HYBRID MPEG/IP DIGITAL CABLE GATEWAY DEVICE AND ARCHITECTURE ASSOCIATED THEREWITH
First Claim
1. A cable gateway system, comprising:
- a cable gateway device, comprising;
first receive means for receiving a legacy Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C) video stream from a CATV signal source;
second receive means for receiving original Internet Protocol (IP) video from said CATV source;
encapsulation means for encapsulating said legacy DVB-C video for transmission over a network;
distribution means for transmitting said original IP video and said encapsulated legacy video over said network as a video over IP stream; and
one or more IP set top boxes (STBs) connected to said network, each set top box comprising third receive means for receiving and decoding both said original IP video and said encapsulated legacy video for viewing on a video display connected thereto.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A novel cable gateway system and architecture incorporating a hybrid digital video transceiver. The digital cable system architecture combines reception of legacy video such as MPEG-TS based DVB-C streams with that of original IP video over DOCSIS channels. The system comprises a hybrid DVB/IP cable gateway STB capable of receiving both legacy DVB-C video and original IP video streams. The cable gateway device performs the front-end functionality (including QAM receiver, tuner and broadband connection) while the back-end functionality of video decoding and display is performed by one or more standard IP-STBs connected to the cable gateway device over a network (e.g., home LAN). Legacy MPEG-TS based DVB-C video is captured and encapsulated into packets for distribution over the network to the IP-STBs. The cable gateway distributes the original IP video received over the CATV source and the encapsulated legacy video as video over IP packets over the network.
410 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A cable gateway system, comprising:
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a cable gateway device, comprising; first receive means for receiving a legacy Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C) video stream from a CATV signal source; second receive means for receiving original Internet Protocol (IP) video from said CATV source; encapsulation means for encapsulating said legacy DVB-C video for transmission over a network; distribution means for transmitting said original IP video and said encapsulated legacy video over said network as a video over IP stream; and one or more IP set top boxes (STBs) connected to said network, each set top box comprising third receive means for receiving and decoding both said original IP video and said encapsulated legacy video for viewing on a video display connected thereto. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of video distribution, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving legacy Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C) video from a CATV signal source; encapsulating said legacy video into a plurality of packets for transmission over a network; receiving an original Internet Protocol (IP) video stream over said CATV source; and distributing said legacy video packets and said original IP video as a video over IP stream over said network to one or more IP set top boxes connected thereto. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A cable gateway device coupled to a network, comprising:
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a plurality of receivers, each said receiver operative to receive legacy Motion Picture Experts Group-Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) based Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C) video channels and original Internet Protocol (IP) video over Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) channels; means for encapsulating said legacy video into IP packets; and a transmitter operative to transmit said original DOCSIS IP video channels and said MPEG-TS legacy video as a video over IP stream to one or more IP set top boxes (STBs) connected to said network. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A cable gateway connected to a CATV signal source and a local area network (LAN), comprising:
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first means for receiving legacy Motion Picture Experts Group-Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) based Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C) video from said CATV signal source; second means for receiving original Internet Protocol (IP) video Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) channels; means for encapsulating said legacy video; and means for distributing said original IP video and said encapsulated legacy video as a video over IP stream to one or more IP set top boxes connected to said network. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A cable gateway connected to a network, comprising:
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a plurality of tuners, each adapted to receive a CATV signal source; a plurality of receivers, each receiver associated with one of said tuners and operative to receive legacy Motion Picture Experts Group-Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) based Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C) video channels and original Internet Protocol (IP) video over Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) channels; a DOCSIS cable modem, said cable modem comprising; means for capturing and encapsulating said legacy MPEG-TS video into IP packets for distribution to one or more IP set top boxes (STBs); a DOCSIS media access control (MAC) operative to receive said DOCSIS MPEG frames and to generate an IP video stream therefrom; distribution means for transmitting said legacy MPEG-TS video IP packets and said IP video stream as an IP over video stream to said one or more IP-STBs over said network. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification