Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Arris Enterprises LLC

Digeo, Inc.

Webtv Networks, Inc.

William M Gillon

Stephen G Perlman

Daniel John Zigmond

Phillip York Goldman

Dean J Blackketter

A system for processing multimedia channels is described comprising: transmitting decryption keys for decrypting the multimedia channels, the keys encrypted in both a first encryption format and a second encryption format; the keys encrypted in the first encryption format being decryptable by a first type of multimedia receiver; and the keys encrypted in the second encryption format being decryptable by a second type of multimedia receiver.

System and method for conditional access key encryption

Displaying content associated with a television program using logical addresses identifying the content. Content associated with the television program is automatically displayed by a set top box. Before the broadcast of a program, television listing information, such as EPG data, is stored at the set top box. The listing information includes batch mode logical addresses or links. During the program, a viewer is notified about the link, enabling the content to be accessed and displayed concurrently with the program. In addition, real-time logical addresses or links, which are embedded in the program, may be extracted and displayed to the viewer. If both the real-time and batch mode links are available, a determination is made according to pre-defined rules regarding which link is brought to the attention of the viewer. In this manner, real-time links can be supplied with the broadcast to supplement or replace the batch mode links.

Retrieving content using batch mode and real-time logical addresses

A method and apparatus for communicating logical addresses within a broadcast television signal are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, a logical address of a resource, e.g., a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), may be communicated to a receiving device, such as a set-top box, by way of a data service channel of a video signal. A sequence of data complying with a predetermined syntax and including the logical address is embedded in either a text service channel (e.g., T , T , T , T ) or a captioning service channel (e.g., CC , CC , CC , CC ) of the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of the video signal. According to another aspect of the present invention, a logical address of a resource may be received by way of a data service channel of a video signal. A video signal including data associated with one or more data services is received. Subsequently, a sequence of data complying with a predetermined syntax is retrieved from either a captioning service or a text service. Ultimately, a logical address may be extracted from the video signal by parsing the sequence of data. importantly, features of the present invention are applicable to many broadcast television (TV) systems including National Television Standards Committee (NTSC), Phase Alternate Lines (PAL), and Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire (SECAM) as well as the proposed High Definition Television (HDTV) standard. Further, the present invention is transport-independent thereby allowing a variety of transport mechanisms, such as analog cable, digital satellite, digital TV, cable TV and others, to be employed.

Communicating logical addresses of resources in a data service channel of a video signal

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Daly City, CA, United States of America

William M Gillon