Apparatus and methods for packetized content delivery over a bandwidth-efficient network
First Claim
1. A method of operating a content distribution network to deliver both Internet Protocol (IP) encoded content data and non-IP encoded content data via a digital content delivery system, the method comprising:
- causing, via a computerized network entity, delivery in a first transport stream of non-IP encoded digital content accessible by at least one non-IP enabled device destination; and
causing, via the computerized network entity, concurrent delivery in the first transport stream of IP-encoded digital content data associated with at least one IP enabled device destination, each of the at least one non-IP enabled device destination and the at least one IP enabled device destination associated with a first service group of the content distribution network;
wherein a scheduling or allocation of the non-IP encoded digital content and the IP-encoded digital content within the first transport stream is performed without regard to IP encoding.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for providing packetized content to users via a bandwidth-optimized network. In one embodiment, legacy and IPTV streams are carried over the same switched digital infrastructure, and freely intermixed without regard to their encoding or type. A user'"'"'s selection for IPTV content is transmitted to an IP proxy (such as a gateway apparatus or a headend server), then on to the switched digital server which causes provision of the requested content back to the proxy for formatting. The formatted content is then delivered to the requesting IP-capable device. The entire carrier class program stream is therefore available as IP-encapsulated content to the IP capable devices (and as legacy content to legacy devices) without any significant modifications to the network infrastructure or bandwidth penalty.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method of operating a content distribution network to deliver both Internet Protocol (IP) encoded content data and non-IP encoded content data via a digital content delivery system, the method comprising:
-
causing, via a computerized network entity, delivery in a first transport stream of non-IP encoded digital content accessible by at least one non-IP enabled device destination; and causing, via the computerized network entity, concurrent delivery in the first transport stream of IP-encoded digital content data associated with at least one IP enabled device destination, each of the at least one non-IP enabled device destination and the at least one IP enabled device destination associated with a first service group of the content distribution network; wherein a scheduling or allocation of the non-IP encoded digital content and the IP-encoded digital content within the first transport stream is performed without regard to IP encoding. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A server apparatus configured for operation within a switching system of a content delivery network, the server apparatus comprising:
-
at least one data communication interface configured for data communication with the content delivery network; processor apparatus in data communication with the at least one data communication interface; and at least one storage device in data communication with the processor apparatus, the at least one storage device configured to store at least one computer program thereon, the at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed by the processor apparatus, cause the server apparatus to; in a first data stream within a multi-program transport stream (MPTS), cause delivery of legacy content to at least a first user device; and switch-in at least one additional data stream into the MPTS to cause simultaneous delivery of packetized content to at least a second user device, the at least second user device in a same service group as the at least first user device, the packetized content encapsulated using at least a network layer protocol; wherein the at least one computer program comprises logic enabling the switch-in of the at least one additional data stream into the MPTS irrespective of the presence of the network layer protocol encapsulation of the packetized content. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A server apparatus configured for operation within a content delivery network, the server apparatus comprising:
-
at least one data communication interface configured for data communication with the content delivery network; processor apparatus in data communication with the at least one data communication interface; and at least one storage device in data communication with the processor apparatus, the at least one storage device configured to store at least one computer program thereon, the at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed by the processor apparatus, cause the server apparatus to; identify data indicative of a first request for internet protocol (IP) content from a first user device and data indicative of a second request for non-IP content from a second user device, the first user device and the second user device associated with a first service group of the content delivery network; and based at least in part on the identification of the data indicative of the first request and data indicative of the second request, select one or more existing quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) radio frequency (RF) channels to enable (i) delivery of the IP digital content, and (ii) simultaneous delivery of the non-IP digital content within a first transport stream; wherein the selection comprises unrestricted selection of the one or more existing QAM RF channels agnostic to an IP encoding of the IP digital content and a non-IP encoding of the non-IP digital content. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
Specification