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United States Patent (19) 11) Patent Number: 5,058,160 Banker Et Al

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United States Patent (19) 11) Patent Number: 5,058,160 Banker Et Al United States Patent (19) 11) Patent Number: 5,058,160 Banker et al. (45) Date of Patent: Oct. 15, 1991 54) IN-BAND CONTROLLER 4,736,421 4/1988 Morita et al. ......................... 380/20 4,739,510 4/1988 Jeffers et al. .. ... 380/20 75) Inventors: Robert O. Banker, Cumming; 4,760,597 7/1988 Hayes et al. ...... ... 380/20 Randolph Schaubs, Stone Mountain; 4,763,317 8/1988 Lehman et al. ... ... 370/58 Michael Harney, Atlanta; Jay C. 4,802,214 1/1989 Barany et al. ... 380/20 McMullan, Jr., Doraville; anthony J. 4,817,144 3/1989 Cirra et al. ........ ... 380/20 Wasilewski, Lawrenceville; Gregory 4,823,386 4/989 Dumbauld et al. ................... 380/3 S. Durden, Jonesboro; Rdy T. haman, Jr., Duluth; David Naddor, OTHER PUBLICATIONS Doraville; William B. Thatcher, Jr., "Satellite & Cable TV Scrambling and Descrambling", Alpharetta, all of Ga. B. Gale et al., pp. 75-78; Baylin/Gale Production Pub lisher; Jun. 1986. (73) Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., Atlanta, Ga. "Video Scrambling & Descrambling for Satellite & 21 Appl. No.: 593,329 Cable TV'; R. Graf et al.; Howard Sams & Co. Pub 22 Filed; Oct. 1, 1990 lisher; Indianapolis, Ind., p. 7; date unknown. Primary Examiner-Thomas H. Tarcza Related U.S. Application Data Assistant Examiner-Tod Swann (63) Continuation of Ser. No. 188,481, Apr. 29, 1988, aban Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Banner, Birch, McKie & doned. Beckett (51) Int. Cl. ............................................. H04N 7/167 57 ABSTRACT 52) U.S. Cl. ...................................................... 380/20 The present invention discloses a method and apparatus 58) Field of Search ... ... 380/20 for providing a cable TV system with the ability to issue 56) References Cited information from a system manager, determine whether the information is intended for a set top designed to U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS receive out-of-band information or in-band information, 4,092,596 5/1978 Dickinson et al..................... 375/17 send the information to the appropriate circuitry. 4,109,281 8/1978 Karzashi et al. .. ... 380A7 Reformatting of some information is necessary and is 4,322,745 3/1982 Saeki et al. ... 358/23 performed by a format translator. For in-band informa 4,450,477 5/1984 Lovett ................................... 358/86 4,475,123 10/1984 Dumbauld et al. ... 380/20 tion, information may be sent over one or more of a 4,494,138 1/1985 Shimp ............... 358/86 plurality of data streams. Certain types of information 4,536,791 8/1985 Campbell et al.. ... 380/20 are sent over one or more data streams based on the 4,587,651 5/1986 Nelson et al. ......................... 370/88 type of information and characteristics of the data 4,597,077 6/1986 Nelson et al. ......................... 370/88 streams. It is further disclosed that for efficiency, simi 4,61 1,242 9/1985 Williams ............................... 380/20 lar information intended for several addresses is 4,623,920 1 1/1986 Dufresne et al. ..................... 380/20 grouped together in a database manager so that the 4,633,309 2/1986 Li et al. ................................. 380/20 4,679, 191 7/1987 Nelson et al. ......................... 370/88 information may be sent to plural addresses at one time. 4,682,360 7/1987 Frederickson ........................ 380/20 Scramblers are employed with the capability of insert 4,694,490 9/1987 Harvey et al. ........................ 380/20 ing data onto nonscrambled channels. 4,712,239 12/1987 Frezza et al. ......................... 380/20 4,716,588 12/1987 Thompson et al.................... 380/20 12 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets O 12 13 AIPRW ALCW N-BAND BNG SYSEM CONTROLER COPER MANAGERW TOOTHER SCRAMBERS s 104 SCRAMBER AA INSERTER TOX MODUATORS MODULAOR TO DISTRBON U.S. Patent Oct. 15, 1991 Sheet 1 of 13 5,058,160 FIG, 1 102 Y LN sHo- to103 (IRWoccurs N - BAND BLNG SYSTEM CONTROLLER COMPUTER MANAGER IV TOOTHER SCRAMBLERS 105 SCRAMBER DISTRIBUTION U.S. Patent 5,058,160 /03 U.S. Patent 5,058,160 U.S. Patent 5,058,160 S? U.S. Patent Oct. 15, 1991 Sheet 11 of 13 5,058,160 BEGINNING ADDRESS CONTROL INFORMATION FRAME ENDING FLAG 8 BTS 8 BITS FIELD CHECK FLAG 01111110 NX 8BITS 16 BITS 01111110 FIG, 12 SDLCFRAME BEGINNING ADDRESS CONTROL INFORMATION FRAME ENDING FLAG FIELD CHECK FLAG / N / N TRANSPORT LAYERTRANSACTION FIG, 13 ACTIONTRANS- BLOCK1 BLOCK2 - a BLOCK7 BLOCK8 2E BYTES BYTES 4. BYTES 4 BYTES FIG, 14 GLOBAL COMMAND DATA DATA OOh CODE LENGTH O - 255 1 BYTE BYTE 1 BYTE BYTES FIG, 15 SCRAMBLER COMMAND DATA DATA ADDRESS CODE LENGTH 0-255 BYTE 1BYTE 1 BYTE BYES FIG 16 SCRAMBLER