Methods and systems for accessing content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12149776-B2
Application number	US-201715802159-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2017
Priority date	Aug 19, 2014
Publication date	Nov 19, 2024
Grant date	Nov 19, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing a network are disclosed. A beacon may be transmitted at a first modulation rate less than a second modulation rate used to transmit data. A signal characteristic may be received from a user device. The user device may be connected to the network in response to the signal characteristic satisfying a threshold. Data may be transmitted to the user device at the second modulation rate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a non-tunable device, a request for content, wherein the request indicates a capability of the non-tunable device;
determining, based on the capability of the non-tunable device, a tuner reservation identifier; and
causing, based on the tuner reservation identifier, the non-tunable device to send a tuning request to a tunable device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request further comprises an identifier of the non-tunable device, wherein determining the tuner reservation identifier comprises authenticating the identifier of the non-tunable device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the tuner reservation identifier comprises determining an availability of the tunable device to satisfy the tuning request associated with the request for the content.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the tuner reservation identifier comprises determining that the tunable device is associated with the tuner reservation identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tuning request comprises the tuner reservation identifier.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tuning request comprises a content identifier of the content.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tuning request causes the tunable device to compare the tuner reservation identifier to another tuner reservation identifier received from the non-tunable device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunable device is configured to tune to one or more quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) channels.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the non-tunable device to send the tuning request to the tunable device comprises sending the tuner reservation identifier to the non-tunable device.

10. A method comprising:
receiving, from a non-tunable device, a request for content, wherein the request indicates a capability of the non-tunable device;
determining, based on the capability of the non-tunable device, a tuner reservation identifier, wherein the tuner reservation identifier identifies a tunable device associated with the content; and
causing, based on the tuner reservation identifier, the non-tunable device to receive the content from the tunable device.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the request comprises an identifier of the non-tunable device, wherein determining the tuner reservation identifier comprises authenticating the identifier of the non-tunable device.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the tuner reservation identifier comprises determining an availability of the tunable device to satisfy a tuning request associated with the request for the content.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the tuner reservation identifier comprises determining that the tunable device is associated with the tuner reservation identifier.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the tuning request comprises the tuner reservation identifier.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the tuning request comprises a content identifier of the content.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the tuning request causes the tunable device to compare the tuner reservation identifier to another tuner reservation identifier received from the non-tunable device.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the tunable device is configured to tune to one or more quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) channels.

18. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
receive, from a non-tunable device, a request for content, wherein the request indicates a capability of the non-tunable device;
determine, based on the capability of the non-tunable device, a tuner reservation identifier; and
cause, based on the tuner reservation identifier, the non-tunable device to send a tuning request to a tunable device.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the request comprises an identifier of the non-tunable device and wherein the processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the tuner reservation identifier, further cause the apparatus to authenticate the identifier of the non-tunable device.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the tuner reservation identifier, further cause the apparatus to determine an availability of the tunable device to satisfy the tuning request associated with the request for the content.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Mitchell Slade
• Robinson John

Classifications

• H04N21/4383

  Accessing a communication channel · CPC title

• H04N21/47202

  for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand · CPC title

• H04L27/34

  Amplitude- and phase-modulated carrier systems, e.g. quadrature-amplitude modulated carrier systems · CPC title

• H04N21/4263 Primary

  involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners · CPC title