Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090183196 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO REDUCE CHANNEL SWITCHING TIME - Methods and apparatus to reduce channel switching time. A method for channel switching includes bundling entitlement control messages (ECMs) to generate bundled ECMs that comprise decryption keys associated with a first content channel and one or more additional content channels, respectively, and transmitting the bundled ECMs with the first content channel. An apparatus for channel switching includes key acquisition logic configured to receive bundled ECMs that comprise decryption keys associated with a first content channel and one or more additional content channels, respectively, processing logic configured to receive a request to render a second content channel that is part of the one or more additional content channels, and decryption logic configured to utilize a selected decryption key obtained from the bundled ECMs to decrypt the second content channel. | 07-16-2009 |
20090190757 | EFFICIENT BROADCAST ENTITLEMENT MANAGEMENT MESSAGE DELIVERY MECHANISM USING A SCHEDULED DELIVERY WINDOW - Systems and methods include broadcasting an entitlement management message (EMM) in a communication system using a scheduled delivery window. The systems and methods including receiving a EMM broadcast window from a distribution system, listening for the EMM during the EMM broadcast window, and receiving the EMM from the distribution system during the EMM broadcast window. | 07-30-2009 |
20090210706 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONAL ACCESS OF NON REAL-TIME CONTENT IN A DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM - Methods and apparatus for conditional access of non real-time (NRT) content in a distribution system. A method includes encrypting NRT content with a control word (CW) to generate encrypted NRT content, providing the CW to entitlement control message (ECM) generators, receiving ECMs from the ECM generators, wherein each ECM comprises a unique encryption of the CW to provide conditional access to the CW, and providing the encrypted NRT content and the ECMs for transmission over a distribution network. An apparatus includes a synchronizer configured to provide a CW to ECM generators and receive ECMs from the ECM generators, wherein each ECM comprises a unique encryption of the CW to provide conditional access to the CW, and a management module configured to encrypt the NRT content with the CW to generate encrypted NRT content and provide the encrypted NRT content and the ECMs for transmission over the distribution network. | 08-20-2009 |
20100003914 | ENHANCED NOTIFICATION MECHANISM FOR BROADCAST NETWORKS USING BIT-MAP VECTORS - Methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products are defined for enhancing the delivery of overhead notifications in a broadcast network, in particular a broadcast network suitable for wireless device implementation. The broadcast-receiving devices only receive new notification messages, as opposed to receiving all of the currently active notification messages. This is achieved by broadcasting a listing of the currently active notifications versions and having the devices compare the currently active notification versions to the locally stored version(s) to determine which version or versions require capturing. In those aspects in which the broadcast-receiving device is a battery powered wireless device, battery power consumption is minimized because the device only captures active notification messages not currently in device memory, as opposed to all of the currently active notifications. | 01-07-2010 |
20100146559 | FEEDBACK BASED BROADCAST SCHEDULING - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitated generating a broadcast schedule of content based on user feedback. Users can provide feedback such as ratings, interest (e.g., like or dislike), comments, reviews, critiques and so on regarding content available on a media distribution system. The feedback can be utilized to determine a schedule or order of content that is delivered via a broadcast mechanism. In addition, users can supply contemporaneous feedback during broadcast. Contemporaneous feedback can be employed to enable dynamic adjustment and/or reconfigurations of the broadcast schedule. | 06-10-2010 |
20110072146 | METHOD FOR DELIVERY OF SOFTWARE UPGRADE NOTIFICATION TO DEVICES IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate providing software upgrade notifications to user devices that utilize unicast and multicast communication techniques in a wireless communication environment. Bandwidth and power consumption is minimized by permitting determination to be made regarding whether a given software update is relevant to the user device prior to attempting a download or receiving a notification thereof Additionally, evaluation of version number and software identity facilitates determining whether to employ a unicast software check-up protocol or a multicast software check-up protocol. Software upgrade information may also be transmitted over a multicast channel for a predetermined time period, after which a user device may initiate a unicast check-up protocol to receive software upgrade information. | 03-24-2011 |
20110173249 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING AND TRACKING BROADCAST SERVICE POINT USAGE - Systems and methods are described for providing content using distributed broadcast access points that include wide area broadcast interfaces for receiving content and local and/or personal area network interfaces for communicating content to client devices. In an embodiment, a system transmits usage logging notifications to one or more broadcast access points. The broadcast access points log usage data regarding the usage of the broadcast access points by client devices and/or content accessed via the broadcast access points. The logged data is then optionally used to customize one or more channels of content. Different broadcast access points may have access to different channels of content. A given channel of content optionally includes content aggregated from a plurality of different sources. | 07-14-2011 |
