Methods and systems for providing information to a plurality of set-top boxes via a personal computer using set-top box identifiers

[0002] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/005,269, filed Jan. 9, 1998, entitled Methods and Systems for Providing Television Related Services via a Networked Personal Computer.

[0003] The present invention relates to the field of television in general, and more particularly, to set-top boxes for televisions.

[0004] The television (TV) has become ubiquitous in modern society. As a result, a variety of services are being provided via TV. Many of the services are provided using a set-top box that works in conjunction with the TV to provide the desired service. One example of a service provided via a TV is an online TV program guide, wherein TV program schedule information is displayed on a TV for searching and selection by a viewer. Online TV program guides are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,578 to Reiter et. al. Entitled “System for Electronically Controllable Viewing on a Television Updateable Television Programming Information.” Other popular services are also provided using a set-top box. For example cable or satellite TV may be provided using a tuner packaged as a set-top box. The tuner decodes the transmission from the service provider and formats the signal for display on the TV. Moreover, many households have more than one TV.

[0005] It is also known to provide some services over the Internet using set-top boxes. One such service is WebTV which enables a user to browse the Web using a TV as the display. WebTV, however, duplicates much of the hardware and software included in a standard PC. For example, WebTV includes a modem while many PCs come equipped with one. Consequently, the consumer who already owns a PC may pay the cost of the modem twice: once when buying the PC and a second time when buying WebTV. Furthermore, WebTV may also duplicate a portion of the functions found in most TVs. This duplication of PC and TV components may make WebTV unnecessarily expensive or complex to the many consumers who already own a PC.

[0006] Moreover, as the popularity of TV and services increase, it may become more desirable to provide multiple users in the same household with the capability to use services separately. Unfortunately, the cost to provide multiple TV users separate access to the services described above may be prohibitive. For example, viewers of different TVs may desire separate information. Consequently, there is a need to provide improved methods and systems for providing television services to multiple TVs in a household.

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide improved set-top boxes for use with television services.

[0008] It is another object of the present invention to provide improved systems for the use of multiple set-top boxes.

[0009] These and other objects of the present invention are provided by set-top boxes, identified by respective identifiers (IDs), that send requests for information a PC over a communications link. The requests include the ID of the set-top box that made the request. When the requested information is accessed, the requested information and the ID of the set-top box that made the request are transmitted over the communications link to the set-top box. Accordingly, multiple set-top boxes may access information from a single residence via an existing PC, thereby allowing a more cost-effective approach than conventional systems.

[0010] In one embodiment, a computer program running on the PC handles requests from the plurality of set-top boxes. In another embodiment, a computer program is instantiated for each of the plurality of set-top boxes. For example, a first computer program is instantiated to handle requests from the first set-top box and a second computer program is instantiated to handle requests from the second set-top box.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a system and method according to the present invention;

[0012] FIG. 2 is an exemplary display of information provided to a user on a TV;

[0013] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of a system and method according to the present invention;

[0014] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a set-top box according to the present invention;

[0015] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a PC according to the present invention;

[0016] FIG. 6 is an embodiment of a packet structure according to the present invention;

[0017] FIG. 7 is a flowchart that illustrates initialization operations of a set-top box according to the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 8 is a flowchart that illustrates initialization operations of a computer program running on the PC in coordination with the operations illustrated in FIG. 7;

[0019] FIG. 9 is a flowchart that illustrates operations of a set-top box in response to requests for information;

[0020] FIG. 10 is a flowchart that illustrates operations of the computer program running on the PC in response to incoming requests for information from set-top boxes; and

[0021] FIG. 11 is a flowchart that illustrates operations of a set-top box in response to information broadcast by the PC.

[0022] The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

[0023] As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, data processing system and/or program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in the medium. Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

[0024] The present invention is also described using block diagrams and flowcharts. Those skilled in the art will understand that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and block diagrams, may be implemented with various commonly used components. It will also be understood that portions of the operations described in the flowchart illustrations may be executed as computer program instructions loaded into a computer or other data processing apparatus, thus producing a machine which provides means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart blocks and combinations thereof. The computer program may cause operational steps to be performed on the computer or data processing apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or data processing apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions of the flowchart blocks or combinations thereof. Accordingly, blocks of the flowchart illustrations support combinations of means for performing the specified functions and combinations of steps for performing the specified functions.

