# US 11,310,545 B2 · Customized over-the-air television channel mapping for geographical area using crowdsourcing of over the air television channels > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,310,545 B2 - Document ID: US11310545B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/940,092 - Filed: 2020-07-27 - Published: 2020-11-12 - Granted: 2022-04-19 - Earliest claimed: 2017-05-31 - Assignees: Sling Media Pvt Ltd - Applicants: Sling Media Pvt. Ltd. - Inventors: Preetham Kotian; Jayaprakash Ramaraj - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11310545B2 ## CPC - H04N 21/2385: Channel allocation (H04N21/266 takes precedence); Bandwidth allocation (H04N21/24 takes precedence {; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16}) - H04N 21/25841: {involving the geographical location of the client (retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00)} - H04N 21/4383: {Accessing a communication channel} - H04N 21/4524: {involving the geographical location of the client (retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00)} - H04N 21/6143: {involving transmission via a satellite} - H04N 21/6543: for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording {(remote booting in general G06F9/4416)} - H04N 21/6547: comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Embodiments are directed toward providing a customized over-the-air channel mapping to each content receiver in a geographical area based on crowdsourced mappings of available channels from at least a subset of the content receivers in that geographical area. When a new content receiver is installed in the geographical area, the customized over-the-air channel mapping is provided to the new content receiver and used by the new content receiver as its internal list of available over-the-air channels without performing a scan of its own. At least a portion of the content receivers in the geographical area perform a round-robin-type scan to identify new or missing channels in the geographical area. The customized over-the-air channel mapping is then updated when a new channel or missing channel threshold is reached. And the updated customized over-the-air channel mapping is provided to each content receiver in the geographical area. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, comprising: receiving, by a content receiver and from a channel management server, an over-the-air channel mapping that is customized for a geographical area that includes the content receiver; storing, by the content receiver, the over-the-air channel mapping as a list of current over-the-air channels available to the content receiver without the content receiver scanning for available over-the-air channels; receiving, by the content receiver and from the channel management server, a schedule identifying a first plurality of time periods in which to perform scans for over-the-air channels, wherein each time period in the first plurality of time periods is non-overlapping with a second plurality of time periods in which another content receiver in the geographical area is scheduled to perform scans; performing, by the content receiver, a scan for over-the-air channels that are available to the content receiver during each of the first plurality of time periods; and providing, by the content receiver, a scan result from at least one scan to the channel management server to update the over-the-air channel mapping for the geographical area. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein providing the scan result to the channel management server further comprises: generating, by the content receiver, the scan result by identifying at least one new channel that is not in the over-the-air channel mapping but is identified during the at least one scan as being available to the content receiver; and providing, by the content receiver, an identity of the at least one new channel to the channel management server. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein providing the scan result to the channel management server further comprises: generating, by the content receiver, the scan result by identifying at least one missing channel that is in the over-the-air channel mapping but is unavailable to the content receiver during the at least one scan; and providing, by the content receiver, an identity of the at least one missing channel to the channel management server. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the content receiver and from the channel management server, an updated over-the-air channel mapping based on scan results from other content receivers in the geographical area. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: during the scan, identifying, by the content receiver, a missing channel that is in the over-the-air channel mapping but unavailable to the content receiver; and determining an alignment correction for an antenna utilized by the content receiver to receive the missing channel. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, further comprising: sending a control signal to a motor that changes a position or orientation of the antenna based on the determined alignment correction. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein determining the alignment correction for the antenna further comprises: determining a direction to move the antenna based on a known location of a broadcast tower associated with the missing channel. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein determining the alignment correction for the antenna further comprises: determining a direction to move the antenna based on signal strength associated with the missing channel received by other content receivers. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: during the scan, identifying, by the content receiver, a missing channel that is in the over-the-air channel mapping but unavailable to the content receiver; and presenting a message to a user of the content receiver to adjust an alignment of an antenna. ### Claim 10 A content receiver, comprising: a memory that stores computer instructions and an over-the-air channel mapping that identifies a plurality of over-the-air channels; and a processor that executes the computer instructions to perform actions, including: receiving, from a channel management server, the over-the-air channel mapping that is customized for a geographical area that includes the content receiver; storing the over-the-air channel mapping in the memory without scanning for available over-the-air channels; receiving, from the channel management server, a schedule identifying a first plurality of time periods in which to perform scans for over-the-air channels, wherein each time period in the first plurality of time periods is non-overlapping with a second plurality of time periods in which another content receiver in the geographical area is instructed to perform scans; performing a scan for over-the-air channels that are available to the content receiver during each of the first plurality of time periods; and providing a scan result from at least one scan to the channel management server to update the over-the-air channel mapping for the geographical area.