US 10,375,441 B2 · Locally generated spot beam replacement

Abstract

Embodiments are directed toward locally generating a replacement spot beam signal to be combined with other orbital television signals, where the replacement spot beam signal is generated from locally received over-the-air television signals. Over-the-air television signals are received at a user's premises via an over-the-air antenna and orbital signals are received at the user's premises via a satellite antenna. The orbital signals include a spot beam signal and other orbital signals. The spot beam signal is specifically generated for the geographical area associated with the over-the-air television signals. One or more available local channels are extracted from the over-the-air television signals and are converted into the replacement spot beam signal that is a satellite-compatible signal. The replacement spot beam, instead of the original spot beam signal, is then combined with the other orbital signals and provided to a content receiver.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method, comprising

receiving, from a satellite via a satellite antenna at a user's premises, a spot beam signal that includes information identifying one or more expected local channels;
receiving, from a satellite via the satellite antenna, at least one other orbital signal with program content for one or more other channels;
analyzing the spot beam signal to identify the one or more expected local channels;
receiving, via an over-the-air antenna at the user's premises, at least one over-the-air television signal;
analyzing the at least one over-the-air television signal to determine one or more local channels that are available in the at least one over-the-air television signal;
extracting the one or more available local channels from the at least one over-the-air television signal;
converting the at least one extracted channel into a replacement spot beam signal that is a satellite-compatible signal;
combining the replacement spot beam signal with the at least one other orbital signal;
and
providing the combined signal to a content receiver.

7 more elements

A computing device, comprising

a memory that stores computer instructions;
and
a processor that executes the computer instructions to:
obtain, from a spot beam signal received via a satellite antenna at a
location associated with a plurality of content receivers, information identifying local channels without obtaining program content for the local channels via the spot beam signal;
determine a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters;
receive, via an over-the-air antenna at the location associated with the plurality of content receivers, at least one over-the-air television signal;
extract at least one channel from the at least one over-the-air television signal;
transcode the at least one extracted channel into a video signal compatible with the plurality of content receivers;
modulate the transcoded signal based on the one or more spot beam modulation parameters;
up-convert the modulated signal to the transponder frequency of the spot beam signal;
and
output the up-converted signal to be combined with at least one other orbital signal for transmission to the plurality of content receivers.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Locally generated spot beam replacement

Life of this patent

Locally generated spot beam replacement

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20