[0025] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a system and method according to the present invention. According to the present invention, the system includes a plurality of set-top boxes 100a-b,each of which accepts requests from respective remote controls 105a-b.According to FIG. 1, a user pushes buttons on the remote control 105ato request the display of information on a TV 102a.The remote control 105atransmits a corresponding command to the set-top box 100aassociated with the remote control. The set-top box 100asends a request for the information to a Personal Computer (PC) 135 over a communications link. Each set-top box 100a-bcan request different information from the PC 135, which responds by accessing the requested information locally or via a network 130, such as the Internet. As used herein, the term “information” includes information such as television program information (such as that shown in FIG. 2), e-mail, chat, sports scores, weather and the like. Set-top boxes are discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/005269 entitled Methods and Systems for Providing Television Related Services via a Networked Personal Computer” which is commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application and which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0026] Each request for information by a set-top box 100a-bincludes an Identifier (ID) that identifies the set-top box 100a-bwhich made the request. For example, the first set-top box 100acan be identified by a first ID of FF₁₆and the second set-top box 100bcan be identified by a second ID of F0₆. Requests sent to the PC 135 by the first set-top box 100ainclude the first ID FF₁₆and requests sent to the PC 135 by the second set-top box 100bincludes the second ID F0₁₆. The PC 135 uses the respective IDs of the first and second set-top boxes 100a-bto associate each received request with the set-top box that sent the request.

[0027] The PC 135 accesses the requested information and broadcasts the requested information and the ID of the set-top box 100a-bthat made the request over the communications link. For example, the PC 135 broadcasts information requested by the first set-top box 100awith the first ID FF₁₆and broadcasts information requested by the second set-top box 100bwith the second ID F0₁₆over the communications link.

[0028] Each set-top box 100a-breceives the information and the associated ID broadcast by the PC 135. Each set-top box 100a-bcompares the ID included with the information broadcast by the PC 135 to the ID stored in the set-top box 100a-b.For example, when the PC 135 broadcasts the information requested by the first set-top box 100a,the PC 135 includes the first ID. Accordingly, the first set-top box 100acompares the ID associated with the first information broadcast by the PC 135 to the ID associated with the first set-top box 100a.When a match occurs, the first set-top box 100aaccepts the information and provides it to the TV 102a.Moreover, the second-set-top box 100bcompares the ID associated with the first information broadcast by the PC 135 to the ID associated with the second set-top box 100b.When a mismatch occurs, the second set-top box 100bdoes not accept the information.

[0029] The communications link can be any communications medium known to those having skill in the art. In one embodiment, the communications link is a cable 117 such as those used to provide cable service to residential systems. Each set-top box 100a-band the PC 135 is coupled to the cable 117 via respective Cable Transfer Interfaces (CTI) 100a-c.In particular, each set-top box 100a-bsends requests for information over the cable 117 through a respective CTI 110a-b.The PC 135 receives the requests and broadcasts requested information through the associated CTI 100c.The cable 117 couples the CTIs 110a-cthrough cable splitters a-d. The cable splitters 115a-dcan be used to distribute an input signal to multiple outputs while maintaining the proper termination for the cable 117. Direct Current (DC) blocking circuits 120a-dare used to filter DC voltage levels provided by some cable systems and fed back by some TVs and set-top boxes on the cable 117. Cable Transfer Interfaces are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/239,215 filed Jan. 28, 1999, which is commonly assigned to the present assignee and entitled “Methods and Circuits Using Frequency Shift Keying Modulation to Transfer Data Over Transmission Lines Simultaneous with Television Signals” which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0030] The set-top box 100arequests the information by sending requests to the PC 135 and receives the corresponding information from the PC 135 over the communications link according to a command protocol described herein. User commands received from the remote control 105aare processed by the set-top box 100ato determine what action is necessary to display the desired information. If the requested information is not available within set-top box 100a,the set-top box 100asends a request for the information to the PC 135. In response, the information requested by the set-top box 100ais broadcast over the communications link by the PC 135 and received by the appropriate set-top box 100awhich formats the information for display on the TV 102a.

[0031] A request can include computer commands organized to access the information requested by the user via the remote control 105a.For example, the request may comprise a list of instructions which cause the PC 135 to access the network 130 and issue some of the commands included in the request to the network 130. In one embodiment, the access to the network is provided using a telephone line. In the alternate embodiment of FIG. 3, access to the network is provided by the cable system via a cable modem 300.

[0032] As shown in FIG. 4, the set-top box 100acan include a central processing unit (CPU) or controller 421, a Random Access Memory (RAM) 422, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 423, a Video Processing system (VP) 418, a Video Buffer (VRAM) 419, a TV interface 411, a Communication Link Interface (CLI) 417, and a wireless infra-red (IR) sensor 414. In one embodiment, the ID of the set-top box 100ais stored in the ROM 423. In another embodiment, the ID is encoded by switches 450, the settings of which can be read by the CPU 421. The above components are well known to those having skill in the art and need not be described further herein.

