ARCHITECTURE FOR INTERCONNECTED SET-TOP BOXES
First Claim
1. A data center configured to facilitate media streaming in a network environment, comprising:
- a control plane manager operative to receive and process media requests from a plurality of subscriber devices, each subscriber device comprising at least a media renderer and a user interface; and
one or more virtual set-top boxes (vSTBs) associated with a plurality of subscribers,the control plane manager further operating to;
determine if a request from a subscriber device for a particular content is for content that already exists at one or more vSTBs hosted in the data center;
if so, select an optimal vSTB that already supports a stream of the requested particular content; and
effectuate a media session to the subscriber device for streaming the requested particular content from the selected optimal vSTB.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An interconnected architecture for set-top boxes (STBs) configured to facilitate media streaming in a network environment. In one embodiment, a data center associated with the network environment includes a control plane manager operative to receive and process media requests from a plurality of subscriber devices, each subscriber device comprising at least a media renderer and a user interface operative with a virtual STB hosted at the data center. One or more vSTBs associated with a plurality of subscribers may be hosted at the data center, which may be logically organized into a number of mesh architectures. The control plane manager is further operative to determine if a request from a subscriber device for a particular content is for content that already exists at one or more vSTBs hosted in the data center, and if so, select an optimal vSTB that already supports a stream of the requested particular content for effectuating a media session with the subscriber device.
18 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A data center configured to facilitate media streaming in a network environment, comprising:
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a control plane manager operative to receive and process media requests from a plurality of subscriber devices, each subscriber device comprising at least a media renderer and a user interface; and one or more virtual set-top boxes (vSTBs) associated with a plurality of subscribers, the control plane manager further operating to; determine if a request from a subscriber device for a particular content is for content that already exists at one or more vSTBs hosted in the data center; if so, select an optimal vSTB that already supports a stream of the requested particular content; and effectuate a media session to the subscriber device for streaming the requested particular content from the selected optimal vSTB. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for facilitating media streaming in a network environment, comprising:
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receiving a request for a particular content from a subscriber device; determining if the request is for content that already exists at one or more virtual set-top boxes (vSTBs) hosted by a media service data center associated with a plurality of subscribers; if so, selecting an optimal vSTB that already supports a stream of the requested particular content; and effectuating a media session to the subscriber device for streaming the requested particular content from the selected optimal vSTB. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for facilitating media streaming in a network environment including a plurality of set-top boxes (STBs), the system comprising:
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a control plane manager operative to receive and process media requests from the plurality of STBs, each STB including at least a media renderer, a user interface and a local database storage of content downloaded for rendering thereat; and the control plane manager further operating to; determine if a request from a first STB for a particular content is for content that already exists at one or more STBs of the network environment; if so, select an optimal STB that already supports and capable of sharing a stream of the requested particular content; and effectuate a media session to the first STB for streaming the requested particular content from the selected optimal STB. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification