Apparatus providing dynamic virtual service selection in a multi-service communications system

• US 5,359,601 A
• Filed: 03/08/1993
• Issued: 10/25/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tech 5 SAS
• Original Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wasilewski, Anthony J., Thatcher, William B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Safourek, Benedict V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TON, DANG T
• Application Number:
  US08/027,782
• Time in Patent Office: 596 Days
• Field of Search: 370/110.1, 370/71, 370/73, 370/76, 370/69.1, 380/34, 380/20, 380/10, 380/21, 380/13, 380/9, 380/19, 380/33, 358/146, 358/147, 358/145, 358/143, 358/142, 358/141, 455/3.1, 455/3.2, 455/4.2, 455/6.1, 455/6.2, 455/6.3, 379/399, 379/96, 379/97, 379/98, 379/101, 348/10, 348/11, 348/462, 348/465, 348/481, 348/906.6
• US Class Current: 370/486
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/106 Receiver-side switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/26 Arrangements for switching distribution systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/41 for identifying broadcast space, i.e. broadcast channels, broadcast stations or broadcast areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23617 by inserting additional data into a data carousel, e.g. inserting software modules into a DVB carousel arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26291 for providing content or additional data updates, e.g. updating software modules, stored at the client deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/20 Adaptations for transmission via a GHz frequency band, e.g. via satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/52 : Systems for transmission of a pulse code modulated video signal with one or more other pulse code modulated signals, e.g. an audio signal or a synchronizing signal assembling of a multiplex stream by combining a video stream with other content or additional data, remultiplexing of multiplex streams, insertion of stuffing bits into the multiplex stream, assembling of a packetised elementary stream at server side H04N21/236; disassembling of a multiplex stream, remultiplexing of multiplex streams, extraction or processing of Service Information, disassembling of packetised elementary stream at client side H04N21/434

Abstract

An apparatus providing a dynamic virtual service capability in a multi-service communications system is claimed. A dynamic virtual service comprises an associated group of basic services wherein only one of the basic services in the group is active at any time. Basic services comprise a number of service components which are transmitted to the apparatus on one or more of a plurality of different frequency channels. The apparatus comprises a service selection switch for selecting either one of the basic services directly or one of the dynamic virtual services. A dynamic virtual service map is provided that defines for each dynamic virtual service, on a time-varying basis, the currently active one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service. Means responsive to the service selection switch and to the dynamic virtual service map are provided for automatically selecting the currently active basic service of a subscriber selected dynamic virtual service. Finally, the apparatus provides means for receiving and accessing the service components of a selected basic service from the frequency channel carrying those components. According to one embodiment, dynamic virtual service map definitions are periodically re-transmitted to the apparatus on each frequency channel carrying service components of one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual channel. Additionally, a "home" basic service may be defined for each virtual dynamic service. When a dynamic virtual service is initially selected by a subscriber, the apparatus initially "tunes" to the frequency channel carrying the service components of that home basic service.

Claims

1. An apparatus for enabling a subscriber to access different basic services, wherein each of the different basic services comprises a plurality of service components, said service components of each basic service being received in a multiplexed form on one of a plurality of frequency channels, some frequency channels containing multiplexed service components for more than one basic service, said apparatus comprising:

a service selection switch for selecting either one of said basic services directly or one of a plurality of dynamic virtual services, each dynamic virtual service comprising an associated group of said basic services wherein only one of said group is active during a given time period;

a dynamic virtual service map that defines, on a time-varying basis, for each dynamic virtual service, a currently active one of said group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service;

means responsive to the service selection switch and to the dynamic virtual service map for automatically selecting the currently active basic service of a selected dynamic virtual service; and

means for receiving and accessing the service components of a selected basic service from the frequency channel carrying those components.

2. Apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein the dynamic virtual service map contains a dynamic virtual service definition for each dynamic virtual service and wherein the definition for each dynamic virtual service is periodically re-transmitted to the apparatus on each frequency channel carrying service components of one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service, said apparatus further comprising means for receiving and processing said transmitted dynamic virtual service definitions.