[0033] The CPU 421 may be suitable for running a computer program to process information from the PC 135, processes user commands from the remote control 105a,control the formatting of information for display on the TV 102a,and provide general system services to the set-top box 100a.The CPU 421 may process user commands received from the remote control 105aas a stream of serial data. For example, if the user pushes a button on the remote control 105athat corresponds to a command requiring information from the network 130, the CPU 421 receives the command in an internal serial buffer from the IR sensor 415. The CPU 421 sends a corresponding computer command to the CLI 417 and the command is transmitted over communications link to the PC 135 via the CTI 100aand the network 130. The CPU 421 may also process information from the PC 135. For example, when information is returned from the network 130, it is received by the CLI 417. The CPU 421 accepts the information from the CLI 417 as a stream of serial data. In one embodiment, the CPU 421 may process the data received from the remote control 105aand information from the PC 135 and the network 130 as a single serial data stream.

[0034] The VP 418 may be used by the CPU 421 to combine information from the PC 135 with a TV signal 455 for display on the TV 102aor select between the two for display. The data from the VP 418 may be represented in RGB format wherein a first portion of the data represents red information, a second portion represents green information, and a third portion represents blue information. The VP 418 may be implemented with a YVG606 Video Processor manufactured by Yamaha Inc.

[0035] The wireless IR sensor 414 receives user commands from the remote control 105a.The wireless IR sensor 414 provides the user commands from the remote control 105ato the CPU 421 for processing. The user commands can be processed by the CPU 421 as a serial data stream.

[0036] The PC 135 examines the request from the set-top box 100ato determine which set-top box 100a-bis requesting the information. In one embodiment, a computer program running on the PC 135 handles the requests from the set-top boxes 100a-bin an integrated fashion. For example, the computer program can record each request and the ID of the set-top box 100a-bwhich made the request in a table or using other techniques known to those having skill in the art. The computer program may cause the PC 135 to access the requested information and broadcast the requested information and the ID associated with the request over the cable 117. For example, if the computer program determines that the requested information should be accessed via the Internet, the computer program causes the PC 135 to access and request the information from the Internet. When the requested information is provided to the computer program from the Internet, the computer program looks up the request in the table to determine which set-top box 100a-brequested the information and broadcasts the requested information and the associated ID on the cable 117.

[0037] Requests from the set-top box 100a-bare handled in view of the context in which the requests are made. For example, if the first set-top box 100ais presently displaying an e-mail session, subsequent requests are handled in the context of an e-mail session. In particular, the screen being currently displayed by the set-top box 100aand the keyboard input can be included in the context of the requests.

[0038] The computer program can combine requests from multiple set-top boxes 100a-bto the network. For example, if a first set-top box 100asends a first request for first information and a second set-top box 100bsends a second request for second information, the computer program combines the two requests into a single request to the network 130 using techniques known to those having skill in the art.

[0039] In another embodiment of the present invention, the PC 135 instantiates a plurality of computer programs, wherein each of the plurality of computer programs instantiated is associated with one of the set-top boxes 100a.In this embodiment, an interface program running on the PC 130 interfaces the plurality of computer programs to the network 130. For example, in a situation where the first and second set-top boxes 100a-bare being used, respective first and second computer programs are instantiated to handle requests from the set-top boxes 100a-b.Accordingly, when the first and second set-top boxes 100a-brequest information from the network 130, the interface program coordinates access to the network 130.

[0040] According to FIG. 5, the PC 135 can be a computer capable of running a wide range of applications software and may include a CPU 542, a memory 541, a network interface 543, a hard disk drive 540, an interface 531, a keyboard 539, a monitor 538 and other hardware and software components commonly found in personal computers. For example, the PC 135 may be implemented using a Pentium microprocessor marketed by Intel running the Windows 98 Operating System marketed by Microsoft Inc. The PC 135 processes the requests for information received from the set-top boxes 100a-bover the cable 117 via the CTI 115c,accesses the requested information which is broadcast over the cable 117 through the CTI 115c.

[0041] Requests by the set-top boxes 100a-band information broadcast by the PC 135 can be structured in a packet format as illustrated in FIG. 6. Accordingly, requests for the set-top boxes 100a-bcan be referred to as request packets, and requested information broadcast by the PC 135 can be referred to as information packets. The packet format of FIG. 6 includes a START byte, an ID word, an INSTR byte, a LENGTH word, a number of DATA bytes, a CKSUM word, and a STOP byte. The Start byte signals the start of the packet. In a particular embodiment, the START byte is the value FF₁₆. The ID word corresponds to the ID associated with the set-to box 100a-b.In one embodiment, the ID word is the least significant word of the serial number of the set-top box.

