Coax server acting as proxy between coax transmission infrastructure and internet protocol (IP) transmission infrastructure for media content

• US 10,542,320 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2018
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Hulse, David Andrew, Nicol, David, Clark, Stuart, Bryars, Mark Howard
• Primary Examiner(s): Shepard, Justin E
• Application Number:
  US15/881,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20180213287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 725 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/77 using carrier waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/238 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams hybrid fiber coaxial [HFC] networks for downstream channel allocation for video distribution H04L12/2801; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/239 Interfacing the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. prioritizing client content requests hybrid fiber coaxial [HFC] networks for upstream channel allocation for video distribution H04L12/2801; flow control in data networks H04L47/10; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/24 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests monitoring of server performance or load G06F11/34; arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26616 for merging a unicast channel into a multicast channel, e.g. in a VOD application, when a client served by unicast channel catches up a multicast channel to save bandwidth data multicast over packet-switching network H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6168 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/10 Adaptations for transmission by electrical cable H04N7/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A coax server acts as a proxy between a coax transmission infrastructure and an Internet Protocol (IP) transmission infrastructure. An incoming request is received from a particular one of a plurality of coax client devices on the coax infrastructure. A request for specific media content is transmitted to a media-on-demand server in response to receiving the incoming request. A media stream is received over the IP infrastructure from the media-on-demand server, the media stream corresponding to the specific media content, and the coax server allocates a coax channel of sufficient bandwidth on the coax infrastructure and transmits the media stream on the coax channel utilizing the RF modulation scheme. A pointer indicating the coax channel on which the media stream is being transmitted is sent to the particular coax client device. The coax channel is unknown to other of the coax client devices besides the particular coax client device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a coax transmission infrastructure formed by coaxial cable;

a plurality of coax client devices coupled to the coax transmission infrastructure;

an Internet Protocol (IP) transmission infrastructure over which data are transmitted using IP;

a media source connected to the IP transmission infrastructure; and

a coax server coupled to both the coax transmission infrastructure and the IP transmission infrastructure for acting as a proxy between these two infrastructures;

wherein, when acting as the proxy between the coax transmission infrastructure and the IP transmission infrastructure, the coax server is operable to;

receive an incoming request from a particular one of the coax client devices over the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing an IP-over-coax modulation scheme, the incoming request being a request for content from the particular one of the coax client devices via a first real time streaming protocol (RTSP) connection established between a RTSP proxy of the coax server and a RTSP client of the particular one of the coax client devices over the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing the IP-over-coax modulation scheme;

establish a second RTSP connection between the RTSP proxy of the coax server and the media source via the IP transmission infrastructure;

receive a media stream being a stream corresponding to the content over the IP transmission infrastructure from the media source;

allocate a coax channel of sufficient bandwidth on the coax transmission infrastructure and transmit the media stream on the coax channel utilizing a radio frequency (RF) modulation scheme;

send to the particular one of the coax client devices a pointer over the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing the IP-over-coax modulation scheme, the pointer indicating the coax channel on which the media stream is being transmitted by the coax server utilizing the RF modulation scheme; and

provide a RTSP proxy configured to communicate with the RTSP client in the particular one of the coax client devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein, when acting as the proxy between the coax transmission infrastructure and the IP transmission infrastructure, the coax server is further operable to request the media source to begin transmitting the media stream over the IP transmission infrastructure in response to the incoming request from the particular one of the coax client devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the RF modulation scheme comprises either quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK).

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the media stream received by the coax server over the IP transmission infrastructure from the media source is a unicast stream.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the media stream received over the IP transmission infrastructure from the media source is a multicast stream.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the media source transmits the media stream over the IP transmission infrastructure before the coax server has received the incoming request from the particular one of the coax client devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the coax server is further configured to send the pointer to the particular one of the coax client devices via the first RTSP connection.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the RTSP proxy of the coax server is configured to mediate requests received from a plurality of RTSP clients of the coax client devices for content from the media source.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the coax server is further operable to transmit metadata of the media stream to the particular one of the coax client devices utilizing the IP-over-coax modulation scheme via the coax transmission infrastructure.

10. A method of acting as a proxy between a coax transmission infrastructure and an Internet Protocol (IP) transmission infrastructure, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming request from a particular one of a plurality of coax client devices coupled to the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing an IP-over-coax modulation scheme, the incoming request being a request for content from the particular one of the coax client devices via a first real time streaming protocol (RTSP) connection established between a RTSP proxy of the coax server and a RTSP client of the particular one of the coax client devices over the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing the IP-over-coax modulation scheme;

establishing a second RTSP connection between the RTSP proxy of the coax server and a media source via the IP transmission infrastructure;

receiving a media stream being a stream corresponding to the content over the IP transmission infrastructure from the media source coupled to the IP transmission infrastructure;

allocating a coax channel of sufficient bandwidth on the coax transmission infrastructure and transmitting the media stream on the coax channel utilizing a radio frequency (RF) modulation scheme;

sending to the particular one of the coax client devices a pointer over the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing the IP-over-coax modulation scheme, the pointer indicating the coax channel on which the media stream is being transmitted by the coax server utilizing the RF modulation scheme; and

providing a real time streaming protocol (RTSP) proxy configured to communicate with a RTSP client in the particular one of the coax client devices.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the coax transmission infrastructure is installed in a first part of a hospitality establishment; and

the IP transmission infrastructure is installed in a second part of the hospitality establishment.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising requesting the media source to begin transmitting the media stream over the IP transmission infrastructure in response to the incoming request from the particular one of the coax client devices.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the media source transmits the media stream over the IP transmission infrastructure before the coax server has received the incoming request from the particular one of the coax client devices.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending the pointer to the particular one of the coax client devices via the first RTSP connection.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising mediating, by the RTSP proxy of the coax server, requests received from a plurality of RTSP clients of the coax client devices for content from the media source.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform steps comprising:

receiving an incoming request from a particular one of a plurality of coax client devices coupled to a coax transmission infrastructure utilizing an IP-over-coax modulation scheme, the incoming request being a request for content from the particular one of the coax client devices via a first real time streaming protocol (RTSP) connection established between a RTSP proxy of the coax server and a RTSP client of the particular one of the coax client devices over the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing the IP-over-coax modulation scheme;

establishing a second RTSP connection between the RTSP proxy of the coax server and a media source via the IP transmission infrastructure;

receiving a media stream being a stream corresponding to the content over an IP transmission infrastructure from the media source coupled to the IP transmission infrastructure;

allocating a coax channel of sufficient bandwidth on the coax transmission infrastructure and transmitting the media stream on the coax channel utilizing a radio frequency (RF) modulation scheme;

sending to the particular one of the coax client devices a pointer over the coax transmission infrastructure utilizing the IP-over-coax modulation scheme, the pointer indicating the coax channel on which the media stream is being transmitted by the coax server utilizing the RF modulation scheme; and

providing a real time streaming protocol (RTSP) proxy configured to communicate with a RTSP client in the particular one of the coax client devices.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the one or more computers to perform steps of sending the pointer to the particular one of the coax client devices via the first RTSP connection.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the one or more computers to perform steps of mediating, by the RTSP proxy of the coax server, requests received from a plurality of RTSP clients of the coax client devices for content from the media source.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the one or more computers to perform steps of requesting the media source to begin transmitting the media stream over the IP transmission infrastructure in response to the incoming request from the particular one of the coax client devices.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the media source transmits the media stream over the IP transmission infrastructure before the coax server has received the incoming request from the particular one of the coax client devices.