3. Apparatus recited in claim 2 wherein each dynamic virtual service definition comprises a dynamic virtual service number designation and an active basic service designation that specifies the currently active basic service for the designated dynamic virtual service.

4. Apparatus recited in claim 2 wherein a home basic service is defined for each dynamic virtual service and further wherein said apparatus initially accesses the home basic service when a dynamic virtual service is selected by a subscriber.

5. Apparatus recited in claim 4 wherein the home basic service for a particular dynamic virtual service is selected from one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service.

6. Apparatus recited in claim 5 wherein the basic service selected as the home basic service is the basic service from said group that, on average, is most often the currently active basic service for that dynamic virtual service.

7. Apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein the service components comprise digital data.

8. Apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein the means for receiving and accessing the service components of a selected basic service comprises:

a tuning map that identifies, for each basic service, which of said frequency channels carries the multiplexed service components that comprise that basic service;

a tunable receiver responsive to the tuning map for tuning to the frequency channel carrying the multiplexed service components for a selected basic service and for receiving the multiplexed service components carried on that frequency channel;

a service-to-component map that defines, for the selected basic service, which multiplexed service components in the received frequency channel comprise that basic service; and

a service component de-multiplexer coupled to the receiver and responsive to the service-to-component map for de-multiplexing the received multiplexed service components and for obtaining those service components that comprise the selected basic service.

9. Apparatus recited in claim 8 wherein the tuning map is reprogrammable, and wherein the tuning-map is reprogrammed by transmitting a modified tuning map on one or more of said frequency channels.

10. Apparatus recited in claim 8 wherein a home basic service is defined for each dynamic virtual service and wherein the tuning map further contains an entry for each dynamic virtual service that specifies the frequency channel carrying the multiplexed service components of the home basic service of that dynamic virtual service, whereby upon selecting a dynamic virtual service, the tunable receiver initially tunes to the frequency channel carrying the service components of the home basic service of that selected dynamic virtual service.

11. Apparatus recited in claim 8 wherein the service-to-component map definition for each service is periodically re-transmitted to the apparatus on the frequency channel carrying the service components of that basic service, said apparatus further comprising means for receiving and processing the transmitted service-to-component map definitions.

12. Apparatus recited in claim 11 wherein each service-to-component map definition comprises a service number designation and at least one service component assignment.

13. An apparatus for enabling a subscriber to access different basic services, wherein each of the different basic services comprises a plurality of service components, said service components of each basic service being received in a multiplexed form on one of a plurality of frequency channels, some frequency channels containing multiplexed service components for more than one basic service, said apparatus comprising:

a service selection switch for selecting either one of said basic services directly or one of a plurality of dynamic virtual services, each dynamic virtual service comprising an associated group of said basic services wherein only one of said group is active during a given time period;

a dynamic virtual service map that defines, on a time-varying basis, for each dynamic virtual service, a currently active one of said group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service;

means responsive to the service selection switch and to the dynamic virtual service map for automatically selecting the currently active basic service of a selected dynamic virtual service;

a tuning map that identifies, for each basic service, which of said frequency channels carries the multiplexed service components that comprise that basic service;

a tunable receiver responsive to the tuning map for tuning to the frequency channel carrying the multiplexed service components for a selected service and for receiving the multiplexed service components carried on that frequency channel;

a service-to-component map that defines, for the selected basic service, which multiplexed service components in the received frequency channel comprise that basic service; and

a service component de-multiplexer coupled to the receiver and responsive to the service-to-component map for de-multiplexing the received multiplexed service components and for obtaining those components that comprise the selected service.

14. Apparatus recited in claim 13 wherein the dynamic virtual service map contains a dynamic virtual service definition for each dynamic virtual service and wherein the definition for each dynamic virtual service is periodically re-transmitted to the apparatus on each frequency channel carrying service components of one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service, said apparatus further comprising means for receiving and processing said transmitted dynamic virtual service definitions.

