METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING DELAYS DUE TO CHANNEL CHANGES

• US 20080115182A1
• Filed: 10/30/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: van Willigenburg, Willem
• Granted Patent: US 9,154,844 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4384 involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• 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

Abstract

The invention includes a method and apparatus for providing programs to a client device. The method includes providing a first video program stream over a first channel where the first video program stream conveys a first video program having a first quality level, and providing a plurality of second video program streams over a second channel where each of the second video program streams conveys a second video program having a second quality level below the first quality level. The first video program stream and second video program streams are adapted for use by the client device in locally switching from presenting the first video program at the first quality level to presenting a selected one of the second video programs at the second quality level.

Claims

1. A method for providing programs to a client device, comprising:

providing a first video program stream over a first channel, the first video program stream conveying a first video program having a first quality level; and

providing a plurality of second video program streams over a second channel, each of the second video program streams conveying a second video program having a second quality level below the first quality level;

wherein said first video program stream and said second video program streams are adapted for use by the client device in locally switching from presenting the first video program at the first quality level to presenting a selected one of the second video programs at the second quality level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the second video program streams over the second channel comprises:

identifying a profile using a request received from the client device;

determining a plurality of preferred channels from the profile; and

obtaining the second video programs according to the preferred channels.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the client device, a request for the selected one of the second video programs;

obtaining the selected one of the second video programs; and

providing said selected one of the second video programs to said client device using a third video program stream, said third video program stream being provided over said first channel, said third video program being provided at the first quality level.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating preference information associated with the client device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the preference information is updated in response to at least one of a local determination of a change of at least a portion of the preference information or a communication received from the client device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first quality level comprises one of a high-definition television format or a standard-definition television format;

wherein, if the first quality level comprises the high-definition television format, the second quality level comprises one of the standard-definition television format or a below-standard definition television format;

or

wherein, if the first quality level comprises the standard-definition television format, the second quality level comprises the below-standard definition television format.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the below-standard definition television format comprises a grayscale format.

8. An apparatus for providing programs to a client device, comprising:

means for providing a first video program stream over a first channel, the first video program stream conveying a first video program having a first quality level; and

means for providing a plurality of second video program streams over a second channel, each of the second video program streams conveying a second video program having a second quality level below the first quality level;

wherein said first video program stream and said second video program streams are adapted for use by the client device in locally switching from presenting the first video program at the first quality level to presenting a selected one of the second video programs at the second quality level.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the means for providing the second video program streams over the second channel comprises:

means for identifying a profile using a request received from the client device;

means for determining a plurality of preferred channels from the profile; and

means for obtaining the second video programs according to the preferred channels.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

means for receiving, from the client device, a request for the selected one of the second video programs;

means for obtaining the selected one of the second video programs; and

means for providing said selected one of the second video programs to said client device using a third video program stream, said third video program stream being provided over said first channel, said third video program being provided at the first quality level.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

means for updating preference information associated with the client device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the preference information is updated in response to at least one of a local determination of a change of at least a portion of the preference information or a communication received from the client device.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first quality level comprises one of a high-definition television format or a standard-definition television format;

wherein, if the first quality level comprises the high-definition television format, the second quality level comprises one of the standard-definition television format or a below-standard definition television format;

or

wherein, if the first quality level comprises the standard-definition television format, the second quality level comprises the below-standard definition television format.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the below-standard definition television format comprises a grayscale format.

15. A method of receiving video programs at a client device, comprising:

receiving, over a first channel, a first video program stream conveying a first video program at a first quality level;

receiving, over a second channel, a plurality of second video program streams conveying a respective plurality of second video programs at a second quality level below the first quality level;

in response to a channel change operation by which a user selects one of the second video program streams, locally switching from presenting the first video program at the first quality level to presenting, at the second quality level, the second video program conveyed by the selected one of the second video programs.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting a channel change request toward a video server in response to a channel selection operation.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the channel selection operation is initiated in response to one of a manual selection of the selected one of the second video programs by a user using an input component associated with the client device or an automatic selection of the selected one of the second video programs in response to a determination that the selected one of the second video programs is presented at the client device for a threshold length of time.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting preference information toward a video server, wherein the preference information comprises a television channel preferred by a user associated with the client device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the television channel preferred by the user associated with the client device is determined in response to one of a manual selection of the preferred television channel by the user or an automatic determination by the client device that the television channel is preferred by the user.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the first quality level comprises one of a high-definition television format or a standard-definition television format;

wherein, if the first quality level comprises the high-definition television format, the second quality level comprises one of the standard-definition television format or a below-standard definition television format;

or

wherein, if the first quality level comprises the standard-definition television format, the second quality level comprises the below-standard definition television format.