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US 9,178,945 B2Granted
System and method for remotely accessing cablecard module
AssigneeTime Warner Cable Enterprises LLC
InventorGeorge Sarosi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for remotely accessing diagnostic information from an access control module includes a host device. The host device is configured to interface with the access control module over a direct connection to retrieve diagnostic information from the access control module in response to a host query from the host device, and to interface with a network server over an Internet protocol (IP) network to provide the diagnostic information relating to the access control module to the network server in response to a server query to an IP network address of the host device. The access control module is non-addressable in the IP network.
Claims20
A system for remotely accessing diagnostic information from an access control module, the system comprising:
- a host device to interface with a network server over an Internet protocol (IP) network,
- the host device configured to interface with the access control module over a direct connection to retrieve diagnostic information from the access control module, regarding a current state of the access control module, in response to a host query from the host device, and
- to provide the diagnostic information relating to the access control module to the network server in response to a server query to an IP network address of the host device, wherein the access control module is non-addressable in the IP network, and wherein the host device sends the host query to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the diagnostic information provided by the access control module, the URL being previously provided to the host device.
A host device comprising:
- an access control module interface configured to enable conditional access to an access control module connected to the host device;
- a network interface configured to enable communication with a cable headend computer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the host device being addressable on the IP network and the access control module being non-addressable in the IP network;
- a central processing unit (CPU) configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnostic information regarding a current state of the access control module via the access control module interface, and to provide the diagnostic information to the cable headend computer via the network interface and to receive digital content from the cable headend computer via the network interface;
- and
- a user interface configured to display the received digital content via a display and to display the diagnostic information from the access control module via the display,
- wherein the user interface is further configured to receive channel selection and authentication data entered by a user.
3 more elements
A host device comprising:
- an access control module interface configured to enable conditional access to an access control module connected to the host device;
- a network interface configured to enable communication with a cable headend computer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the host device being addressable on the IP network and the access control module being non-addressable in the IP network;
- a central processing unit (CPU) configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnostic information regarding a current state of the access control module via the access control module interface, and to provide the diagnostic information to the cable headend computer via the network interface and to receive digital content from the cable headend computer via the network interface;
- and
- a memory configured to store the diagnostic information retrieved from the access control module.
2 more elements
A host device comprising:
- an access control module interface configured to enable conditional access to an access control module connected to the host device;
- a network interface configured to enable communication with a cable headend computer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the host device being addressable on the IP network and the access control module being non-addressable in the IP network;
- a central processing unit (CPU) configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnostic information regarding a current state of the access control module via the access control module interface, and to provide the diagnostic information to the cable headend computer via the network interface and to receive digital content from the cable headend computer via the network interface;
- and
- a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Management Information Base (MIB) object populated by host device information comprising a table containing the diagnostic information.
2 more elements
A host device comprising:
- an access control module interface configured to enable conditional access to an access control module connected to the host device;
- a network interface configured to enable communication with a cable headend computer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the host device being addressable on the IP network and the access control module being non-addressable in the IP network;
- and
- a central processing unit (CPU) configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnostic information regarding a current state of the access control module via the access control module interface, and to provide the diagnostic information to the cable headend computer via the network interface and to receive digital content from the cable headend computer via the network interface,
- wherein the access control module comprises decryption functionality for decrypting the digital content received from the cable headend computer and user authentication functionality to authenticate a user.
2 more elements
A host device comprising:
- an access control module interface configured to enable conditional access to an access control module connected to the host device;
- a network interface configured to enable communication with a cable headend computer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the host device being addressable on the IP network and the access control module being non-addressable in the IP network;
- and
- a central processing unit (CPU) configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnostic information regarding a current state of the access control module via the access control module interface, and to provide the diagnostic information to the cable headend computer via the network interface and to receive digital content from the cable headend computer via the network interface,
- wherein the CPU retrieves the diagnostic information from the access control module device in response to a query to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) previously associated with the diagnostic information.
2 more elements
A method for remotely accessing diagnostic information provided by an access control module connected to a host device, the host device having conditional access to the access control module, the method comprising:
- querying the host device for the diagnostic information via an Internet Protocol (IP) network;
- and
- retrieving the diagnostic information via the network using the host device as a proxy, wherein the host device is IP-addressable and the access control module is non-IP addressable,
- wherein the diagnostic information comprises information on a current state of the access control module, and
- wherein retrieving the diagnostic information using the host device as a proxy comprises receiving a management information base (MIB) table created by the host device, and populated using the diagnostic information retrieved from the access control module.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.