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:
Dec. 13, 2011
Filed:
Mar. 12, 2009
Raynold M. Kahn, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Gregory J. Gagnon, Torrance, CA (US);
Thomas H. James, Pacific Palisades, CA (US);
Stephen P. Dulac, Santa Clarita, CA (US);
Jeffrey D. Carpenter, Pasadena, CA (US);
Robert G. Arsenault, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Aspandyar M. Jijina, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Raynold M. Kahn, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Gregory J. Gagnon, Torrance, CA (US);
Thomas H. James, Pacific Palisades, CA (US);
Stephen P. Dulac, Santa Clarita, CA (US);
Jeffrey D. Carpenter, Pasadena, CA (US);
Robert G. Arsenault, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Aspandyar M. Jijina, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
The DIRECTV Group, Inc., El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to activate functionality in a set-top box. A feature authorization message is received in a set-top box. The feature authorization message comprises one or more rules to be evaluated (wherein each of the rules comprises one or more tests for a status of one or more conditional access moduleattributes), one or more event requirements for rule evaluation, and one or more features that are dependent by the rule evaluation result (wherein each of the one or more features represents a set of one or more abilities of hardware and/or software of the set-top box). When one or more of the event requirements have been met, the one or more rules are evaluated to obtain a result. The ability to use the one or more features are then set based on the result.