Geographic black-out method for direct broadcast satellite system

• US 5,036,537 A
• Filed: 04/03/1987
• Issued: 07/30/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/1984
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Knight, Stephen P., Jeffers, John M., Mundy, S. Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Buczinski, Stephen C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gregory, Bernarr E.
• Application Number:
  US07/036,159
• Time in Patent Office: 1,579 Days
• Field of Search: 380/20, 380/21, 380/43, 380/48, 358/349, 455/2, 455/3-5, 455/31-33, 455/12
• US Class Current: 380/241
• 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 7/1675 Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58

Abstract

Television programs are broadcast to a plurality of receiver units in various geographic areas. Each unit has a memory for storage of a designation code representative of its location and a memory for the storage of a blackout tier indication. Prior to the transmission of the program to be blacked out, each unit is separately addressed and provided with a message including a designation code for storage. Then, a globally addressed message provides all receiver units having a selected designation code with a blackout tier indication for storage. A program tier indication is transmitted along with the program to be blacked out. Each unit, upon receiving the transmitted program, compares the transmitted program tier indication and the blackout tier indication in its memory. All receiver units having a stored blackout tier indication which matches the program tier indication are simultaneously prevented from displaying the program to be blacked out.

Claims

1. A method for simultaneously preventing the display of a program by selected receiver units in a direct broadcast satellite system of the type including a plurality of receiver units each comprising a tier authorization memory, a designation code memory and a black-out code memory, the method comprising the steps of, prior to the transmission of a program the display of which is to be prevented, separately addressing each receiver unit, providing each addressed receiver unit with a tier authorization code for storage in its tier authorization code memory and providing each addressed receiver unit with a designation code for storage in the designation code memory of the receiver unit, globally addressing all receiver units and transmitting a designation code and a corresponding black-out code, a receiver unit storing the transmitted black-out code in its black-out code memory if the transmitted designation code matches the designation code previously stored in the receiver designation code memory, transmitting a program with a program tier indication, each of the receiver units, upon receiving the transmitted program, comparing the tier indication with the stored black-out code to determine if the program is to be blacked-out, if the program is not to be blacked-out, comparing the transmitted tier indication with the stored tier authorization code to determine if the program is authorized and displaying the program if it is not to be blacked-out and is authorized.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the provided designation code is transmitted in an encrypted message and wherein the step of storing and designation code comprises the step of decrypting the message to obtain the designation code.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the receiver units has a unique address code and wherein an address code is transmitted along with the encrypted message and further comprising the step of decrypting the encrypted message only if the address code transmitted therewith matches the address code of the receiver.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the blackout tier indication comprises a plurality of bits and wherein the memory comprises a blackout bit map memory.

5. A method for simultaneously preventing the display of program from all receiver units in a particular geographic area for use in a direct broadcast satellite system of the type including a plurality of receiver units in various geographic areas, each receiver unit having a tier authorization memory, a designation code memory and a black-out bit map memory the method comprising the steps of addressing each receiving unit and providing same with a designation code for storage in the designation code memory of the receiver unit, different designation codes representing different geographic areas and providing a tier authorization for storage in the tier authorization memory of the receiver, selecting each designation code and, for each selected designation code, providing a black-out code to be stored in the black-out bit memory of each receiver unit having the selected designation code stored in the designation code memory of the receiver unit, transmitting a signal comprising a program accompanied by a program tier indication to all receiver units, each receiver unit, upon receiving the signal, comparing the program tier indication and the black code stored in the black-out bit memory to determine if the program is to be blacked-out if the program is not to be blacked-out, comparing the program tier indication with the stored tier authorization code to determine if the program is on an authorized tier, displaying the program if it is not to be blacked-out and is on an authorized tier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said signal comprises a data stream comprising a plurality of addressable portions and wherein the step of providing a blackout code comprises the steps of generating an addressable portion addressed to all receiver units and containing a blackout code, and commanding all receiver units having a given stored designation code to store the blackout code.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of said receiver units has a unique address and wherein the step of providing a blackout code comprises addressing a message to a particular receiver unit, said message comprising a command to enter a particular designation code into the designation code memory of the addressed unit.

8. A receiver for use in a direct broadcast satellite system of the type including a plurality of receiver units and a transmission station generating a composite television signal including program related information including programs on a plurality of tiers and a data stream including a program tier indication for each program, portions addressable to particular receivers comprising tier authorization codes and designation codes for storage in the addressed receiver units, and globally addressable portions including designation codes and corresponding black-out codes, the receiver unit comprising means for receiving composite television signals, means for locating the portion of the data stream addressed to the particular receiver unit, means for storing a designation code in the addressable portion, means for storing the tier authorization code in the addressable portion, means for locating the globally addressed portion of the data stream containing a designation code corresponding to the stored designation code, means for storing the black-out code in the globally addressed portion associated with a designation code matching the previously stored designation code, means for selecting a program, means for comparing the broadcast program tier indicating for the selecting program with the stored black-out code to determine if the selected program is to be blacked-out, means for comparing the program tier indication with the stored tier authorization code, to determine if the selected program is authorized and means for displaying the selected program if the program is not to be blacked-out and is authorized.

9. The receiver of claim 8 wherein the designation code is transmitted in an encrypted message and wherein the means for storing the designation code comprises means for decrypting the message to obtain the designation code.

10. The receiver of claim 9 wherein each of the receiver units has a unique address code and wherein the address code is transmitted as a part of the portions addressable to particular receivers and further comprising means for storing the address code and means for decrypting the encrypted message only if the address code transmitted with the message matches the address code stored in the receiver units address code storage means.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the black-out code comprises a plurality of bits and wherein the means for storing the black-out code comprises a black-out bit map memory.