Importance

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Abstract

The present channel acquisition system rapidly acquires and decodes digital media streams that are broadcast to customers, such as the digital media streams delivered by streaming media and traditional broadcast media services like cable, satellite, and broadcast television. When the decoding unit makes a channel change or initiates reception of a selected channel, the decoding unit receives the necessary Reference Frames and Dependent Frames on a separate channel such that it can start decoding faster than if it waited for those frames to arrive on the selected channel via the broadcast stream. There are several embodiments of the channel acquisition system which provide various forms of data on the separate channel to enable the rapid acquisition of the selected channel by the decoding unit. These forms of data include a burst of the required Reference Frames and Dependent Frames, multiple broadcast streams of the same channel that contain Reference Frames at different offset times, and a single additional broadcast stream that contains only the necessary Reference Frames and Dependent Frames for decoding. These various methods of providing the required decoding information to supplement the digital stream received on the selected channel enables the decoder to quickly initiate decoding and display of the received digital bit stream to the customer.

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First Claim