Multimedia scheduler
First Claim
1. A multimedia scheduler for scheduling media items for network broadcast;
- comprising;
at least one work manager for each channel serviced, said work manager including at least one producer thread, a task queue and at least one worker thread; and
one or more scheduler objects associated with each producer thread;
wherein said work manager and associated scheduler objects create and maintain a broadcast schedule for each channel according to predefined criteria;
wherein said at least one producer thread checks a channel at configurable intervals and increments said channel'"'"'s schedule by generating a work request and placing it in said task queue and wherein said worker threads execute said work requests; and
wherein said multimedia scheduler is scalable to service a plurality of broadcast channels and/or services simultaneously.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A song and ad scheduler supporting clip-based and stream-based scheduling of multimedia items generates several hours of schedule in advance. Having multiple channel capability, the scheduler uses as inputs: the channel, associated playlists associated, rotation pattern for the channel, and associated programming rules to produce a schedule of multimedia items for the channel. Initially, the scheduler produces a schedule for each channel of predetermined length; then it periodically revisits the channel to add more songs, keeping the schedule to the desired length. Length of the initial playlist is configurable. The scheduler uses a producer-consumer model for distributing work. Producer threads periodically scan the system for work to be done. When a producer thread encounters work to be done, e.g. adding to the schedule of a channel, the producer thread places a work request into a queue. Worker threads consume the work requests by fulfilling the requested work.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. A multimedia scheduler for scheduling media items for network broadcast;
- comprising;
at least one work manager for each channel serviced, said work manager including at least one producer thread, a task queue and at least one worker thread; and one or more scheduler objects associated with each producer thread; wherein said work manager and associated scheduler objects create and maintain a broadcast schedule for each channel according to predefined criteria; wherein said at least one producer thread checks a channel at configurable intervals and increments said channel'"'"'s schedule by generating a work request and placing it in said task queue and wherein said worker threads execute said work requests; and wherein said multimedia scheduler is scalable to service a plurality of broadcast channels and/or services simultaneously. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
- comprising;
Specification