Virtual on-demand digital information delivery system and method
First Claim
1. A system for delivering virtual on-demand digital information to a plurality of local subscribers, comprising:
- a central distribution server, comprising;
a repository for accessing a set of digital information items; and
a scheduling system that responds to subscribers'"'"' on-demand request by scheduling the digital information items for broadcast;
a main channel having a known bandwidth for broadcasting the scheduled digital information items to said local subscribers;
a plurality of local servers, comprisinga local storage for storing a plurality of the digital information items;
a subscriber interface for presenting the items to the subscriber and generating a subscriber profile, said interface responding to a subscriber request by first polling the local storage to locate the requested item and, if not found, polling the central distribution processor to form the on-demand request; and
a local processor for retrieving the requested item from the local storage and delivering it to the local subscriber;
a collaborative filter system for synthesizing the subscriber profiles and generating a list of recommended items for each local subscriber based on said synthesis; and
a back channel for communicating the lists of recommended items to the respective local subscribers and for communicating the subscriber profiles and on-demand requests to the central distribution server,said central distribution server responding to the recommended lists by scheduling the items on said lists for broadcast during off-peak hours so that said local servers download those items on their respective lists to their local storages, and said subscriber interfaces recommending the items on said lists to the respective subscribers to reduce the number of on-demand requests that are directed to the central distribution server thereby offloading a portion of the system'"'"'s bandwidth requirement from the main channel to the local servers.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A digital information system delivers virtual on-demand information over existing, as well as the next generation, digital transport systems by offloading a portion of the systems'"'"' peak bandwidth requirements to the local subscribers. A collaborative filtering system synthesizes the preferences of all of the subscribers and then predicts those items that each subscriber might like, and therefore request. Each subscriber is provided with a local storage device for storing, during off-peak hours, those items recommended by the collaborative filtering system. As a result, only a relatively few subscriber requests must be serviced directly from the central distribution system.
-
Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A system for delivering virtual on-demand digital information to a plurality of local subscribers, comprising:
-
a central distribution server, comprising; a repository for accessing a set of digital information items; and a scheduling system that responds to subscribers'"'"' on-demand request by scheduling the digital information items for broadcast; a main channel having a known bandwidth for broadcasting the scheduled digital information items to said local subscribers; a plurality of local servers, comprising a local storage for storing a plurality of the digital information items; a subscriber interface for presenting the items to the subscriber and generating a subscriber profile, said interface responding to a subscriber request by first polling the local storage to locate the requested item and, if not found, polling the central distribution processor to form the on-demand request; and a local processor for retrieving the requested item from the local storage and delivering it to the local subscriber; a collaborative filter system for synthesizing the subscriber profiles and generating a list of recommended items for each local subscriber based on said synthesis; and a back channel for communicating the lists of recommended items to the respective local subscribers and for communicating the subscriber profiles and on-demand requests to the central distribution server, said central distribution server responding to the recommended lists by scheduling the items on said lists for broadcast during off-peak hours so that said local servers download those items on their respective lists to their local storages, and said subscriber interfaces recommending the items on said lists to the respective subscribers to reduce the number of on-demand requests that are directed to the central distribution server thereby offloading a portion of the system'"'"'s bandwidth requirement from the main channel to the local servers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A system for delivering virtual on-demand digital information to a plurality of local subscribers, comprising:
-
a central distribution server, comprising; a repository for accessing a set of digital information items; a subscriber data base for receiving and storing a subscriber profile for each of the local subscribers; a collaborative filter system for synthesizing the subscriber profiles, predicting those items that may interest each local subscriber, and generating a list of recommended items for each local subscriber based on said predictions; and a scheduling system for scheduling the digital information items on said lists for broadcast during off-peak hours and for scheduling the digital items in response to requests from the local subscribers for on-demand broadcast; a high bandwidth digital transport system for broadcasting the scheduled digital information items to said local subscribers; a plurality of local servers, comprising a local storage for storing a subset of the digital information items; a predictive filter for deleting those items from the local storage that are omitted from the current list of recommended selections and for downloading, during off-peak hours, those items from the transport system that are on the list and not stored in the local storage and downloading those items that are broadcast in response to a subscriber request; a subscriber interface for generating the subscriber profile and requesting one of the items from said set, said interface responding to a subscriber request by first polling the local storage to locate the requested item and, if not found, polling the central distribution processor to request the item, said subscriber interface recommending the items on said list to the subscriber to reduce the number of requests that are directed to the central distribution processor thereby offloading a portion of the system'"'"'s bandwidth requirement from the digital transport system to the local servers; and a local processor for retrieving the requested item from the local storage and passing it to a local playback device; and a low bandwidth back channel for communicating the lists of recommended items to the respective local subscribers and for communicating the subscriber profiles and requests to the central distribution server. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A system for delivering digital information to a plurality of local subscribers, comprising:
