Methods and apparatus for processing multimedia broadcasts

• US 6,549,241 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2001
• Issued: 04/15/2003
• 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:
  US09/862,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20010022001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 693 Days
• Field of Search: 348/553, 348/461, 348/465, 348/460, 348/714, 348/730, 348/716, 348/718, 725/58, 725/51, 725/109, 725/113, 725/136, 707/10, 707/104.1, 707/530, 704/270
• US Class Current: 348/460
• 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 of processing a digital transport stream including a plurality of multiplexed data streams, said plurality of multiplexed data steams including an audio data stream and a broadcast data stream, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving said digital transport stream;

demultiplexing the received transport stream into said audio stream and said broadcast data stream, the broadcast data stream including data payloads and headers, a first plurality of said headers including category information and location information, a second plurality of said headers including category information and a filename, the broadcast data stream further including at least one data payload corresponding to each header in the second plurality of headers;

examining the category information included in each of the first and second plurality of received headers to determine if said category information matches a category of interest;

for each received header in the first and second plurality of received headers whose category information is determined to match a category of interest;

storing received header information as an entry in a table, the stored header information included in each table entry including at least one of a filename having a corresponding data payload associated therewith and a location; and

for each table entry including a filename having a corresponding data payload associated therewith, storing the corresponding data payload.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the contents of the information table on a display device;

receiving input indicating selection of a table entry; and

if the selected table entry includes a location, accessing said location; and

if the selected table entry includes a filename, retrieving from memory the stored payload corresponding to said filename.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one stored payload is an executable program file.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the stored location information includes at least one URL address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by operating a system including a display device, a first memory device and a second memory device, the method further comprising:

operating the system during a low power mode of operation, during said low power mode of operation said step of storing received header information as an entry in a table and said step of storing the corresponding data payload including storing said received header information and said corresponding data payload in the first memory device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

operating the system to transition from said lower power mode of operation to said full power mode of operation, said step of transitioning including;

supplying more power to said display device than was supplied during said low power mode of operation; and

transferring the information table stored in the first memory to said second memory.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying the contents of the information table stored in the second memory on a display device;

receiving input indicating selection of a table entry; and

if the selected table entry includes a location, accessing said location; and

if the selected table entry includes a filename, retrieving from memory the stored payload corresponding to said filename.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one stored payload is an executable program file.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the stored location information includes at least one URL address.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of storing header information as an entry in a table includes:

storing date and time information obtained from the received header in said table entry.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of storing header information as an entry in a table further includes:

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

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of storing header information as an entry in a table includes:

storing date and time information obtained from the received header in said table entry.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of storing header information as an entry in a table further includes:

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

14. A method of processing a digital transport stream including a plurality of multiplexed data streams, said plurality of multiplexed data steams including a video stream and a broadcast data stream, the method comprising:

demultiplexing the transport stream into said video stream and said broadcast data stream, the broadcast data stream including data payloads and headers, the headers being of at least a first or a second type, headers of the first type including description information and information identifying the location of data, headers of the second type including description information, a filename, and being associated with a data payload included in said broadcast data stream;

generating a set of stored information from the broadcast data stream, the generated set of stored information including an information table and at least one received payload, the step of generating including, for each of a plurality of received headers;

examining the header being processed to determine if it is of the first type; and

if it is determined the header being processed is of the first type storing the description and location information included in the header being processed in a table in memory; and

if the header being processed is of the second type, i) storing the description and filename information included in the header being processed in said table; and

ii) storing the payload associated with the header being processed.

15. The method of claim 14,

wherein each of the headers of the first and second type further include category information, the method further comprising:

examining the category information included in each received header to determine if the header does or does not belong to a category of interest; and

excluding headers determined not to belong to a category of interest from the plurality of received headers used to generate said set of stored information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

displaying the contents of the information table on a display device;

receiving input indicating selection of a table entry;

if the selected table entry includes a location, accessing said location; and

if the selected table entry includes a filename, retrieving from memory the stored payload corresponding to said filename.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one stored payload is an executable program file.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the stored location information includes at least one URL address.

19. An apparatus for processing a multiplexed digital signal, the multiplexed digital signal including audio data and at least one data stream conveying broadcast data, the broadcast data including a plurality of headers and at least one payload, the receiver comprising:

a demultiplexer, for demultiplexing the multiplexed digital signal to detect the broadcast data;

a rewritable memory including a table for storing at least some header information included in the broadcast data;

a data processor, coupled to the demultiplexer and rewritable memory, for processing the broadcast data;

the data processor including;

means for processing the header to obtain field information conveyed by the header;

means for determining if the field information indicates that the broadcast data includes 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 further includes means for storing the location in the rewritable memory; and

means for storing at least some of the field information as an entry in the table for later recall and display to a user of the apparatus.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

a display device;

a central processing unit coupled to the data processor;

a storage device coupled to the central processing unit; and

the data processor further including a transfer processor for transferring the contents of the table included in the rewritable memory to the storage device upon the apparatus transitioning from a low power mode of operation to a full power mode of operation.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

means for displaying the contents of the table transferred to the storage device on said display device.

22. An apparatus for processing a digital transport stream including a plurality of multiplexed data streams, said plurality of multiplexed data steams including an audio data stream and a broadcast data stream, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving said digital transport stream;

means for demultiplexing the received transport stream into said audio stream and said broadcast data stream, the broadcast data stream including data payloads and headers, a first plurality of said headers including category information and location information, a second plurality of said headers including category information and a filename, the broadcast data stream further including at least one data payload corresponding to each header in the second plurality of headers;

means for examining the category information included in each of the first and second plurality of received headers to determine if said category information matches a category of interest;

means for processing each received header, in the first and second plurality of received headers, whose category information is determined to match a category of interest, said means for processing including;

means for storing received header information as an entry in a table, the stored header information included in each table entry including at least one of a filename having a corresponding data payload associated therewith and a location and for storing the corresponding data payload for each table entry including a filename having a corresponding data payload associated therewith.