20110237257 | CELLULAR NETWORK ENERGY SAVING - Various arrangements for managing wireless network communication are described. Two cells using different radio access technologies (RATs), such as a 3G cell and a 4G cell, may provide overlapping coverage. A first cell using a first RAT, under certain circumstances, may be permitted to enter a powered down state such that less power is consumed. User equipment may communicate with the cell using the second RAT as the preferred network and only communicate with the cell using the first RAT when a service available through the first RAT but not the second RAT has been requested. Upon a request from the second cell, the first cell may enter a powered up state. | 09-29-2011 |
20120069827 | POWER CONSERVATION IN WIRELESS CLIENT TERMINALS USING PROXY DEVICE - A novel power conservation scheme is provided for conserving power in client terminals by using a proxy server. The client terminal may have a secondary communication interface for short range communications and a primary communication interface for long range communications with an access point for a wireless network. To conserve power, the client terminal may power down its primary communication interface without informing the access point. The access point assumes the primary communication interface is still active. Prior to shutting off its primary communication interface, the client terminal may assign an external proxy device to act as a proxy and monitor its data channel with the access point. The proxy device monitors the data channel(s) for the client terminal via a primary communication interface. If the proxy device detects a data message for the client terminal, it forwards the data message to the client terminal via a secondary communication interface. | 03-22-2012 |
20120084765 | METHOD FOR DELIVERY OF SOFTWARE UPGRADE NOTIFICATION TO DEVICES IN COMMUNCAITON SYSTEMS - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate providing software upgrade notifications to user devices that utilize unicast and multicast communication techniques in a wireless communication environment. Bandwidth and power consumption is minimized by permitting determination to be made regarding whether a given software update is relevant to the user device prior to attempting a download or receiving a notification thereof. Additionally, evaluation of version number and software identity facilitates determining whether to employ a unicast software check-up protocol or a multicast software check-up protocol. Software upgrade information may also be transmitted over a multicast channel for a predetermined time period, after which a user device may initiate a unicast check-up protocol to receive software upgrade information. | 04-05-2012 |
20120094666 | UNIQUELY IDENTIFYING TARGET FEMTOCELL TO FACILITATE FEMTO-ASSISTED ACTIVE HAND-IN - Systems, methods, and devices are described for supporting macrocell-to-femtocell hand-ins of active macro communications for mobile devices. An out-of-band (OOB) link is used to detect that a mobile device is in proximity of a femtocell. Having detected the mobile device in proximity to the femtocell, an OOB proximity detection is communicated to a femtocell gateway disposed in a core network in communication with the macro network to effectively pre-register the mobile device with the femto-convergence system. When the femtocell gateway receives a handover request from the macro network implicating the pre-registered mobile device, it is able to reliably determine the appropriate target femtocell to use for the hand-in according to the pre-registration, even where identification of the appropriate target femtocell would otherwise be unreliable. Some embodiments may also handling registering the mobile device after a handover request has occurred, including tiered approaches. | 04-19-2012 |
20120120858 | DATA RESUME INDICATOR FOR MOBILE DEVICE POWER CONSERVATION - A novel power conservation scheme is provided for conserving power in a wireless client terminal with an established communication session. While in a connected mode, the client terminal may receive data for the communication session via a data channel from an access point. During periods of inactivity over the data channel, the client terminal may switch to a lowered power mode, where the client terminal discontinuously monitors a control channel and does not monitor the data channel. The access point is informed of the operating mode of the client terminal. If a data resume indicator is received over the control channel, the client terminal switches back to the connected mode and resumes the communication session by receiving additional data over the data channel. | 05-17-2012 |
20120170490 | MULTIMEDIA CONTENT DELIVERY OVER FEMTOCELL - Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are described for multimedia content delivery in a femtocell. A mobile device may transmit multimedia content control information via wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum to a femtocell. The femtocell may access the multimedia content set forth in the received control information, and transmit the multimedia content over white space spectrum to a video display. | 07-05-2012 |
