Importance

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Abstract

A method of identifying programs in a digital video communication system, consistent with certain embodiment of the present invention involve generating an auxiliary program association table (PAT) and an auxiliary program map table (PMT), wherein the auxiliary PAT and auxiliary PMT relate at least one program identifier (PID) to a program. The auxiliary PAT and auxiliary PMT are packetized and identified using a designated PID. The designated PID is encoded as private descriptor in a network information table (NIT) that is transmitted to the Set-top boxes (STB) over an out of band channel. The STBs have an out of band modem that receives a network information table (NIT). A NIT parser parses the NIT to obtain a designated program identifier (PID) for packets containing an auxiliary program association table (PAT) and an auxiliary program map table (PMT). A demultiplexer extracts packets containing the auxiliary PAT and auxiliary PMT based upon the designated PID to obtain PID values associated with programs for use in decoding and decrypting programs.

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First Claim