Patents by Inventor Daniel Thomas Wetzel

Daniel Thomas Wetzel has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8929403
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for providing remote tuning and clock synchronization in a network. The system includes a device that receives a signal that includes a plurality of channels, a device that receives a user request indicative of a desire to view at least one of the plurality of channels, and a filter that filters the received signal and transmits a user signal corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of channels to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Terry Wayne Lockridge, Mike Arthur Derrenberger, Daniel Thomas Wetzel
  • Patent number: 7991014
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for providing remote tuning and clock synchronization in a network. The system includes a device that receives a signal that includes a plurality of channels, a device that receives a user request indicative of a desire to view at least one of the plurality of channels, and a filter that filters the received signal and transmits a user signal corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of channels to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Terry Wayne Lockridge, Mike Arthur Derrenberger, Daniel Thomas Wetzel
  • Publication number: 20110113446
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for providing remote tuning and clock synchronization in a network. The system includes a device that receives a signal that includes a plurality of channels, a device that receives a user request indicative of a desire to view at least one of the plurality of channels, and a filter that filters the received signal and transmits a user signal corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of channels to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2011
    Publication date: May 12, 2011
    Inventors: TERRY WAYNE LOCKRIDGE, Mike Arthur Derrenberger, Daniel Thomas Wetzel
  • Patent number: 7940801
    Abstract: A WLAN compliant device which comprises a VCX), a MAC, a decoder which outputs video wherein said device compares time stamps to obtain a difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: John Alan Gervais, Daniel Thomas Wetzel
  • Patent number: 7924872
    Abstract: A system for multiplexing a transport packet and an Ethernet packet comprises a transport interface for receiving a transport stream comprising the transport packet and a network interface for receiving a network stream comprising the Ethernet packet. The system comprises a packet identifier coupled to the transport interface for filtering the transport stream and selecting the transport packet and a date formatter coupled to the network interface for creating a transport header appended to the Ethernet packet. The system further comprises a multiplexer for receiving the transport packet from the packet identifier, for receiving the Ethernet packet from the data formatter, and for multiplexing the transport packet and the Ethernet packet comprising the transport header.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Terry Wayne Lockridge, Daniel Thomas Wetzel, Mike Arthur Derrenberger
  • Patent number: 7366754
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus using a system level clocking scheme to remove jitter from multi-media packets distributed over an asynchronous network, in particular an Ethernet network. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with jitter introduced in an Ethernet network by using various time stamps to synchronize a client device clock to a headend clock and to control the data flow in the client device to match the rate that the data is received by a broadband receiver coupled to the headend. A first time stamp is prepended to the transport packets when the packets are received from the headend. A second time stamp is placed in the data frame when the data frame is placed on the network. A third time stamp is placed in the data frame when the data frame is received from the network. The second and third time stamps are used for clock synchronization and the first time stamp is used for data flow control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2008
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Daniel Thomas Wetzel, Anh Quang Nguyen
  • Patent number: 7203457
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for compensating for frequency drift in an LNB by storing the frequency offset of each LNB with respect to each channel. When a channel is selected, a particular LNB is activated and the table of offset values is consulted. The offset value for the LNB and channel is used to tune the LNB to a frequency that is appropriate for receiving the selected channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2007
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventor: Daniel Thomas Wetzel
  • Patent number: 6944878
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for ensuring a correct satellite signal connection. Specifically, a user selects a satellite signal via an integrated receiver/decoder (IRD) from at least one satellite, and the IRD sends a command signal to a selector switch to acquire and lock onto said satellite signal. The IRD repeats transmission of the command signal to the selector switch once the IRD has acquired and locked onto said information signal. Thus, in the event that the selector switch failed to switch to a low noise block converter (LNB) corresponding to the initial command signal, then the repeated command signal helps to ensure that the selector switch switches to the LNB corresponding with the latest command signal sent by the IRD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2005
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing S.A.
    Inventors: Daniel Thomas Wetzel, Terry Wayne Lockridge, Michael F. Barry
  • Publication number: 20040177162
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus using a system level clocking scheme to remove jitter from multi-media packets distributed over an asynchronous network, in particular an Ethernet network. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with jitter introduced in an Ethernet network by using various time stamps to synchronize a client device clock to a headend clock and to control the data flow in the client device to match the rate that the data is received by a broadband receiver coupled to the headend. A first time stamp is prepended to the transport packets when the packets are received from the headend. A second time stamp is placed in the data frame when the data frame is placed on the network. A third time stamp is placed in the data frame when the data frame is received from the network. The second and third time stamps are used for clock synchronization and the first time stamp is used for data flow control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2003
    Publication date: September 9, 2004
    Inventors: Daniel Thomas Wetzel, Ahn Quang Nguyen