Systems and Methods for Television Receiving System Setup Including Terrestrial Transmitter Locating

• US 20110096243A1
• Filed: 10/26/2009
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Casagrande, Steven
• Application Number:
  US12/605,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20110096243A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/731
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/42 for identifying broadcast areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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 21/6112 involving terrestrial transmission, e.g. DVB-T
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control

Abstract

A television receiving device may include a tuner configured to selectively tune a television channel from a first plurality of television channels received from a primary television programming source and a second plurality received from a television programming source other than the primary source, wherein the second plurality is received as over-the-air terrestrial television signals. The device may further include a processor configured to set the tuner to receive the second plurality based on location information of the device and location information of a plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas. A system for receiving television signals may include a processor configured to set a television receiving device to receive over-the-air television signals from select over-the-air terrestrial antennas, and to determine the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on location information of one of the television receiving device and an antenna device and location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

Claims

1. A television receiving device, comprising:

at least one tuner configured to selectively tune a television channel from a first plurality of television channels received from a primary television programming source and a second plurality of television channels received from a television programming source other than the primary television programming source, the second plurality of television channels received as over-the-air terrestrial television signals; and

a processor configured to set the at least one tuner to receive the second plurality of television channels based on location information of the television receiving device and location information of a plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to select a subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on the location information of the television receiving device and the location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas, and to scan only for frequencies at which over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset transmit over-the-air terrestrial television signals.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein scanning for the frequencies yields a signal strength associated with each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset, and the processor is configured to set the at least one tuner to receive the second plurality of television channels from over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset for which the associated signal strength is not less than a predetermined threshold.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to determine a heading for each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset, and to scan for the frequency of each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset only along the determined heading for the respective over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset.

5. The device of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to select the subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on a distance between the television receiving device and each of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

6. The device of claim 2, wherein the location information of the television receiving device comprises a postal zipcode corresponding to a location of the television receiving device, the location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas comprises, for each respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna of the plurality, a postal zipcode corresponding to a location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna, and the processor is configured to select the subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on a distance between a predetermined location associated with the postal zipcode corresponding to the location of the television receiving device and a predetermined location associated with the postal zipcode corresponding to the location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna for each of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

7. The device of claim 2, wherein the location information of the television receiving device comprises a latitude and a longitude corresponding to a location of the television receiving device, the location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas comprises, for each respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna of the plurality, a latitude and a longitude corresponding to a location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna, and the processor is configured to select the subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on a distance between the latitude and longitude corresponding to the location of the television receiving device and the latitude and longitude corresponding to the location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna for each of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to receive the location information of the television receiving device as a street address defining the location of the television receiving device, and to convert the street address into the latitude and longitude corresponding to the location of the television receiving device.

9. A system for receiving television signals, comprising:

at least one antenna device configured to receive over-the-air television signals from over-the-air terrestrial antennas;

a television receiving device configured to be set to receive over-the-air television signals from select over-the-air terrestrial antennas via the at least one antenna device; and

a processor configured to set the television receiving device to receive over-the-air television signals from the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas, and to determine the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on location information of one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device and location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to determine the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas as at least part of a subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on the location information of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device and the location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas, and to scan only for frequencies at which over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset transmit over-the-air terrestrial television signals.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein scanning for the frequencies yields a signal strength associated with each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset, and the processor is configured to determine the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas as the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset for which the associated signal strength is not less than a predetermined threshold.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the processor and the television receiving device is configured to steer the at least one antenna device, the processor is configured to determine a heading for each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset, and the processor is configured to scan for the frequency of each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset only along the determined heading for the respective over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to determine the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas as at least part of a subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on a distance between the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device and each of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the location information of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device comprises a postal zipcode corresponding to a location of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device, the location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas comprises, for each respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna of the plurality, a postal zipcode corresponding to a location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna, and the processor is configured to determine the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on a distance between a predetermined location associated with the postal zipcode corresponding to the location of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device and a predetermined location associated with the postal zipcode corresponding to the location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna for each of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

15. The device of claim 10, wherein the location information of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device comprises a latitude and a longitude corresponding to a location of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device, the location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas comprises, for each respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna of the plurality, a latitude and a longitude corresponding to a location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna, and the processor is configured to determine the select over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on a distance between the latitude and longitude corresponding to the location of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device and the latitude and longitude corresponding to the location of the respective over-the-air terrestrial antenna for each of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to receive the location information of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device as a street address defining the location of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device, and to convert the street address into the latitude and longitude corresponding to the location of the one of the television receiving device and the at least one antenna device.

17. A method for setup of a device for receiving over-the-air television signals from over-the-air terrestrial antennas, the method comprising:

determining location information of the device;

determining location information of a plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas;

determining a subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based on the determined location information of the device and the determined location information of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas; and

setting the device to receive over-the-air television signals from at least part of the subset of over-the-air terrestrial antennas based at least in part on a strength of over-the-air television signals received at the device from the subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining the strength of over-the-air television signals received at the device from the subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas by scanning only for frequencies at which over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset transmit over-the-air terrestrial television signals.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining a heading for each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset; and

scanning for the frequency of each of the over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset only along the determined heading for the respective over-the-air terrestrial antennas of the subset.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the subset of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas is based on a distance between the device and each of the plurality of over-the-air terrestrial antennas.