METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLEMENTING CHANNEL INFORMATION

• US 20080022303A1
• Filed: 07/16/2007
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Deng, Yu-Hsiung, Lu, Chien-Ying
• Application Number:
  US11/778,188
• Publication Number:
  US 20080022303A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/38
• 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 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control

Abstract

A channel list indicates a channel subset of a sequence of candidate channel locations. The channel list is stored in an electronic apparatus that receives and processes multimedia programs carries by channels in the channel subset. Instead of scanning every candidate channel location, the electronic apparatus partially scans the sequence of the channel locations by skipping channel locations of the channel subset. In addition, full channel scanning as well as validity check for the channel subset is applicable for updating the channel list.

Claims

1. A method for supplementing a channel list stored in an electronic apparatus, the electronic apparatus receiving and processing multimedia programs carried by channels in a channel subset of a sequence of candidate channel locations, the channel subset being indicated by the channel list, the method comprising:

partially scanning the sequence of the candidate locations by skipping the channel subset;

determining whether there is at least one previously unfound candidate channel location carrying program content during the step of partially scanning; and

updating the channel list by adding the previously unfound candidate channel location to the channel list.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein two adjacent candidate locations in the sequence of the candidate channel locations are spaced with a substantially constant distance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the candidate channel locations are frequency domain locations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of partially scanning comprises calculating next candidate location to scan by adding the constant distance to a currently scanned candidate location and checking whether the next candidate location is already on the channel list.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of partially scanning comprises finding next candidate location by directly checking the channel list.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a full channel scan by scanning every candidate location of the sequence of the candidate locations to completely update the channel list.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

configuring a setting to determine when to perform the full channel scan and when to perform the step of partially scanning.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a validity check on the channel subset to check whether each item of the channel subset carries valid program content.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia programs are television programs.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia programs are audio programs.(including digital radio programs)

11. An electronic apparatus for receiving and processing multimedia programs carried by channels in a channel subset of a sequence of candidate channel locations, the channel subset being indicated by a channel list, the electronic apparatus comprising:

a tuner for receiving information for an assigned channel location;

a memory for storing the channel list; and

a processor for controlling the tuner to partially scan the sequence of the candidate locations by skipping the channel subset;

determining whether there is at least one previously unfound candidate channel location carrying program content during the step of partially scanning; and

updating the channel list by adding the previously unfound candidate channel location to the channel list.

12. The electronic apparatus of claim 11, wherein two adjacent candidate locations in the sequence of the candidate channel locations are spaced with a substantially constant distance.

13. The electronic apparatus of claim 12, wherein the candidate channel locations are frequency domain locations.

14. The electronic apparatus of claim 13, wherein to partially scan, the processor calculates next candidate location to scan by adding the constant distance to a currently scanned candidate location and checks whether the next candidate location is already on the channel list.

15. The electronic apparatus of claim 13, wherein to partially scan, the processor finds next candidate location by directly checking the channel list.

16. The electronic apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor further controls the tuner to perform a full channel scan by scanning every candidate location of the sequence of the candidate locations to completely update the channel list.

17. The electronic apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory further stores a setting configured to determine when to perform the full channel scan and when to perform the step of partially scanning.

18. The electronic apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor further performs a validity check on the channel subset to check whether each item of the channel subset carries valid program content.

19. The electronic apparatus of claim 11, wherein the multimedia programs are television programs.

20. The electronic apparatus of claim 11, wherein the multimedia programs are audio programs.