METHOD AND SYSTEM OF MANAGING AND ALLOCATING COMMUNICATION RELATED RESOURCES

• US 20100083362A1
• Filed: 06/20/2006
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Holdings LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Francisco, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,402,510 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1095 Inter-network session transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6473 Monitoring network processes errors for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system and method for managing communication. The system and method applying to but not limited to settop boxes (STBs) and other devices used to interface services. The management including any number of features and processes associated with achieving Quality of Service (QoS) across different domains and according to network limitations associated with the same.

Claims

1. A method of managing settop box (STB) communications, the method comprising:

differentiating communications between the STB and secured and unsecured networks in communication therewith; and

permitting the STB to freely communicate with the secured network and requiring the STB to securely communicate across the unsecured network such that signals are communicated differently according to whether the signals are associated with secured or unsecured networks.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising allowing the STB to access multimedia on the secured network without questioning authenticity of the multimedia.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising allowing the STB to access multimedia on the unsecured network only if the authenticity of the multimedia is confirmed.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating the secured network with communications over private networks of a television service provider or a in-home network associated with the STB.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating the unsecured network with communications over publicly accessible networks.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising prioritizing information from the secured network over information from the unsecured network such that information is obtained from the secured network if the information is available from both of the secured and unsecured networks.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising differentiating the information with a proxy server configured to service the STB.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising differentiating the information with the STB.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising differentiating the information with a dongle attached to the STB.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising limiting information downloaded to the STB to information from the secured network and not the unsecured network.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising descrambling television signals with the STB for output to a display such that the STB provides multiple functionality in permitting communications over the secured and unsecured networks and television viewing.

12. A method of managing communication resources between a settop box (STB) and an authorized service domain, a best efforts domain, and an approved output domain, the method comprising:

prioritizing available bandwidth to support content delivery over the authorized service domain prior to requests for the same so as to guarantee content delivery over the authorized service domain; and

allocating available bandwidth to support content delivery over the best efforts and approved output domain as requests for the same are determined such that content delivery over the best efforts and approved output domains occurs only over bandwidth not prioritized to support the authorized service domain.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising associating the best efforts domain with a request to transmit data to the STB from outside of the authorized service domain.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising associating the approved output domain with a request to transmit data from the STB to a location outside of the authorized service domain.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising assigning rights to content delivered to the approved output domain.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising defining the rights to specify usage limitations on the content.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising authenticating endpoints associated with delivering content over the best efforts and approved output domains prior to allocating bandwidth to support delivering content over the same.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising determining bandwidth available for allocation as function of bandwidth available over a provider network associated with the STB, the provider network supporting communications with each of the domains.

19. A method of enabling a STB otherwise unable to support packet switch management to support the same, the method comprising:

attaching a secondary packet switch manager to the STB, the packet switch processor configured to time-delay packet deliveries to the STB as a function of bandwidth constraints on the STB such that the secondary packet switch processor delays data communications to the STB so as to confirm to the bandwidth constraints.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising using the packet switch manager to prioritize packets destined for processing by the STB.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising prioritizing the packets according to priority categories associated therewith and read by the secondary packet manager.

22. A multiple port packet management device configure for:

connecting to a STB;

routing information between the ports as a function of prioritization values associated therewith; and

formatting the information according to protocols of the STB such that the STB is able to process the managed packets.

23. The device further configured for metering traffic between the ports as a function of domain characteristics of networks connected thereto.