Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7984478?dq=6,332,126
Timestamp: 2017-01-18 16:52:52
Document Index: 759620727

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 02820654', 'Application No. 02820654', 'Application No. 02820654', 'Application No. 2003', 'Application No. 2003', 'Application No. 2004', 'Application No. 2004']

Patent US7984478 - Method and apparatus for a receiver/decoder - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsA method and apparatus relating to a receiver/decoder in a digital television environment, including logical devices (including logical demultiplexer devices) for representing physical and other devices in the receiver/decoder. The method includes the instantiation of devices by the receiver/decoder...http://www.google.com/patents/US7984478?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7984478 - Method and apparatus for a receiver/decoderAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS7984478 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/487,276PCT numberPCT/IB2002/003782Publication dateJul 19, 2011Filing dateAug 21, 2002Priority dateAug 21, 2001Fee statusPaidAlso published asCN1572106A, CN100531295C, EP1304871A2, EP1304871A3, EP1421781A2, US20050144646, WO2003019931A2, WO2003019931A3Publication number10487276, 487276, PCT/2002/3782, PCT/IB/2/003782, PCT/IB/2/03782, PCT/IB/2002/003782, PCT/IB/2002/03782, PCT/IB2/003782, PCT/IB2/03782, PCT/IB2002/003782, PCT/IB2002/03782, PCT/IB2002003782, PCT/IB200203782, PCT/IB2003782, PCT/IB203782, US 7984478 B2, US 7984478B2, US-B2-7984478, US7984478 B2, US7984478B2InventorsFrancois Le Crom, Patrice Letourneur, Michel MaillardOriginal AssigneeCanal + Technologies Societe AnonymeExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (12), Non-Patent Citations (13), Referenced by (4), Classifications (70), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMethod and apparatus for a receiver/decoder
A receiver/decoder of this general type is described in international patent application number WO 99/40719, in the name of the present applicant. In the system described there, each function of the receiver/decoder is related to a device in the DLI. The DLI holds software representations of devices and provides a device manager which looks after interactions with the devices in use of the receiver/decoder. When devices are required to carry out a function, data passes between programs such as application instruction sequences and the devices. The device manager controls this routing by declaring each program as a “client” when it needs access to a device and assigns the program a client number which it adds to a client list for the duration of access by that program to the relevant device.
With reference to FIG. 5, the software/hardware architecture 3000 of the receiver/decoder contains five software layers, organized so that the software can be implemented in any receiver/decoder and with any operating system. The various software layers are application layer 3100, application programming interface (API) layer 3300, virtual machine layer 3500, device layer interface 3700 (often abbreviated just to ‘device layer’) and system software/hardware layer 3900.
The device layer interface 3700 includes a Device Manager and software devices (generally referred to herein as just ‘devices’). Devices are software modules which consist of the logical resources necessary for management of external events and physical interfaces. The device layer interface, under the control of the Device Manager, manages communication channels between drivers and applications and provides enhanced error exception checking. Some examples of managed (hardware) devices are: card readers 3722 (not shown), modems 3730 (not shown), network 3732. (not shown), PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association), LED display and so on. Programmers do not have to deal with this layer directly, since the API layer controls the devices from above.
Typically the virtual machine layer 3500, occasionally in combination with the device layer interface 3700 and/or API 3300, is referred to as the ‘middleware’ of the receiver/decoder.
In order to create greater flexibility and efficiency, each of the ‘software devices’ referred to elsewhere is created by a process of instantiation. In more detail, when the receiver/decoder 2000 is initialised or reinitialised, the device manager 3710 instantiates in turn each of the software devices—such as devices d0 6000 and d1 6002—by combining a general ‘device profile’ for each required device—such as the device profile d 6014—with instance-specific information (which may be no more than the instance identifier)—such as instantiation information 6016 or 6018.
In some cases, as will be described in more detail later, a particular functionality offered by a subset of a hardware device or a group of hardware devices is encapsulated in a single software device, providing a ‘logical’ software device without a physical equivalent. An example of this would be the logical demultiplexer, which is described later.
