Media content distribution system and method

• US 20080222684A1
• Filed: 03/09/2007
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NBC Universal Media LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NBC Universal Incorporated (GE Aerospace)
• Inventors: Hodges, Jonathan, Tome, Darren, Mukraj, Rab, Mathur, Sumit, Kazemi, Nader
• Granted Patent: US 7,894,370 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/86
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A system and method for transfer of digital content, including providing a listing of sources and content destinations, receiving a user selection of a content source and a destination from the source and destination listing, providing a listing of available paths for the exchange of digital content, receiving a user selection of a routing path from the routing path listing, and permitting transmission of the content from the selected source to the destination via the selected routing path.

Claims

1. A method for transfer of digital content comprising:

providing a listing of content sources and content destinations;

receiving a user selection of a content source and a content destination from the source and destination listing;

providing a listing of available routing paths for the exchange of digital content between the source and destination;

receiving a user selection of a routing path from the routing path listing; and

permitting transmission of the content from the selected source to the selected destination via the selected routing path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the listings are provided by a content exchange control entity, and wherein the routing paths are internal to the content exchange control entity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the listings are provided by a content exchange control entity, and wherein the routing paths are external to the content exchange control entity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the listing of content sources and content destinations, and the listing of available routing paths for the exchange of digital content between the source are provided in a graphical user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a load balancing listing of a plurality of paths through which the digital content may be routed, the load balancing listing permitting the digital content to be transmitted through a plurality paths selectable by a user.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising receiving a user selection of paths through which the digital content may be routed for load balancing.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising providing a plurality of bandwidth selections permitting a user to select a bandwidth for transmission of particular digital content from a particular source to a particular destination.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising automatically load balancing transmissions of the content.

9. A method for transfer of digital content comprising:

receiving a user selection of a content source and a content destination from a source and destination listing provided by a content exchange control entity;

receiving a user selection of a routing path from a listing of available routing paths for the exchange of digital content between the source and destination provided by a content exchange control entity; and

permitting transmission of the content from the selected source to the selected destination via the selected routing path, wherein the selected source and the selected destination are external to the content exchange control entity.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the routing paths are internal to the content exchange control entity.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the routing paths are external to the content exchange control entity.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the listing of content sources and content destinations, and the listing of available routing paths for the exchange of digital content between the source are provided in a graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 9, comprising receiving a user selection of a plurality of paths through which the digital content may be routed for load balancing.

14. The method of claim 9, comprising receiving a user selection of one of a plurality of bandwidth selections for transmission of particular digital content from a particular source to a particular destination.

15. An interface for controlling transfer of digital content comprising:

a listing of content sources and content destinations, the source and destination listing permitting user selection of a content source and a content destination for transfer of digital content;

a listing of available routing paths for the exchange of digital content between the source and destination, the routing path listing permitting user selection of a routing path for the transfer of the content from the selected source to the selected destination via the selected routing path.

16. The interface of claim 15, wherein interface is a graphical user interface for directing transfers of digital content via a transfer manager that employs a UDP protocol.

17. The interface of claim 15, further comprising a load balancing listing of a plurality of paths through which the digital content may be routed, the load balancing listing permitting the digital content to be transmitted through a plurality paths selectable by a user.

18. The interface of claim 15, comprising a plurality of bandwidth selections permitting a user to select a bandwidth for transmission of particular digital content from a particular source to a particular destination.

19. A system for transfer of digital content comprising:

means for providing a listing of content sources and content destinations;

means for receiving a user selection of a content source and a content destination from the source and destination listing;

means for providing a listing of available routing paths for the exchange of digital content between the source and destination;

means for receiving a user selection of a routing path from the routing path listing; and

means for permitting transmission of the content from the selected source to the selected destination via the selected routing path.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the listings are provided by a content exchange control entity, and wherein the routing paths are internal to the content exchange control entity.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the listings are provided by a content exchange control entity, and wherein the routing paths are external to the content exchange control entity.