Channel selection in digital television
DCFirst Claim
1. A digital television, comprising:
- a display;
a tuner including a connection for an externally supplied broadcast signal, where the tuner provides a signal carried on a physical channel selected from the broadcast signal;
a channel control circuit which derives major and minor channel number sequences from received control signals, where a major and minor channel number sequence indicates a specific channel carried in the broadcast signal;
a channel processing circuit connected to the channel control circuit, the display, and the tuner, where the channel processing circuit determines, when a physical channel indicated at least by the major channel number is digital, a major and minor channel number sequence by displaying a list of channels associated with the physical channel;
receives a selection of a minor channel from the list, and generates a major and minor channel number sequence based thereon.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus implementing a technique for selecting a channel in a digital television. In one implementation, selecting a channel includes: receiving a major and minor channel number sequence, including a major channel number, a delimiter, and a minor channel number, where the delimiter separates the major channel number and the minor channel number; identifying a physical channel which corresponds to the major and minor channel number sequence by accessing a channel look up table, where the channel look up table includes correspondences between major and minor channel number sequences and physical channels; identifying a virtual channel table which corresponds to the physical channel, where the virtual channel table indicates a virtual channel which corresponds to the major and minor channel number sequence; tuning to the physical channel to receive a signal carried on the physical channel; and decoding the virtual channel from the tuned signal.
161 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A digital television, comprising:
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a display;
a tuner including a connection for an externally supplied broadcast signal, where the tuner provides a signal carried on a physical channel selected from the broadcast signal;
a channel control circuit which derives major and minor channel number sequences from received control signals, where a major and minor channel number sequence indicates a specific channel carried in the broadcast signal;
a channel processing circuit connected to the channel control circuit, the display, and the tuner, where the channel processing circuit determines, when a physical channel indicated at least by the major channel number is digital, a major and minor channel number sequence by displaying a list of channels associated with the physical channel;
receives a selection of a minor channel from the list, and generates a major and minor channel number sequence based thereon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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8. A method for selecting a channel in a digital television, comprising:
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inputting a major channel number which indicates a first physical channel carried on a broadcast signal;
determining whether the physical channel is digital;
if the physical channel is digital, presenting a list at least of minor channel numbers associated at least with the physical channel;
using the list, inputting a minor channel number such that a major and minor channel number sequence can be generated therefrom.
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15. A method for selecting a channel in a digital television, comprising:
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receiving a physical channel number sequence which indicates a physical channel which has a corresponding major channel number;
identifying the physical channel as analog or digital;
when the physical channel is digital, determining a major and minor channel number sequence by displaying a menu listing one or more channels associated with the physical channel, receiving a selection from the menu, where the selection corresponds to a channel which has a corresponding minor channel number, and generating a major and minor channel number sequence from the major channel number corresponding to the physical channel and the minor channel number corresponding to the selection. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A system for selecting a channel in a digital television, comprising:
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means for receiving a physical channel number sequence which indicates a physical channel which has a corresponding major channel number;
means for identifying the physical channel as analog or digital;
means for causing a tuner to tune to the physical channel to supply a signal carried on the physical channel to a display when the physical channel is analog;
means for determining a major and minor channel number sequence when the physical channel is digital, by displaying a menu listing one or more channels associated with the physical channel, receiving a selection from the menu, where the selection corresponds to a channel which has a corresponding minor channel number, and generating a major and minor channel number sequence from the major channel number corresponding to the physical channel and the minor channel number corresponding to the selection.
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Specification