The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 16, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 23, 1999
James E. Raiser, Lilburn, GA (US);
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., Lawrenceville, GA (US);
Abstract
A cable converter box is a capable of receiving a cable signal that includes both NTSC and digital television (DTV) formatted signals. When the converter box is tuned to a channel, the converter box determines whether the channel carries an NTSC or DTV signal. If the signal is NTSC, the signal passes through an up/down converter, is demodulated in a conventional manner, and is remodulated in order to be provided to the TV on a pre-selected channel. If the signal is DTV, the signal passes through the up/down converter, but not through the demodulator, prior to being output to a DTV-compatible TV on the same pre-selected channel as the NTSC signal. This prevents the user from having to change the tuner on the TV when the cable converter is changed to a DTV channel.