System and method for the broadcast dissemination of time-ordered data

• US 7,565,681 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2005
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Vulcan Patents LLC
• Original Assignee: Vulcan Patents LLC
• Inventors: Saunders, Steven E., Ngo, J. Thomas, Rubin, Owen
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US11/106,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20050183127A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• Field of Search: 725 86-104, 725135-137
• US Class Current: 725/135
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234 Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26275 for distributing content or additional data in a staggered manner, e.g. repeating movies on different channels in a time-staggered manner in a near video on demand system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6375 for requesting retransmission , e.g. of data packets lost or corrupted during transmission from serverARQ protocols H04L1/18; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A stream of time-ordered data, such as a movie, is divided into multiple fragments of equal length, which are repetitively transmitted at different respective repetition rates. The fragments are reordered for transmission so that those which occur near the beginning of the original data stream are transmitted more frequently than those which occur later in the data stream. When a user enters a request to utilize the data, the individual fragments are stored upon receipt at the user'"'"'s premises, and reassembled into a contiguous stream. The ordering of the fragments is such that the wait time required before utilization of the data can begin is limited to a predetermined maximum, and at least one copy of every fragment becomes available by the time it is needed.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computing system for transmitting data, comprising:

dividing the data into a sequence of segments;

dividing the sequence of segments into multiple fragments;

repetitively transmitting, in a first encoded substream of data a first segment of fragments with a first maximum repetition period;

repetitively transmitting, in a second encoded substream of data a second segment of fragments with a second maximum repetition period; and

repetitively transmitting, in a third encoded substream of data a third segment of fragments with a third maximum repetition period,

wherein the third encoded substream of data is consecutive to the second encoded substream of data, the second encoded substream of data is consecutive to the first encoded substream of data, and wherein the third maximum repetition period increases non-linearly from the first and second maximum repetition periods independent of a bandwidth used for transmitting the first, second and third encoded substreams of data.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first maximum repetition period is a maximum wait period before data utilization can commence at a receiving site.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said fragments contains the same amount of data from said data being transmitted.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said encoded substreams are transmitted in a time-division multiplexed manner.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said encoded substreams are transmitted in parallel.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one segment contains a maximum integral number of fragments that fit within a repetition period of the segment.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the fragments in said segment are transmitted in the same sequence during each repetitive transmission of the segment.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one segment contains less than a maximum integral number of fragments that fit within a maximum repetition period of the segment.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the fragments in said segment are transmitted in a different order during different respective transmissions of the segment.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one additional encoded substream in which every fragment of said additional encoded substream is transmitted with the same repetition period.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising selectively deleting the fragments in a portion of at least one of said segments in one of said encoded substreams.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein each deleted fragment is selected as one having a corresponding fragment present in an additional encoded substream within a time window that is no greater than the repetition period of its segment from the occurrence of said fragment in each of the preceding and following segments in an encoded substream.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising aligning the segment from which fragments are deleted with the additional substream containing the corresponding fragments so that the first fragment to be deleted from the segment is aligned with any one of the fragments in the additional substream that corresponds to a deleted fragment.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein fragments are deleted from said encoded substreams so that all of said segment substreams have the same periodicity.

15. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the fragments that are deleted are those which occur in the additional encoded substream at a time no later than the time they would have occurred in the additional encoded substream.

16. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein fragments which are contained in said additional encoded substream after a last start time are omitted from said encoded substreams.

17. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising designating a last start time beyond which receipt of the complete data cannot be ensured, and transmitting no more than one copy of each fragment among said encoded substreams, beginning at the last start time, for a final transmission of the data.

18. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data comprises a media presentation.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the third maximum repetition period increases exponentially from the first and second maximum repetition periods.

20. A system for transmitting data, comprising:

a processor configured to;

divide the data into a sequence of segments;

divide the sequence of segments into multiple fragments; and

repetitively transmit, in multiple encoded substreams of data multiple segments of fragments with maximum repetition periods, wherein each segment of fragments is repetitively transmitted in only one of the multiple encoded substreams, and

wherein the maximum repetition period of a segment of fragments in an encoded substream of data increases non-linearly with respect to the maximum repetition periods of segments of fragments in two immediately previously transmitted encoded substreams of data independent of a bandwidth used for transmitting the encoded substreams of data; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide instructions to the processor.

21. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the maximum repetition period of a segment of fragments in the first encoded substream of data is a maximum wait period before data utilization can commence at a receiving site.

22. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein at least one segment contains a maximum integral number of fragments that fit within a repetition period of the segment.

23. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit at least one additional encoded substream in which every fragment of said additional encoded substream is transmitted with the same repetition period.

24. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to designate a last start time beyond which receipt of the complete data cannot be ensured, and transmit no more than one copy of each fragment among said encoded substreams, beginning at the last start time, for a final transmission of the data.

25. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the data comprises a media presentation.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the maximum repetition period of a segment of fragments in an encoded substream of data increases exponentially with respect to the maximum repetition periods of segments of fragments in previously transmitted encoded substreams of data.

27. A computer program product for transmitting data, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions being executed by a processor to perform a method for:

dividing the data into a sequence of segments;

dividing the sequence of segments into multiple fragments; and

repetitively transmitting, in multiple encoded substreams of data, multiple segments of fragments with maximum repetition periods, wherein each segment of fragments is repetitively transmitted in only one of the multiple encoded substreams, and

wherein the maximum repetition period of a segment of fragments in an encoded substream of data increases non-linearly with respect to the maximum repetition periods of segments of fragments in two immediately previously transmitted encoded substreams of data independent of a bandwidth used for transmitting the encoded substreams of data.

28. A computer program product as recited in claim 27, wherein the maximum repetition period of a segment of fragments in the first encoded substream of data is a maximum wait period before data utilization can commence at a receiving site.

29. A computer program product as recited in claim 27, wherein at least one segment contains a maximum integral number of fragments that fit within a repetition period of the segment.

30. A computer program product as recited in claim 27, further comprising transmitting at least one additional encoded substream in which every fragment of said additional encoded substream is transmitted with the same repetition period.

31. A computer program product as recited in claim 27, further comprising designating a last start time beyond which receipt of the complete data cannot be ensured, and transmitting no more than one copy of each fragment among said encoded substreams, beginning at the last start time, for a final transmission of the data.

32. A computer program product as recited in claim 27, wherein the data comprises a media presentation.

33. A method implemented in a computing system for transmitting data, comprising:

dividing the data into multiple fragments, wherein at least some of the multiple fragments are of equal size;

ordering the multiple fragments into a sequence of segments;

repetitively transmitting, in a first encoded substream of data a first segment of fragments with a first maximum repetition period; and

repetitively transmitting, in a second encoded substream of data a second segment of fragments with a second maximum repetition period; and

repetitively transmitting, in a third encoded substream of data a third segment of fragments with a third maximum repetition period,

wherein the third encoded substream of data is consecutive to the second encoded substream of data, the second encoded substream of data is consecutive to the first encoded substream of data, and wherein the third maximum repetition period increases non-linearly from the first and second maximum repetition periods independent of a bandwidth used for transmitting the first, second and third encoded substreams of data.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the first maximum repetition period is a maximum wait period before data utilization can commence at a receiving site.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein at least one segment contains a maximum integral number of fragments that fit within a repetition period of the segment.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising transmitting at least one additional encoded substream in which every fragment of said additional encoded substream is transmitted with the same repetition period.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising designating a last start time beyond which receipt of complete data cannot be ensured, and transmitting no more than one copy of each fragment among said encoded substreams, beginning at the last start time, for a final transmission of the data.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the data comprises a media presentation.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein the third maximum repetition period increases exponentially from the first and second maximum repetition periods.