METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FREQUENCY AGILE BAND-PASS FILTERING OF BROADCAST SIGNALS

• US 20100017835A1
• Filed: 07/18/2008
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Coppa, Frank, Wilson, Brian, Medina, Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,890 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/06 among broadcast stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/12 Arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42607 for processing the incoming bitstream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/438 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for frequency agile band-pass filtering of broadcast signals are disclosed. An example method to receive a broadcast signal for distribution to a plurality of reception sites disclosed herein comprises processing the broadcast signal with a frequency agile band-pass filter to receive the broadcast signal at a headend site for distribution to the plurality of reception sites, monitoring reception quality of the broadcast signal at an operating center separate from the headend site and included in the plurality of reception sites, and sending commands to the frequency agile band-pass filter from the operating center based on the monitored reception quality of the broadcast signal, the commands controlling at least a tuned operating frequency of and an attenuation provided by the frequency agile band-pass filter.

Claims

1. A method to receive a broadcast signal for distribution to a plurality of reception sites, the method comprising:

processing the broadcast signal with a frequency agile band-pass filter to receive the broadcast signal at a headend site for distribution to the plurality of reception sites;

monitoring reception quality of the broadcast signal at an operating center separate from the headend site; and

sending commands to the frequency agile band-pass filter from the operating center based on the monitored reception quality of the broadcast signal, the commands controlling at least a tuned operating frequency of and an attenuation provided by the frequency agile band-pass filter.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the frequency agile band-pass filter is coupled to a communication network interconnecting the headend site and the operating center, and wherein the commands comprise simple network management protocol (SNMP) commands receivable by the frequency agile band-pass filter to adjust one or more parameters of the frequency agile band-pass filter.

3. A method as defined in claim 2 wherein the communication network comprises at least one of an Ethernet local area network or a mobile cellular network.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the broadcast signal comprises an Advanced Television Systems Committee broadcast signal and the plurality of reception sites are included in an Internet Protocol Television system.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the frequency agile band-pass filter comprises:

a tunable preselector configured to be tunable according to a first set of configuration commands receivable from a communication network;

a fixed bandwidth band-pass filter coupled to the output of the tunable preselector; and

a variable attenuator coupled to the output of the fixed bandwidth band-pass filter and configured to be provide variable attenuation according to a second set of configuration commands receivable from the communication network.

6. A method as defined in claim 5 wherein the fixed bandwidth band-pass filter comprises a passive fixed bandwidth band-pass filter.

7. A method as defined in claim 5 wherein at least one of the first set or the second set of configuration commands comprises one or more SNMP commands receivable by the frequency agile band-pass filter.

8. A method as defined in claim 5 further comprising processing an output of the frequency agile band-pass filter with a receiver decoder to output digital video and audio broadcast signals for distribution to the plurality of reception sites.

9. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a degradation in reception quality associated with a first channel of the broadcast signal;

sending a first command to the frequency agile band-pass filter from the operating center to tune the frequency agile band-pass filter to the first channel in response to the detected degradation; and

sending a second command to the frequency agile band-pass filter from the operating center to specify the attenuation provided by the frequency agile band-pass filter to the first channel when the detected degradation corresponds to at least one of co-channel or adjacent channel interference experienced by the first channel.

10. A method as defined in claim 9 further comprising sending a third command to the frequency agile band-pass filter from the operating center to cause processing of the first channel to be bypassed when the detected degradation corresponds to fading experienced by the first channel.

11-13. -13. (canceled)

14. A frequency agile band-pass filter comprising:

a tunable preselector configured to be tunable according to a first set of configuration commands;

a fixed bandwidth band-pass filter coupled to an output of the tunable preselector;

a variable attenuator coupled to an output of the fixed bandwidth band-pass filter and configured to provide variable attenuation according to a second set of configuration commands; and

a network interface to receive the first set and the second set of configuration commands from a communication network.

15. A frequency agile band-pass filter as defined in claim 14 wherein the network interface comprises a simple network management protocol (SNMP) interface and the first and second sets of configuration commands comprise respective first and second sets of SNMP commands.

18. A frequency agile band-pass filter as defined in claim 14 wherein the second set of configuration commands allow specification of an incremental attenuation to be applied by the variable attenuator.

19. A frequency agile band-pass filter as defined in claim 18 wherein the second set of configuration commands further allow specification of an attenuation step size corresponding to an incremental attenuation.

20. A frequency agile band-pass filter as defined in claim 14 further comprising an output stage configured to bypass at least one of the tunable preselector, the fixed bandwidth band-pass filter or the variable attenuator according to a third set of configuration commands.

16-17. -17. (canceled)

21. A media broadcasting system comprising:

a headend comprising a frequency agile band-pass filter to receive a media broadcast signal comprising a plurality of channels for distribution to a plurality of reception sites; and

an operating center to monitor reception quality of at least some of the plurality of channels included in the media broadcast signal and to send one or more commands over a communication network to the frequency agile band-pass filter to tune to and attenuate a first channel experiencing a degradation of reception quality determined to be caused by at least one of co-channel or adjacent channel interference.

22. A media broadcasting system as defined in claim 21 wherein the operating center is configured to determine that the first channel is experiencing degradation caused by the at least one of co-channel or adjacent channel interference when at least one of a monitoring system or an operator detects an overlap of two video signals in a video display corresponding to the first channel.

23. A media broadcasting system as defined in claim 21 wherein the one or more commands are one or more first commands, and wherein the operating center is further configured to send one or more second commands over the communication network to the frequency agile band-pass filter to cause the frequency agile band-pass filter to be bypassed when the first channel experiences a degradation of reception quality determined to be caused by fading.

24. A media broadcasting system as defined in claim 23 wherein operating center is configured to determine that the first channel is experiencing degradation caused by fading when at least one of a monitoring system or an operator detects pixelation in a video display corresponding to the first channel.

25. A media broadcasting system as defined in claim 21 wherein the headend further comprises a plurality of frequency agile band-pass filters tunable independently to at least a subset of the plurality of channels.

26-40. -40. (canceled)