Data broadcast method

• US 7,685,618 B1
• Filed: 08/01/2000
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony United Kingdom Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Paskins, Adrian Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): SHELEHEDA, JAMES R
• Application Number:
  US09/630,971
• Time in Patent Office: 3,521 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725/33, 725/34, 725/35, 725/36, 725/40, 725/134, 725/41
• US Class Current: 725/41
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• 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 21/4349 by extracting from data carousels, e.g. extraction of software modules from a DVB carousel
• 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

Abstract

A technique for broadcasting a broadcast data service together with broadcast digital television data as part of a broadcast signal, the broadcast data service comprising a plurality of data portions including data portions having digital data in non-real time. The technique comprising, during normal broadcasting, only broadcasting portions of the broadcast data service required to replace previous respective portions which have been changed and broadcasting television data of the broadcast data service as non-real time data.

Claims

1. A system for providing a plurality of sets of broadcast data service data transmitted together with broadcast digital television data as part of a broadcast signal, comprising:

a processor configured to periodically extract all of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data from a broadcast carousel included in the broadcast signal;

a memory configured to store all of the current plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data;

the broadcast data service data defining a plurality of digital audio/video data sets, the digital audio/video data sets including television clips, all of the digital television data is in a first data compression format and all of the digital audio/visual data sets are in a data compression format different from the first format;

a display configured to provide a list of a plurality of sets of the digital audio/video data sets; and

a controller responsive to a user initiated selection signal to cause the memory to output a user selected one of the plurality of digital audio/video data sets selected from the list simultaneously with continued receipt of the broadcast digital television data, the selected one of the broadcast data service data plurality of sets having digital audio/video data in non-real time, the selection signal being provided at any time during receipt of the broadcast digital television data and independently of the broadcast digital television data and the controller is responsive at any time during receipt of the broadcast digital television data and independently of the broadcast digital television data to output said selected portion;

wherein the processor converts the digital audio/video data of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data into real time audio/video data.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the digital audio/video data of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service is compressed and the processor decompresses the plurality of sets off-line.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the processor processes the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data at times of low usage.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor operates directly on the broadcast data service data loaded locally from the memory in small chunks.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor operates in a batch processing method with broadcast data service data loaded locally from the memory in small chunks.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein digital audio/video data of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service are compressed and the processor conducts decompression using a predefined protocol.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the digital audio/video data of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data is compressed and the processor conducts decompression using a downloaded protocol.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor conducts off-line decryption of the broadcast data service data using a key.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the memory is a magnetic hard disk drive or a semiconductor memory.

10. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a digital television receiver for providing the broadcast signal to the processor.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the system is a single integral unit.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein at least the memory is separate from the digital television receiver and linked by means of a network connection.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the network connection is an IEEE 1394 interface.

14. The system according to claim 10, wherein the digital television receiver selectively provides digital television data for display and wherein the processor extracts the sets of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data irrespective of that display.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is also configured to identify corresponding extracted and stored sets of the plurality of sets and replaces sets in the memory with respective sets extracted from the broadcast signal.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein, if periodically, the broadcast signal includes all of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service, the controller can store all of the received plurality of sets in the memory.

17. The system according to claim 15, wherein the controller accesses an additional data channel to obtain and store in the memory all of the sets of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein the digital television data is converted into real time audio/video data and transmitted in packets generated according to an MPEG standard.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the MPEG standard is an MPEG2 standard.

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein the digital television data is transmitted according to an MPEG standard and at least some of the sets of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data being transmitted according to a protocol other than the MPEG standard.

21. A system for providing a plurality of sets of broadcast data service data transmitted together with broadcast digital television data as part of a broadcast signal, comprising:

a processor configured to periodically extract all of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data from a broadcast carousel included in the broadcast signal;

a memory configured to store all of the current plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data;

the broadcast data service data defining a plurality of digital audio/video data sets, the digital audio/video data sets including television clips;

a display configured to provide a list of a plurality of sets of the digital audio/video data sets;

a controller responsive to a user initiated selection signal to cause the memory to output a user selected one of the plurality of digital audio/video data sets selected from the list simultaneously with continued receipt of the broadcast digital television data, the selected one of the broadcast data service data plurality of sets having digital audio/video data, the digital audio/video data of the broadcast data service data being configured in the broadcast signal for reception at a rate slower than an audio/video replay rate for the selected set, the selection signal being provided at any time during receipt of the broadcast digital television data and independently of the broadcast digital television data and the controller is responsive at any time during receipt of the broadcast digital television data and independently of the broadcast digital television data to output said selected portion; and

a broadcast headend configured to update the plurality of digital audio/video data sets with a priority determined from demand for each set;

a transmitter configured to transmit to the broadcast headend an identity of each user selected set such that the broadcast headend can determine demand for each set, wherein the processor converts the digital audio/video data of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data into real time audio/video data having a real time audio/video replay rate.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein at least some of the sets of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service data are transmitted according to an alternative data compression protocol to that used for the digital television data.