“Device: Call” procedures are used to give synchronous commands or effect data transfer. Execution of an application requesting this procedure is suspended during execution of the command or the data transfer. This allows operations which must be performed in strict sequence to be controlled reliably.
“Device: I/O” procedures provide for asynchronous operation. That is, an application can send a request for a data transfer or a particular function to be performed by a device, and execution of the requesting application continues while the data transfer or function is performed. When a requested result is available, an event is put in a queue by the device manager 3710 to signal its arrival.
“Device: Event” procedures provide a means of managing unexpected events, enabling events to be signalled to an application by a device. When a device makes such a call, the device manager 3710 loads an event item into a queue. The Event Manager 3546 of the virtual machine 3500 extracts event items according to a priority level allocated to each event item and inserts them into appropriate further queue structures specific to particular applications in the virtual machine 3500. When an application receives an event, it is interrupted and responds independently of the code it was executing at the time an event is signalled. Events may be used to notify something which has occurred on an interface, such as a bus reset, or can be used to notify a result in response to an asynchronous command for instance to signal completion of a requested data transfer.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS5724091 *May 18, 1995Mar 3, 1998Actv, Inc.Compressed digital data interactive program systemUS6144412 *Oct 15, 1997Nov 7, 2000Hitachi, Ltd.Method and circuit for signal processing of format conversion of picture signalUS20020067376 *Nov 28, 2001Jun 6, 2002Martin Christy R.Portal for a communications systemUS20020144010 *Mar 29, 2001Oct 3, 2002Honeywell International Inc.Communication handling in integrated modular avionicsUS20020145621 *Jan 30, 2002Oct 10, 2002Nguyen Nga MarieWeb browser and set top box interface system and methodUS20070214482 *Apr 13, 2001Sep 13, 2007Nguyen Nga MContextual web page system and methodCN1295756AFeb 3, 1999May 16, 2001卡纳尔股份有限公司Configuring method and deviceEP0935382A1Feb 4, 1998Aug 11, 1999CANAL+ Société AnonymeConfiguring method and deviceJP2000174722A Title not availableKR20010022200A Title not availableKR20010031004A Title not availableWO1999040719A1Feb 3, 1999Aug 12, 1999Canal+ Societe AnonymeConfiguring method and device* Cited by examinerNon-Patent CitationsReference1"Functional Model of a Conditional Access System", EBU Review Technical, European Broadcasting Union. Brussels, BE, No. 266, Dec. 21, 1995, pp. 64-77.2Chinese Office Action for Application No. 02820654.1, mailed on Jun. 13, 2008 (10 pages).3Chinese Office Action for Application No. 02820654.1, mailed on Nov. 7, 2008 (10 pages).4Chinese Office Action for Application No. 02820654.1, mailed on Oct. 14, 2005 (10 pages).5International Search Report issued in PCT/IB02/03782, mailed on Apr. 7, 2003 (2 pages).6Japanese Office Action for Application No. 2003-524252, mailed on Jul. 29, 2008 (7 pages).7Japanese Office Action for Application No. 2003-524252, mailed on May 22, 2007 (6 pages).8Korean Office Action for Application No. 2004-7002527, mailed on Feb. 27, 2009 (9 pages).9Korean Office Action for Application No. 2004-7002527, mailed on Nov. 30, 2009 (5 pages).10Olu Akiwumi-Assani et al., "Multi-media Terminal Architecture", Philips J. Res. vol. 50, No. 1/2, 1996, pp. 169-184.11Patent Abstracts of Japan for Japanese Publication No. 2000-174722, publication date Jun. 23, 2000 (1 page).12Shigeru Yoshida, "Digital Broadcast Receiver", information processing, corporate juridical person-information processing academic society, Nov. 15, 2000, vol. 41, No. 11, pp. 1251-1255.13Shigeru Yoshida, "Digital Broadcast Receiver", information processing, corporate juridical person—information processing academic society, Nov. 15, 2000, vol. 41, No. 11, pp. 1251-1255.Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS8547995 *Nov 22, 2010Oct 1, 2013Barox Kommunikation AgHigh definition video/audio data over IP networksUS20090144766 *Dec 3, 2008Jun 4, 2009Joon Young JungMethod and apparatus for multi-stream processing of set top box in downloadable conditional access systemUS20110122877 *Nov 22, 2010May 26, 2011Barox Kommunikation AgHigh definition video/audio data over ip networksUS20120051541 *Oct 26, 2010Mar 1, 2012Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.Method and system for providing conditional access in broadcasting network* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification725/151, 725/152, 725/139International ClassificationH04N5/445, H04N7/50, H04N5/92, H04N7/24, G11B27/32, H04N7/167, H04N5/76, H04N7/081, G11B27/00, H04N7/26, H04N5/783, H04N9/804, G11B27/10, H04N5/44, H04N7/16, H04N5/781, H04N7/08, H04N5/00Cooperative ClassificationH04N19/61, H04N19/42, H04N9/8042, H04N21/84, H04N21/812, H04N21/4331, H04N5/781, H04N5/445, H04N7/1675, H04N21/434, H04N21/4532, H04N5/783, H04N21/6543, H04N7/165, H04N5/4401, G11B27/105, G11B2220/20, H04N5/76, H04N21/458, G11B27/329, H04N21/8455, H04N21/4431, H04N21/454, G11B27/005, H04N21/4263, H04N21/4437, H04N21/478European ClassificationG11B27/00V, H04N5/44N, H04N5/445, G11B27/10A1, G11B27/32D2, H04N7/16E3, H04N7/167D, H04N7/26L, H04N5/76, H04N7/50, H04N21/443A, H04N21/443V, H04N21/45M3, H04N21/454, H04N21/433C, H04N21/84, H04N21/426B3, H04N21/458, H04N21/81C, H04N21/6543, H04N21/845P, H04N21/434Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionFeb 28, 2005ASAssignmentOwner name: THOMSON LICENSING S.A., FRANCEFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LE CROM, FRANCOIS;LETOURNEUR, PATRICE;MAILLARD, MICHEL;REEL/FRAME:016349/0847;SIGNING DATES FROM 20030330 TO 20030410Owner name: THOMSON LICENSING S.A., FRANCEFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LE CROM, FRANCOIS;LETOURNEUR, PATRICE;MAILLARD, MICHEL;SIGNING DATES FROM 20030330 TO 20030410;REEL/FRAME:016349/0847Oct 6, 2005ASAssignmentOwner name: CANAL + TECHNOLOGIES SOCIETE ANONYME, FRANCEFree format text: CORRECTED TO CORRECT THE ASSIGNEE NAME PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 016349 FRAME 0847.;ASSIGNORS:LECROM, FRANCOIS;LETOURNEUR, PATRICE;MAILLARD, MICHEL;REEL/FRAME:017196/0302;SIGNING DATES FROM 20030330 TO 20030410Owner name: CANAL + TECHNOLOGIES SOCIETE ANONYME, FRANCEFree format text: CORRECTED TO CORRECT THE ASSIGNEE NAME PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 016349 FRAME 0847;ASSIGNORS:LECROM, FRANCOIS;LETOURNEUR, PATRICE;MAILLARD, MICHEL;SIGNING DATES FROM 20030330 TO 20030410;REEL/FRAME:017196/0302Apr 25, 2006ASAssignmentOwner name: CANAL + TECHNOLOGIES SOCIETE ANONYME, FRANCEFree format text: CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE FIRST ASSIGNOR S AND EXECUTION DATE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL 017196, FRAME 0302;ASSIGNORS:LECROM, FRANCOIS;LETOURNEUR, PATRICE;MAILLARD, MICHEL;REEL/FRAME:017838/0888;SIGNING DATES FROM 20030330 TO 20030410Owner name: CANAL + TECHNOLOGIES SOCIETE ANONYME, FRANCEFree format text: CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE FIRST ASSIGNOR S AND EXECUTION DATE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL 017196, FRAME 0302;ASSIGNORS:LECROM, FRANCOIS;LETOURNEUR, PATRICE;MAILLARD, MICHEL;SIGNING DATES FROM 20030330 TO 20030410;REEL/FRAME:017838/0888Dec 15, 2014FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services