a connector formed on the housing and connectable to the display apparatus to transmit the in-band and out-of-band signals and the copy protection signal to the display apparatus such that the display apparatus generates at least one of an image and a sound to correspond to at least one of the in-band and out-of-band signals and the copy protection signal.

21. A POD module system, comprising:

a housing;

a cable connector formed on the housing to connect to an external media device to receive a signal from the external media device;

a demodulator to demodulate the received signal;

a decrypter to decrypt the demodulated signal;

a transcoder to transcode the decrypted signal into a format to be processed by a host;

an encrypter to encrypt the transcoded signal; and

a media processing module to transmit the encrypted signal to the host which outputs the encrypted signal on a display.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the host is a television or other set-top terminal (STT).

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the signal is a media signal corresponding to audio or visual media.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein a user selects the media signal from a list of media signals in the external media device.

25. A POD module, comprising:

a hard disk drive to store multimedia to allow a user to manipulate the stored multimedia using a multimedia time warping functionality;

a media switch to extract the stored multimedia from the hard disk drive and to reassemble the extracted multimedia into an output stream; and

a copy protection encrypter to transmit the output stream to a display unit of a host.

26. The POD module of claim 25, wherein the multimedia includes audio components and video components.

27. The POD module of claim 26, wherein the output stream is an MPEG stream.

28. The POD module of claim 26, wherein the time warping functionality includes at least one of pausing, rewinding, fast forwarding, and slowing the stored audio and video components.

29. The POD module of claim 26, wherein a user can store a first set of audio and video components corresponding to a first MPEG stream on the hard disk drive while viewing a second MPEG stream output on the display of the host.

30. The POD module of claim 25, wherein the hard disk drive further stores an operating system of the POD module and applications which run on the POD module.

31. The POD module of claim 25, wherein the hard disk drive further stores data from at least one of the Internet, a data network, a broadcast network, or a device connected to the POD module.

32. The POD module of claim 31, wherein the time warping functionality includes manipulating the data from at least one of the Internet, the data network, a broadcast network, or the device connected to the POD module.

33. The POD module of claim 31, wherein the device connected to the POD module can be wirelessly connected to the POD module.

34. The POD module of claim 25, further comprising:

at least one transceiver to allow the POD module to transmit data corresponding to live television programming to another device over a data network.

35. The POD module of claim 34, wherein the another device includes at least one of a computer, a cell phone, a media player, and a PDA.

36. The POD module of claim 34, wherein the at least one transceiver can be a 802.11 radio transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, or an Ethernet transceiver.

37. The POD module of claim 25, further comprising:

at least one transceiver to allow the POD module to communicate with a device having RFID reading capabilities.

38. The POD module of claim 37, wherein the device can securely register wireless VOIP handsets using RFID.

39. The POD module of claim 37, wherein the device facilitates electronic payments via a data network by capturing account data from at least one of credit cards, cellular phones, and payment devices with integrated RFID chips and transmitting the account data to a server.

40. The POD module of claim 37, wherein the device is a keyboard or a remote control.

41. The POD module of claim 37, wherein the device can perform user authentication over a data network such as the Internet by capturing identification data from identification devices with integrated RFID chips and transmitting the identification data to a server.

42. The POD module of claim 41, wherein the identification devices include at least one of loyalty cards, membership cards, ID cards, or cellular phones.

43. The POD module of claim 25, further comprising:

a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) call processing module to allow a user to communicate with another user via at least one of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video over Internet Protocol.

44. The POD module of claim 25, wherein the POD module communicates with a media server application running on at least one of a computer, PDA, cell phone, or media player device to synchronize multimedia content to the hard disk drive in the POD module.

45. The POD module of claim 44, wherein the media server application can index the multimedia content on the at least one of a computer, PDA, cell phone, or media player device and stream the multimedia content to the POD module.

46. The POD module of claim 45, wherein the multimedia content is streamed based on a user'"'"'s request initiated using a remote control or a keyboard.

47. A method of operating a POD module, the method comprising:

supplying content to the POD module as a stream of modulated data;

demodulating and decrypting the modulated data;

transcoding the decrypted data into a format to be processed by a host;

encrypting the transcoded data;

transmitting the encrypted data to the host; and

outputting the transmitted data through the host.

48. A method of operating a POD module, the method comprising:

receiving a signal to initiate access to stored media content in a storage unit;

processing the signal to extract the stored media content from the storage unit;

decrypting the extracted media content into an MPEG steam;

transcoding the MPEG stream into a format to be processed by a host;

encrypting the transcoded MPEG stream;

transmitting the encrypted MPEG stream to the host; and

outputting the transmitted MPEG stream through the host.

49. A method of operating a POD module, the method comprising:

establishing a connection between a computer and the POD module;

selecting a media category from a list of media categories stored in a storage unit of the computer;

decrypting media content corresponding to the selected media category;

transcoding the media content into a format to be processed by a host;

encrypting the transcoded media content;

transmitting the encrypted media content to the host; and

outputting the transmitted media content through the host.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the list of media categories comprises at least one of video files, audio files, or picture files.

51. A method of operating a POD module, the method comprising:

supplying content to the POD module as a stream of modulated data;

demodulating and decrypting the modulated data;

transcoding the decrypted data into a format to be processed by a host;

encrypting the transcoded data;

storing the encrypted data into a buffer;

modifying the stored data based on a user'"'"'s request;

transmitting the modified data to the host; and

outputting the transmitted data through the host.