Multi-tier video delivery network

• US 20020049977A1
• Filed: 08/09/2001
• Published: 04/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Altera Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Original Assignee: PTS Corporation
• Inventors: Prakash, Adityo, Miller, Thomas D., So, Hon Hing, Haulotte, Kendall R.
• Granted Patent: US 6,978,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2401 Monitoring of the client buffer
• 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 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/266 Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A network for distributing broadband video content from its origination point to end users using a system of video servers, video storage devices, video caches and a broadband transmission network. Video material is initially received from content providers, encoded using a compression algorithm, and stored at a centralized location. Depending on the projected frequency of viewing of the content, it either remains stored at the centralized location for less frequently viewed content, or the projected frequently viewed content is proactively transmitted to storage systems located near the edge of the network close to the end users.

Claims

1. A communications system for transporting video data from a centralized location to an end user, the system comprising:

a network that transmits video data to a video cache at a local center located as close as possible to the end user;

a video cache at a local center capable of receiving video data from a centralized location;

a customer premises device capable of receiving the video data from the video cache; and

a stream manager that controls a video stream from a centralized location to a local center.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the network comprises any one or a combination of multiple packet based networks, wherein the network carries video data and control communications between the stream manager and the video cache

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the network comprises any packet based network, wherein the network carries video data, the system further comprising communication links, wherein the communication links carry control communications between the stream manager and the video cache.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the video cache at the local center is capable of receiving video data from the centralized location at a transmission speed somewhat faster than the speed at which the end user is capable of viewing the material.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the video cache at the local center is further capable of determining when a data packet has been corrupted or lost during transmission and signaling to the centralized storage location to retransmit the necessary data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the video cache based at the customer premises is capable both of receiving video data from the video cache at the local center at a speed somewhat faster than the end user is capable of viewing the material and is capable of delaying the viewing of the video content for 3-30 seconds to allow for a buffer to be created.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the video cache based at the customer premises is further capable of determining when a data packet has been corrupted or lost during transmission and signaling to the video cache at the local center to retransmit the necessary data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the video data may be previously stored, live or a combination of previously stored and live.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the stream manager is capable of determining whether video content stored at the central location is a candidate for archiving at the local center based upon:

available storage space in the local center video storage;

history of the content being previously accessed by end users served by that local center; and

history of similar content being previously accessed by end users served by that local center.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the stream manager is further capable of prioritizing the transmission of the various streams based on a combination of the following:

the type of video data;

the amount of video data remaining in the caches which require refreshing;

the speed at which the end user is viewing the video; and

the necessity to retransmit data due to corruption of video data and lost data packets.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the stream manager is further capable of determining the volume of video data being transmitted over the network and distributing the total volume of video data over multiple networks, including transmission over the public Internet.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the stream manager is further capable determining the instantaneous amount of bandwidth required to transmit the video information to each end user and staggering the transmission of high bandwidth instants with lower bandwidth instants in other video data streams to produce a smoother, aggregated stream.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the network comprises any one or a combination of multiple packet based networks, wherein the network carries video data and control communications between the stream manager and the video cache

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the network comprises any packet based network, wherein the network carries video data, the system further comprising communication links, wherein the communication links carry control communications between the stream manager and the video cache.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the video cache at the local center is capable of receiving video data from the centralized location at a transmission speed somewhat faster than the speed at which the end user is capable of viewing the material.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the video cache at the local center is further capable of determining when a data packet has been corrupted or lost during transmission and signaling to the centralized storage location to retransmit the necessary data.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the video cache based at the customer premises is capable both of receiving video data from the video cache at the local center at a speed somewhat faster than the end user is capable of viewing the material and is capable of delaying the viewing of the video content for 3-30 seconds to allow for a buffer to be created.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the video cache based at the customer premises is further capable of determining when a data packet has been corrupted or lost during transmission and signaling to the video cache at the local center to retransmit the necessary data.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the video data may be previously stored, live or a combination of previously stored and live.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the stream manager is capable of determining whether video content stored at the central location is a candidate for archiving the local center based upon:

available storage space in the local center video storage;

history of the content being previously accessed by end users served by that local center; and

history of similar content being previously accessed by end users served by that local center.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the stream manager is further capable of prioritizing the transmission of the various streams based on a combination of the following:

the type of video data;

the amount of video data remaining in the caches which require refreshing;

the speed at which the end user is viewing the video; and

the necessity to retransmit data due to corruption of video data and lost data packets.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the stream manager is further capable of determining the volume of video data being transmitted over the network and distributing the total volume of video data over multiple networks, including transmission over the public Internet.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the stream manager is further capable determining the instantaneous amount of bandwidth required to transmit the video information to each end user and staggering the transmission of high bandwidth instants with lower bandwidth instants in other video data streams to produce a smoother, aggregated stream.

13. A method of transporting video data from a centralized location to an end user, the method comprising:

transmitting, via a network, video data to a video cache at a local center located as close as possible to the end user;

receiving, at a video cache at a local center, video data from a centralized location;

receiving, at a customer premises device, the video data from the video cache; and

controlling, via a stream manager, a video stream from a centralized location to a local center.