Patent ID: 6215873
Filing Date: 2001-04-10
Classification: G06F,H04B,H04H,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
An apparatus comprising:a connector that is configured to connect said apparatus to an antenna device comprising an antenna capable of receiving a signal from a satellite, wherein the signal comprises a plurality of data streams, each of the plurality of data streams including identifying information that uniquely identifies the data stream and being encrypted so that the data stream is to be decrypted using a key selected in accordance with the identifying information;a tuner that is configured to receive a satellite signal from said connector and to perform tuning on the satellite signal;a demodulator that is configured to receive the tuned satellite signal from said tuner and to perform demodulation on the tuned satellite signal, thereby outputting a demodulated data stream;a forward error corrector that is configured to receive the demodulated data stream from said demodulator and to perform forward error correction on the demodulated data stream, thereby outputting a corrected data stream;a conditional access unit that is configured to determine whether or not a personal computer is authorized to receive a data stream of the plurality of data streams by comparing the identifying information of the corrected data stream to stored identifying information;a decryptor that is configured to, in accordance with the determination by said conditional access unit, receive the corrected data stream and to perform decryption upon encrypted frames within the corrected data stream, thereby outputting decrypted frames; andan interface that is configured to receive the decrypted frames from said decryptor and to output the decrypted frames to the personal computer for further processing.