System and method for multimedia content simulcast

• US 20020184506A1
• Filed: 05/30/2001
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Digeo Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Perlman, Stephen G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,386,129 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/182
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26606 for generating or managing entitlement messages, e.g. Entitlement Control Message [ECM] or Entitlement Management Message [EMM] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/434 Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream demultiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58

Abstract

A computer-implemented method is described for processing multimedia channels comprising: encrypting a first group of multimedia channels using a first type of encryption to produce a first group of encrypted multimedia channels; encrypting the first group of multimedia channels using a second type of encryption to produce a second group of encrypted multimedia channels; concurrently transmitting the first group of encrypted multimedia channels with the second group of multimedia channels to a plurality of multimedia subscribers having multimedia receivers capable of decrypting the first group of encrypted multimedia channels and/or the second group of multimedia channels.

Also described is a method comprising: receiving a plurality of channels from content providers at a cable headend; simulcasting premium cable channels to a plurality of subscribers in both a first encrypted format and a second encrypted format; and tran smitting non-premium channels to the plurality of subscribers in a non-encrypted format.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for processing multimedia channels comprising:

encrypting a first group of multimedia channels using a first type of encryption to produce a first group of encrypted multimedia channels;

encrypting said first group of multimedia channels using a second type of encryption to produce a second group of encrypted multimedia channels;

concurrently transmitting said first group of encrypted multimedia channels with said second group of multimedia channels to a plurality of multimedia subscribers having multimedia receivers capable of decrypting said first group of encrypted multimedia channels and/or said second group of multimedia channels.

2. The method as in claim 1 wherein said first type of encryption is standard conditional access (“

CA”

) encryption.

3. The method as in claim 2 wherein said second type of encryption is digital video broadcast (“

DVB”

) encryption.

4. The method as in claim 1 wherein said first group of multimedia channels are subscription based channels.

5. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

compressing said first group of encrypted multimedia channels using a first compression type and said second group of encrypted multimedia channels using a second compression type.

6. The method as in claim 5 wherein said first compression type is MPEG-2.

7. The method as in claim 6 wherein said second compression type is MPEG-4.

8. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting a second group of multimedia channels in an unencrypted format.

9. The method as in claim 8 wherein said second group of multimedia channels are basic cable channels and said first group of multimedia channels are subscription-based cable channels.

10. The method as in claim 9 further comprising:

encrypting a first subset of said basic cable channels using said first type of encryption to produce a first group of encrypted basic cable channels;

encrypting said first subset of said basic cable channels using said second type of encryption to produce a second group of encrypted basic cable channels; and

concurrently transmitting said first group of encrypted basic cable channels with said second group of encrypted basic cable channels to said plurality of multimedia subscribers.

11. The method as in claim 10 further comprising:

transmitting a second subset of said basic cable channels in an unencrypted format.

12. The method as in claim 11 further comprising:

regularly transferring channels from said first subset of basic cable channels to said second subset of basic cable channels and channels from said second subset of basic cable to said first subset of basic cable channels.

14. The method as in claim 13 further comprising:

simulcasting a first subset of said non-premium cable channels to said plurality of subscribers in said first encrypted format and said second encrypted format.

15. The method as in claim 14 further comprising:

transmitting a second subset of said non-premium channels to said subscribers in an unencrypted format.

16. The method as in claim 15 further comprising:

regularly transferring channels from said first subset of non-premium cable channels to said second subset of non-premium cable channels and channels from said second subset of non-premium cable to said first subset of non-premium cable channels.

17. The method as in claim 16 further comprising:

transmitting channel mapping data to said subscribers identifying non-premium channels in said first subset and in said second subset.

18. The method as in claim 13 wherein said first-encrypted format is standard conditional access (“

CA”

) encryption.

19. The method as in claim 18 wherein said second encrypted format is digital video broadcast (“

DVB”

) encryption.

20. The method as in claim 13 wherein said premium cable channels transmitted in a first encrypted format are compressed in a first compression format and premium cable channels transmitted in said second encrypted format are compressed in a second compression format.

21. The method as in claim 20 wherein said first compression format is MPEG-2.

22. The method as in claim 21 wherein said second compression format is MPEG-4.

24. The method as in claim 23 further comprising:

transmitting a specified group of channels using no encryption.

25. The method as in claim 23 wherein said specified group of channels are basic cable channels and said channels being simulcast are premium channels.

26. The method as in claim 25 further comprising:

encrypting a portion of said specified group of channels using both CA encryption and a different form of encryption; and

simulcasting said portion encrypted using CA encryption and said portion encrypted using said different form of encryption.

27. The method as in claim 26 wherein said different form of encryption is digital video broadcast (“

DVB”

) encryption.

28. The method as in claim 26 further comprising:

regularly modifying channels included within said portion.

30. The machine-readable medium as in claim 29 wherein said first type of encryption is standard conditional access (“

CA”

) encryption.

31. The machine-readable medium as in claim 30 wherein said second type of encryption is digital video broadcast (“

DVB”

) encryption.

32. The machine-readable medium as in claim 29 wherein said first group of multimedia channels are subscription based channels.

33. The machine-readable medium as in claim 29 having program code stored thereon to cause said processor to perform the additional operations of:

compressing said first group of encrypted multimedia channels using a first compression type and said second group of encrypted multimedia channels using a second compression type.

34. The machine-readable medium as in claim 33 wherein said first compression type is MPEG-2.

35. The machine-readable medium as in claim 34 wherein said second compression type is MPEG-4.

36. The machine-readable medium as in claim 29 having program code stored thereon to cause said processor to perform the additional operations of:

transmitting a second group of multimedia channels in an unencrypted format.

37. The machine-readable medium as in claim 36 wherein said second group of multimedia channels are basic cable channels and said first group of multimedia channels are subscription-based cable channels.

38. The machine-readable medium as in claim 37 having program code stored thereon to cause said processor to perform the additional operations of:

encrypting a first subset of said basic cable channels using said first type of encryption to produce a first group of encrypted basic cable channels;

encrypting said first subset of said basic cable channels using said second type of encryption to produce a second group of encrypted basic cable channels; and

concurrently transmitting said first group of encrypted basic cable channels with said second group of encrypted basic cable channels to said plurality of multimedia subscribers.

39. The machine-readable medium as in claim 38 having program code stored thereon to cause said processor to perform the additional operations of:

transmitting a second subset of said basic cable channels in an unencrypted format.

40. The machine-readable medium as in claim 39 having program code stored thereon to cause said processor to perform the additional operations of:

regularly transferring channels from said first subset of basic cable channels to said second subset of basic cable channels and channels from said second subset of basic cable to said first subset of basic cable channels.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of channels from content providers at a cable headend;

simulcasting premium cable channels to a plurality of subscribers in both a first encrypted format and a second encrypted format; and

transmitting non-premium channels to said plurality of subscribers in a non-encrypted format.

23. A method for deploying new multimedia receiver apparatuses comprising:

encrypting channels using both conditional access (“

CA”

) encryption and a different form of encryption; and

simulcasting said channels encrypted in both CA encryption and said different form of encryption;

said channels encrypted using said different form of encryption being decryptable by said new multimedia receiver apparatuses and said channels encrypted using said CA encryption being decryptable by other multimedia receiver apparatuses.

29. An machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to perform the operations of:

encrypting a first group of multimedia channels using a first type of encryption to produce a first group of encrypted multimedia channels;

encrypting said first group of multimedia channels using a second type of encryption to produce a second group of encrypted multimedia channels;

concurrently transmitting said first group of encrypted multimedia channels with said second group of multimedia channels to a plurality of multimedia subscribers having multimedia receivers capable of decrypting said first group of encrypted multimedia channels and/or said second group of multimedia channels.

41. A headend system for processing multimedia streams comprising:

a first encryption module to encrypt a first plurality of multimedia streams using a first type of encryption; and

a second encryption module to encrypt said first plurality of multimedia streams using a second type of encryption; and

a quadrature amplitude modulation module to modulate said first plurality of multimedia streams and a second plurality of unencrypted multimedia streams for transmission to a plurality of multimedia subscribers having multimedia receivers capable of decrypting said first plurality of multimedia channels encrypted using either said first type of encryption or said second type of encryption.

42. The headend system as in claim 41 wherein said first type of encryption is standard conditional access (“

CA”

) encryption.

43. The headend system as in claim 42 wherein said second type of encryption is digital video broadcast (“

DVB”

) encryption.

44. The headend system as in claim 42 wherein said first plurality of multimedia streams are premium cable channels.

45. The headend system as in claim 42 further comprising:

a first compression module to employ a first type of compression on said first plurality of multimedia streams encrypted using said first compression type; and

a second compression module to employ a second type of compression on said first plurality of multimedia streams encrypted using said second compression type.

46. The headend system as in claim 45 wherein said second compression module employs said second type of compression on said second plurality of multimedia streams.

47. The headend system as in claim 41 wherein said headend system is a centralized uplink facility for broadcasting said first plurality of encrypted multimedia streams and said second plurality of unencrypted multimedia streams to two ore more other headend systems,

said two or more other headend systems to broadcast said first plurality of encrypted multimedia streams and said second plurality of unencrypted multimedia streams to said plurality of multimedia subscribers.

48. The headend system as in claim 47 wherein said centralized uplink facility only encrypts said first plurality of multimedia streams using said second type of encryption and wherein said first type of encryption is performed at said two or more other headend systems.

49. The headend system as in claim 48 wherein said first type of encryption is standard CA encryption and said second type of encryption is an alternate form of encryption.

50. The headend system as in claim 63 further comprising:

a first decompression module to decompress one or more of said first plurality of multimedia streams previously compressed by content providers using said first compression type and to transmit said one or more multimedia streams to said second compression module for re-compression using said second compression type.

51. A system comprising:

a centralized uplink facility to receive a first plurality of multimedia streams from content providers and to encrypt said first plurality of multimedia streams using a first type of encryption; and

a plurality of headend systems to receive said first plurality of multimedia streams encrypted using said first type of encryption and to simulcast said first plurality of multimedia streams using both said first type of encryption and a second type of encryption, said first plurality of multimedia streams encrypted using said second type of encryption at either said centralized uplink facility or at said headend systems.

52. The system as in claim 51 wherein said first plurality of multimedia streams are encrypted using said second type of encryption at each of said plurality of headend systems.

53. The system as in claim 51 wherein said centralized uplink facility is further configured to compress said first plurality of multimedia channels using a first type of compression and said plurality of headend systems simulcast said first plurality of streams using both said first type of encryption with said first type of compression and a second type of encryption with a second type of compression.

54. The system as in claim 53 wherein said first plurality of multimedia streams are compressed using said second type of compression at each of said plurality of headend systems.

55. The system as in claim 53 wherein said centralized uplink facility is further configured to decompress one or more of said first plurality of multimedia previously compressed by content providers using said second type of compression and recompress said one or more of said first plurality of multimedia channels using said first type of compression.