Extended connectivity point-of-deployment apparatus and concomitant method thereof
First Claim
1. A point-of-deployment (POD) module apparatus, comprising:
- a housing;
a coaxial cable connector disposed on the housing and connectable to a first communication network to receive a cable signal therefrom;
a module unit to receive the cable signal and a wireless signal from a second communication network and to generate therefrom at least one of a copy-protected video signal and a copy-protected audio signal;
a connector disposed on the housing and mechanically separable from a corresponding connector on a third device and through which to transmit the at least one of the copy-protected video signal and the copy-protected audio signal to the third device such that at least one of an image and a sound corresponding to the at least one of the copy-protected video signal and the copy-protected audio signal is presented on the third device; and
a port disposed in the housing to receive the wireless signal from the second communication network and being communicatively operable with at least one of;
a local-area computer network as the second communication network through which to receive a computer generated signal as the wireless signal;
an Internet as the second communication network through which to receive network data as the wireless signal;
a wireless communication network as the second communication network through which to receive a remote control signal as the wireless signal to control the module unit and the third device;
a radio station network as the second communication network through which to receive a radio signal as the wireless signal; and
a serial communication network as the second communication network through which to receive video and audio signals as the wireless signal.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A POD module system includes a housing, a coaxial cable connector formed on the housing and connectable to a first device to receive a cable signal, a port formed on the housing to receive a wire or wireless signal from a second device, a module unit to process at least one of the cable signal and the at least one of the wireless signal to generate at least one of a copy protection signal and one of video and audio signals, respectively, and a connector formed on the housing and connectable to a third device to transmit the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of video and audio signals to the third device such that the third device generates at least one of an image and a sound to correspond to the at least one of the copy protection signal and the one of video and audio signals.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A point-of-deployment (POD) module apparatus, comprising:
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a housing; a coaxial cable connector disposed on the housing and connectable to a first communication network to receive a cable signal therefrom; a module unit to receive the cable signal and a wireless signal from a second communication network and to generate therefrom at least one of a copy-protected video signal and a copy-protected audio signal; a connector disposed on the housing and mechanically separable from a corresponding connector on a third device and through which to transmit the at least one of the copy-protected video signal and the copy-protected audio signal to the third device such that at least one of an image and a sound corresponding to the at least one of the copy-protected video signal and the copy-protected audio signal is presented on the third device; and a port disposed in the housing to receive the wireless signal from the second communication network and being communicatively operable with at least one of;
a local-area computer network as the second communication network through which to receive a computer generated signal as the wireless signal;
an Internet as the second communication network through which to receive network data as the wireless signal;
a wireless communication network as the second communication network through which to receive a remote control signal as the wireless signal to control the module unit and the third device;
a radio station network as the second communication network through which to receive a radio signal as the wireless signal; and
a serial communication network as the second communication network through which to receive video and audio signals as the wireless signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A point-of-deployment (POD) module, comprising:
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a decrypter to decrypt an incoming media stream in accordance with a first code; a receiver to receive multimedia data from an external media server; a hard disk drive to store the decrypted media stream and the received multimedia data; a media switch coupled to the hard disk drive to retrieve therefrom the stored media stream and the stored multimedia data; a processor to perform multimedia time warping on the retrieved media stream; an encrypter to encrypt the time-warped media stream; and an interface connector through which to transmit the encrypted media stream and the retrieved multimedia data to a host device, the interface connector mechanically separable from a corresponding interface connector on the host device. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A point-of-deployment (POD) presentation system, comprising:
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a media server to provide access-protected multimedia data; a presentation device to present accessible multimedia data in a manner perceptible by a human user; a processor in the presentation device to generate the perceptible multimedia data from encoded multimedia data provided thereto; a wireless transceiver mechanically separable from the presentation device at an electrical interface connector to receive the access-protected multimedia data from the media server over a wireless communication channel; and a media processor in electrical communication with the wireless transceiver and with the processor in the presentation device through the electrical connector to decrypt the access-protected multimedia data received over the wireless communication channel and to produce therefrom the encoded multimedia data, and to provide the encoded multimedia data to the processor in the presentation device through the electrical interface connector; and a peripheral device in communication with the wireless transceiver through a second wireless communication channel. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A point-of-deployment (POD) apparatus to descramble audio/video (A/V) data for presentation on a host device, the POD apparatus comprising:
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an electrical connector to provide a communication path to the host device when mechanically coupled to a corresponding connector thereof; a communication port selectively separable from the host device at the electrical connector through which to receive scrambled A/V data from a source other than the host device and through which to receive multimedia data from a media server over a communication channel; and a data processing system selectively separable from the host device at the electrical connector to descramble the scrambled A/V data, to encode the descrambled A/V data into a format compatible with the presentation capabilities of the host device, to retrieve the multimedia data from the media server responsive to a corresponding user command, to encode the retrieved multimedia data into the format compatible with the presentation capabilities of the host device, and to selectively transmit the encoded A/V data and the encoded multimedia data to the host device through the electrical connector. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42)
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43. A point-of-deployment (POD) apparatus to descramble audio/video (A/V) data for presentation on a host device, the POD apparatus comprising:
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an electrical connector to provide a communication path to the host device when mechanically coupled to a complementary connector thereof; a communication port through which to receive scrambled A/V data encoded in an inband signal channel, to receive incoming auxiliary data encoded in an out-of-band (OOB) channel and to transmit outgoing auxiliary data in the OOB channel; a control port selectively separable from the host device at the electrical connector to receive user command data associated with the inband channel; an OOB transceiver selectively separable from the host device at the electrical connector to decode the incoming auxiliary data and to encode the outgoing auxiliary data; a data processing system selectively separable from the host device at the electrical connector to generate user interface data in accordance with the incoming auxiliary data, to transmit the user interface data to the host device in a format compatible with the presentation capabilities thereof, to receive the command data from the control port responsive to user manipulation of the transmitted user interface data, to format the outgoing auxiliary data in accordance with the command data, to encode the descrambled A/V data into the format compatible with the presentation capabilities of the host device, and to transmit the descrambled A/V data to the host device. - View Dependent Claims (44)
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45. A method of retrieving media data through a point-of-delivery (POD) module for presentation on a host device, the method comprising:
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establishing an electrical interface between the host device and the POD module; receiving encrypted program content data from a program content server; decrypting the received program content file upon a positive determination that receipt thereof is authorized by the program content server; discovering at least one media server on at least one communication network; negotiating a communication session between the POD module and the media server; generating a graphical user interface (GUI) listing the decrypted program content file and the media files stored on the media server; transmitting the generated GUI from the POD module through the electrical interface to the host device; selecting the decrypted program content file or a media file from the listing of media files via the transmitted GUI; retrieving the selected media file from the media server through at least one command compliant with the communication session; and transmitting a selected one of the retrieved media file and the decrypted program content data from the POD module through the electrical interface to the host device. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification