# US 9,521,432 B2 · Correction of over-the-air signals

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- Number: US 9,521,432 B2
- Document ID: US9521432B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/259,061
- Filed: 2014-04-22
- Published: 2015-10-22
- Granted: 2016-12-13
- Earliest claimed: 2014-04-22
- Assignees: Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
- Applicants: Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
- Inventors: Christopher Donley; Isaac Elliott; Thomas Williams; Belal Hamzeh
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9521432B2

## CPC

- H04N 19/65: using error resilience
- G06F 11/10: Adding special bits or symbols to the coded information, e.g. parity check, casting out 9's or 11's
- H04L 1/00: Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received {(correcting synchronisation H04L7/00)}
- H04L 1/004: {by using forward error control (H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00)}
- H04L 1/0075: {Transmission of coding parameters to receiver (H04L1/0023 takes precedence)}
- H04N 19/15: by monitoring actual compressed data size at the memory before deciding storage at the transmission buffer
- H04L 2001/0096: {Channel splitting in point-to-point links}
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

Correction of errors within over-the-air signaling is contemplated. The error correction may include correcting over-the-air signaling used to facilitate transmitting content, broadcast television, etc. according to error correction data transmitted separately from the over-the-air signaling. A receiver may be configured to process the over-the-air signaling according to the error correction data so as to facilitate the contemplated error correction.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method to improve over-the-air television signals comprising:
determining occurrence of a reception error within a portion of over-the-air television signals being received at a receiver or a susceptibility of the portion of the over-the-air television signals being received at the receiver to the reception error; and
facilitating creation of a correction based at least in part on error correction data being received at the receiver proximate in time and separately from the over-the-air television signals, the correction facilitating display of the portion with correction of the reception error so as to improve the over-the-air broadcast television signals.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining the portion to correspond with one or more video frames of a plurality of video frames being sequentially transmitted within the over-the-air television signals;
determining the error correction data to be forward error correction (FEC) code transmitted to the receiver proximate in time to the one or more video frames of the portion and separately from the over-the-air broadcast television signals; and
creating the correction by applying the FEC code to the portion.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining the portion to correspond with a first one or more video frames of a first plurality of video frames being sequentially transmitted within the over-the-air television signals;
determining the error correction data to be a second one or more video frames of a second plurality of video frames being sequentially transmitted to the receiver in concert with the first plurality of video frames and separately from the over-the-air broadcast television signals such that matching ones of the first and second plurality of video frames arrive at the receiver at approximately the same time; and
creating the correction by replacing one or more of the first one or more video frames with a matching one or more video frames from the second one or more video frames.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3 further comprising replacing the one or more of the first one or more video frames with the matching one or more video frames from the second one or more video frames by actuating a switch included in the receiver from a first position associated with a first interface to a second position associated with a second interface, the first position connecting a decoder configured to decode the first and second plurality of video frames for output to a display to the first interface, the second position disconnecting the decoder from the first interface and instead connecting the decoder to the second interface, the first interface receiving the over-the-air broadcast television signals and the second interface receiving the error correction data through non-over-the-air signals.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising: at least one of:
i) recovering the error correction data from one or more packets transmitted to the receiver over the Internet using Internet Protocol (IP) addressing; and
ii) recovering the error correction data from signals transmitted to the receiver over a coaxial cable from a headend; and
determining the over-the-air broadcast television signals from signals transmitted to the receiver having vestigial sideband modulation with eight discrete amplitude levels.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method claim 1 further comprising:
determining a transmission time associated with arrival at the receiver of a plurality of video frames included within the over-the-air television signals; and
timing transmission of the error correction data to the receiver as a function of the transmission time such that the error correction data necessary for each of the plurality of video frames arrives at the receiver proximate to the corresponding one of the plurality of video frames so as to ensure the receiver is able to generate the correction without disrupting playback of the plurality of video frames and without the receiver having to request the error correction data after determining the reception error.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting an advertisement to the receiver as part of the error correction data in order to display the advertisement as part of the correction, the advertisement not being included in the over-the-air television signal received at the receiving.

### Claim 8

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of instructions operable with a processor of a receiver to facilitate over-the-air content signaling, the instructions being sufficient to facilitate:
determining a reception error identified for a portion of the over-the-air content signaling following receipt at the receiver, the reception error being determined at the receiver from processing of the received over-the-air television signaling; and
generating a correction for the reception error according to error correction data transmitted to the receiver separately from the over-the-air content signaling, the correction facilitating display of the portion with correction of the reception error and with addition of an advertisement not included within the received over-the-air television signaling.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 further comprising instructions sufficient for determining the reception error to correspond with one or more video frames associated with the portion that a decoder of the receiver is unable to decode for display.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 further comprising instructions sufficient for:
re-creating the one or more video frames according to the error correction data such that the decoder is able to decode the re-created video frames for display;
creating the advertisement as one or more advertisement video frames determined according to the error correction data such that the decoder is able to decode the one or more advertisement video frames for display.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising instructions sufficient for re-creating the one or more video frames using forward error correction (FEC) codes included within the error correction data.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising instructions sufficient for re-creating the one or more video frames by replacing the one or more video frames with a corresponding one or more video frames included within the error correction data.

### Claim 13

A receiver configured to facilitate display of video frames transmitted through over-the-air broadcast television signals comprising:
a first interface configured to continuously receive the over-the-air broadcast television signals through an antenna;
a second interface configured to continuously receive error correction data transmitted separately from the over-the-air broadcast television signals through a wired medium; and
a controller operable with the first and second interface to facilitate correcting errors the video frames carried within the over-the-air broadcast television signals according to the error correction data, the continuous receipt of the error correction data thereby enabling the controller to correct errors in the video frames without having to issue requests for the error correction data after determining the errors.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The receiver of claim 13 wherein the controller executes with a processor a plurality of non-transitory instructions stored within a non-transitory computer-readable medium of the receiver, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for the controller to correct the errors within the video frames according to forward error correction (FEC) codes included within the error correction data.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The receiver of claim 14 wherein the non-transitory instructions are sufficient for the controller to:
calculate timing differences between the over-the-air broadcast television signals received through the first interface and the error correction data received through the second interface;
determine the errors to correspond one or more error frames of the video frames incapable of being decoded with a decoder of the receiver configured to facilitate display of the video frames; and
selecting the FEC codes necessary for correcting the errors based on the timing differences such that the selected FEC codes match with the FEC codes generated for the one or more error frames.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The receiver of claim 15 wherein the non-transitory instructions are sufficient for the controller to:
determine video timestamps associated with the video frames received through the first interface;
determining FEC timestamps associated with the FEC codes received through the second interface; and
determining the timing differences based on differences between the video timestamps and the FEC timestamps.

### Claim 17 (depends on 13)

The receiver of claim 13 wherein the controller executes with a processor a plurality of non-transitory instructions stored within a non-transitory computer-readable medium of the receiver, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for the controller to replace first video frames of the video frames received through the first interface having on the errors with second video frames included within the error correction data received through the second interface.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The receiver of claim 17 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for the controller to control a buffer and a decoder of the receiver to buffer the video frames received through the first interface for a period of time sufficient to enable the decoder to replace the first video frames with the second video frames and thereafter enable the decoder to begin playback of the video frames immediately following the first video frames without disruption.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The receiver of claim 17 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for the controller to buffer the video frames to enable the decode to playback the second video frames when the second video frames include more video frames than the first video frames due to the second video frames including one or more advertisements not included in the first video frames.

### Claim 20 (depends on 13)

The receiver of claim 13 wherein the controller executes with a processor a plurality of non-transitory instructions stored within a non-transitory computer-readable medium of the receiver, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for the controller to facilitate wirelessly transmitting the error correction data received through the second interface to additional receivers connected to a local wireless network, the additional receivers lacking capabilities to receive the error correction data through the wired medium and including capabilities to receive the over-the-air broadcast television signals also being received at the first interface, the additional receivers processing the received error correction data to facilitate correcting errors in video output therefrom as a function of the received over-the-air broadcast television signals.