System and method for improved channel surfing

• US 7,793,319 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2004
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, Glen J., Yong, Edward G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Saint Cyr, Jean D
• Application Number:
  US10/832,579
• Publication Number:
  US 20050240967A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,324 Days
• Field of Search: 725/14, 725/94
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4384 involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

Systems and methods for navigating through multiple channels of broadcast content to locate channels that are running programs of interest include monitoring a plurality of channels of baseband channel information to detect commercials and commercial segments, buffering the baseband channel information for at least one channel; and switching the channel feed for a broadcast receiver to the buffered baseband channel information whenever the receiver is changed to a channel in which commercials or commercial segments are detected.

Claims

1. A system for navigating through multiple channels of broadcast content to locate channels that are running programs of interest comprising;

an input port to receive a broadband source comprising multiple channels of broadcast content;

a plurality of auxiliary tuners coupled to the input port to select and demodulate channels of broadcast content and to output baseband information for the channels;

a commercial detector coupled to the baseband information of at least one channel, the commercial detector to provide a commercial status signal to indicate whether a commercial segment is running on the at least one channel;

a channel buffer to provide a buffered feed of the baseband channel information of the at least one channel;

an output port; and

a switch to selectively couple the buffered feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel to the output port in response to the commercial status signal,

wherein if a beginning of the commercial segment is detected by the commercial detector, feed to the channel buffer is interrupted;

wherein if any of the commercial segments is inadvertently recorded to the channel buffer, which is indicated by the commercial status signal obtained from scanning the baseband channel information for a predetermined period of time, the buffered feed is rolled back to delete any inadvertently recorded commercial segments;

wherein a size of the channel buffer is varied to correspond to an average length of the commercial segments encountered for a particular channel and a particular time slot.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the buffered feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel is modulated and upconverted for transmission over one or more channels of the broadband source.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a status register to store commercial status information that includes the commercial status signals for a plurality of channels.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a controller to select channels for the plurality of auxiliary tuners.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the controller selects channels for the plurality of auxiliary tuners based on channel select information from at least one broadcast receiver.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the commercial status information is provided to a plurality of broadcast receivers in a broadband subscriber network.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one tuner is tasked to scan a plurality of channels.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one tuner is tasked to provide baseband channel information for the channel buffer.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the switch decouples the buffered feed from the output port when the status signal indicates a commercial segment is no longer running.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the commercial detector employs a pattern recognition algorithm to determine whether a commercial segment is running on the at least one channel.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the pattern recognition algorithm may be trained to recognize commercial segments.

36. The system of claim 1, wherein the switch is configured to couple to said buffered feed in response to detecting a channel change to view a channel in which commercials are detected as indicated by the commercial status signal.

39. The system of claim 1, wherein the switch is configured to couple the buffered feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel to the output port in response to the commercial status signal, and is further configured to couple a live feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel to the output port in response to a lack of the commercial status signal.

12. A method for improved channel surfing, comprising:

monitoring a plurality of channels of baseband channel information to detect commercials;

buffering the baseband channel information for at least one channel to store in a channel buffer;

varying a buffer size to correspond to an average length of commercial segments encountered for a particular channel and a particular time slot;

interrupting buffering of the baseband channel information if a beginning of the commercial segment is detected;

rolling back the buffered baseband channel information for deleting any inadvertently recorded commercial segments if any of the commercial segments is inadvertently recorded, which is indicated by a commercial status signal obtained from scanning the baseband channel information for a predetermined period of time; and

switching the channel feed for a broadcast receiver to the buffered baseband channel information whenever the receiver is changed to a channel in which commercials are detected.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising storing commercial status information for the plurality of channels.

40. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

switching the channel feed for said broadcast receiver to live baseband channel information in response to no commercials being detected.

14. A broadcast receiver, comprising:

a plurality of auxiliary tuners to select and demodulate channels of broadcast content from a multichannel broadband source and to output baseband channel information for the channels;

a commercial detector coupled to the baseband channel information of at least one channel, the commercial detector to provide a commercial status signal to indicate whether a commercial segment is running on the at least one channel;

a channel buffer to provide a buffered feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel;

a primary tuner to select and demodulate a channel from the multichannel broadband source and to provide a primary feed of baseband channel information; and

a switch to selectively couple the buffered feed of the baseband channel information to replace the primary feed of baseband channel information in response to a commercial status signal indicating that a commercial is running on a channel to which the primary tuner has been changed,

wherein if a beginning of the commercial segment is detected by the commercial detector, feed to the channel buffer is interrupted;

wherein if any of the commercial segments is inadvertently recorded to the channel buffer, which is indicated by the commercial status signal obtained from scanning the baseband channel information for a predetermined period of time, the buffered feed is rolled back to delete any inadvertently recorded commercial segments;

wherein a size of the channel buffer is varied to correspond to an average length of the commercial segments encountered for a particular channel and a particular time slot.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising a status register to store commercial status information comprising the commercial status signals for a plurality of channels.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the commercial detector scans a plurality of channels.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein at least one auxiliary tuner scans a plurality of channels.

