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Media server interconnect architecture

  • US 6,378,130 B1
  • Filed: 10/20/1997
  • Issued: 04/23/2002
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/20/1997
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for interconnecting media server to subscriber terminals in a system having a headend and a distribution network, a plurality of media servers connected at the headend, and a plurality of subscriber terminals connected to the network, a requesting subscriber terminal requesting a media asset from the media servers, said apparatus comprising:

  • each media server providing one or more media assets for distribution to the subscriber terminals;

    a two-dimensional array of modulators modulating requested media assets provided by the media servers;

    a plurality of sets of modulators in the array, a media server linked to each set of modulators, each modulator in a set modulates at the same frequency a media asset from the media server linked to the set, and each set of modulators modulates at a different frequency from other sets of modulators in the array;

    a connection manager, responsive to a media asset request from the requesting subscriber terminal, selecting a media server as a source media server to provide the requested media asset and selecting a modulator from the set of modulators linked to the source media server to modulate the requested media asset for transmission to the requesting subscriber terminal through a combiner for a group of subscriber terminals containing the requesting subscriber terminal; and

    said combiner combining all of the modulated media assets from each of the sets of modulators for distribution to a pre-defined group of subscriber terminals.

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