Stream distribution system

• US 7,930,433 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2005
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Yokosato, Junichi, Ogawa, Fuminobu, Sugai, Toyokazu
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan; Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Miah; Razu A
• Application Number:
  US11/918,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20090041155A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,155 Days
• Field of Search: 709238-246, 370/401
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234336 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures or audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64784 Data processing by the network data processing in packet switching systems H04L12/56; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; intermediate storage or scheduling H04L49/90; provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A system includes a content server device for performing content distribution in a network; a reception terminal device capable of reproducing a content having a specific format; a plurality of transcoder devices provided in the network, for applying format conversion to a content distributed in the network; and a transcoder management device for searching, in response to a search request sent from the reception terminal device, information on the plurality of transcoder devices, and sending to the reception terminal device, as a search result, a transmission path which runs from the content server device to the reception terminal device via at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices, through which format conversion to a desired content can be performed.

Claims

1. A stream distribution system, comprising:

a content server device for performing content distribution in a network;

a reception terminal device for reproducing a content having a specific format;

a plurality of transcoder devices provided in the network, for applying format conversion to a content distributed in the network; and

a transcoder management device for searching, in response to a search request sent from the reception terminal device, information on the plurality of transcoder devices, and sending to the reception terminal device, as a search result, a transmission path which runs from the content server device to the reception terminal device via at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices, through which format conversion to a desired content is performed, wherein

the transcoder management device has a network state monitoring function for grasping a state of the network, narrows down transmission paths according to the network state, and outputs the obtained result as the search result, and

the transcoder management device changes the transmission path to another transmission path according to the network state.

2. The stream distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the transcoder management device comprises:

a transcoder storage device for storing information on locations and format conversion of the plurality of transcoder devices; and

a transcoder search device for searching the information on the locations and the format conversion of the plurality of transcoder devices based on the search request, and outputting the search result.

3. The stream distribution system according to claim 2, wherein:

the reception terminal device sends, based on the search result sent from the transcoder search device, a transmission request for the desired content with the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices being specified as a transmission destination to the content server device, and a stream conversion request with the reception terminal device being specified as the transmission destination to the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices;

the content server device sends the desired content to the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices based on the transmission request; and

the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices converts a format of the desired content sent from the content server device to the specific format and sends the converted desired content to the reception terminal device, based on the stream conversion request.

4. The stream distribution system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transcoder devices has a network state collecting function for collecting a line quality of a path which connects the transcoder device to adjacent transcoder devices, and a network state sending function for sending the collected line quality to the transcoder management device.

5. The stream distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the transcoder management device has the network state monitoring function for grasping the a state of the network, re-searches the information on the plurality of transcoder devices in view of the network state, and changes the transmission path to a transmission path through which a content distribution having higher quality than a content distribution performed prior to the change is performed.

6. The stream distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the transcoder management device has the network state monitoring function for grasping the state of the network, and sends a path change notification to the reception terminal device before changing to another transmission path according to the network state.

7. The stream distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the transcoder management device searches the information on the plurality of transcoder devices in view of a charging system state, and outputs a more inexpensive transmission path as the search result.

8. The stream distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the transcoder management device searches the information on the plurality of transcoder devices in view of a band occupancy service, and outputs a more stable transmission path as the search result.

9. The stream distribution system according to claim 1, further comprising a content management device for receiving various types of information on contents held in the content server device, and providing the transcoder management device with the various types of information on the contents,

wherein, based on the search request for a content that can be received from the content server device, the search request being sent from the reception terminal device, the transcoder management device searches the various types of information on the contents held in the content server device, specifies a content that can be received by the reception.

10. A stream distribution system, comprising:

a content server device for performing content distribution in a network;

a reception terminal device for reproducing a content having a specific format;

a plurality of transcoder devices provided in the network, for applying format conversion to a content distributed in the network; and

a transcoder management device for searching, in response to a search request sent from the reception terminal device, information on the plurality of transcoder devices, and extracting, as a search result, a transmission path which runs from the content server device to the reception terminal device via at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices, through which format conversion to a desired content is performed, wherein

the transcoder management device sends the transmission path extracted to the reception terminal device,

the transcoder management device has a network state monitoring function for grasping a state of the network, narrows down transmission paths according to the network state, and outputs the obtained result as the search result, and

the transcoder management device changes the transmission path to another transmission path according to the network state.

11. The stream distribution system according to claim 10, wherein the transcoder management device comprises:

a transcoder storage device for storing information on locations and format conversion of the plurality of transcoder devices;

a transcoder search device for searching information on the locations and the format conversion of the plurality of transcoder devices based on the search request, and outputting the search result; and

a request sending device for sending a request based on the search result.

12. The stream distribution system according to claim 11, wherein:

the request sending device sends, based on the search result sent from the transcoder search device, a transmission request for the desired content with the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices being specified as a transmission destination to the content server device, and a stream conversion request with the reception terminal device being specified as the transmission destination to the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices;

the content server device sends the desired content to the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices based on the transmission request; and

the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices converts a format of the desired content sent from the content server device to the specific format and sends the converted desired content to the reception terminal device, based on the stream conversion request.

13. A stream distribution system, comprising:

a content server device for performing content distribution in a network;

a reception terminal device for reproducing a content having a specific format;

a plurality of transcoder devices provided in the network, for applying format conversion to a content distributed in the network; and

a transcoder management device for searching, in response to a search request sent from the content server device based on a transmission request sent from the reception terminal device, information on the plurality of transcoder devices, and sending to the content server device, as a search result, a transmission path which runs from the content server device to the reception terminal device via at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices, through which format conversion to a desired content is performed, wherein

the transcoder management device has a network state monitoring function for grasping a state of the network, narrows down transmission paths according to the network state, and outputs the obtained result as the search result, and

the transcoder management device changes the transmission path to another transmission path according to the network state.

14. The stream distribution system according to claim 13, wherein the transcoder management device comprises:

a transcoder storage device for storing information on locations and format conversion of the plurality of transcoder devices; and

a transcoder search device for searching information on the locations and the format conversion of the plurality of transcoder devices based on the search request, and outputting the search result.

15. The stream distribution system according to claim 14, wherein:

the content server device sends, based on the search result sent from the transcoder search device, to the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices a stream conversion request with the reception terminal device being specified as a transmission destination, and also sends, based on the search result, the desired content to the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices; and

the at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices converts a format of the desired content sent from the content server device to the specific format and sends the converted desired content to the reception terminal device, based on the stream conversion request.