Methods and apparatus for blackout, retune and subscription enforcement in a cellular network multimedia distribution system
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorGordon Kent Walker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for blackout, retune and roaming enforcement in a cellular network multimedia distribution system is disclosed. The method includes the acts of receiving a plurality of service regions in the cellular network multimedia distribution system; determining an affiliation of the client with one of the service regions in the plurality of service regions; and processing a service region specific message based on the affiliation. An apparatus, as well as a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the stored instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method are also disclosed.
Claims8
A method for retune in a media broadcast system, the method comprising:
- periodically determining at least one affiliation of a wireless client with one of a plurality of broadcast related service regions, wherein the determining comprises:
- communicating with a transmitter from among a plurality of different transmitters to acquire a unique identification (ID) of the transmitter, wherein the transmitter and a remaining plurality of the different transmitters are associated with a local area operation infrastructure (LOI) and the unique ID of the transmitter is different than respective unique IDs of each of the remaining plurality of different transmitters;
- and
- determining if the transmitter associated with the LOI is within an affiliated service region based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- receiving a message indicating a retune for devices affiliated with a specified service region, the message specifying substitute programming for blacked out programming based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- and
- displaying the substitute programming instead of the blacked out programming when the determined affiliation of the wireless client matches the specified service region.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon, the encoded instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a retune method, the method comprising:
- periodically determining an affiliation of a wireless client with one of a plurality of broadcast related service regions, wherein the determining comprises:
- communicating with a transmitter from among a plurality of different transmitters to acquire a unique identification (ID) of the transmitter, wherein the transmitter and a remaining plurality of the different transmitters are associated with a local area operation infrastructure (LOI) and the unique ID of the transmitter is different than respective unique IDs of each of the remaining plurality of different transmitters;
- and
- determining if the transmitter associated with the LOI is within an affiliated service region based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- receiving a message indicating a retune for devices affiliated with a specified service region, the message specifying substitute programming for blacked out programming based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- and
- displaying the substitute programming instead of the blacked out programming when the determined affiliation of the wireless client matches the specified service region.
An apparatus configured for retune in a wireless media broadcast system, the apparatus comprising:
- means for periodically determining an affiliation of a wireless client with one of a plurality of broadcast related service regions, wherein the determining comprises:
- means for communicating with a transmitter from among a plurality of different transmitters to acquire a unique identification (ID) of the transmitter, wherein the transmitter and a remaining plurality of the different transmitters are associated with a local area operation infrastructure (LOI) and the unique ID of the transmitter is different than respective unique IDs of each of the remaining plurality of different transmitters;
- and
- means for determining if the transmitter associated with the LOI is within an affiliated service region based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- means for receiving a message indicating a retune for wireless clients affiliated with a specified service region, the message specifying substitute programming for blacked out programming based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- and
- displaying the substitute programming instead of the blacked out programming when the determined affiliation of the wireless client matches the specified service region.
A retuning apparatus in a wireless media broadcast system, the retuning apparatus configured for:
- periodically determining an affiliation of a wireless client with one of a plurality of broadcast related service regions, wherein the determining comprises:
- communicating with a transmitter from among a plurality of different transmitters to acquire a unique identification (ID) of the transmitter, wherein the transmitter and a remaining plurality of the different transmitters are associated with a local area operation infrastructure (LOI) and the unique ID of the transmitter is different than respective unique IDs of each of the remaining plurality of different transmitters;
- and
- determining if the transmitter associated with the LOI is within an affiliated service region based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- receiving a message indicating a retune for wireless clients affiliated with a specified service region, the message specifying substitute programming for blacked out programming based on the unique ID of the transmitter;
- and
- displaying the substitute programming instead of the blacked out programming when the determined affiliation of the wireless client matches the specified service region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.