Advance decryption key acquisition for streaming media content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9635413-B2
Application number	US-201514863143-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2015
Priority date	Sep 23, 2015
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

Various arrangements are presented for reducing channel change times. A first tuner of a television receiver may tune to a decryption key transponder stream. The decryption key transponder stream may include a plurality of decryption keys for a plurality of television channels that are transmitted to the television receiver via a plurality of transponder streams. Such keys may be buffered. A second tuner of the television receiver may be tuned to a media transponder stream to receive a television channel. A buffered decryption key may be used in decoding the television channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for channel tuning with a satellite-based content distribution system, the method comprising:
tuning, by a television receiver, a first tuner of the television receiver to a plurality of different media transponder streams in accordance with a predefined pattern of hopping between the different media transponder streams at different time intervals, wherein the tuning of the first tuner is performed at least in part in response to a determination that the first tuner is idle, and wherein each of the plurality of media transponder streams comprises: a stream of video packets and audio packets for a plurality of television channels associated with the media transponder stream; and
a plurality of decryption keys corresponding to only the plurality of television channels that are associated with the media transponder stream,
wherein the plurality of different media transponder streams transmit their respective decryption keys at predefined time intervals, and wherein the predefined pattern of hopping between the different media transponder streams at different time intervals is based on the predefined time intervals at which the media transponder streams transmit their respective decryption keys;

buffering, by the television receiver, the plurality of decryption keys received by the first tuner from each of the plurality of media transponder streams during the predefined pattern of hopping between the different media transponder streams;
tuning, by the television receiver, a second tuner of the television receiver to a particular media transponder stream of the plurality of media transponder streams to receive a particular television channel of the plurality of television channels associated with the particular media transponder stream;
decrypting, by the television receiver, a decryption key from the plurality of buffered decryption keys received by the first tuner, the decryption key corresponding to the television channel; and
decoding, by the television receiver, the particular television channel tuned to by the second tuner, using the decryption key.

2. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 1 ,
wherein determining that the first tuner of the television receiver is idle comprises determining that the first tuner not being used for receiving any media transponder stream for output by the television receiver or recording by the television receiver.

3. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of decryption keys are a plurality of entitlement control messages (ECMs).

4. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing, by the television receiver, a stored table received from a television service provider that indicates a packet identifier of the decryption key that corresponds to the particular television channel; and
retrieving, by the television receiver, the decryption key from the buffered plurality of decryption keys based on the packet identifier.

5. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 1 , wherein decrypting the decryption key comprises:
decrypting, by a smart card of the television receiver, the decryption key to obtain a control word.

6. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 5 , further comprising:
encrypting, by the television receiver, the decryption key using a session key, wherein the encrypted decryption key is buffered.

7. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 5 , wherein decoding, by the television receiver, the particular television channel using the decryption key comprises:
decoding, by a descrambler of the television receiver, video packets and audio packets corresponding to the particular television channel using the control word obtained from the decryption key.

8. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of television channels is 25 or greater and the plurality of media transponder streams is 5 or greater.

9. The method for channel tuning with the satellite-based content distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the predefined pattern of hopping between the different media transponder streams at different time intervals is based on a determination, by the television receiver, of one or more transponder streams that the second tuner is most likely to be tuned to, based on a user's channel selection patterns.

10. A system for channel tuning the system comprising:
a plurality of tuners;
one or more processors; and
a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
tune a first tuner of the plurality of tuners to a plurality of different media transponder streams in accordance with a predefined pattern of hopping between the different media transponder streams at different time intervals, wherein the tuning of the first tuner is performed at least in part in response to a determination that the first tuner is idle, and wherein each of the plurality of media transponder streams comprises:
a stream of video packets and audio packets for a plurality of television channels associated with the media transponder stream; and
a plurality of decryption keys corresponding to only the plurality of television channels that are associated with the media transponder stream,
wherein the plurality of different media transponder streams transmit their respective decryption keys at predefined time intervals, and wherein the predefined pattern of hopping between the different media transponder streams at different time intervals is based on the predefined time intervals at which the media transponder streams transmit their respective decryption keys;

buffer the plurality of decryption keys received by the first tuner from each of the plurality of media transponder streams during the predefined pattern of hopping between the different media transponder streams;
tune a second tuner of the plurality of tuners to a particular media transponder stream of the plurality of media transponder streams to receive a particular television channel of the plurality of television channels associated with the particular media transponder stream;
decrypt a decryption key from the plurality of buffered decryption keys received by the first tuner, the decryption key corresponding to the television channel; and
decode the particular television channel tuned to by the second tuner, using the decryption key.

11. The system for channel tuning of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors comprises a conditional access smart card.

12. The system for channel tuning of claim 10 ,
wherein determining that the first tuner of the system is idle comprises determining that the first tuner not being used for receiving any media transponder stream for output by the system or recording by the system.

13. The system for channel tuning of claim 10 , wherein the processor-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:
access a stored table received from a television service provider that indicates a packet identifier of the decryption key that corresponds to the particular television channel; and
retrieve the decryption key from the buffered plurality of decryption keys based on the pac

Assignees

• Echostar Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Innes David
• Beals William Michael
• Kummer David

Classifications

• H04N21/6143

  involving transmission via a satellite · CPC title

• H04N21/42623 Primary

  involving specific decryption arrangements · CPC title

• H04N21/2541

  Rights Management (protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08) · CPC title

• H04N21/4181

  for conditional access · CPC title

• H04N21/6334

  for authorisation, e.g. by transmitting a key {(wireless communications network key management H04W12/04; wireless communications network access security H04W12/08)} · CPC title