SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-CHANNEL WIFI VIDEO STREAMING

• US 20130305297A1
• Filed: 07/17/2013
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IP Investment Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Mobilitie, LLC (Bai Communications Pty Ltd.)
• Inventors: Jabara, Gary B., Linder, Lloyd Frederick, Simon, David Brett
• Granted Patent: US 10,616,619 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/75
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/20 Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21 Server components or server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/214 Specialised server platform, e.g. server located in an airplane, hotel, hospital arrangements specially adapted for local area broadcast systems H04H20/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2146 located in mass transportation means, e.g. aircraft, train or bus flight-deck installations for entertainment or communications B64D11/0015; arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62; moving wireless networks H04W84/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/218 Source of audio or video content , e.g. local disk arrays details of retrieval in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21815 comprising local storage units
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2365 Multiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6112 involving terrestrial transmission, e.g. DVB-T

Abstract

A video or multimedia distribution system receives multiple video streams and transcodes them into a single stream of UDP packets with each of the plurality of video data packets for respective ones of the video streams being assigned a port number corresponding to the respective video stream. The UDP packets are routed to a plurality of Access Points (APs) for transmission throughout a vehicle, such as an aircraft or ship. A User Equipment (UE) communicates with the APs and selects one or more of the video streams for viewing on the UE by selecting the port number corresponding to the desired video streams. The UE can “change channels” to view other video streams by changing the port number to the port number of the desired video stream.

Claims

1. A system for the broadcast of a plurality of video streams to a plurality of mobile communication devices aboard a vehicle, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a plurality of video data streams using a unicast data protocol;

a local video processor coupled to the receiver and configured to receive the unicast data streams and to combine the plurality of video streams into a single stream of UDP data packets for transmission with each of the plurality of video data packets for respective ones of the video streams being assigned a port number corresponding to the respective video stream; and

at least one wireless access point (AP) communicatively coupled to the video processor to receive the video packets therefrom, the AP being configured to transmit the stream of UDP data packets.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a content provider server storing a plurality of data files to be transmitted to the vehicle using the unicast data protocol.

3. The system of claim 1 for use with a communication satellite wherein the receiver is a satellite receiver.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a digital video recorder coupled to the video processor and configured to store the received video data streams and to play them out to the video processor upon request.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the video processor is further configured to generate guide data to provide information about the content of each of the plurality of data streams and data corresponding to the port number for each of the plurality of data streams.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the guide data is generated as text data.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the guide data is generated as graphic data.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the guide data is generated as image data.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein the guide data is generated as a plurality of images wherein each image is indicative of the content of a corresponding one of the plurality of data streams.

10. The system of claim 5 wherein the guide data is generated as a reduced resolution video image derived from a corresponding one of the plurality of data streams.

11. The system of claim 1 the vehicle is an aircraft.

12. The system of claim 1 the vehicle is a ship.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the at least one wireless access point (AP) comprises a plurality of APs distributed throughout the ship, the system further comprising an infrastructure configured to communicatively couple the video processor and the plurality of APs, the plurality of APs being configured to broadcast the stream of video packets throughout the ship.

14. A system for the broadcast of a plurality of video streams to a plurality of mobile communication devices aboard a vehicle, comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of video data streams using a unicast data protocol;

processor means for combining the plurality of unicast video streams into a single stream of video data packets for multicast or broadcast transmission with each of the plurality of video data packets for respective ones of the video streams being assigned a port number corresponding to the respective video stream; and

transmitter means for receiving the video packets from the processor means and for broadcasting the stream of video packets as video packets.

15. The system of claim 14 for use with a communication satellite wherein the means for receiving is a satellite receiver.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising means for storing the received video data streams and to play them out upon request.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the means for processing is further configured to generate guide data to provide information about the content of each of the plurality of data streams and data corresponding to the port number for each of the plurality of data streams.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein transmitter means comprises a plurality of wireless access points (APs) configured to broadcast the stream of video packets throughout the vehicle.

19. A method for the broadcast of a plurality of video streams to a plurality of mobile communication devices aboard a vehicle, comprising:

receiving a plurality of video data streams using a unicast data protocol;

transcoding and combining the plurality of unicast video streams into a single stream of video data packets for UDP transmission with each of the plurality of video data packets for respective ones of the video streams being assigned a port number corresponding to the respective video stream; and

transmitting the stream of video packets.

20. The method of claim 19 for use with a communication satellite wherein receiving the plurality of video data streams uses a satellite receiver.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing the received video data streams and to playing out the stored video data streams upon request.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising generating guide data to provide information about the content of each of the plurality of data streams and data corresponding to the port number for each of the plurality of data streams.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising generating guide data as a plurality of data packets, the guide data packets being assigned a port number different from the port numbers associated with the data streams and combined into the single data stream.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein broadcasting the stream of video packets comprises using a plurality of wireless access points (APs) configured to broadcast the stream of video packets throughout the vehicle.