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

• US 8,046,818 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2009
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Interval Licensing LLC
• Original Assignee: Interval Licensing LLC
• Inventors: Ngo, J. Thomas, Rubin, Owen, Saunders, Steven E.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US12/388,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20090199248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 978 Days
• Field of Search: 725/87, 725 91- 93, 725/95, 725/101, 725/135
• 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 for transmitting temporally-ordered data, the method comprising:

dividing, using a processor, the temporally-ordered data into a sequence of segments, wherein the temporally-ordered data is video or audio program data;

dividing, using the processor, the sequence of segments into multiple fragments for repetitive transmission,

wherein each of the multiple fragments has a length, and

wherein the length is a function of the fragment'"'"'s location within the sequence of segments;

assigning a nominal transmission time to each of the multiple fragments within a segment,

wherein the nominal transmission time for each of the multiple fragments of the segment is based on a time interval, and

wherein the time interval is a function of the length of the segment and a number of fragments in the segment;

sorting each of the multiple fragments in the segments in accordance with the nominal transmission times; and

transmitting each of the multiple fragments in the sorted order at a fixed data rate,

wherein the fixed data rate is based on a harmonic mean of time intervals for the segments,

wherein a time between transmission of each of the multiple fragments is equal to the harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments, and

wherein the transmission is to one or more televisions or display devices for replaying the video or audio program data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the multiple fragments has a length which is (1+λ

) greater than the length of a preceding fragment, where 0<

λ

≦

0.5.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting each of the multiple fragments in the sorted order includes transmitting each of the multiple fragments in a time-division multiplexed manner.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting one or more of the multiple fragments in at least one of the segments.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting each of the multiple fragments in the sorted order includes transmitting multiple substreams of data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the temporally ordered data includes a media presentation, and each of the multiple fragments contains no more than one second of the media presentation.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium whose contents enable a computing device to perform a method for transmitting temporally-ordered data, the method comprising:

dividing the temporally-ordered data into a sequence of segments, wherein the temporally-ordered data is video or audio program data;

dividing the sequence of segments into multiple fragments for repetitive transmission,

wherein each of the multiple fragments has a length, and

wherein the length is a function of the fragment'"'"'s location within the sequence of segments;

assigning a nominal transmission time to each of the multiple fragments within a segment,

wherein the nominal transmission time for each of the multiple fragments of the segment is based on a time interval, and

wherein the time interval is a function of the length of the segment and a number of fragments in the segment;

sorting each of the multiple fragments in the segments in accordance with the nominal transmission times; and

transmitting each of the multiple fragments in the sorted order at a fixed data rate,

wherein the fixed data rate is based on a harmonic mean of time intervals for the segments,

wherein a time between transmission of each of the multiple fragments is equal to the harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments, and

wherein the transmission is to one or more televisions or display devices for replaying the video or audio program data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein each of the multiple fragments has a length which is (1+λ

) greater than the length of a preceding fragment, where 0<

λ

≦

0.5.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein transmitting each of the multiple fragments in the sorted order includes transmitting each of the multiple fragments in a time-division multiplexed manner.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising deleting one or more of the multiple fragments in at least one of the segments.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein transmitting each of the multiple fragments in the sorted order includes transmitting multiple substreams of data.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the temporally ordered data includes a media presentation, and each of the multiple fragments contains no more than one second of the media presentation.