Modularization of broadcast receiver driver components

• US 7,486,692 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2004
• Issued: 02/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McDowell, Sean C., Borseth, Jay Alan, Pritchett, Thaddeus C., Backman, Terje K., Goll, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Backer; Firmin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murphy; Rhonda
• Application Number:
  US10/987,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20050089056A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/431
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/438 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• 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

Abstract

A modularized broadcast receiver driver architecture includes one or more control nodes, under control of a network module, that perform a series of one or more functions to receive a broadcast signal and extract content information from the signal. None of the multiple control nodes requires knowledge of the network type via which the signal is being received. Rather, a network module is aware of the network type and configures the control nodes to carry out their respective functions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process comprising:

receiving a request to tune to a particular transport identifier;

configuring a receiver topology based on both information in the request and signal information embedded in a signal received when the receiver topology is tuned to the particular transport identifier;

transmitting, to each of a plurality of control nodes, sufficient information for the control nodes to perform their respective functions in extracting information from the signal without requiring the control nodes to have knowledge of a network type via which the signal is received or of what functions other control nodes are performing;

identifying when the signal information changes; and

reconfiguring the receiver topology as necessary in response to changes in the signal information.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the transport identifier comprises a channel number.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the transport identifier comprises a channel name.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the transport identifier comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control nodes extract video information, audio information, and data information from the signal.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the act of transmitting comprises accessing, on each of the plurality of control nodes, a network module interface.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control nodes comprise control nodes of one or more broadcast receiver drivers, and further comprising acts of:

obtaining, from the signal, information regarding a format of the signal; and

configuring a control node of the plurality of control nodes based on the signal format, wherein the signal format was foreseen when at least one of the one or more broadcast receiver drivers was developed.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control nodes comprise control nodes of one or more broadcast receiver drivers, and further comprising acts of:

obtaining, from the signal, information regarding a format of the signal; and

configuring a control node of the plurality of control nodes based on the signal format, wherein the signal format was unforeseen when at least one of the one or more broadcast receiver drivers was developed.

9. An apparatus comprising:

first means for configuring at least a subset of a plurality of control nodes of one or more broadcast receiver drivers in accordance with a basic receiver topology for a network type via which a signal is received;

means for obtaining, from the signal, information regarding a format of the signal; and

second means for configuring an additional control node of the plurality of control nodes based on the signal format.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further including:

means for identifying, from the signal, a new signal format; and

third means for configuring the additional control node of the plurality of control nodes based on the new signal format.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the signal format was unforeseen when at least one of the one or more broadcast receiver drivers was developed.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, further including:

means for receiving, prior to the first configuring means configuring at least the subset of control nodes, a request to tune to the signal; and

means for determining, from the request, the basic receiver topology.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the obtaining means comprises means for determining, from the signal, an indication of how information is embedded in the signal;

and the second configuring means configures the additional control node to extract the information based on the indication in the signal.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the signal format was foreseen when at least one of the one or more broadcast receiver drivers was developed.

15. An apparatus for use with a broadcast receiver driver, comprising:

control node interface means for configuring a plurality of control nodes of the broadcast receiver driver to extract information from a signal; and

controller means for determining, based at least in part on a request to tune to the signal, how to configure the plurality of control nodes without requiring the plurality of control nodes to have information regarding a network type via which the signal is received.

16. An apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the control node interface means is configured to determine how to configure the plurality of control nodes based at least in part on the network type.

17. An apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the control node interface means is configured to determine how to configure the plurality of control nodes based at least in part on the information embedded in the signal.

18. An apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the control node interface means includes a register device filter process via which one of the plurality of control nodes can register itself for control by the network module.

19. A network module for use with a broadcast receiver driver, the network module comprising:

first means for configuring at least a subset of a plurality of control nodes of one or more broadcast receiver drivers in accordance with a basic receiver topology for a network type via which a signal is received;

means for obtaining, from the signal, information regarding a format of the signal;

second means for configuring an additional control node of the plurality of control nodes based on the signal format;

means for identifying, from the signal, a new signal format; and

means for reconfiguring the additional control node of the plurality of control nodes based on the new signal format identified by the identifying means.

20. The network module of claim 19, wherein at least one control node comprises a frequency selector, the network module further comprising means for receiving configuration information and wherein the configuration information comprises an identification of a frequency to be tuned to via the frequency selector.

21. The network module of claim 19, wherein at least one control node comprises a demodulator, the network module further comprising means for causing the processing unit to receive configuration information and wherein the configuration information comprises an identification of a sampling rate to use to generate a digital output stream based on an analog input via the demodulator.

22. The network module of claim 19, wherein at least one control node comprises a stream selector, the network module further comprising means for receiving configuration information and wherein the configuration information comprises an identification of packets in an input bit stream that are to be output by the stream selector.

23. The network module of claim 19, wherein at least one control node includes an auto tune frequency filter interface, the network module further comprising means for receiving configuration information via which the processor 11 can identify a frequency of a transponder, a polarity of the transponder, and a range of the transponder in order to program the auto tune frequency filter interface.

24. The network module of claim 19, wherein at least one control node includes a frequency filter interface, the network module further comprising means for receiving configuration information via which a center frequency of a carrier can be identified that should be locked via the frequency filter interface.

25. The network module of claim 19, wherein at least one control node includes a frequency filter interface, the network module further comprises means for receiving configuration information via which a polarity of a carrier can be identified that should be locked via the frequency filter interface.

26. The network module of claim 19, wherein the signal format was foreseen when at least one of the one or more broadcast receiver drivers was developed.

27. A system comprising:

network module means for controlling extraction of information from a received signal; and

broadcast receiver driver means, coupled to receive control signals from the network module, including a plurality of control nodes each configured to perform a particular portion of the information extraction without concern for what other steps other control nodes are performing, wherein each of the plurality of control nodes is chosen from a group consisting of;

a signal range selector corresponding to hardware;

a signal range selector corresponding to antenna selection;

a frequency selector to filter particular frequencies;

a demodulator to translate analog signals into digital bit streams;

a packager/tuner capturer to separate the digital stream into packets and perform Forward Error Correction (FEC);

a stream selector/demultiplexer to select particular packets from the stream;

a stream selection filter to perform additional filtering of packets;

a stream decryptor to decrypt encrypted content; and

an Ethernet packager to package packets into Ethernet frames.

28. A system as recited in claim 27, wherein the network module means includes means for controlling extraction of the information based at least in part on the network type.

29. A system as recited in claim 27, further comprising transport information filter means for extracting information from the signal and rendering the extracted information available to the network module means.

30. A system as recited in claim 27, further comprising transport information filter means for extracting information from the signal and rendering the extracted information available to the network module means, wherein the network module means controls extraction of the information based at least in part on the information extracted by the transport information filter means.

31. A system as recited in claim 27, wherein each of the plurality of control nodes includes an interface via which the network module means can configure the plurality of control nodes.

32. A system as recited in claim 27, where in the broadcast receiver driver means further includes interface means via which the network module means can identify an interface on each of the plurality of control nodes.