Digital domain content processing and distribution apparatus and methods
First Claim
1. A computerized method for delivering digitally rendered content from a digital content source to at least one computerized client device associated with a content delivery network, the computerized method comprising:
- accessing the digital content source to obtain a digital content element, the digital content source in communication with the content delivery network;
executing computerized logic to process the obtained digital content element;
causing a reprogrammable transformation device to;
receive the processed digital content element as part of a multicast transport stream being distributed to the reprogrammable transformation device and a plurality of other corresponding reprogrammable transformation devices within the content delivery network; and
transform the processed digital content element from a first domain to a second, different domain via digital domain processing; and
causing transmission of the transformed digital content element of the second, different domain to a plurality of users over at least one radio frequency carrier and via a switch apparatus, the switch apparatus comprising another computerized logic configured to selectively switch in or switch out the transformed digital content element from delivery based at least on a presence or absence of the at least one computerized client device being tuned to the at least one radio frequency carrier.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for distributing content using a spectrum generation device. In one embodiment, digital content is received via a time-multiplexed network transport (such as Gigabit Ethernet), and converted to frequency channels suitable for transmission over a content distribution (e.g., Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC)) network. In one variant, the conversion is performed using digital domain processing performed by a full spectrum generation device. Additionally, methods and apparatus for selectively adding, removing, and/or changing digital content from the full spectrum device are also disclosed. Various aspects of the present invention enable physical (infrastructure) consolidation, and software-implemented remote management of content distribution.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computerized method for delivering digitally rendered content from a digital content source to at least one computerized client device associated with a content delivery network, the computerized method comprising:
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accessing the digital content source to obtain a digital content element, the digital content source in communication with the content delivery network; executing computerized logic to process the obtained digital content element; causing a reprogrammable transformation device to; receive the processed digital content element as part of a multicast transport stream being distributed to the reprogrammable transformation device and a plurality of other corresponding reprogrammable transformation devices within the content delivery network; and transform the processed digital content element from a first domain to a second, different domain via digital domain processing; and causing transmission of the transformed digital content element of the second, different domain to a plurality of users over at least one radio frequency carrier and via a switch apparatus, the switch apparatus comprising another computerized logic configured to selectively switch in or switch out the transformed digital content element from delivery based at least on a presence or absence of the at least one computerized client device being tuned to the at least one radio frequency carrier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computerized apparatus for delivering digitally rendered content from a digital content source to a plurality of computerized client devices associated with a content delivery network, the computerized apparatus comprising:
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network interface apparatus in data communication with the plurality of computerized client devices; processing apparatus; and storage apparatus in data communication with the network interface apparatus and the processing apparatus, and comprising at least one computer program, the at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed by the processing apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to; receive, from one or more content sources in data communication with the content delivery network, a plurality of data packets, the plurality of data packets comprising formatting of a first domain; cause transformation of the plurality of data packets from comprising the formatting of the first domain to comprising formatting of a second domain; and cause transmission of the transformed plurality of data packets to the plurality of computerized client devices via a plurality of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) radio frequency (RF) channels associated with a plurality of RF carriers, the plurality of RF carriers transmitted over at least a coaxial cable distribution portion of the content delivery network; wherein the transformation creates frequency and time diversity based at least on allocation of the transformed plurality of data packets to different ones of a plurality of time-frequency resource blocks, at least a portion of the time-frequency resource blocks associated with different ones of the plurality of RF carriers. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. Computer readable apparatus comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions configured to, when executed on a processing apparatus:
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receive a plurality of packetized program streams from one or more content sources; cause a programmable substrate apparatus to transform one or more of the plurality of packetized program streams from a first domain to a second domain via digital domain processing; and cause transmission of the transformed one or more of the plurality of packetized program streams to at least one computerized client device via a plurality of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) radio frequency (RF) channels over a managed content distribution network; wherein at least one of;
(i) the one or more content sources, or (ii) the plurality of QAM RF channels, is defined by a software configuration file, the software configuration file maintained by an operator of the managed content distribution network. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification