US 11,949,939 B2
Non-volatile memory system and method for storing and transferring set top box system data
William Michael Beals, Englewood, CO (US)
Assigned to DISH Network L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed by DISH Network L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed on Mar. 31, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/710,138.
Prior Publication US 2023/0319340 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. H04N 21/426 (2011.01); H04N 21/4363 (2011.01); H04N 21/443 (2011.01)
CPC H04N 21/42646 (2013.01) [H04N 21/43637 (2013.01); H04N 21/4436 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
6. A method, comprising:
transferring system specific settings from a system control computer processor within a housing to a non-volatile memory that is within the housing, wherein the housing contains within it an audio/video processor coupled to the system control computer processor, the audio/video processor being configured for outputting audio/video data to a display to be viewed by a user;
retaining system specific data stored in the non-volatile memory within the housing when no electrical power is being provided to the housing and to the system control computer processor wherein the system specific settings include at least user specific data, user preferences, and previously displayed audio/video data by the audio/video processor within the housing and operational features of the system control computer processor;
transporting the housing having system control computer processor and the non-volatile memory to a repair facility, the repair facility having a wireless query antenna;
outputting a wireless power supply query signal from the query antenna in the repair facility to the housing of the set top box;
receiving electrical power wirelessly at a power transfer antenna inside the housing from the query signal output by the query antenna, the power transfer antenna being coupled to the non-volatile memory, the power transfer antenna being configured to receive power from a wireless power supply query signal from outside the housing and to send data from outside the housing to circuits inside the housing;
transferring electrical power from the power transfer antenna to the non-volatile memory;
transferring the system specific settings from the non-volatile memory to the power transfer antenna after receiving electrical power from the power transfer antenna; and
transmitting the stored system specific settings from the non-volatile memory to the wireless query antenna to a location in the repair facility that is outside of the housing via the power transfer antenna,
wherein there are plurality of housings at the repair facility at the same time and the below steps are carried out on each of the plurality of respective housings with the same time frame using a time multiplexer sequence:
outputting a wireless power supply query signal from the query antenna in the repair facility to the housing of each respective set top box;
receiving electrical power wirelessly at a power transfer antenna inside the housing from the query signal output by the query antenna, the power transfer antenna being coupled to the non-volatile memory, the power transfer antenna being configured to receive power from a wireless power supply query signal from outside the housing and to send data from outside the housing to circuits inside the housing;
transferring electrical power from the power transfer antenna to the non-volatile memory;
transferring the system specific settings from the non-volatile memory to the power transfer antenna from each respective housing after receiving electrical power from the power transfer antenna; and
transmitting the stored system specific settings from the non-volatile memory to the wireless query antenna to a location in the repair facility that is outside of the housing via the power transfer antenna for each respective housing.