Video distribution system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of distributing digital data to customer households comprising the steps of:
- blanket transmitting a plurality of digital data content to customer households in a digital, highly compressed form and with degraded resolution;
permitting each customer household to preselect and record desired digital data content in the highly compressed form in which they are transmitted;
permitting decoding of digital data that the customer household wishes to view, followed by permitting upconverting, only upon authorized selection for viewing by the customer, the preselected digital data content during display of the digital data content in real time to a resolution at least as high as that of the digital data content before it was degraded;
receiving digital data playback information from each customer household to a central controller system; and
billing customer households for those recorded digital data that are actually played back for viewing.
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Abstract
The invention relates to video distribution systems and, more particularly, to a system that blanket transmits video/audio content such as digital data (for example, via satellite downlink transmission) to each customer'"'"'s computer-based recording, storage and playback system. Customers preselect from a list of available digital data or other content in advance using an interactive screen selector, and pay for only the video/audio content that is actually viewed.
120 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of distributing digital data to customer households comprising the steps of:
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blanket transmitting a plurality of digital data content to customer households in a digital, highly compressed form and with degraded resolution;
permitting each customer household to preselect and record desired digital data content in the highly compressed form in which they are transmitted;
permitting decoding of digital data that the customer household wishes to view, followed by permitting upconverting, only upon authorized selection for viewing by the customer, the preselected digital data content during display of the digital data content in real time to a resolution at least as high as that of the digital data content before it was degraded;
receiving digital data playback information from each customer household to a central controller system; and
billing customer households for those recorded digital data that are actually played back for viewing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for distributing digital data to customer households, comprising:
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a digital data transmission system blanket transmitting a plurality of digital data to customer households in a digital, highly compressed and degraded form;
a user station, the user station including means permitting the customer household to preselect desired transmitted digital data for recording;
a decoder configured to decode digital data that the customer household wishes to view;
a receiver and associated digital recording device for recording at the customer household digital data in the highly compressed in which it is transmitted;
a playback device at each customer household for playing back those recorded digital data that the customer household desires to view;
and unpconverter configured to upconvert, only upon authorized selection for viewing by the customer, the preselected digital data content during display of the digital data content in real time to a resolution at least as high as that of the digital data content before it was degraded;
a central controller system having a database for storing therein an address corresponding to each customer household;
a communications link between the user station and the central controller system to verify to the controller system that a recorded digital data has been played back for viewing; and
a billing system associated with the central controller system to bill customer households for only those recorded digital data that are played back for viewing. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification