METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LOCATING A CONTROL CHANNEL AND DATA TRANSPORT STREAM WITHIN THE SIGNAL RECEIVED BY A SET-TOP BOX FROM A CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM

摘要

This method and system allows a set-top terminal to be connected to a cable television system and automatically locate the control channel or channels used by the cable system operator to transmit data, instructions or programming to the population of set-top terminals. The set-top terminal begins with a table of possible frequencies or a frequency range at which a control channel may be transmitted by the cable system operator. The set-top terminal then successively tunes those frequencies until one or more control channels are located. The set-top terminal may also match a platform identifier in the terminal with a platform identifier in the control channel 's data stream to confirm that the control channel is appropriate for the terminal.