Wireless back channel for satellite television system
AssigneeEchoStar Technologies L.L.C.
InventorsEdward Allwein, Michael Dugan, Mark Gomez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention solves the above problems by attaching a cellular phone receiver to the set-top-box. This cellular phone receiver has a modem to transmit data between the subscriber's box and a cellular network. The cellular network may relay the data to the pay-television distributor. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
Claims18
A method for providing information from a television converter to a pay television distributor comprising:
- a. receiving and decoding television content at said television converter
- b. collecting said information at said television converter;
- c. storing said information in memory associated with said television converter;
- and,
- d. transmitting said information wirelessly from a wireless transmitter associated with said television converter.
A subscriber television converter apparatus for receiving, decoding and displaying pay television content comprising:
- a. a demodulator for demodulating said television content off of a carrier;
- b. a decoder coupled to said demodulator for decoding said television content demodulated off of said carrier;
- c. an encoder for encoding said television content for display on a television display device;
- d. a conditional access module coupled to said television converter which allows access to television content which the subscriber is authorized to receive;
- e. memory for storing information in said television converter;
- f. a wireless transmitter coupled to said memory to transmit at least some of said stored information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.