{
  "patent_number": "US 5440632",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Cable Boxes Download Software Updates Remotely",
  "original_title": "Reprogrammable subscriber terminal",
  "summary": "A method for cable television boxes to automatically download and install new software updates sent over the air from the cable provider's main office.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a system where a cable box uses a permanent, unchangeable piece of software called a boot program to manage updates. When the cable provider sends a signal, the boot program reads the instructions, which include which TV channel the update is hiding on and where in the box's memory to save it. Once the box receives all the pieces of the new software, the boot program installs them and restarts the box with the new features active. This allows cable companies to fix bugs or add new menu features to millions of boxes without a technician visiting the home.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover updates performed via physical connections like USB or Ethernet cables.",
    "Does not cover systems that require a user to manually trigger the update process.",
    "Does not cover software updates for devices that are not part of a subscription television system."
  ],
  "filed": "1994-03-28",
  "granted": "1995-08-08",
  "expires": "2014-03-28",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Scientific Atlanta LLC",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/scientific-atlanta-llc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Robert O. Banker",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/robert-o-banker"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kinney C. Bacon",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/kinney-c-bacon"
    },
    {
      "name": "David B. Lett",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/david-b-lett"
    },
    {
      "name": "Michael P. Harney",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/michael-p-harney"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. Thomas Haman",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/r-thomas-haman"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 249,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "telecommunications",
    "software"
  ],
  "abstract": "A reprogrammable subscriber terminal of a subscription television service which can have the control program code of its control processor modified by downloading new program code from the headend. The control processor stores a boot program in an internal read only memory. Upon start up and resets, the boot program determines whether the control program should be changed from a command sent from the headend. The command, termed a parameters transactions, includes the number of expected download program code transactions required to complete the control code modification, the memory space areas where the code is to be loaded, and the channel over which the download program code transactions are to be transmitted. The channel is tuned and when the boot program receives all the download program code transactions accurately and stores them, the boot program will cause the control program to be restarted at a selected address of the new or modified control program code which has been downloaded. The boot program may download code to different configurations of subscriber terminals including those with Flash EPROM or extended memories from plug-in expansion modules.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/5440632/reprogrammable-subscriber-terminal",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/5440632/reprogrammable-subscriber-terminal/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US5440632",
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}