Patent ID: 8843990

Claim:
A broadcast television receiver configured to perform switching between broadcast television programming and dedicated digital streams carrying personalized messages, the receiver comprising: a tuner operable to tune to a selected channel, from among a plurality of channels received by the receiver, and produce an intermediate frequency signal; a digital demodulator configured to receive and demodulate the intermediate frequency signal produced by the tuner to produce a digital signal; a digital demultiplexer configured to receive and demultiplex the digital signal output by the digital demodulator to produce an encoded digital video stream and an encoded digital audio stream; a first buffer configured to receive and output the encoded digital video stream produced by the digital demultiplexer; a second buffer configured to receive and output the encoded digital audio stream produced by the digital demultiplexer; a digital video decoder configured to receive the encoded digital video stream output by the first buffer and produce a decoded digital video stream; a digital audio decoder configured to receive the encoded digital audio stream output by the second buffer and produce a decoded digital audio stream; and a controller operable to control the operation of the receiver, wherein the controller is configured to automatically execute a channel change from a first channel to a second channel, wherein a first video frame, in presentation order, of the encoded digital video stream from the second channel is configured to have a reduced VBV delay; responsive to at least one of a cue-tone and a time-based switching instruction, the controller leaves at least one of the digital video decoder and the digital audio decoder playing: causing the tuner to switch from the first channel to the second channel while preventing output from the tuner from being presented by the receiver, and causing the first and second buffers to continue to output at least one of the encoded digital video stream and the encoded digital audio stream until the first and second buffers are empty, respectively, presenting at least one of the encoded digital video stream and the encoded digital audio stream via the receiver during the channel change: wherein the second channel is an MPEG-encoded digital channel comprising a control message, the control message being sent to the receiver prior to the execution of the channel change, the second channel configured such that, after the channel change is executed, the first buffer receives an encoded digital video stream from the second channel that begins with an MPEG I-frame.