# US 10,375,441 B2 · Locally generated spot beam replacement > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,375,441 B2 - Document ID: US10375441B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/857,262 - Filed: 2017-12-28 - Published: 2019-07-04 - Granted: 2019-08-06 - Earliest claimed: 2017-12-28 - Assignees: DISH Network L.L.C. - Applicants: DISH Network L.L.C. - Inventors: Alistair Chatwin; William Michael Beals - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10375441B2 ## CPC - H04N 21/23424: {involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement} - H04N 21/44016: {involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip} - H04N 7/106: {for domestic distribution} - H04N 21/2143: {located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum (arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106)} - H04N 21/234309: {by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo (conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01)} - H04N 21/2353: {specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata} - H04N 21/43615: {Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals (home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805)} - H04N 21/4382: {Demodulation or channel decoding, e.g. QPSK demodulation (analog front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002)} - H04N 21/440218: {by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 (conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01)} - H04N 21/6112: {involving terrestrial transmission, e.g. DVB-T} - H04N 21/6143: {involving transmission via a satellite} - H04N 21/812: {involving advertisement data (advertising per se G06Q30/02)} - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## 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. ## Claims ### Claim 1 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. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes: transcoding the at least one extracted channel into a video signal compatible with the content receiver; modulating the transcoded signal based on one or more modulation parameters of the spot beam signal; and up-converting the modulated signal to a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes: determining a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters; and employing the transponder frequency and the one or more spot beam modulation parameters to convert the at least one extracted channel into the satellite-compatible signal. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes: determining a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters based on the spot beam signal; transcoding the at least one extracted channel into a video signal compatible with the content receiver; modulating the transcoded signal based on the one or more modulation parameters of the spot beam signal; and up-converting the modulated signal to the transponder frequency of the spot beam signal. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at a content distributor that is remote from the user's premises, the at least one over-the-air television signal that includes the one or more available local channels; transcoding, by the content distributor, the one or more available local channels into a video signal compatible with the content receiver; generating, by the content distributor, transcoding metadata that defines how the content distributor transcoded the one or more available local channels; generating, by the content distributor, the spot beam signal to include the transcoding metadata but not the one or more transcoded available local channels; and wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes: extracting, by spot-beam-replacement circuitry at the user's premises, the transcoding metadata from the spot beam signal; and transcoding, by the spot-beam-replacement circuitry, the at least one extracted channel based on the transcoding metadata. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein providing the combined signal to the content receiver includes: providing the combined signal to each of a plurality of content receivers. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein providing the combined signal to the content receiver includes: receiving, from a first content receiver, a request for a first channel from the one or more other channels or the one or more available local channels; providing, to the first content receiver, a first satellite signal from the combined signal that is associated with the first channel; receiving, from a second content receiver, a request for a second channel from the one or more other channels or the one or more available local channels; and providing, to the second content receiver, a second satellite signal from the combined signal that is associated with the second channel. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: ignoring program content for the one or more expected local channels included in the spot beam signal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the spot beam signal does not include program content for the one or more expected local channels. ### Claim 10 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. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processor executes further computer instructions to: analyze the spot beam signal to identify the local channels expected to be in the at least one over-the-air television signal; analyze 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; and select the at least one channel to be extracted from the at least one over-the-air television signal from the one or more local channels that are available in the at least one over-the-air television signal based on the information in the spot beam signal identifying the local channels. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processor executes further computer instructions to: select the at least one channel from a plurality of local channels that are available in the at least one over-the-air television signal based on the information in the spot beam signal identifying the local channels. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processor executes further computer instructions to: receive, via the satellite antenna, the at least one other orbital signal; and combine the up-converted signal with the at least one other orbital signal for transmission to the plurality of content receivers. ### Claim 14 A system, comprising: a satellite antenna that receives satellite television signals including a spot beam signal and at least one other orbital signal; an over-the-air antenna that receives over-the-air television signals; and spot-beam-replacement circuitry that receives the spot beam signal and the over-the-air television signals and performs actions, the actions including: determining at least one spot beam characteristic associated with the spot beam signal; and converting, based on the at least one spot beam characteristic, the over-the-air television signals into a replacement spot beam that is a satellite-compliant signal; and outputting the replacement spot beam signal to be combined with the at least one other orbital signal. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry performs further actions, including: determining a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters of the spot beam signal; and converting the over-the-air television signals into the replacement spot beam by transcoding the over-the-air television signals into a video signal compatible with at least one content receiver, modulating the transcoded signal based on the one or more spot beam modulation parameters, and up-converting the modulated signal to the transponder frequency of the spot beam signal. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry performs further actions, including: analyzing the spot beam signal to determine the at least one spot beam characteristic. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry receives the at least one other orbital signal and performs further actions, including: combining the replacement spot beam with the at least one other orbital signal; and outputting the combined signal to the at least one content receiver. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry performs further actions, including: analyzing the spot beam signal to identify at least one expected local channel in the over-the-air television signals; extracting at least one channel from the over-the-air television signals based on the at least one identified expected local channel; and converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, further comprising: channel-switching-network circuitry that combines the replacement spot beam with the at least one other orbital signal for distribution to at least one content receiver. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the channel-switching-network circuitry performs further actions, including: receiving, from a first content receiver of the at least one content receiver, a first request for a first channel in the over-the-air television signals; in response to receipt of the first request from the first content receiver, providing the replacement spot beam signal to the first content receiver; receiving, from a second content receiver of the at least one content receiver, a second request for a second channel in the at least one other orbital signal; and in response to receipt of the second request from the second content receiver, providing a satellite signal from the at least one other orbital signal that is associated with the second channel to the second content receiver.