20120173722 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING RESPONSE TO SERVICE NOTIFICATIONS IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A method of providing content notifications to devices in a wireless communication system includes obtaining notification information comprising an identifier that defines a subset of a plurality of devices on a network configured to be responsive to content notifications; generating a notification message based on the obtained notification information to cause the subset of the plurality of devices to retrieve content from a network; and broadcasting the notification message over the network to the plurality of devices. The method also includes receiving content notifications in a wireless communication system, including receiving, in a wireless network, a notification message comprising an identifier that defines a subset of a plurality of devices on a network configured to be responsive to content notifications; and retrieving content from a network in response to being one of the subset of the plurality of devices as defined by the identifier of the received notification message. | 07-05-2012 |
20120290253 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR HEIGHT DETERMINATION - A method for determining a height (i.e., elevation above ground level) at which a communication device having an electronic processor and a sensor is located may include obtaining a reference height of a first location, the reference height being a known height relative to ground level, the reference height having a corresponding reference pressure; obtaining, with the sensor, a pressure measurement at a second location; and calculating, with the electronic processor, a height at the second location based on the pressure measurement, the reference height, and the reference pressure. The height may also be based on temperature data, location data, motion data, and/or the like. | 11-15-2012 |
20120303171 | DYNAMIC FEATURE-AWARE POWER MANAGEMENT - This disclosure relates to reducing battery usage in handheld communication devices due to operation of variable managed features, such as a location determination feature and other features that consume variable amounts of time and power. The techniques of this disclosure include dynamically managing a power budget allocated to one or more variable managed features of the handheld communication device based on power consumption over time by the variable managed features. More specifically, the techniques include, for each variable managed feature, recalculating a frequency for performing power events based on an amount of remaining power after one or more power events. The techniques also include reallocating the power budget to the one or more variable managed features based on an amount of remaining power after one or more power events of the variable managed features, a pre-determined period of time, or reaching a threshold level of power consumption jitter. | 11-29-2012 |
20130216041 | EFFICIENT BROADCAST ENTITLEMENT MANAGEMENT MESSAGE DELIVERY MECHANISM USING A SCHEDULED DELIVERY WINDOW - Systems and methods include broadcasting an entitlement management message (EMM) in a communication system using a scheduled delivery window. The systems and methods including receiving a EMM broadcast window from a distribution system, listening for the EMM during the EMM broadcast window, and receiving the EMM from the distribution system during the EMM broadcast window. | 08-22-2013 |
20130226988 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING RESPONSE TO SERVICE NOTIFICATIONS IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A method of providing content notifications to devices in a wireless communication system includes obtaining notification information regarding content available to a first group of mobile devices in a wireless network, generating a notification message comprising the notification information and an identifier associated with a second group of mobile devices that is a subset of the first group, and broadcasting the notification message over the network to cause mobile devices of the second group to retrieve the content over the network. The method also includes receiving content notifications in a wireless communication system, including receiving a notification message comprising notification information regarding content available to a first group of mobile devices and an identifier associated with a second group of devices, where the second group is a subset of the first group, and retrieving content from a network in response to being one of the second group of devices. | 08-29-2013 |
20140152539 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR AN INFRARED CONTACTLESS GESTURE SYSTEM - An apparatus, a method, and a computer program product are provided. The apparatus generates at least one signal in response to a contactless gesture performed proximate to an infrared proximity sensor situated on the optical device, the contactless gesture corresponding to a command, identifies the command using the at least one signal, and executes the command. | 06-05-2014 |
20140327521 | ASSET LOCATION USING RELAYS - Systems and methods are described herein for asset location using relay tags. A method for asset location via a relay tag as described herein includes receiving, at the relay tag, an asset message from an asset tag according to a wireless communication protocol, wherein the relay tag has a known location; producing, at the relay tag, a relay message using information contained in the asset message, wherein the relay message includes an indication of the relay tag from which the relay message is sent and an indication of the asset tag from which the asset message was received; and sending the relay message from the relay tag to a receiver using the wireless communication protocol. | 11-06-2014 |