Method and System for Provisioning a Set-Box

• US 20100228838A1
• Filed: 05/21/2010
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Holdings LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Woundy, Richard, Taylor, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 8,595,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; 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 21/2542 for selling goods, e.g. TV shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25435 involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method and system of provisioning a set-top box (STB) with a STB provisioning system are provided which include storing STB profile information in a provisioning datastore, receiving a customer order at a service provisioning system, notifying a billing system of the customer order, and notifying a conditional access system of the customer order. The method and system further include storing information from the customer order in a provisioning datastore, notifying a video device manager about the STB, and delivering a cable operator configuration message from the video device manager to the STB, the configuration message being based on information from the provisioning datastore, thereby provisioning the STB without essential involvement of the conditional access system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving device profile information;

storing the received device profile information in a provisioning datastore;

receiving a boot-time request from a device, wherein the boot-time request includes instructions for a process in which the device discovers a DNS hostname or IP address of a video device manager from an initialization process and the video device manager determines the device location by reverse-resolving the device IP address into a DNS hostname via DNS lookups; and

delivering a configuration message from the video device manager to the device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving device certification information relating to the device; and

storing the device certification information in the provisioning datastore.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the device certification information comprises a mark-up language document.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the mark-up language document comprises an XML-formatted document.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the device profile information comprises an XML formatted document.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an order, wherein the order comprises an XML document.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

notifying a billing system of the order.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

transmitting a notification of the order to a conditional access system, the notification communicating desired services.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

notifying a data device manager about the device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration message to the device comprises an XML document.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration message to the device includes configuration of the device geographical location.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration message to the device includes configuration to enable multiple channel lineups.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration message is sent using bi-directional unicast messaging.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration message is sent using uni-directional multicast messaging.

15. A method comprising:

receiving device profile information in a first mark-up language document;

storing the received device profile information in a provisioning datastore;

receiving a boot-time request from a device, wherein the boot-time request includes instructions for a process in which the device discovers a DNS hostname or IP address of a video device manager from an initialization process and the video device manager determines the device location by reverse-resolving the device IP address into a DNS hostname via DNS lookups; and

delivering a configuration message as a second mark-up language document from the video device manager to the device.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving an order in a third mark-up language document; and

notifying a billing system of the order.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first, second, and third mark-up language documents comprise XML-formatted documents.

18. A system comprising:

a service provisioning system configured to receive device profile information;

a provisioning datastore configured to store the device profile information; and

a video device manager configured to receive a boot-time request from a device, wherein the boot-time request includes instructions for a process in which the device discovers a DNS hostname or IP address of the video device manager from an initialization process and the video device manager determines the device location by reverse-resolving the device IP address into a DNS hostname via DNS lookups, wherein the video device manager is further configured to deliver a configuration message to the device.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the configuration message to the device includes configuration of the device geographical location.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the configuration message to the device enables Internet access to the device.