Method and apparatus for employing stored content at receivers to improve efficiency of broadcast system bandwidth use
First Claim
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1. A method for generating an output signal at each of a plurality of receivers using a broadcast signal transmitted to the plurality of receivers in a digital broadcast system comprising the steps of:
- storing predefined content segments in a memory device associated with each of the plurality of receivers;
receiving said broadcast signal at each of the plurality of receivers, said broadcast signal being transmitted to the plurality of receivers with segments of program content and segments of control data for reception by the plurality of receivers, said control data in the received broadcast signal comprising a list of selected said predefined content segments to be retrieved from said memory device in each of the plurality of receivers;
accessing and retrieving selected said predefined content segments identified by said control data in the received broadcast signal from said memory device of at least some of the plurality of receivers; and
playing back the selected said predefined content segments in said output signal in accordance with said control data in the received broadcast signal using at least some of the plurality of receivers;
wherein said memory device at each of the plurality of receivers comprises index data with which to identify each of said predefined content segments stored therein, and said control data in the received broadcast signal comprises said index data corresponding to the list of selected said predefined content segments, said accessing step comprises the step of using said index data in said control data to retrieve said predefined content segments corresponding thereto from said memory device.
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Abstract
The invention relates generally to a receiver unit in a digital broadcast system for receiving a broadcast signal comprising content segments and control data, and generating an output signal using the content segments and previously stored content segments. The previously stored content segments are retrieved from a local memory device using the control data and inserted among the received content segments.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A method for generating an output signal at each of a plurality of receivers using a broadcast signal transmitted to the plurality of receivers in a digital broadcast system comprising the steps of:
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storing predefined content segments in a memory device associated with each of the plurality of receivers; receiving said broadcast signal at each of the plurality of receivers, said broadcast signal being transmitted to the plurality of receivers with segments of program content and segments of control data for reception by the plurality of receivers, said control data in the received broadcast signal comprising a list of selected said predefined content segments to be retrieved from said memory device in each of the plurality of receivers; accessing and retrieving selected said predefined content segments identified by said control data in the received broadcast signal from said memory device of at least some of the plurality of receivers; and playing back the selected said predefined content segments in said output signal in accordance with said control data in the received broadcast signal using at least some of the plurality of receivers; wherein said memory device at each of the plurality of receivers comprises index data with which to identify each of said predefined content segments stored therein, and said control data in the received broadcast signal comprises said index data corresponding to the list of selected said predefined content segments, said accessing step comprises the step of using said index data in said control data to retrieve said predefined content segments corresponding thereto from said memory device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification