Methods and apparatus for frequency agile band-pass filtering of broadcast signals

• US 8,370,890 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2008
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Brian, Medina, Douglas, Coppa, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheleheda, James R
• Application Number:
  US12/175,922
• Publication Number:
  US 20100017835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,663 Days
• Field of Search: 725/127, 725/119, 348/683
• US Class Current: 725/127
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/06 among broadcast stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/12 Arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42607 for processing the incoming bitstream
• 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 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for frequency agile band-pass filtering of broadcast signals are disclosed. An example method to receive a broadcast signal for distribution to a plurality of reception sites disclosed herein comprises processing the broadcast signal with a frequency agile band-pass filter to receive the broadcast signal at a headend site for distribution to the plurality of reception sites, monitoring reception quality of the broadcast signal at an operating center separate from the headend site and included in the plurality of reception sites, and sending commands to the frequency agile band-pass filter from the operating center based on the monitored reception quality of the broadcast signal, the commands controlling at least a tuned operating frequency of and an attenuation provided by the frequency agile band-pass filter.

Claims

1. A media broadcasting system comprising:

a headend comprising a frequency agile band-pass filter to receive a media broadcast signal comprising a plurality of channels for distribution to a plurality of reception sites; and

an operating center to monitor reception quality of at least some of the plurality of channels included in the media broadcast signal and to send a first set of commands over a communication network to the frequency agile band-pass filter to tune to and attenuate a first channel when the first channel is determined to be experiencing a degradation of reception quality determined to be caused by at least one of co-channel or adjacent channel interference, the operating center to remotely command a switch at the headend to replace a first output signal from a first receiver providing the first channel for distribution to the plurality of reception sites with a second output signal from a second receiver processing an output of the frequency agile band-pass filter, the operating center to send a subsequent second set of commands over the communication network to the frequency agile band-pass filter to override attenuation processing invoked by the first set of commands and cause the attenuation processing by the frequency agile band-pass filter to be bypassed to receive the first channel when the degradation of reception quality is further determined to be caused by fading in addition to the at least one of co-channel or adjacent channel interference.

2. A media broadcasting system as defined in claim 1 wherein the operating center is to determine that the first channel is experiencing degradation caused by the at least one of co-channel or adjacent channel interference when at least one of a monitoring system or an operator detects an overlap of two video signals in a video display corresponding to the first channel.

3. A media broadcasting system as defined in claim 1 wherein operating center is to determine that the first channel is experiencing degradation caused by fading when at least one of a monitoring system or an operator detects pixelation in a video display corresponding to the first channel.

4. A media broadcasting system as defined in claim 1 wherein the headend further comprises a plurality of frequency agile band-pass filters tunable independently to at least a subset of the plurality of channels.