Home network for receiving video-on-demand and other requested programs and services
First Claim
1. A gateway for a home network comprising:
- one or more network interface circuits for coupling to one or more local area networks;
a router having port coupled to said one or more network interface circuits and having an port for receiving packets to be routed onto a local area network for routing packets and encapsulating said packets in LAN packets that can be transmitted on a local area network selected by said routing process and transmitting said LAN packets on said local area network selected by said routing process;
an IP video circuit having an output coupled to said input of said router and having an input for receiving compressed video data of a video program to be viewed, and functioning to packetize said compressed video data into packets that can be routed by said router;
a conditional access circuit having an output coupled to said IP video circuit and having an input for receiving recompressed data, functioning to selectively decrypt encrypted programs;
a transcoder circuit having an output for coupling recompressed data to said conditional access circuit and having an input for receiving MPEG packets of a video program;
a transport demultiplexer for receiving control signals at a control input specifying which subchannel(s) to demultiplex and for extracting MPEG packets transported in the specified subchannel(s);
a quadrature amplitude demodulator having an input and having an output coupled to said transport demultiplexer, for recovering digital data of a requested program and supplying said digital data at said output;
a tuner having an input for coupling to a source of a radio frequency carrier signal modulated with digital data encoding said requested program, and having an output coupled to said quadrature amplitude demodulator, for tuning to a carrier signal specified by control data received at a control input and filtering out substantially all other signals; and
a control means for receiving a request for a program transmitted to said gateway via a local area network and controlling the appropriate circuits in said gateway to carry out the following functions;
request said program, receive downstream message data indicating upon which channel and subchannel(s) said requested program will be transmitted, tune to a carrier signal of said channel, recover digital data encoding said requested program, recompress said digital data to a bandwidth which can be transmitted in the available bandwidth on a local area network to which a set top decoder which requested program is coupled and transmit said recompressed data to a network interface circuit for a local area network to which said set top decoder is coupled;
and wherein said router also functions to strip LAN packet headers from LAN packets received from a local area network to which said router is coupled and recover packets encapsulated in said LAN packets and route packets addressed to said control means to said control means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for providing video-on-demand service, broadband internet access and other broadband services over T-carrier systems including a pull multiplexer cherrypicker at the head end is disclosed. The pull multiplexer receives upstream requests and cull out MPEG or other compressed video packets, IP packets and other data packet types to satisfy the requests or to send pushed programming downstream. The downstream can be DSL or HFC. Each customer has a cable modem, DSL modem or a gateway which interfaces multiple signal sources to a LAN to which settop decoders, digital phones, personal computers, digital FAX machines, video cameras, digital VCRs etc. can be attached. Each gateway can coupled the LAN to a DSL line or HFC through a cable modem or a satellite dish through a satellite transceiver. A PSTN and conventional TV antenna interface is also provided.
516 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A gateway for a home network comprising:
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one or more network interface circuits for coupling to one or more local area networks;
a router having port coupled to said one or more network interface circuits and having an port for receiving packets to be routed onto a local area network for routing packets and encapsulating said packets in LAN packets that can be transmitted on a local area network selected by said routing process and transmitting said LAN packets on said local area network selected by said routing process;
an IP video circuit having an output coupled to said input of said router and having an input for receiving compressed video data of a video program to be viewed, and functioning to packetize said compressed video data into packets that can be routed by said router;
a conditional access circuit having an output coupled to said IP video circuit and having an input for receiving recompressed data, functioning to selectively decrypt encrypted programs;
a transcoder circuit having an output for coupling recompressed data to said conditional access circuit and having an input for receiving MPEG packets of a video program;
a transport demultiplexer for receiving control signals at a control input specifying which subchannel(s) to demultiplex and for extracting MPEG packets transported in the specified subchannel(s);
a quadrature amplitude demodulator having an input and having an output coupled to said transport demultiplexer, for recovering digital data of a requested program and supplying said digital data at said output;
a tuner having an input for coupling to a source of a radio frequency carrier signal modulated with digital data encoding said requested program, and having an output coupled to said quadrature amplitude demodulator, for tuning to a carrier signal specified by control data received at a control input and filtering out substantially all other signals; and
