SYSTEMS, METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING DATA OVER A VOICE CHANNEL OF A WIRELESS TELEPHONE NETWORK

• US 20090249407A1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Beals, William, Manne, Gopi K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,867,571 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/68
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/04 for receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2007/1739 the upstream communication being transmitted via a separate link, e.g. telephone line
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/437 Interfacing the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. for transmitting client requests to a VOD server flow control in data networks H04L47/10; streaming protocols, e.g. RTP or RTCP, H04L65/65; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests in data packet switching networks H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44231 Monitoring of peripheral device or external card, e.g. to detect processing problems in a handheld device or the failure of an external recording device configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network H04L12/2823; monitoring the status of connected device in data switched networks H04L43/0817
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4425 Monitoring of client processing errors or hardware failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6181 involving transmission via a mobile phone network arrangements for providing broadcast or conference services to substation in data switching networks in combination with wireless systems H04L12/189; wireless uplink channel access H04W74/004
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 : adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

The various embodiments described herein generally provide apparatus, systems and methods which facilitate the transmission of data between a client device and a remote device over a wireless telephone network. More particularly, data from a client device is modulated into an audio signal and transmitted to a wireless telephone. The wireless telephone receives the audio signal and places a phone call to a remote device over a wireless telephone network. During the phone call, the wireless telephone transmits the audio signal across a voice channel of the wireless telephone network to the remote device. The remote device receives and decodes the audio signal to extract the transmitted data.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data from a client device to a remote device over a wireless telephone network, the method comprising:

modulating data from a client device into an audio signal for transmission across a voice channel of a wireless telephone network;

transmitting the audio signal from the client device to a wireless telephone; and

transmitting the audio signal from the wireless telephone to a remote device over the wireless telephone network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modulating the data further comprises:

modulating the data into an audio signal having characteristics of human speech.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein modulating the data into an audio signal further comprises:

forming at least one packet from the audio signal* wherein a size of the at least one packet is selected to correspond with a size of a frame utilized by the wireless telephone network.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving the at least one packet at the remote device;

demodulating the audio signal of the at least one packet at the remote device to extract the data; and

processing the extracted data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data comprises ordering information, and wherein processing the extracted data further comprises:

generating a bill for a user of the client device based on the ordering information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the audio signal from the client device to a wireless telephone further comprises:

transmitting the audio signal from the client device to the wireless telephone over a wireless communication link.

7. A method for transmitting data from an entertainment device to a remote server, the method comprising:

aggregating data on an entertainment device;

transmitting a command, from the entertainment device, to a wireless telephone, the command instructing the wireless telephone to place a phone call to a remote server;

modulating the data into ah audio signal for transmission across a voice channel of a wireless telephone network, the audio signal having characteristics of human speech;

transmitting the audio signal from the television receiver to the wireless telephone; and

transmitting the audio signal from the wireless telephone to the remote server over a voice channel of the wireless telephone network during the phone call.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a second audio signal, at the wireless telephone, from the remote server, the second audio signal having characteristics of the human speech;

transmitting the second audio signal from the wireless telephone to the entertainment device; and

demodulating the second audio signal to extract second data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein transmitting the audio signal from the entertainment device to the wireless telephone further comprises:

transmitting the audio signal from the entertainment device to the wireless telephone over a wireless connection.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein transmitting the audio signal from the entertainment device to the wireless telephone further comprises:

transmitting the audio signal from the client device to the wireless telephone over a cable communicatively coupled between the entertainment device and the wireless telephone.

11. An entertainment device comprising:

an input module that receives video content from a content source;

a processor communicatively coupled to the input module that outputs the video content for presentation on a presentation device and further aggregates data regarding the video content; and

an interface module communicatively coupled to the processor and communicatively coupled to a wireless telephone that;

initiates a phone call to a remote server through the wireless telephone;

modulates the data into an audio signal for transmission across a voice channel of a wireless telephone network communicatively coupled to the wireless telephone; and

transmits the audio signal to the wireless telephone, wherein the wireless telephone transmits the audio signal to the remote server over a voice channel of the wireless telephone network during the phone call.

12. The entertainment device of claim 11, wherein the interface module modulates the data into the audio signal having characteristics of human speech.

13. The entertainment device of claim 11, wherein the interface module comprises a wireless transceiver that communicates with the wireless telephone.

14. The entertainment device of claim 13, wherein the wireless transceiver is configured as a wireless headset of the wireless telephone.

15. The entertainment device of claim 11, wherein the interface module comprises an input port that receives a cable, the cable communicatively coupling the interface module and the wireless telephone.

16. The entertainment device of claim 11, wherein the interface module is configured to automatically transmit the command and the data to the remote server periodically according to a schedule.

17. A call processing;

system comprising;

an interface module that receives a phone call from a client device, the phone call including data modulated into an audio signal, the audio signal having characteristics of human speech and the data including information regarding the client device;

a decoder communicatively coupled to the interface module;

that parses the audio signal to extract the data and that converts the data into a digital format; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the decoder that associates the digital format data with stored information regarding the client device.

18. The call processing system of claim 17, wherein:

the client device comprises an entertainment device;

the data includes video ordering information; and

the processor generates a bill for a user of the client device based on the video ordering information.

19. The call processing system of claim 17, wherein the processor generates second data for transmission to the client device, and wherein the interface module:

modulates the second data into a second audio signal, the second audio signal having characteristics of the human speech; and

transmits the second audio signal to the wireless telephone over the wireless telephone network, wherein the wireless telephone further transmits the second audio signal to the client device.

20. A television distribution system comprising:

a transmission network communicatively coupled to a content source that broadcasts video content received from the;

content source;

a call processing system that aggregates user information for users of the television distribution system; and

a television receiver that;

receives the video content from the transmission network and outputs the video content for presentation oh a presentation device;

generates first user information associated with the video content for a user of the television receiver;

communicatively couples to a wireless telephone to initiate a phone call to a call processing system;

generates an audio signal from the first user information; and

transmits the audio signal to the wireless telephone, wherein the wireless telephone transmits the audio signal to the call processing system over a voice channel of the wireless telephone network during the phone call;

wherein the call processing system receives the audio signal from the wireless telephone through the wireless telephone network and processes the audio signal to extract the first user information.

21. The television distribution system of claim 20, wherein the audio signal has characteristics of human speech.

22. The television distribution system of claim 20, wherein the transmission network comprises a satellite broadcast system.