SYSTEMS, METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR EXCHANGING DATA BETWEEN TELEVISION RECEIVERS OVER A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION LINK

• US 20090296000A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Pal, Rajiv Singh Cullen
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,882 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/725
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21 Server components or server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23 Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2585 Generation of a revocation list, e.g. of client devices involved in piracy acts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• 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 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• 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 21/44236 Monitoring of piracy processes or activities protecting computer platforms against harmful, malicious or unexpected behaviour or activities using intrusion detection and counter measures G06F21/566; computer virus detection and handling G06F21/56
• 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 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• 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 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/24 Systems for the transmission of television signals using pulse code modulation H04N21/00 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems, method and apparatus are described for facilitating the collection of data from television receivers. First and second television receivers exchange data over a wireless communication link. The first television receiver transmits the data received from the second television receiver to a data collection system associated with a television provider. The data collection system processes the received data to analyze the operation of the second television receiver.

Claims

1. A television receiver 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;

a wireless interface module communicatively coupled to the processor that;

establishes a wireless connection with a second television receiver;

exchanges first data with the second television receiver, the first data including information regarding the second television receiver; and

a network interface module that transmits the first data to a data collection system through a communication network.

2. The television receiver of claim 1, wherein the processor aggregates second data regarding the output of the video content and wherein the network interface module transmits the second data to the data collection system in association with the first data.

3. The television receiver of claim 2, wherein the wireless interface module transmits the second data to the second television receiver in association with exchanging the first data.

4. The television receiver of claim 1, wherein the data collection system comprises a call processing system, and wherein the network interface module comprises a modem that transmits the first data to the call processing system over a telephone network.

5. The television receiver of claim 1, wherein the network interface module comprises a broadband connection that transmits the first data to the data collection system over an internet connection.

6. The television receiver of claim 1, wherein the first data received from the second television receiver includes second information regarding a third television receiver.

7. The television receiver of claim 1, wherein the processor detects that the wireless interface module has been disabled and responsively disables the output of the video content.

8. A communication network comprising:

a data collection system;

a first television receiver including a first processor that generates first data associated with the output of first audio/video content received from a content source; and

a second television receiver including;

a wireless module that receives the first data from the first television receiver;

a second processor communicatively coupled to the wireless module that generates second data associated with the output of second audio/video content received from the content source; and

a network interface module communicatively coupled to the processor that transmits the first data and the second data to the data collection system;

the data collection system operable to process the first data and the second data to analyze the output of the first and second audio/video content by the first and second television receivers.

9. The communication network of claim 8 wherein the wireless module is communicatively coupled to a wireless antenna integrated with a satellite antenna, and wherein the wireless module receives the first data through the wireless antenna.

10. The communication network of claim 8, wherein the data collection system processes the first data to identify operating problems of the first television receiver.

11. The communication network of claim 8, wherein the data collection system processes the first data and the second data to determine a location of the first television receiver.

12. The communication network of claim 8, wherein the data collection system processes the first data and the second data to identify programming that the first television receiver is authorized to output for presentation.

13. The communication network of claim 8, wherein:

the data collection system determines that third data has been received from the first television receiver, the first and third data being substantially similar;

the data collection system processing the third data in place of the first data to analyze the output of the first audio/video content by the first television receiver.

14. The communication network of claim 8, further comprising:

a third television receiver that wirelessly transmits third data to the first television receiver;

the first television receiver transmitting the third data wirelessly to the wireless module of the second television receiver;

the network interface module transmitting the third data to the data collection system in association with the first data and the second data;

the data collection system further processing the third data to analyze the output of third audio/video content by the third television receiver.

15. The communication network of claim 14, wherein the data collection system receives fourth data from the third television receiver, the data collection system comparing the third data with the fourth data to determine an accuracy of the fourth data.

16. A method for communicating information between multiple television receivers, the method comprising:

establishing a wireless connection between a first television receiver and a second television receiver;

exchanging data between the first television receiver and the second television receiver; and

transmitting the data from the first television receiver to a data collection system through a communication network, wherein the data collection system utilizes the data to determine information regarding the second television receiver.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein exchanging data further comprises:

transmitting first data from the first television receiver to the second television receiver; and

receiving second data, at the first television receiver, from the second television receiver.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting the data further comprises:

establishing a telephone call between the first television receiver and a call processing system; and

transmitting the data during the phone call.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting the data further comprises:

establishing an internet connection between the first television receiver and the data collection system; and

transmitting the data through the internet connection.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein exchanging the data further comprises:

receiving informnation, at the first television receiver, from the second television receiver, the informnation regarding a third television receiver.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

processing the first data, at the data collection system, to generate a bill for a user of the first television receiver.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

processing the first data, at the data collection system, to identify operating problems of the first television receiver.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

processing the first data and the second data, at the data collection system, to determine a location of the first television receiver.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

processing the first data and the second data, at the data collection system, to identify programming that the first television receiver is authorized to output for presentation.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

processing the first data, at the data collection system, to identify when the first television receiver is powered on.