a control means for receiving a request for a program transmitted to said gateway via a local area network and controlling the appropriate circuits in said gateway to carry out the following functions;
request said program, receive downstream message data indicating upon which channel and subchannel(s) said requested program will be transmitted, tune to a carrier signal of said channel, recover digital data encoding said requested program, recompress said digital data to a bandwidth which can be transmitted in the available bandwidth on a local area network to which a set top decoder which requested program is coupled and transmit said recompressed data to a network interface circuit for a local area network to which said set top decoder is coupled;
and wherein said router also functions to strip LAN packet headers from LAN packets received from a local area network to which said router is coupled and recover packets encapsulated in said LAN packets and route packets addressed to said control means to said control means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 21)
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8. A gateway apparatus comprising:
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a host computer having a host bus;
one or more local area network interfaces or bus interfaces coupling said host computer to one or more local area networks or buses than carry data between said gateway and one or more devices located at a customer premises;
external network interface circuits coupled to said host bus for interfacing said host computer to one or more networks external to said customer premises including at least a DOCSIS compatible cable modem for bidirectional digital data communication over a hybrid fiber coaxial cable network, and one or more video network interface circuits functioning to receive analog and/or digital video signals delivered over a hybrid fiber coaxial cable network or via satellite or terrestial and deliver digital video data compressed using MPEG compression; and
wherein said host computer is programmed to implement an IP packetization process to receive said compressed digital video data from said one or more video external network interface circuits and packetize said compressed digital video data into IP packets addressed to the device and/or process which requested said digital video data and which is coupled to said gateway by one or more of said local area networks or busses, and said host computer being further programmed with a routing process to receive said IP packets from said IP packetization process and to receive IP packets from said DOCSIS compatible cable modem and automatically do all routing, encapsulation and protocol conversion necessary to deliver said IP packets to a device and/or process in execution on a device coupled to said gateway apparatus via one of said local area network interfaces or bus interfaces and identified by address information in said IP packets, and to receive data from a device and/or process in execution on a device coupled to said gateway apparatus via one of said local area network interfaces or bus interfaces and do any and all deencapsulation, encapsulation, protocol conversion and routing necessary for each packet to be automatically delivered to an appropriate one or more of said external network interfaces coupled to a device and/or process to which each packet is addressed for upstream delivery via an appropriate medium of transmission to whatever device and/or process to which said data is addressed, and said host computer programmed with a management and control process for receiving requests for data from a device and/or process coupled to one or more of said local area network interfaces or said bus interfaces, and sending digital control data to one or more of said external network interface circuits to control them to obtain said requested data from a source coupled to said gateway via one or more of said external network interfaces. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23)
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24. A gateway apparatus comprising:
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a host bus;
a plurality of expansion connectors electrically coupled to said host bus;
one or more expansion modules coupled to said host bus through one or more of said expansion connectors, each expansion module including the appropriate circuitry to interface with an external network medium comprised of either a hybrid fiber coaxial cable of a CATV system, a digital subscriber line local loop, an analog plain old telephone service line or a satellite dish or an antenna;
one or more network interface adapters for coupling said gateway to one or more local area networks or busses which convey digital data to one or more items of customer premises equipment;
a host computer having a central processing unit or microprocessor coupled to said host bus and programmed to perform at least a management and control process to receive requests transmitted from said one or more items of customer premises equipment to said gateway via one or more of said local area networks or buses for data or video or audio programs and to react thereto by appropriately controlling said one or more expansion modules to retrieve the requested data or video or audio program, and programmed to perform an IP packetization process to receive downstream digital data from one or more of said expansion modules which is not already in IP packet form and data from said management and control process and encapsulate said data into internet protocol packets addressed to the customer premises equipment and one or more processes running on customer premises equipment which requested said data, and said host computer further programmed to perform a routing process to do all packetization, protocol conversion and routing functions necessary to route packets between any of said expansion modules and any of said one or more local area networks and/or busses.
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Specification