System and method for transmitting digital multimedia data with analog broadcast data

• US 8,396,100 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2002
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iBiquity Digital Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Impulse Radio, Inc.
• Inventors: Wells, Bryce, Signorelli, Paul, Hunter, Lee, Snyder, Terrance, Corts, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Washburn, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ghulamali, Qutbuddin
• Application Number:
  US10/484,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20050100113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,891 Days
• Field of Search: 375/265, 375/269, 375/341, 705/40
• US Class Current: 375/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/18 Arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/30 by a single channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/72 of terrestrial networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/183 FM digital or hybrid
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/20 digital audio broadcasting [DAB]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/23 using cryptography, e.g. encryption, authentication, key distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/74 using programme related information, e.g. title, composer or interpreter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/04 Speed or phase control by synchronisation signals H04L7/0075 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/241 Operating system [OS] processes, e.g. server setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25816 involving client authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• 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 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6583 Acknowledgement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 : involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 : specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 : Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 : using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 : Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 : Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 : Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 : with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A method and system for the transmission of digital data (210) over existing analog radio frequencies (230) is presented, wherein the digital data may include audio data, visual data or audio-visual data for presentation either with analog broadcast data or at a selectable time. The digital data may be transmitted over a plurality of sub-channels that have varying degrees or reliability (250). A “quality-of-service” process manages the transmission of digital data over various sub-channels based on the reliability of the sub-channel, the amount of digital data and the type of digital data to be transmitted. The digital data may further be encrypted and authenticated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a set of audio data to be sent to a receiver using an RF channel as part of a one-way audio broadcast;

identifying digital data corresponding to the set of audio data;

transmitting a first packet to the receiver using an in-band, on-channel format as part of the one-way audio broadcast, wherein the first packet comprises a first header comprising a start recording cue;

transmitting at least one intermediate packet comprising a payload for later playback, wherein the payload is recorded by the receiver;

transmitting a second packet to the receiver, wherein the second packet comprises a second header comprising an end recording cue; and

transmitting a third packet to the receiver, wherein the third packet comprises a synchronization cue that triggers playback of the payload previously recorded.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying digital data corresponding to the set of audio data comprises identifying multimedia information for display on the receiver.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the payload comprises multimedia information for display on the receiver.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the set of audio data to the receiver using the RF channel as part of the one-way audio broadcast.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining authentication data for allowing the receiver to authenticate one or more of the packets.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising transmitting the authentication data to the receiver.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the authentication data includes at least one of a time stamp and nonce information.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising encrypting one or more of the packets with a public key.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a file size of one or more of the packets.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising selecting at least one RF carrier of a central analog frequency based on the file size.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising transmitting on the at least one RF carrier.

12. A method comprising:

receiving a first packet at a receiver using an in-band, on-channel format as part of a one-way audio broadcast, wherein the first packet comprises a first header comprising a start recording cue;

receiving at the receiver at least one intermediate packet comprising a payload for later playback;

recording the payload at the receiver;

receiving a second packet at the receiver, wherein the second packet comprises a second header comprising an end recording cue;

stopping recording of the payload;

receiving a third packet at the receiver, wherein the third packet comprises a synchronization cue that triggers playback of the previously recorded payload; and

playing the payload.

13. A system comprising:

a control system adapted to;

identify a set of audio data to be sent to a receiver using an RF channel as part of a one-way audio broadcast; and

identify digital data corresponding to the set of audio data; and

a transmitter adapted to;

transmit a first packet to the receiver using an in-band, on-channel format as part of the one-way audio broadcast, wherein the first packet comprises a first header comprising a start recording cue;

transmit at least one intermediate packet comprising a payload for later playback, wherein the payload is recorded by the receiver;

transmit a second packet to the receiver, wherein the second packet comprises a second header comprising an end recording cue; and

transmit a third packet to the receiver, wherein the third packet comprises a synchronization cue that triggers playback of the previously recorded payload.

14. A receiver comprising:

an antenna;

receiver circuitry;

a speaker for outputting an audio signal;

a display for outputting multimedia content; and

a control system adapted to;

process a first packet received through the antenna and receiver circuitry using an in-band, on-channel format as part of a one-way audio broadcast, wherein the first packet comprises a first header comprising a start recording cue;

process at least one intermediate packet comprising a payload for later playback, wherein the at least one intermediate packet was received through the antenna and receiver circuitry;

record the payload at the receiver;

process a second packet received through the antenna and receiver circuitry, wherein the second packet comprises a second header comprising an end recording cue;

stop recording of the payload;

process a third packet received through the antenna and receiver circuitry, wherein the third packet comprises a synchronization cue that triggers playback of the previously recorded payload; and

playing the payload to an end user through at least one of the speakers and display.

15. A receiver comprising:

a user interface comprising;

a speaker adapted to play a one-way audio broadcast;

an output adapted to present multimedia content to a user; and

one or more input devices adapted to receive input from the user; and

a control system operatively coupled to the user interface and adapted to;

receive the one-way audio broadcast through an RF channel;

process the one-way audio broadcast into a set of broadcast data to be presented to the user through the speaker;

process the one-way audio broadcast to extract digital data from an in-band, on-channel signal;

evaluate the digital data to extract a trigger event and multimedia content;

detect a user-initiated trigger corresponding to the trigger event; and

present the multimedia content to the user through the output in response to detection of the trigger.

16. The receiver of claim 15 wherein the output comprises a display, and the control system is adapted to present the multimedia content to the user at least in part through the display.

17. The receiver of claim 15 wherein the output comprises the speaker, and the control system is adapted to present the multimedia content to the user at least in part through the speaker.

18. A receiver comprising:

a user interface comprising;

a speaker adapted to play a one-way audio broadcast;

an output adapted to present multimedia content to a user; and

one or more input devices adapted to receive input from the user; and

a control system operatively coupled to the user interface and adapted to;

receive the one-way audio broadcast through an RF channel;

receive a data packet through an in-band, on-channel format, the data packet comprising;

digital data; and

event data;

extract the digital data and the event data from the data packet;

playback the one-way audio broadcast through the speaker; and

present the digital data to the user through the output in response to occurrence of a trigger event corresponding to the event data such that the event is used to synchronize the digital data with the one-way audio broadcast.