Network architecture for data transmission
First Claim
1. A method for providing electronic content to users from at least one remote electronic content source, the method comprising:
- providing a unicast transmission of content from the at least one content source;
receiving the content at a client-side server at a location serving a plurality of users;
processing the received content in the client-side server such that the content may be provided to more than one of the plurality of users served by the location; and
distributing the received and processed content to each of the plurality of users which has provided a request for the content.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A content distribution network with client side multicasting properties that operates with a reduced bandwidth is provided. The arequested content, such as multimedia content, is provided in a format suitable for transmission over existing unicast communication links and is then changed to a multicast format for local distribution. This allows an application provider to transmit a single unicast stream of content to a client-side media server in a local area network (LAN) and then distribute it to multiple interested users within the LAN using a multicasting transmission format. This significantly reduces bandwidth requirements by providing a single unicast transmission to a LAN rather than supply each user within the LAN with a dedicated content stream.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for providing electronic content to users from at least one remote electronic content source, the method comprising:
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providing a unicast transmission of content from the at least one content source;
receiving the content at a client-side server at a location serving a plurality of users;
processing the received content in the client-side server such that the content may be provided to more than one of the plurality of users served by the location; and
distributing the received and processed content to each of the plurality of users which has provided a request for the content. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19)
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12. A system for reducing the amount of bandwidth required to provide electronic content to a plurality of users from a remote electronic content source, the system comprising:
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a content source that allows the plurality of users to request content, the content source providing a unicast transmission of the requested content from the content source to the plurality of users in response to the content request;
a client-side server for receiving the requested content with at the plurality of users'"'"' location, the client-side server processing the received content such that the content is suitable for posting to a multicast group; and
for distributing the received content from the multicast group to the plurality of users. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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20. A method for providing a minimum quality of service in a reduced bandwidth network that provides electronic content to a plurality of users from a remote electronic content source, the method comprising:
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allowing the plurality of users to request content from the electronic content source;
providing a unicast transmission of the requested content from the content source to the plurality of users in response to the content request;
receiving the requested content with a client-side server at the plurality of users'"'"' location; and
processing the received content in the client-side server such that the content is provided to a multicast group;
distributing the received content from the multicast group to the plurality of users. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification