USING DIFFERENT PHYSICAL INTERFACE TO REQUEST RETRANSMISSION OF PACKET LOST ON UNIDIRECTIONAL INTERFACE

• US 20090319847A1
• Filed: 06/19/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Frazier, Milton Massey, Georgis, Nikolaos, Carpio, Fredrik
• Granted Patent: US 8,132,070 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/748
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4425 Monitoring of client processing errors or hardware failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/631 Multimode Transmission, e.g. transmitting basic layers and enhancement layers of the content over different transmission paths or transmitting with different error corrections, different keys or with different transmission protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6375 for requesting retransmission , e.g. of data packets lost or corrupted during transmission from serverARQ protocols H04L1/18; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6377 directed to server one-way streaming services wherein the source is controlled by the destination H04L65/613
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Packets detected to be lost from a unidirectional interface such as an ATSC tuner are requested from the source or a peer using a different physical interface. The packets may be retransmitted for reception over either interface.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a TV display;

a unidirectional interface configured to receive TV signals from a source;

a processor accessing the unidirectional interface and configured to cause the display to present the TV signals; and

a bidirectional interface configured to respond to a determination by the processor that information in the TV signals has been lost, the bidirectional interface responding by transmitting a request to retransmit the lost information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the lost information includes at least one lost packet.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the unidirectional interface is a TV tuner.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the tuner is an advanced television systems committee (ATSC) tuner.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the request to retransmit is sent directly to the source.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the request to retransmit is sent to a peer of the system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the peer satisfies the request.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein retransmitted packets are received at the unidirectional interface.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein retransmitted packets are received at the bidirectional interface.

10. A tangible digital storage medium readable by a processor to:

determine that at least one packet in a TV signal received at a unidirectional interface is lost; and

in response to a determination of a lost packet, sending a request for a retransmission of the packet using a physical interface different than the unidirectional interface.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the unidirectional interface is a TV tuner.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the tuner is an advanced television systems committee (ATSC) tuner.

13. The medium of claim 10, wherein the request is sent directly to the source.

14. The medium of claim 10, wherein the request is sent to a peer of the system.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein the peer satisfies the request.

16. The medium of claim 10, wherein retransmitted packets are received at the unidirectional interface.

17. The medium of claim 10, wherein retransmitted packets are received at the physical interface different than the unidirectional interface.

18. A method comprising:

detecting data as being lost from a receiver; and

requesting a retransmission of the data from the source or a peer using a physical interface different from the receiver.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the physical interface different from the receiver is a modem accessible to a TV associated with a TV tuner.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the tuner is an advanced television systems committee (ATSC) tuner.