37. The system of claim 14, wherein the switch is configured to couple to said buffered feed in response to detecting a channel change to view a channel in which commercials are detected as indicated by the commercial status signal.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a scanning tuner to selectively receive and demodulate a plurality of broadcast channel and to provide baseband channel information for the selected channels;

a commercial detector coupled to the baseband channel information for the selected channels to distinguish between commercial segments and regular programming and to provide commercial status signals for the selected channels;

means for buffering the baseband channel information while the commercial status signals have not being received;

means for selectively coupling a buffered feed of the baseband channel information to replace a primary feed of baseband channel information in response to the commercial status signals indicating that a commercial is running; and

a register to record commercial status information comprising the commercial status signals,

wherein if any of the commercial segments is inadvertently recorded to a channel buffer, which is indicated by a commercial status signal obtained from scanning the baseband channel information for a predetermined period of time, the buffered feed is capable of rolling back to delete any inadvertently recorded commercial segments;

wherein a size of the channel buffer is varied to correspond to an average length of the commercial segments encountered for a particular channel and a particular time slot.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the commercial status information is employed to skip over channels running commercials while channel surfing.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising an activation switch on a user remote control for a broadcast receiver to selectively enable skipping over channels running commercials while channel surfing.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the commercial detector distinguishes between commercial segments and regular programming by detecting changes in baseband channel information.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the changes in baseband channel information comprise changes in ancillary data.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the changes in ancillary data comprise changes in eXtended Data Services (XDS) data.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the changes in XDS data comprise changes in “

V-chip”

data.

25. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the commercial detector employs a pattern recognition algorithm to distinguish between commercial segments and regular programming.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the pattern recognition algorithm may be trained to recognize commercial segments.

27. A non-transitory storage medium tangibly embodying function for improving channel surfing, the function includes operable instructions to cause at least one programmable processor to:

provide an auxiliary tuner configured to receive and demodulate a plurality of broadcast channels from a broadband source and to output baseband channel information for the channels;

buffer the baseband channel information for at least one channel to store in a channel buffer;

vary a buffer size to correspond to an average length of commercial segments encountered for a particular channel and a particular time slot;

detect and distinguish between the commercial segments and regular programming in the baseband channel information and provide commercial status signals for the channels;

interrupt buffering of the baseband channel information if a beginning of the commercial segment is detected;

delete any inadvertently recorded commercial segments from the buffered baseband channel information if any of the commercial segments is inadvertently recorded to the channel buffer, which is indicated by the commercial status signals obtained from scanning the baseband channel information for a predetermined period of time; and

substitute the buffered baseband channel information for baseband channel information for the channel provided to a broadcast receiver when the commercial segment is detected.

28. A network comprising:

a broadband source comprising multiple channels of broadcast content;

a plurality of broadcast receivers coupled to the broadband source over the network;

a server located upstream of the receivers in the network, comprising;

a plurality of auxiliary tuners coupled to the broadband source to select and demodulate channels of broadcast content and to output baseband information for a plurality of channels;

a commercial detector coupled to the baseband information for the plurality of channels, the commercial detector to provide status signals to indicate whether commercial segments are running on anyone of the plurality of channels;

a channel buffer to provide a buffered feed of the baseband channel information for at least one of the plurality of channels; and

a switch to selectively couple the buffered feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel for transmission in a downstream feed to the plurality of broadcast receivers in response to the commercial status signal indicating the commercial segment is running on the at least one channel,

wherein if a beginning of the commercial segment is detected by the commercial detector, feed to the channel buffer is interrupted;

wherein if any of the commercial segments is inadvertently recorded to the channel buffer, which is indicated by the commercial status signal obtained from scanning the baseband channel information for a predetermined period of time, the buffered feed is rolled back to delete any inadvertently recorded commercial segments;

wherein a size of the channel buffer is varied to correspond to an average length of the commercial segments encountered for a particular channel and a particular time slot.

29. The network of claim 28, further comprising a controller to determine channel selections for the plurality of auxiliary tuners.

30. The network of claim 29, wherein the controller determines the at least one channel to select for transmission in the downstream feed to the plurality of broadcast receivers.

31. The network of claim 30, further comprising an upstream link between the broadcast receivers and the server to provide channel select information to the controller.

32. The network Of claim 28 wherein the commercial detector scans a plurality of channels to detect commercials.

33. The network of claim 28 further comprising a status register to store information on which channels are presently running commercials.

34. The network of claim 33 wherein the information from the status register is made available in the downstream feed to the plurality of broadcast receivers.

38. The network of claim 28, wherein the switch is configured to couple to said buffered feed in response to detecting a channel change to view a channel in which commercials are detected as indicated by the commercial status signal.

41. The network of claim 28, wherein the switch is configured to couple the buffered feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel to the plurality of broadcast receivers in response to the commercial status signal, and is further configured to couple a live feed of the baseband channel information for the at least one channel to the plurality of broadcast receivers in response to a lack of the commercial status signal.

35. A method for improved channel surfing, comprising;

buffering the program content for a plurality of broadcast channels to store in a channel buffer;

varying a buffer size to correspond to an average length of commercial segments encountered for a particular channel and a particular time slot;

scanning the broadcast channels for a predetermined period of time to detect the commercial segments;

storing channel status information;

interrupting storing of the program content if a beginning of the commercial segment is detected;

deleting any inadvertently commercial segments from the stored program content if any of the commercial segments is inadvertently recorded, which is indicated by a commercial status signal obtained from scanning the broadcast channels for a predetermined period of time; and

switching to the stored program content for a channel during channel surfing whenever status information indicates commercials are detected on the channel.

42. The method of claim 35, wherein said switching to the buffered program content comprises switching from a live feed to the buffered program content.