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US 8,139,162 B2Granted
Rapid television channel scan using frequency plans to identify channels
AssigneesSony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
InventorsRobert Blanchard, Robert L. Hardacker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In accord with embodiments and implementations consistent with the present invention, rather than perform a full scan of every frequency to find a channel, the tuner is programmed to find a reasonable sample of channels. For example, the tuner can search for at least two or three (generalized as N) channels to determine the frequency plan of the channels (by virtue of detection of at least one channel) and then use one of the known plans to directly identify the frequency map. The process can then step quickly through each frequency, without optimizing or fine tuning each channel, to determine the existence of a channel. With this process the number of tunable channels is found quicker and the initial setup time is shortened.
Claims23
A television channel scan method, comprising:
- selecting a first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of N frequencies of the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at a tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- if no channels were detected in the N frequencies of the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan, then selecting a second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of N frequencies of the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at the tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- if no channels were detected in the N frequencies of the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan, then selecting a third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of N frequencies of the third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at the tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- and
- wherein N is a positive integer.
8 more elements
A television channel scan method, comprising:
- selecting a first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of N frequencies of the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at a tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- if no channels were detected in the N frequencies of the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan, then selecting a second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of M frequencies of the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at the tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- if no channels were detected in the M frequencies of the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan, then selecting a third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of P frequencies of the third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at the tuner;
- and
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- and
- wherein N, M and P are positive integers.
9 more elements
A television channel scan method, comprising:
- selecting a first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of N frequencies of the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at a tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- if no channels were detected in the N frequencies of the first CEA-542-B compliant channel plan, then selecting a second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of M frequencies of the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at the tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- if no channels were detected in the M frequencies of the second CEA-542-B compliant channel plan, then selecting a third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan;
- scanning a plurality of P frequencies of the third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan to determine if any channel was detected by sequentially tuning the channels at the tuner;
- if at least one channel of the CEA-542-B compliant channel plan was detected, selecting all channels from the third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan as channels available for a user to tune;
- if no channels were detected in the P frequencies of the first, second and third CEA-542-B compliant channel plan, then carrying out a complete channel scan of all channels in all three CEA-542-B compliant channel plans;
- wherein N, M and P are positive integers;
- storing an over the air (OTA) channel plan to a memory device using default frequency values;
- storing the selected channels in the memory device using default frequency values;
- carrying out a scan of the selected channel plan as a background function to refine the tuning of each available channel in the selected channel plan and omit unused channels;
- and
- fine tuning the channels a user selects a channel for viewing from the channel plan.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.