Reduction of IPTV channel zapping time by utilizing the key input latency

With IPTV, channel zapping time is one of the significant problems. It occurs when the user wants to change the channel but needs to wait until the target channel is available. Various schemes reducing the time have been suggested, which download the candidate channels of the future use in advance. In this paper we propose a new method which further reduces the channel zapping time by pre-downloading the candidate channels during the time latency between two successive push operations of the buttons of remote controller made by the user. Computer simulation verifies its effectiveness in various operational conditions. More importantly, it can be employed together with other scheme of reducing channel zapping time without any additional overhead.