Digital broadcasting receiver, method for controlling digital broadcasting receiver, server, method for controlling server, and computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10129588-B2
Application number	US-201414906152-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2014
Priority date	Jul 19, 2013
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A digital broadcast receiver transmits a request for discovery information to a discovery information server, the request including receiver profile information associated with the current state of the digital broadcast receiver. The server identifies, on the basis of the receiver profile information, additional services that are available over an IP with a digital broadcasting receiver, and transmits discovery information for the additional services to the receiver. Then, the digital broadcast receiver determines a receiver channel number in order to locate the additional service at a channel guide on the basis of the received discovery information and logical channel numbers that are assigned to a plurality of broadcast services by a broadcast provider, and generates a channel guide by including the additional services in the determined receiver channel number and the plurality of broadcast services of the respective receiver channel numbers corresponding to the logical channel numbers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a digital broadcasting receiver, the method comprising:
identifying a plurality of Receiver Channel Numbers (RCNs) corresponding to Logical Channel Numbers (LCNs) respectively, the LCNs being respectively assigned to a plurality of linear broadcast services;
transmitting a request for discovery information for a non-linear service to which an LCN is not assigned;
receiving the discovery information comprising a default LCN for the non-linear service and information on an alternative LCN for the non-linear service;
based on a conflict between the default LCN for the non-linear service and the LCNs respectively assigned to the plurality of linear broadcast services, identifying another LCN for the non-linear service based on the information on the alternative LCN;
identifying an RCN of the non-linear service based on the another LCN for the non-linear service and the LCNs respectively assigned to the plurality of linear broadcast services; and
obtaining a channel guide comprising the non-linear service and the plurality of linear broadcast services which are displayed in respective RCNs,
wherein the plurality of linear broadcast services is broadcast linearly in a predetermined order and at a predetermined time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request comprises receiver profile information relating to a current state of the digital broadcasting receiver.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving entry point server information through a broadcast stream; and
locating an entry point server based on the received entry point server information,
wherein the transmitting the request for discovery information comprises transmitting the request to the entry point server.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the profile information comprises at least one of region information identifying a geographical region in which the receiver is currently located, language setting information identifying a current language setting of the receiver, a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Original Network Identifier (ONID), one or more DVB mode identifiers (modeIDs) defining types of channels to be included in the channel list, product identification information identifying a manufacturer and a model of the receiver, version information identifying a software version currently installed on the receiver, and parental control information defining an acceptable age rating.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the discovery information defines an age rating for content provided by the non-linear service, and
the method further comprises:
determining whether the content provided by the non-linear service is acceptable under a current parental control setting of the receiver, by comparing an age rating defined for the non-linear service to an acceptable age rating defined by the parental control information,
wherein the non-linear service is included in the channel guide only in response to a determination that the content is acceptable.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the receiver is a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) receiver.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the discovery information is received as a Service Discovery and Selection (SD&S) discovery record including a payload identifier ID,
wherein the payload ID has a value indicating that the received SD&S discovery record relates to a static event.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discovery information comprises LCN group information defining a plurality of LCN groups for a plurality of non-linear services including the non-linear service,
wherein each LCN group comprises a plurality of different alternative LCNs for the plurality of services,
and the method further comprises:
selecting one of the plurality of LCN groups by selecting an LCN group in which all the RCNs corresponding to the LCNs from the LCN group are available,
wherein the plurality of services are included in the channel guide at the respective RCNs corresponding to the LCNs from the selected LCN group.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the discovery information comprises neighboring LCN information defining a range of LCNs,
wherein the different LCN is selected by selecting an available LCN within the defined range, and
wherein the available LCN is an LCN for which a corresponding RCN is available.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the discovery information further defines at least one of a list including a plurality of alternative LCNs and a list including a plurality of neighboring LCN ranges in response to a determination that there are no available RCNs corresponding to the LCNs within the defined range,
and the method further comprises:
repeatedly checking at least one of whether a RCN corresponding to a next alternative LCN in the list is available and whether a RCN corresponding to any LCN in a next defined range in the list is available; and
selecting the available RCN for the non-linear service when an available RCN corresponding to the alternative LCN or neighboring LCN is found.

11. A digital broadcasting receiver comprising:
at least one processor configured to identify a plurality of Receiver Channel Numbers (RCNs) corresponding to Logical Channel Numbers (LCNs) respectively, the LCNs being respectively assigned to a plurality of linear broadcast services;
a discovery request transmitter arranged to transmit a request for discovery information for a non-linear service to which an LCN is not assigned; and
a discovery information receiver arranged to receive the discovery information comprising a default LCN for the non-linear service and information on an alternative LCN for the non-linear service,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
based on a conflict between the default LCN for the non-linear service and the LCNs respectively assigned to the plurality of linear broadcast services, identify another LCN for the non-linear service based on the information on the alternative LCN;
identify an RCN of the non-linear service based on the another LCN for the non-linear service and the LCNs respectively assigned to the plurality of linear broadcast services; and
obtain a channel guide comprising the non-linear service and the plurality of linear broadcast services which are displayed in respective RCNs,
wherein the plurality of linear broadcast services is broadcast linearly in a predetermined order and at a predetermined time.

12. The digital broadcasting receiver of claim 11 , wherein the request comprises receiver profile information relating to a current state of the digital broadcasting receiver.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Muller Yann
• Outters Jan-David Stephane
• Baker Stephen
• Bernard Thomas

Classifications

• H04N21/6336

  directed to decoder · CPC title

• H04H60/39

  for identifying broadcast space-time (use of Electronic Programme Guides H04H60/72) · CPC title

• H04N21/4345 Primary

  Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream · CPC title

• H04N21/472

  End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content {(end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612)} · CPC title

• H04N21/4383

  Accessing a communication channel · CPC title