Patent ID: 8272066

Claim:
A method for reducing unauthorized usage in a television distribution system, the method comprising: receiving an audio/video stream at a first television receiver of a television distribution system, the audio/video stream communicated via a content transmission network; exchanging communications between the first television receiver and a plurality of base stations of a wireless communication network that is different than the content transmission network, the first television receiver associated with a subscriber account, wherein exchanging communications involves the first television receiver receiving signals from each of the plurality of base stations; the first television receiver measuring signal strengths and/or angles of reception for the signals received from the plurality of base stations to triangulate and identify a location of the first television receiver; the first television receiver transmitting location information regarding the location of the television receiver through the wireless communication network to a data collection system, and the first television receiver transmitting aggregated data with the location information through the wireless communication network, the aggregated data regarding audio/video content output by the first television receiver and regarding general operating conditions of the first television receiver, the data collection system determining that the first television receiver and one or more second television receivers associated with the same subscriber account are disparately located based on the location information; and receiving a command, at one or more of the television receivers, the command modifying the access parameters used for the reception of programming by the television receiver.