US 2008.007.4497A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/0074497 A1 Kuh (43) Pub. Date: Mar. 27, 2008 (54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR Publication Classification DETERMINING AND DISPLAYING SIGNAL QUALITY INFORMATION ON A (51) Int. Cl. TELEVISION DISPLAY SCREEN H04N 7/02 (2006.01) (52) U.S. Cl. ....................................................... 34.8/180 (75) Inventor: Steve Kuh, Los Angeles, CA (US) (57) ABSTRACT Correspondence Address: MORGAN LEWIS & BOCKUS LLP A method and apparatus for determining and displaying 1111 PENNSYLVANIAAVENUE NW signal quality measurement on a television display screen. The method and apparatus of this invention provides for the WASHINGTON, DC 20004 display of signal quality measurements, including measure (73) Assignee: KTECH ments of signal-to-noise ratio, bit error rate and channel TELECOMMUNICATIONS, multi-path distortion in addition to the signal strength. Furthermore, apparatus are described and methods described INC., Chatsworth, CA (US) whereby these signal quality measurements may be ascer (21) Appl. No.: 11/534,145 tained and provided either through television overlay or through NTSC radio frequency modulation to particular (22) Filed: Sep. 21, 2006 television channels. Y SY c 7 channel t SIGNAL Strer, gth f Care Station. KCBS Channert Chann unha; - Major Channel J Tiber-fi Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) Minor Chare unber. SS ArtePort: A O Bit Error Rate (BER Q-BeS3E-8 as Channel Multi-path Distortion RS-29 Sv.Vo - } - 4 Channel lunter 53 S&NA Strength -55 dBm Chae Station. KAEC Chiefta hanfei Nuitar 3 Fajor Channel NuT ber 53 Sigrial-to-ricise Ratio (SNR) 22d 28 for Carrel Number: 1 Anterna Port: Riterror Rate (EER) O Channel Mii-, 5th Distortion - 25 Patent Application Publication Mar. 27, 2008 Sheet 1 of 4 US 2008/0074497 A1 Patent Application Publication Mar. 27, 2008 Sheet 2 of 4 US 2008/0074497 A1 Ihl uèunLHS Patent Application Publication Mar. 27, 2008 Sheet 3 of 4 US 2008/0074497 A1 zu-1215LM|| 7 ajtip?d Patent Application Publication Mar. 27, 2008 Sheet 4 of 4 US 2008/0074497 A1 US 2008/0074497 A1 Mar. 27, 2008 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR alternatively through NTSC channel 3 or 4. These and other DETERMINING AND DISPLAYING SIGNAL objects of the present invention will be seen from the QUALITY INFORMATION ON A following description. TELEVISION DISPLAY SCREEN BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION 0008. The method and apparatus of this invention over come the limitations of the prior art by taking information 0001. The present invention relates televisions and signal and data available to a television receiver and making it quality and more specifically to a method and apparatus for available to a user of that television. The present invention determining and displaying signal quality measurement on a provides means of gathering and displaying signal strength, television display Screen. signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), bit error rate (BER) and channel multi-path distortion simultaneously (or Substantially simul 2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION taneously). 0009 Furthermore, the method and apparatus of this 0002 The prior art describes methods of creating a visual invention provides means by which this data may be dis display of the level of signal quality that is present for a played, using an RF modulator, on any channel. In the given television signal. In these type of prior art methods preferred embodiment, the data is displayed on channels 3 and apparatus, the signal display is typically given as a and 4. Alternatively, an MPEG-2 decoder and HD Video meter, ranging from a low level to a high level. In the prior output directly to the display may be used, for example, as art, no actual indication of numerical values are given. While an overlay or as a portion of a display. these meters let users of the television know the relative 0010 Furthermore, the method and apparatus of this signal strength of the signal, they provide very limited and invention provides means by which the signal quality indi very “rough' estimates of a signals overall quality. cation is provided in means of graph (or bar levels) and/or 0003. Also present in the prior art additional meters in means of actual signal quality measurements using num which provide bars, similar to those now employed for use bers measured by the television hardware. in cellular and other mobile phone technology. These pro vide that a display will show additional bars or “taller bars BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS when the signal strength is high and fewer or “smaller bars 0011 FIG. 1 is a depiction of an example signal quality when the signal strength is low. Again, this type of prior art measurement. fails to provide meaningful numeric measures of the quality 0012 FIG. 2 is a depiction of one method of gathering of the signal, not simply for the user but for other people or signal quality information. television customer service who may need numeric values. 0013 FIG. 3 is a depiction of another method of gather 0004 Also in the prior art are methods which provide ing signal quality information. means for outputting direct overlays of multi-path distortion 0014 FIG. 4 is a depiction of another method of gather measures to the display of the television. This prior art only ing signal quality information. provides multi-path distortion measures and does not pro vide alternative means of output. While multi-path distortion DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE measures are one of the most important measures of signal INVENTION quality (as opposed to signal strength) for modern televi sions, they are not the only measure necessary for good 0015. Herein there are numerous terms used which are customer service and user information. described in the art through the use of acronyms. Further more, there are additional terms that need to be defined for 0005 Finally, there is in the prior art a method of purposes of the specification and claims. These terms are providing an on-screen display of the signal strength of defined below. Wherever “video' is used herein, it is to be various channels. These methods provide an interactive understood that video includes transmissions or displays that guide on Screen whereby a user may view signal strength per are video only, audio and video in conjunction and those that channel. This method does not provide any other measure of are completely or primarily audio. High definition may be signal quality (as opposed to signal strength) and does not described using the acronym "HD" in various places within provide alternative means for displaying the information. the specification. The two terms are intended to be synony 0006. In the known prior art, there is no method or mous. The acronym “NTSC refers to the National Televi apparatus that provides means whereby multiple indicators sion Systems Committee, a committee established by the of signal quality (as opposed to signal strength) are dis Federal Communications Commission that is responsible for played simultaneously and furthermore whereby those indi setting television transmission and display standards. The cators may be displayed either as an overlay for HDTV acronym “ATSC refers to the Advanced Television Systems televisions using an MPEG-2 decoder or, alternatively, ulti Committee. The acronym “MPEG” refers to the Motion lize a radio frequency modulator on the MPEG-2 decoded Picture Experts Group. The acronym “MPEG-2 refers to Video output, causing the display to be made on standard the standard adopted by the Motion Picture Experts Group NTSC channel 3 or 4. with regard to a compression and coding standards for audio 0007. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide video content. The acronym “RF refers to radio frequency. a method and apparatus that is capable of delivering multiple These definitions are important for understanding the elements of signal quality measurements with accuracy. It is remainder of the specification. a further object of the present invention to provide these 0016 Referring first to FIG. 1, a depiction of an example measurements directly to the consumer (and secondarily to display of the present invention is depicted. This is an customer Support specialists) through on screen displays or example of the type of display that can be used with the US 2008/0074497 A1 Mar. 27, 2008 method and apparatus of this invention to provide the antenna. This can also result in signal distortion or loss of information described. It is to be understood that this display signal altogether depending on the extent to which the is merely for illustrative purposes and that any type, arrange multiple paths interfere with each other or are substantially ment or visual embellishment may be used that substantially out-of-synchronization. As above, the channel multi-path accomplishes similar purposes. distortion 122 includes a bar or meter measure, depicted in 0017. The display 100 includes a channel box 101. The element 124 and a numerical value 126. channel box 101 may take many forms and may include more or less information than the channel box 101 provided 0022. Similarly, a channel box 126 (like the one in in this preferred embodiment. However, the channel box 101 element 101) is provided for each channel. The indicators of in this display 100 of the preferred embodiment provides signal quality 128 are also provided for each channel. These, several types of information, most notably, the channel in the preferred embodiment include names, bars or other number, seen in element 102. visual indicators of signal quality and numerical values. 0018. In order to adequately provide signal quality infor 0023. In each case, the numerical value is most useful to mation, multiple facets of the signal quality must be shown.