# US 11,451,853 B1 · Measuring ATSC 3 RF environment using autonomous vehicle > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,451,853 B1 - Document ID: US11451853B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 17/494,804 - Filed: 2021-10-05 - Granted: 2022-09-20 - Earliest claimed: 2021-08-06 - Assignees: Sony Group Corporation - Applicants: Sony Group Corporation - Inventors: Fred Ansfield; Adam Goldberg; Graham Clift; Brant Candelore; Loren F. Pineda; Luke Fay - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11451853B1 ## CPC - H04H 60/41: for identifying broadcast space, i.e. broadcast channels, broadcast stations or broadcast areas - H04N 21/41422: {located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle (arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62)} - H04H 20/12: Arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting - H04H 60/50: of broadcast or relay stations - H04N 21/235: Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors - H04N 21/251: {Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies (details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08)} - 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 21/278: Content descriptor database or directory service for end-user access {(details of content or meta data based information retrieval of video data in video databases G06F16/739)} - H04N 21/4383: {Accessing a communication channel} - H04N 21/6547: comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup - H04H: BROADCAST COMMUNICATION (multiplex communication H04J; pictorial communication aspects of broadcast systems H04N) - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Techniques are described for expanding and/or improving the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 television protocol in robustly delivering the next generation broadcast television services. A receiver, to automatically switch from presenting a service on a first frequency to a second frequency such as when a mobile receiver is moving through a boundary region between two broadcasters, can consider not just signal strength and error rates of two frequencies carrying the same service to select which frequency to tune to, but also relative location and direction of motion of the receiver with respect to each broadcaster along with parameters of the RF environment as previously measured by an autonomous vehicle such as a drone. ## Claims ### Claim 1 In digital television in which at least one receiver can receive broadcast signals, a method, comprising: providing at least one mobile radiofrequency (RF) environmental data (RFED) vehicle with at least one vehicle digital television (DTV) receiver; as the RFED vehicle moves, gathering RFED on plural DTV frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and providing the RFED to at least one client DTV receiver to enable the client DTV receiver to select a frequency for a demanded service, wherein the RFED comprises one or more parameters selected from: at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed, at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting respective first and second DTV frequencies, at least first and second distances between the vehicle and the first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters, at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and the respective first and second locations, at least respective first and second elevations of the respective first and second transmitters. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a drone. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a land vehicle. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising: using at least one physical layer pipe (PLP) to scan frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and gathering the RFED from plural frequencies identified in the scan. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising: steering one or more antennae on the vehicle to identify an antenna configuration correlated to optimizing reception of DTV signals in the region. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle DTV receiver comprises an advanced television systems committee (ATSC) 3.0 receiver. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the RFED comprises at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting respective first and second frequencies. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second distances between the vehicle and first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and the respective first and second locations. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second elevations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting respective first and second frequencies. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising uploading the RFED to one or more computer network servers. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising signaling the RFED to receivers in a region via ATSC 3.0 broadcast or 5G. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising maintaining the RFED as proprietary and providing the RFED to subscriber receivers for remuneration. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising embedding the RFED in receivers. ### Claim 16 A radiofrequency (RF) environmental data (RFED) vehicle apparatus comprising: at least one vehicle digital television (DTV) receiver; and at least one processor configured to: as the RFED vehicle moves, gather RFED on at least first and second DTV frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and provide the RFED to at least one database for provisioning to at least one client DTV receiver to enable the client DTV receiver to select a frequency for a demanded service, wherein the RFED comprises one or more parameters selected from: at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed, at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies, at least first and second distances between the vehicle and first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the first and second DTV frequencies, at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and respective first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies, at least respective first and second elevations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a drone. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a land vehicle. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to: use at least one physical layer pipe (PLP) to scan frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and gather the RFED from plural frequencies identified in the scan. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to: steer one or more antennae on the vehicle to identify an antenna configuration correlated to optimizing reception of DTV signals in the region. ### Claim 21 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the vehicle DTV receiver comprises an advanced television systems committee (ATSC) 3.0 receiver. ### Claim 22 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RFED comprises at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed. ### Claim 23 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. ### Claim 24 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second distances between the vehicle and first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. ### Claim 25 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and respective first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. ### Claim 26 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second elevations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. ### Claim 27 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to upload the RFED to one or more computer network servers. ### Claim 28 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to signal the RFED to receivers in a region via ATSC 3.0 broadcast or 5G. ### Claim 29 (depends on 16) The RFED vehicle apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to maintain the RFED as proprietary and provide the RFED to subscriber receivers for remuneration. ### Claim 30 A client digital television (DTV) apparatus comprising: at least one digital television (DTV) receiver; and at least one processor programmed with instructions to configure the processor to: select between a first frequency from a first transmitter and providing a digital television service and a second frequency from a second transmitter and providing the digital television service based at least in part on first and second radiofrequency (RF) environmental data (RFED) previously gathered by a RFED vehicle, the RFED comprising first and second RFED associated with the respective first and second frequencies, wherein the RFED comprises at least one parameter selected from; at least one topographical feature in a region in which the receiver is disposed, or at least first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters, or at least first and second distances between the receiver and respective first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters, or at least respective first and second directions of travel between the receiver and the respective first and second transmitter, or at least respective first and second elevations of the respective first and second transmitters, or combinations of the at least one parameters. ### Claim 31 (depends on 30) The client DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the instructions are executable to execute at least one machine learning (ML) model to select a frequency. ### Claim 32 (depends on 30) The client DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the RFED comprises one or more parameters selected from: signal to noise ratio (SNR), error rate, resolution, bitrate, form-factor, content attributes, accessibility signaling, audio description, locality preference, quality of user interfaces. ### Claim 33 (depends on 30) The client DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the DTV receiver comprises at least one advanced television systems committee (ATSC) 3.0 receiver. ### Claim 34 (depends on 30) The DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the RFED comprises: at least one topographical feature in a region in which the receiver is disposed. ### Claim 35 (depends on 30) The DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the RFED comprises: at least first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters. ### Claim 36 (depends on 30) The DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the RFED comprises: at least first and second distances between the receiver and respective first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters. ### Claim 37 (depends on 30) The DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the RFED comprises: at least respective first and second directions of travel between the receiver and the respective first and second transmitter. ### Claim 38 (depends on 30) The DTV apparatus of claim 30, wherein the RFED comprises: at least respective first and second elevations of the respective first and second transmitters.