Methods and apparatus for recording video files and for generating a table listing the recorded files and links to additional information

• US 6,256,071 B1
• Filed: 12/11/1998
• Issued: 07/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi America Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi America Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hiroi, Kazushige
• Primary Examiner(s): Kostak, Victor R.
• Application Number:
  US09/210,488
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 348/1-3, 348/906, 348/714, 348/553, 348/10, 348/7, 348/725, 345/327, 725/39, 725/38, 725/53, 725/151, 725/152, 725/139, 725/140, 725/51
• US Class Current: 348/553
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A receiver arranged to receive and store broadcast data transported by elementary stream of a multiplexed and modulated digital television signal in a rewritable memory during a low power consumption mode for later recall by a user of the receiver. For recall, the receiver is fully energized, and the receiver is further arranged to transfer the broadcast data stored in the rewritable memory to a receiver storage device for further processing of the data under control of the user.

Claims

1. A method for receiving, in a receiver, broadcast data propagated by a multiplexed and modulated digital signal, the signal including video data and at least one elementary stream conveying the broadcast data, the broadcast data including a header and, if necessary, a payload, the receiver including:

(i) a tuner for tuning to the signal under control of a user of the receiver;

(ii) a demodulator, coupled to the tuner, for demodulating the signal to generate a transport stream conveying the broadcast data;

(iii) a data processor responsive to control signals from the user for processing the broadcast data;

(iv) a rewritable memory coupled to the data processor; and

(v) a display device for displaying the video data as well as displayable data corresponding to the broadcast data, the method comprising the steps of

(a) applying power to the tuner, the demodulator, the data processor, and the rewritable memory independent of the on-off state of the display device,

(b) generating and storing a table in the rewritable memory to be filled in by the data processor,

(c) processing in the data processor the header to obtain field information conveyed by the header,

(d) if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a filename to be stored, storing the filename and the payload of the broadcast data corresponding to the filename in the rewritable memory, and proceeding to step (f),

(e) if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a location to be stored, storing the location in the rewritable memory, and

(f) storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall by the user.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the receiver further includes:

a central processing unit;

a storage device coupled to the central processing unit; and

a video circuit responsive to the central processing unit and coupled to the display device, the method further including the steps of

(g) energizing the display device, the central processing unit, the storage device, and the video circuit,

(h) transferring contents of the rewritable memory to the storage device,

(i) accessing the table from the storage device under control of the user at the time of later recall,

(j) displaying contents of the table on the display device upon processing of the table by the central processing unit and the video circuit,

(k) selecting a table entry in the displayed table corresponding to broadcast data now of interest to the user,

(l) if the entry corresponds to the location of the broadcast data, extracting the location from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit, and

(m) if the entry corresponds to a filename, extracting the payload corresponding to the filename from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall by the user includes:

storing date and time information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall by the user further includes:

storing category and description information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall includes:

storing date and time information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall by the user includes:

storing description information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

3. A method for receiving, in a receiver, broadcast data propagated by a multiplexed digital television signal, the signal including video data and at least one broadcast data elementary stream conveying the broadcast data, the broadcast data including a header and, if necessary, an associated payload, the header including a field that conveys an interest category assigned to the broadcast data, the receiver including:

(i) a tuner for tuning to the signal under control of a user of the receiver;

(ii) a demodulator, coupled to the tuner, for demodulating the signal to generate a transport stream conveying the broadcast data;

(iii) a data processor responsive to control signals from the user for processing broadcast data;

(iv) a rewritable memory coupled to the data processor; and

(v) a display device for displaying the video data as well as displayable data corresponding to the broadcast data, the method comprising the steps of

(a) applying power to the tuner, the demodulator, the demultiplexer, the data processor, and the rewritable memory independent of the on-off state of the display device,

(b) generating and storing a table in the rewritable memory to be filled in by the data processor,

(c) receiving from the user at least one interest category of interest to the user, and storing the at least one category in the data processor,

(d) processing in the data processor the header to obtain field information conveyed by the header,

(e) if the interest category of the broadcast data matches with the at least one interest category stored in the data processor for the user, proceeding to step (f);

otherwise, bypassing the broadcast data,

(f) if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a filename to be stored, storing the filename and the payload of the broadcast data corresponding to the filename in the rewritable memory, and proceeding to step (h),

(g) if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a location to be stored, storing the location in the rewritable memory, and

(h) storing at least some of the field information in the table for later recall by the user.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the receiver further includes:

a central processing unit;

a storage device coupled to the central processing unit; and

a video circuit responsive to the central processing unit and coupled to the display device, the method further including the steps of

(i) energizing the display device, the central processing unit, the storage device, and the video circuit,

(j) transferring contents of the rewritable memory to the storage device under control of the user,

(k) accessing the table from the storage device under control of the user at the time of later recall,

(l) displaying contents of the table on the display device upon processing of the table by the central processing unit and the video circuit,

(m) selecting a table entry in the displayed table corresponding to broadcast data of interest to the user,

(n) if the entry corresponds to the location of the broadcast data, extracting the location from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit, and

(o) if the entry corresponds to a filename, extracting the payload corresponding to the filename from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit.

14. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall by the user further includes:

storing description information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall by the user further includes:

storing date and time information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

5. A method for receiving, in a receiver, broadcast data propagated by a multiplexed and modulated digital television signal, the signal including a series of elementary streams conveying the broadcast data as well as video data, the broadcast data including a header and, if necessary, an associated payload, the header including a section that conveys an interest category assigned to the broadcast data, the receiver including:

(i) a tuner for tuning to the signal under control of a user of the receiver;

(ii) a demodulator, coupled to the tuner, for demodulating the signal to generate a transport stream conveying the broadcast data;

(iii) a data processor responsive to control signals from the user for processing broadcast data;

(iv) a rewritable memory coupled to the data processor; and

v a display device for displaying the video data as well as displayable data corresponding to the broadcast data, the method comprising the steps of;

(a) applying power to the tuner, the demodulator, the demultiplexer, the data processor, and the rewritable memory independent of the on-off state of the display device,

(b) generating and storing a table in the rewritable memory to be filled in by the data processor,

(c) receiving from the user at least one interest category of interest to the user, and storing the at least one category in the data processor,

(d) processing in the data processor the header to obtain field information conveyed by the header,

(e) it the interest category of the broadcast data matches with the at least one interest category stored in the data processor for the user, proceeding to step (f);

otherwise, bypassing the broadcast data,

(f) if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a filename to be stored, storing the filename and the payload of the broadcast data corresponding to the filename in the rewritable memory, and proceeding to step (h),

(g) if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a location to be stored, storing the location in the rewritable memory,

(h) storing at least some of the field information in the table for later recall by the user, and

(i) returning to step (d) to process the next incoming one of the broadcast data elementary streams.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein the receiver further includes:

a central processing unit;

a storage device coupled to the central processing unit; and

a video circuit responsive to the central processing unit and coupled to the display device, the method further including the steps of

(j) energizing the display device, the central processing unit, the storage device, and the video circuit,

(k) transferring contents of the rewritable memory to the storage device under control of the user,

(l) accessing the table from the storage device under control of the user at the time of later recall,

(m) displaying contents of the table on the display device upon processing of the table by the central processing unit and the video circuit,

(n) selecting a table entry in the displayed table corresponding to broadcast data now of interest to the user,

(o) if the entry corresponds to the location of the broadcast data, extracting the location from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit, and

(p) if the entry corresponds to a filename, extracting the payload corresponding to the filename from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 wherein, if the payload corresponds to an executable program, the step of further processing by the central processing unit includes the step of executing the executable program.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information in the table for later recall includes:

storing category and description information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

17. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information in the table for later recall includes:

storing date information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said step of storing at least some of the field information in the table for later recall further includes:

storing description information obtained from said field information in said table entry.

8. A receiver for receiving broadcast data propagated by a multiplexed and modulated digital television signal, the signal including video data and at least one elementary stream conveying the broadcast data, the broadcast data including a header and, if necessary, a payload, the receiver including

a tuner for tuning to the signal under control of a user of the receiver,

a demodulator, coupled to the tuner, for demodulating the signal to generate a transport stream conveying the broadcast data,

a data processor, responsive to input from the user, for processing the broadcast data,

a rewritable memory, coupled to the data processor, for storing the broadcast data, and

a display device, responsive to the data processor, for displaying, when energized, the video data as well as displayable data representative of the header and payload of the broadcast data,

the tuner, the demodulator, the data processor, and the rewritable memory being continuously on independent of the on-off state of the display device,

the rewritable memory including a table for storing the broadcast data,

the data processor including

a header processor for processing the header to obtain field information conveyed by the header,

a field processor to determine if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a filename to be stored and means for storing the filename and the payload of the broadcast data corresponding to the filename in the rewritable memory,

the field processor also being used to determine if the field information indicates that the broadcast data contains a location to be stored and means for storing the location only in the rewritable memory, and

a storage processor for storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall by the user.

9. The receiver as recited in claim 8 wherein the header includes a category field, the data processor stores a set of categories of interest to the user, and the data processor includes a category processor for bypassing the broadcast data whenever the category field does not match a category from the set of categories.

10. The receiver as recited in claim 8 wherein the rewritable memory is a flash memory.

11. The receiver as recited in claim 10 further comprising

central processing unit coupled to the data processor,

a storage device coupled to the central processing unit, and

a video circuit responsive to the central processing unit and coupled to the display device,

the central processing unit, the storage device, and the video circuit being energized concurrently with the display device,

the data processor further including a transfer processor for transferring contents of the rewritable memory to the storage device under control of the user,

the central processing unit including

an access processor for accessing the table from the storage device under control of the user at the time of later recall,

a display processor for displaying contents of the table on the display device upon processing of the table by the central processing unit and the video circuit,

a selector processor, under control of the user, for selecting a table entry in the displayed table corresponding to broadcast data now of interest to the user,

a table processor to determine if the table entry corresponds to the location of the broadcast data and, if so, to extract the location from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit, and

the table processor also used to determine if the table entry corresponds to a filename and, if so, to extract the payload corresponding to the filename from the storage device for further processing by the central processing unit.