15. Apparatus recited in claim 14 wherein each dynamic virtual service definition comprises a dynamic virtual service number designation and an active basic service designation that specifies the currently active basic service for the designated dynamic virtual service.

16. Apparatus recited in claim 13 wherein a home basic service is defined for each dynamic virtual service and wherein the tuning map further contains an entry for each dynamic virtual service that specifies the frequency channel carrying the multiplexed service components of the home basic service of that dynamic virtual service, and whereby upon selecting a dynamic virtual service, the tunable receiver initially tunes to the frequency channel carrying the service components of the home virtual service of that selected dynamic virtual service.

17. Apparatus recited in claim 13 wherein the service components comprise digital data.

18. Apparatus recited in claim 13 wherein the tuning map may be reprogrammed by transmitting a modified tuning map on one or more of said frequency channels.

19. Apparatus recited in claim 13 wherein the service-to-component map definition for each service is periodically re-transmitted to the apparatus on the frequency channel carrying the service components of that basic service, said apparatus further comprising means for receiving and processing the transmitted service-to-component map definitions.

20. An apparatus for enabling a subscriber to access different basic services, wherein each of the different basic services comprises a plurality of service components, said service components of each basic service being received in a multiplexed form on one of a plurality of frequency channels, at least some frequency channels containing multiplexed service components for more than one basic service, said apparatus comprising:

a service selection switch for selecting either one of said basic services directly or one of a plurality of dynamic virtual services, each dynamic virtual service comprising an associated group of said basic services wherein only one of said group is active during a given time period;

first means for receiving a dynamic virtual service map definition for a selected dynamic virtual service, said received definition specifying, for the selected dynamic virtual service, a currently active one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service;

second means responsive to a received dynamic virtual service map definition for automatically selecting the currently active basic service specified by the received definition; and

third means responsive to the selection switch and to the second means for receiving and accessing the service components of a selected basic service from the frequency channel carrying those components.

21. Apparatus recited in claim 20 wherein the dynamic virtual service map definition for a selected dynamic virtual service is periodically re-transmitted to the apparatus on each frequency channel carrying service components of one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service.

22. Apparatus recited in claim 21 wherein the dynamic virtual service map definition for a selected dynamic virtual service comprises a dynamic virtual service number designation and an active basic service designation that specifies the currently active basic service for that dynamic virtual service.

23. Apparatus recited in claim 20 wherein a home basic service is defined for each dynamic virtual service and further wherein said apparatus is operative to initially access the home basic service upon selection of a dynamic virtual service by a subscriber.

24. Apparatus recited in claim 23 wherein the home basic service defined for a particular dynamic virtual service is one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service.

25. Apparatus recited in claim 20 wherein the means for receiving and accessing the service components of a selected basic service comprises:

a tuning map that identifies, for each basic service, which of said frequency channels carries the multiplexed service components that comprise that basic service;

a tunable receiver responsive to the tuning map for tuning to the frequency channel carrying the multiplexed service components of the selected basic service and for receiving the multiplexed service components carried on that frequency channel;

means for receiving a service-to-component map definition for the selected basic service that specifies for that basic service which multiplexed service components in the received frequency channel comprise that basic service; and

a service component de-multiplexer coupled to the receiver and responsive to the received service-to-component map definition for de-multiplexing the received multiplexed service components and for obtaining the service components specified by the received definition.

26. Apparatus recited in claim 25 wherein the tuning map contains an entry for each basic service, and further wherein the tuning map is re-programmable and may be reprogrammed by transmitting a modified tuning map on one or more of said frequency channels.

27. Apparatus recited in claim 26 wherein a home basic service is defined for each dynamic virtual service and wherein the tuning map further contains an entry for each dynamic virtual service that specifies the frequency channel carrying the multiplexed service components of the home basic service of that dynamic virtual service, said tunable receiver, upon selection of a dynamic virtual service by the subscriber, being operative to initially tune to the frequency channel carrying the service components of the home basic service of the subscriber selected dynamic virtual service.

28. Apparatus recited in claim 25 wherein the service-to-component map definition for each basic service is periodically re-transmitted to the apparatus on the frequency channel carrying the service components of that basic service.

29. In a multi-service communications system wherein a plurality of different basic services are transmitted to a subscriber location, each basic service being transmitted to the subscriber location on one of a plurality of different frequency channels, some frequency channels carrying more than one basic service, a method for providing dynamic virtual service selection at the subscriber location comprising the steps of:

(a) defining a dynamic virtual service as a group of basic services wherein each basic service of said group is to be broadcast over one of said frequency channels during a different time period than the other basic services; and

(b) periodically transmitting to the subscriber location a dynamic virtual service map definition for the defined dynamic virtual service that specifies which of the basic services of said group is currently being broadcast to the subscriber location,

whereby upon selection of the defined dynamic virtual service by a subscriber, a decoder at the subscriber location may employ the transmitted dynamic virtual service map definition for the selected dynamic virtual service to determine the currently active basic service for that dynamic virtual service.

30. A method according to claim 29 further comprising the step of assigning a unique service number to the dynamic virtual service defined in step (a).

31. A method according to claim 30 wherein a dynamic virtual service map definition transmitted in step (c) for the defined dynamic virtual service contains a dynamic virtual service number designation that specifies the unique service number assigned to that dynamic virtual service, and an active basic service designation that specifies the currently active basic service for that dynamic virtual service.

32. A method according to claim 29 wherein the dynamic virtual service map definitions for the defined dynamic virtual service are periodically transmitted to the subscriber location on each frequency channel that carries one of the basic services of the group that comprise that dynamic virtual service.

33. A method according to claim 29 further comprising the step of designating one of the basic services from the group of basic services that comprise the defined dynamic virtual service as a home basic service, and wherein upon selection of the dynamic virtual service by a subscriber, a decoder at the subscriber location may initially tune to the frequency channel carrying the home basic service in order to receive one of the dynamic virtual service map definitions transmitted on that frequency channel.

34. A method for providing dynamic virtual service selection in a multi-service communications system wherein a plurality of different basic services are transmitted from a transmission site to a subscriber location, each of the different basic services comprising a plurality of service components, the service components of each basic service being transmitted to the subscriber location in multiplexed form on one of a plurality of different frequency channels, some frequency channels carrying multiplexed service components for more than one basic service, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) defining a plurality of dynamic virtual services, each dynamic virtual service comprising an associated group of basic services, only one of which is active at any given time;

(b) for each dynamic virtual service defined in step (a), periodically generating at the transmission site a dynamic virtual service map definition that specifies the currently active basic service of the group comprising that dynamic virtual service; and

(c) periodically transmitting the dynamic virtual service map definitions for each dynamic virtual service to the subscriber location, whereby upon selection of one of the dynamic virtual services by a subscriber, a decoder at the subscriber location may employ the transmitted dynamic virtual service map definition for the selected dynamic virtual service to determine the currently active basic service for that dynamic virtual service.

35. A method according to claim 34 further comprising the step of assigning a unique service number to each of the dynamic virtual services defined in step (a).

36. A method according to claim 35 wherein the dynamic virtual service map definitions generated in step (b) for a given dynamic virtual service each contain a dynamic virtual service number designation that specifies the unique service number assigned to that dynamic virtual service, and an active basic service designation that specifies the currently active basic service for that dynamic virtual service.

37. A method according to claim 34 wherein, in said transmitting step, the dynamic virtual service map definitions for a given dynamic virtual service are periodically transmitted to the subscriber location on each frequency channel that carries the service components of one of the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service.

38. A method according to claim 34 wherein for each dynamic virtual service, one of the basic services from the group of basic services that comprise that dynamic virtual service is defined as a home basic service, and wherein upon selection of one of the dynamic virtual services by a subscriber, a decoder at the subscriber location may initially tune to the frequency channel carrying the service components of the home basic service for the selected dynamic virtual service in order to receive one of the dynamic virtual service map definitions transmitted on that frequency channel for the selected dynamic virtual service.