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:
Nov. 01, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 13, 1999
George A. Durden, Alpharetta, GA (US);
Paul T. Watson, Alpharetta, GA (US);
William C. Versteeg, Alpharetta, GA (US);
George A. Durden, Alpharetta, GA (US);
Paul T. Watson, Alpharetta, GA (US);
William C. Versteeg, Alpharetta, GA (US);
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation, Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
Set top boxes are provided with access to full EIT data streams without having to off-tune from one transport to another. If off-tuning is required, however, a locking mechanism substantially reduces or eliminates service interruption. Data in the additional EIT data streams in the non-home transports is reorganized to be sent by time rather than by service. EIT data is stored in the set top box in an architecture which significantly reduces the redundancy inherent in EIT data, allowing a full 7 days of EIT data to be stored in the set top box memory. The set top box of the present invention is backward compatible with conventional set top boxes.