COMMAND DATA DATA ADDRESS CODE LENGTH 0 - 255 1BYTE 1BYTE 1 BYTE BYTES U.S. Patent Oct. 15, 1991 Sheet 12 of 13 5,058,160 171 FIG, 17 173 N-BAND SCRAMBER IN-BAND DIGITAL BOARD DATABOARD AUDIOIF PARAMETER OUTPUT SELECTION EN NE FROM / CON- INTERFACE TOMOD, TROLLER AUDIO IF INPUT VIDEO FROM / TO MOD, TO MOD. BASEBAND VIDEO OUTPUT SOLO SCENE CONTROLLER LLUMINATION DETECTOR MICRO CONTROLLER PROGRAMMEMORY -- MICRO RIW MEMORY BSAND contro LER NU MEMORY V FROM MEMORY DEMOD. -- RIW MEMORY TOMOD. MODULAOR COMPOSITE AUDIO FROM STEREO ENCODE GITAL SCRAMBLE D IN-BAND BOARD DATA BOARD E. INTERFACE INTERFACE U.S. Patent 5,058,160 NOLLOWSNWHL 5,058,160 1 2 It is another object of the invention to provide an IN-BAND CONTROLLER in-band controller to determine whether a message sent from a headend is intended to be received by an out-of This application is a continuation of application Ser. band set top terminal or an in-band settop terminal. No. 07/188,481, filed Apr. 29, 1988 now abandoned. 5 It is a further object of this invention to provide a format translator for reformatting data received by the BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION in-band controller that is intended to be received by an The present invention is directed to cable TV systems ISTT. wherein video signals are sent from a headend to indi It is a further object of this invention to provide a vidual settop terminals (STT) which are typically lo 10 database manager including a database file for grouping cated in any convenient television viewing area. As is together similar data transactions intended for different well known in the art, various levels of service are settop terminals. available to the set top terminals. Subscribers may It is a further object of this invention to provide a choose from a wide variety of programs offered by a refresh controller which efficiently allows an ISTT to cable TV service. Since a cable TV service may pro 15 receive refresh information. vide many different programs, it is important to know It is a further object of this invention to provide an which programs each individual set top is authorized to in-band scrambler interface to provide the capability of receive. Additionally, it is necessary to send other infor sending data to the scramblers over selected data mation from the headend to a set top for various other StreamS. purposes as is well known in the art. 20 It is a further object of this invention to provide in Prior systems used a separate data channel centered band data over plural data streams. about 108.2 MHz to convey this information to the settop converters. The individual settop terminals each SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION had a separate tuner which was always tuned to this In order to achieve these and other objects of the frequency to receive any data that may have been sent 25 present invention, there is provided an in-band control down from the headend. Since this channel is outside ler (IBC) which receives data from a system manager the band of channels that are used for sending video via a system manager interface. signals, this type of system has commonly been referred to in the art as an "out-of-band' system. SYSTEM MANAGER INTERFACE One drawback to such a system is that each settop 30 The System Manager interface is one of the outside terminal needs a tuner to tune to the 108.2 MHz fre connections of the In-Band System. This process is quency as well as a variable tuner to tune to the selected responsible for gathering the data leaving the System channel. The requirement of two tuners in the settop Manager and routing this data to the appropriate mod significantly increases the cost of building these settops. ules. Data which is destined to Out-Of-Band Set Tops There are other drawbacks to this system as is well 35 will be sent to the ATX Interface (another one of the known in the art. outside interfaces) and the data destined to the In-Band For these and other reasons, it has become desirable Set Tops will be sent to the Format Translator module. to provide what is referred to as an "in-band' type The System Manager Interface is also capable of relat system. Known in-band systems send authorization ing information back to the System Manager if an in information and other information to the STT's over a quiry of data has been requested by the System Man channel that is used to transmit video information. One ager. problem encountered with in-band type systems is that in order for a settop terminal to receive information ATX INTERFACE from a headend or other source, it must be tuned to the The ATX Interface is an optional feature of the In frequency over which the in-band information is being 45 Band System. The IBC can be configured to enable this transmitted. Therefore, if information is sent out from a interface.
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