Data processing: software development – installation – and managem – Software upgrading or updating – Network
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-02
2002-10-22
Black, Thomas (Department: 2121)
Data processing: software development, installation, and managem
Software upgrading or updating
Network
C717S168000, C717S174000, C717S178000, C725S063000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06470496
ABSTRACT:
This application is based on application Ser. Nos. 10-218802 and 11-084807 filed in Japan, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus and a digital broadcast transmitting apparatus, and in particular relates to a technique for replacing a control program currently used in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus with a new control program sent from the digital broadcast transmitting apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, video, audio, and other various types of data are broadcasted through digital broadcasting that uses MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) transport streams or the like.
FIG. 1
is a diagrammatic sketch of a digital broadcast transmitting apparatus under MPEG standard.
This transmitting apparatus includes a plurality of encoders
601
that each digitize video and audio of a different one of a plurality of broadcast programs and encode and compress the digitized video and audio to produce video and audio streams, a data generator
602
for generating a data stream from service information such as program specific information and program information, a multiplexer
603
for performing time division multiplexing on the data stream and video and audio streams of the plurality of broadcast programs to create multiplexed transport stream packets, and a modulator
604
for digitally modulating the transport stream packets to generate a transmittable modulated wave.
That is to say, video streams and audio streams generated by the plurality of encoders
601
and a data stream generated by the data generator
602
are multiplexed in time division by the multiplexer
603
to produce MPEG2 multiplexed transport stream packets, which are then digitally modulated by the modulator
604
to create a modulated wave.
FIG. 1
shows three sets of the above units that generate a modulated wave. Three modulators
604
generate modulated waves of different frequencies and output them onto a transmission line (e.g. radio wave or cable). In digital satellite broadcasting, since as many modulated waves as transponders equipped in a satellite (not illustrated) can be simultaneously transmitted, the modulated waves generated by the three modulators
604
are concurrently broadcasted to a plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses via transponders corresponding to the respective three modulators
604
.
FIG. 2
is a diagrammatic sketch of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus under MPEG standard.
This receiving apparatus includes a tuner
901
for selectively receiving a modulated wave including a channel designated by a user among the modulated waves transmitted via the transmission line, a demodulator
902
for digitally demodulating the received modulated wave to acquire multiplexed transport stream packets, a demultiplexer
903
for separating the multiplexed transport stream packets into a data stream and video and audio streams of a plurality of broadcast programs, a transport decoder (hereinafter “TD”)
904
for extracting a necessary stream, an audio decoder
905
for decompressing and decoding an extracted audio stream and converting the audio stream into analog form to generate audio signals, video decoder
906
for decompressing and decoding an extracted video stream to generate video information, a video decoder memory
907
used by the video decoder
906
as a work area, a CPU
908
for controlling each component of the receiving apparatus, a flash memory
909
for storing a control program of the CPU
908
, a DRAM (dynamic RAM)
910
for storing service information and display information included in the data stream, an EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable ROM)
911
for storing information which needs to be retained while the power of the receiving apparatus is off, a display generator
912
for merging the video information and the service information to generate video signals, and a CPU bus
913
for connecting each component of the receiving apparatus for data transfer. Here, the CPU bus
913
is connected to the tuner
901
, demodulator
902
, TD
904
, CPU
908
, flash memory
909
, DRAM
910
, EEPROM
911
, and display generator
912
, and is used for control of the CPU
908
or data transfer such as DMA (direct memory access) transfer.
In addition to the above components of the receiving apparatus, the figure also shows a speaker
914
for converting the audio signals generated by the audio decoder
905
into sounds and a monitor
915
for generating images from the video signals created by the display generator
912
.
The overall operation of the digital broadcast receiving apparatus is as follows. The modulated wave received by the tuner
901
is demodulated by the demodulator
902
to acquire multiplexed transport stream packets, which are then separated by the demultiplexer
903
into different streams from which a necessary stream is extracted by the TD
904
. An extracted audio stream is converted into audio signals by the audio decoder
905
and further converted into sounds via the speaker
914
. An extracted video stream is converted into video information by the video decoder
906
and merged with service information by the display generator
912
, and as a result images are displayed on the monitor
915
. Here, service information included in an extracted data stream is stored in the DRAM
910
and only the information designated by the user is transferred to the display generator
912
via the TD
904
to be merged with the video information.
The unit of data transfer of transport stream packets from the digital broadcast transmitting apparatus to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus is referred to as “packet”, with information being transmitted in units of packets irrespective of the type of the information. The size of each packet is typically 188 bytes.
The structure of data such as the service information stored in the DRAM
910
is called “section structure”, with a set of section structured data being called “table”.
FIG. 3
shows a section structure table.
This table contains table_id, table_id_extension, and section_length.
Table_id and table_id_extension are used by the TD
904
to extract a desired table.
Table_id is an identifier indicating a type of the table, whereas table_id_extension is an external identifier showing the type indicated by the table ID in more details.
Section_length shows a total data size (number of bytes) of section made up of data_bytes which are each 8 bits (1 byte) long.
When services provided by a broadcast station change, it becomes necessary to rewrite a control program which is currently used in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus. There are various methods for replacing the currently used control program with a new control program. One of such methods is that the digital broadcast receiving apparatus receives the new control program from the broadcast station and replaces the current control program with the new control program. Although this method is relatively convenient for the user as it is easily performed within a short time, hardware and software for rewriting the control program needs to be equipped in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus.
FIG. 4
shows the form of transmitting a control program in digital satellite broadcasting. In the figure, the control program is sent from a broadcast station to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus of the user via a satellite together with video data and audio data.
The following is a description of replacing a control program currently used in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus with a new control program sent from the digital broadcast transmitting apparatus.
A digital broadcast receiving apparatus that has a control program download function usually stores a control program in a rewritable flash memory.
FIG. 5A
shows a memory map of the flash memory
909
that stores a control program.
The control program stored in the flash memory
909
includes a reception progr
Kato Naoe
Sugimoto Keishi
Black Thomas
Booker Kelvin
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Price and Gess
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