Television decoding unit with multiple wireless access modules

• US 8,955,008 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2012
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nagravision SA (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: Nagravision SA (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: Wendling, Bertrand
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hicks, Charles N
• Application Number:
  US13/433,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20120185893A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 725 22- 30
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4181 for conditional access
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

The present invention proposes a system comprising a television decoding unit and a plurality of access modules, said access modules comprising wireless communication means with the television decoding unit, a memory comprising an identification of said module, said television decoding unit comprising means for detecting the presence and to receive the identification of an access module, means to apply a filter on events displayed on the television unit, said filter being defined with pre-defined filter category attached to the identification, and means to record the events consumption while the access module is detected by the television unit.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a television decoding unit configured to receive broadcast events, wherein the broadcast events are encrypted, and wherein the television decoding unit is configured to decrypt the broadcast events using at least one key;

a display unit configured to display the received broadcast events; and

a plurality of wireless access modules, wherein each of the wireless access modules comprises a wireless communicator and a memory comprising an identification of the module;

wherein the system further comprises a wireless communication unit configured to detect a presence of a wireless access module within a detection area, and to receive the identification of the wireless access module within the detection area, wherein the television decoding unit is further configured to apply a filter on broadcast events displayed on the display unit, wherein the filter is associated with a pre-defined filter category corresponding to the identification, and wherein the detection area is predetermined with respect to the display unit; and

wherein the wireless access module comprises a conditional access module configured to receive control messages related to the broadcast events, to decrypt the control messages, and to return the at least one key allowing the decryption of the broadcast events by the television decoding unit.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit comprises the wireless communication unit.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the television decoding unit comprises the wireless communication unit and the television decoding unit is attached to the display unit.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the television decoding unit is further configured to enforce a viewing policy based on watching time.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless access module comprises a passive electronic tag.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication unit is further configured to detect simultaneously the presence of a plurality of access modules, and wherein the television decoding unit is further configured to elect one access module among the detected access modules according to predefined criteria, and to configure the filter with the pre-defined filter category corresponding to the elected access module.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the television decoding unit is configured to switch to a power-down mode when no access modules are detected.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the memory comprises an initial credit and a current credit pertaining to the detected access module, wherein the current credit represents watching units per time period, wherein the memory further comprises at least two weighting values representing watching units per unit time, wherein the first weighting value is applied while the television decoding unit is facilitating the display of broadcast events for a first category and the second weighting value is applied while the television decoding unit is facilitating the display of broadcast events for a second category, and wherein the television decoding unit is further configured to decrement the current credit according to the first of the second weighting values, to reload the current credit with the initial credit in response to the time period completing, and to interrupt the display of broadcast events when the current credit is depleted.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the television decoding unit comprises a first television decoding unit, wherein the system further comprises a second television decoding unit, wherein the first and second television decoding units are communicatively coupled to a broadcast system in charge of broadcasting the events, wherein the first television decoding unit is configured to send a suspend command to the broadcast system in response to the selected access module leaving the detection area of the first television decoding unit, and wherein the second television decoding unit is configured to send a resume command to the broadcast system in response to the selected access module joining the detection area of the second television decoding unit.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the television decoding unit comprises a first television decoding unit, wherein the system further comprises a second television decoding unit, wren the first and second television decoding units are communicatively coupled to a broadcast system in charge of broadcasting the events, wherein the first television decoding unit is configured to store a current channel broadcasted in response to the access module leaving the detection area of the first television decoding unit, wherein the second television decoding unit is configured to retrieve the current channel broadcasted while the access module is detected within the detection area of the second television decoding unit, and wherein the second television decoding unit is configured to read the current channel relating to the detected access module and to assign the current channel to the second television decoding unit.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the first and the second television decoding units are communicatively coupled to a local network, and wherein the current channel of the access module is transmitted from the first to the second television decoding unit via the local network.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the first and the second television decoding units are further configured to write data into the access module, wherein the first television decoding unit is configured to write the current channel into the access module, and wherein the second television decoding unit is configured to read the current channel from the access module.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications means is configured to operate according to an ISO/IEC 18092 standard.