[0042] The INSTR byte can be an instruction or command to be executed by the set-top box 100a.The LENGTH word can be the number of bytes contained in the DATA field. The DATA is a number of data bytes associated with the INSTR field. For example, if a particular command or instruction has associated data or parameters, the data is stored in the DATA field. The number of data bytes included in the DATA field is described by the LENGTH field. The CKSUM is the least significant word of the sum of each byte contained in the INSTR, LENGTH, and DATA fields. The STOP byte signals the end of the packet. In a particular embodiment, the STOP byte is the value FF₁₆.

[0043] FIG. 7 is a flowchart that illustrates initialization operations of the set-top box according to the present invention. When the user powers the set-top box up (block 700) a self test is performed (block 705). The ID of the set-top box is determined and a power-up packet is sent to the PC (block 715). The power-up packet signals the PC that the set-top box has been turned on and may provide requests for information. The set-top box waits for an acknowledgement packet from the PC (block 720). The acknowledgement packet signals the set-top box that the power-up packet was recognized by the PC.

[0044] When the acknowledgement packet is received from the PC (block 725) the set-top box begins processing requests from the user for information to be displayed and begins processing information packets broadcast by the PC (block 730).

[0045] FIG. 8 is a flowchart that illustrates initialization operations of a computer program running on the PC in coordination with the initialization operations illustrated in FIG. 7. The computer program begins processing incoming requests from the set-top boxes in block 800. A determination is made as to whether an incoming packet is a power-up packet from a set-top box (block 805). If the incoming packet is not a power-up packet, the packet is processed as a request packet from a known set-top box as shown in FIG. 9 (block 810).

[0046] If the packet is a power-up packet, the ID associated with the power-up packet is determined (block 815) and the ID is compared to the IDs of all known set-top boxes (block 820). If the ID included in the power-up packet is the same as an ID associated with a known set-top box, operations continue with the processing of incoming request packet (block 810). If the ID included in the power-up packet is not known, the ID is recorded as an ID associated with a known set-top box and a computer program according to the present invention is instantiated (block 825). In particular, request packet from the set-top box associated with the ID included in the power-up packet above are handled by the instantiated computer program. Accordingly, a computer program may be instantiated for each known set-top box. A power-up acknowledgement packet is broadcast on the communications link (block 830) and the operations continue, wherein a determination is made as to whether an incoming packet is a power-up packet from a set-top box (block 805).

[0047] FIG. 9 is a flowchart that illustrates operations of a set-top box in response to requests for information. According to FIG. 9, the set-top box begins processing input at block 900. The set-top box waits for a command from the remote control (block 910). When a remote control command is detected (block 910),the set-top box determines if the requested information is resident in the set-top box (block 915). If the information is resident in the set-top box, the set-top box sends the requested information to the TV (block 925). If, however, the requested information is not resident in the set-top box, the set-top box sends a request for the information, including the ID of the set-top box, to the PC (block 920).

[0048] FIG. 10 is a flowchart that illustrates operations of a computer program running on the PC in response to incoming request packets for information from the set-top boxes. According to FIG. 10, processing begins at block 1000. An incoming request for information is decoded (block 1010) and the ID included in the request is determined (block 1020). If the ID included in the request is not associated with a known set-top box (block 1030), the request is not accepted and processing continues at block 1010.

[0049] If, however, the ID included in the request is associated with a known set-top box (block 1030), the request is accepted and provided to the computer program instantiated to handle requests from the set-top box associated with the ID included with the request (block 1040). When the requested information is received (block 1050), the requested information is broadcast over the communications link (block 1060) and processing continues at block 1010.

[0050] FIG. 11 is a flowchart that illustrates operations of a set-top box in response to information broadcast by the PC. According to FIG. 11, the processing of incoming packets from the PC begins in block 1100. When a packet is received from the PC (block 1110), the ID included in the packet is compared to the ID of the set-top box (block 1120).

[0051] If the ID included in the packet is not equal to the ID of the set-top box (block 1130), the packet is not accepted by the set-top box. The set-top box waits for another incoming packet from the PC (block 1110). If the ID included in the packet is equal to the ID of the set-top box (block 1130), the packet is accepted and the requested information is provided to the TV (block 1140) and processing continues at block 1010.

[0052] According to the present invention, set-top boxes are identified by respective Ids. The set-top boxes send requests for information over a communications link to a PC. The requests include the ID of the set-top box that made the request. When the requested information is accessed by the PC, the requested information and the ID of the set-top box that made the request are transmitted over the communications link to the set-top box. Accordingly, multiple set-top boxes may access information from a single residence via an existing PC, thereby allowing a more cost-effective approach than conventional systems.

[0053] In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed typical preferred embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.