-
a central distribution server, comprising; a repository for accessing a set of digital information items; a subscriber data base for receiving and storing a subscriber profile for each of the local subscribers; a collaborative filter system for synthesizing the subscriber profiles, predicting those items that may interest each local subscriber, and generating a list of recommended items for each local subscriber based on said predictions; and a scheduling system for scheduling the digital information items on said lists for broadcast during off-peak hours; a high bandwidth digital transport system for broadcasting the scheduled digital information items to said local subscribers; a plurality of local distribution systems, comprising a local storage for storing a subset of the digital information items; a predictive filter for deleting those items from the local storage that are omitted from the current list of recommended selections and for downloading, during off-peak hours, those items from the transport system that are on the list and not stored in the local storage; a subscriber interface for generating the subscriber profile, presenting the items on said list to the subscriber, and requesting one of the items; and a local processor for retrieving the requested item from the local storage and passing it to a local playback device; and a low bandwidth back channel for communicating the lists of recommended items to the respective local subscribers and for communicating the subscriber profiles to the central distribution server. - View Dependent Claims (22)
-
-
23. A system for delivering virtual on-demand digital information to a plurality of local video servers, which in turn service respective groups of local subscribers, comprising:
-
a central distribution server, comprising; a repository for accessing a set of digital videos; a subscriber data base for receiving and storing a subscriber profile for each of the local subscribers; a collaborative filter system for synthesizing the respective groups of subscriber profiles, predicting those digital videos that may interest the respective groups, and generating a list of recommended videos for each group based on said predictions; and a scheduling system for scheduling the digital videos on said lists for a periodic refresh broadcast; a high bandwidth digital transport system for broadcasting the scheduled digital videos; a plurality of local video servers for receiving the broadcast digital videos and servicing the respective groups of local subscribers, each local video server comprising; a local storage for storing the digital videos on its group'"'"'s list; a predictive filter for deleting those videos from the local storage that are omitted from the current list of recommended videos and for downloading those videos from the transport system that are on the list and not stored in the local storage; and a local processor for retrieving videos from the local storage in response to requests from local subscribers in the group and passing them on to the respective local subscribers, and for generating the subscriber profiles; a plurality of video displays for servicing the local subscribers in the respective groups, each video display comprising a subscriber interface for requesting one of the videos from the group'"'"'s list of recommended videos stored in the corresponding local video server; a dedicated communications channel for each of said local video servers, said communications channel having a plurality of channels for distributing the videos to the video displays in the group; and a low bandwidth back channel for communicating the lists of recommended items to the respective local video servers and for communicating the subscriber profiles and requests to the central distribution server. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
-
-
26. A method of delivering virtual on-demand digital information to a plurality of local subscribers through their respective playback devices during on and off-peak hours, comprising:
-
storing a set of digital information items in a central distribution server; storing a subscriber profile for each of the local subscribers in a subscriber data base; generating a list of recommended items for each local subscriber based upon a synthesis of the subscriber profiles; during off-peak hours, broadcasting the items on said lists over a digital transport system to said local subscribers; broadcasting said lists over a back channel to the respective local subscribers; downloading the items on said lists to a plurality of local servers, respectively; and returning updated subscriber profiles over the back channel to the subscriber data base; and during on and off-peak hours, in response to a subscriber request, polling said local storage device to retrieve the requested item, and if not found; polling said central distribution server over said back channel to broadcast the requested item to the local subscriber where it is downloaded to the local storage and then retrieved; playing the retrieved item on the requesting subscriber'"'"'s playback device; updating the requesting subscriber'"'"'s profile; and recommending the items on said lists to the subscribers, respectively, to reduce the number of requests that are polled to the centralized storage device thereby offloading a portion of the bandwidth requirement on the digital transport system to the local storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
-
33. A system for delivering virtual on-demand digital information to a plurality of local subscribers, comprising:
-
a central distribution server, comprising; a repository for accessing a set of digital information items; a subscriber data base for receiving and storing a subscriber profile for each of the local subscribers; a collaborative filter system for synthesizing the subscriber profiles, predicting those items that may interest each local subscriber, and generating a list of recommended items for each local subscriber based on said predictions; and a scheduling system for scheduling the digital information items on said lists for periodic refresh broadcasts; a high bandwidth digital transport system for broadcasting the scheduled digital information items to said local subscribers; a plurality of local distribution systems, comprising a local storage for storing the digital information items on its corresponding list; a predictive filter for deleting those items from the local storage that are omitted from the current list of recommended selections and for downloading those items from the transport system that are on the list and not stored in the local storage; a subscriber interface for generating the subscriber profile and requesting an item; and a local processor for retrieving the requested item from the local storage and passing it to a local playback device; and a low bandwidth back channel for communicating the lists of recommended items to the respective local subscribers and for communicating the subscriber profiles and requests to the central distribution server. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
-
Specification