Method and apparatus for providing and receiving broadcaster information

• US 6,198,509 B1
• Filed: 10/01/1997
• Issued: 03/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: Wink Communications Incorporated (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: Del Sesto, Eric E., Dougherty, Brian P.
• Primary Examiner(s): FLYNN, NATHAN J
• Application Number:
  US08/942,705
• Time in Patent Office: 1,252 Days
• Field of Search: 348/6, 348/7, 348/10, 348/11, 348/13, 348/12, 348/906, 348/461, 348/463, 348/465, 348/467, 348/468, 348/473, 348/477, 348/478, 348/499, 348/53, 348/552, 455/3.1, 455/4.1, 455/6.1, 455/6.2, 455/6.7, 709/217-219, 345/327
• US Class Current: 348/467
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0008 using a central processing unit, e.g. a microprocessor digital tuning in general H03J5/0245
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/13 Arrangements for device control affected by the broadcast information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/41 for identifying broadcast space, i.e. broadcast channels, broadcast stations or broadcast areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• 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 21/4622 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 the inserted signal being digital

Abstract

A method and apparatus identifies a tuned frequency or other information about a broadcaster or an interactive information system application using a description of the broadcaster or application, allowing an interactive information system to be easily controlled without requiring an information provider to identify a tuned frequency or other information. An information provider broadcasts broadcaster information to a reception component, and the reception component may identify the desired tuned frequency or other information using this broadcaster information. This allows interactive information system applications to locate a desired frequency or other information without requiring knowledge of information specific to each geographic or other boundary.

Claims

1. A method of providing broadcaster information in an interactive information system, the method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of broadcaster identifications, each broadcaster identification associated with a channel;

receiving, from each of a plurality of broadcasters, broadcaster information identifying a broadcaster and a type of broadcast provided by the broadcaster;

creating, from the stored plurality of broadcaster identifications and the received broadcaster information, a broadcaster information table specifying, for each of a plurality of channels, the broadcaster identification for, and the type of broadcast provided by, each broadcaster identified in the received broadcaster information by matching the received broadcaster information with the stored plurality of broadcaster identifications; and

transmitting the broadcaster information table to a reception component, whereby the reception component stores the broadcaster information table and tunes to a channel to receive a broadcast provided by the broadcaster associated with the broadcaster identification for that channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcaster information indicates a transport used by the broadcaster to broadcast a graphical interactive information system application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transport is a vertical blanking interval of a channel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcaster information identifies a interactive information system protocol used by the broadcaster.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of broadcast provided from the broadcaster is selected from the group consisting of:

a program; and

a graphical interactive information system application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcaster information table specifies for each of the plurality of channels:

whether a channel is available to a user;

a broadcast frequency corresponding to an available channel; and

a frequency identifier for tuning the reception component to receive an interactive information system application for a broadcaster broadcasting on the channel.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the broadcaster information table further specifies:

call letters for the channel; and

a network identifier for the broadcaster broadcasting on the channel.

8. A method of providing broadcaster information in an interactive information system, the method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of broadcaster identifications, each broadcaster identification associated with a channel;

receiving, from each of a plurality of broadcasters, broadcaster information identifying a broadcaster and a transport used by the broadcaster to broadcast a program; and

creating, from the stored plurality of broadcaster identifications and the received broadcaster information, a broadcaster information table specifying, for each of a plurality of channels, the broadcaster identification for, and the transport used to broadcast a program by, the broadcaster identified by the broadcaster information by matching the received broadcaster information with the stored plurality of broadcaster identifiers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the transport is a frequency on which the broadcaster broadcasts a graphical interactive system application.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the transport is a vertical blanking interval of a channel.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the broadcaster information table to a reception component, whereby the reception component stores the broadcaster information table and tunes to a channel to receive a broadcast provided by the broadcaster associated with the broadcaster identification for that channel.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the broadcaster information identifies a interactive information system protocol used by the broadcaster.

13. A provider component in a system for delivering interactive information, the provider component comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of broadcaster identifications, each broadcaster identification associated with a channel;

an input receiving, from each of a plurality of broadcasters, broadcaster information identifying a broadcaster and a transport used by the broadcaster to broadcast a program;

a processor, coupled to the input and the memory, for determining from the stored plurality of broadcaster identifications and the broadcaster information at least one channel associated with the identified broadcaster; and

a transmitter for transmitting a broadcaster information table to a reception component specifying, for each of a plurality of channels, a broadcaster identification and a transport used to broadcast a program by a broadcaster identified by the broadcaster information for that channel, whereby the reception component stores the broadcaster information table and tunes to a channel to receive a broadcast provided by the broadcaster associated with the broadcaster identification for that channel.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the transport is a frequency on which the broadcaster broadcasts a graphical interactive system application.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the transport is a vertical blanking interval of a channel.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the broadcaster information identifies a program broadcast at a first frequency and an interactive system application broadcast at a second frequency.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the interactive system application is located at a vertical blanking interval of the second channel.