Parameterized services descriptor for advanced television services

• US 9,204,187 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2014
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Eyer, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): SCHNURR, JOHN R
• Application Number:
  US14/509,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20150026730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 419 Days
• Field of Search: 725/91, 725/114, 725/138
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/178 Metadata, e.g. disparity information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4823 using a channel name
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/816 involving special video data, e.g 3D video
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/83 Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring

Abstract

A method, computer program, reception apparatus, and information providing apparatus for accessing or providing access to content. The method includes receiving a transport stream from a content provider. A virtual channel table (VCT) is extracted from the transport stream. Further, a determination is made as to whether one or more services, corresponding to an entry included in the VCT, are supported by the reception apparatus based on one or more parameterized service descriptor (PSD) instances, which are associated with a predetermined Service Type and included in the VCT.

Claims

1. A reception apparatus, comprising:

circuitry configured to

receive a data stream including a virtual channel table (VCT), the VCT including a parameterized service descriptor (PSD), the PSD including a descriptor tag, a descriptor length, an application tag, and application data,

determine whether a value of the application tag included in the PSD is recognized, and

determine whether or not a mode of operation described in the PSD is supported when the value of the application tag is determined to be recognized, wherein

the application tag identifies an application associated with the application data, and

the descriptor tag is an integer that distinguishes the PSD from other descriptor types.

2. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the PSD is associated with a virtual channel having a service type value of 0x09.

3. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the VCT further includes a component list descriptor (CLD), the CLD having a bit-stream syntax that is different from a bit-stream syntax of the PSD, and

the circuitry is configured to determine whether one or more stream types included in the CLD is supported before determining whether the value of the application tag included in the PSD is recognized.

4. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to

determine that a virtual channel associated with the PSD is not supported based on a value of the descriptor length.

5. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to

receive a digital television signal that includes the data stream.

6. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the PSD includes the descriptor tag, the descriptor length, the application tag, and the application data in that order.

7. A method for accessing content, the method comprising:

receiving, by circuitry of a reception apparatus, a data stream including a virtual channel table (VCT), the VCT including a parameterized service descriptor (PSD), the PSD including a descriptor tag, a descriptor length, an application tag, and application data,

determining, by the circuitry, whether a value of the application tag included in the PSD is recognized, and

determining, by the circuitry, whether or not a mode of operation described in the PSD is supported when the value of the application tag is determined to be recognized, wherein

the application tag identifies an application associated with the application data, and

the descriptor tag is an integer that distinguishes the PSD from other descriptor types.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the PSD is associated with a virtual channel having a service type value of 0x09.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the VCT further includes a component list descriptor (CLD), the CLD having a bit-stream syntax that is different from a bit-stream syntax of the PSD, and the method further comprises:

determining, by the circuitry, whether one or more stream types included in the CLD is supported before determining whether the value of the application tag included in the PSD is recognized.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

determining that a virtual channel associated with the PSD is not supported based on a value of the descriptor length.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of receiving the data stream comprises:

receiving a digital television signal that includes the data stream.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for accessing content, the method comprising:

receiving a data stream including a virtual channel table (VCT), the VCT including a parameterized service descriptor (PSD), the PSD including a descriptor tag, a descriptor length, an application tag, and application data,

determining whether a value of the application tag included in the PSD is recognized, and

determining whether or not modes of operation described in the PSD are supported when the value of the application tag is determined to be recognized, wherein

the application tag identifies an application associated with the application data, and

the descriptor tag is an integer that distinguishes the PSD from other descriptor types.