System and method for the broadcast dissemination of time-ordered data
First Claim
1. A system for retrieving fragments of a temporally-ordered media presentation data stream, the system comprising:
- a buffer in which received fragments are stored, whereinthe fragments were formed by dividing the temporally-ordered data stream into a sequence of segments and further dividing the segments into fragments,a fragment has a length which is a function of the fragment'"'"'s location within the data stream,a nominal transmission time was assigned to each of the fragments within a segment,wherein the nominal transmission time for the fragment is based on a time interval, andwherein the time interval is a function of the length of the segment and the number of fragments in the segment,the fragments were sorted into an order in accordance with nominal transmission times, andthe fragments were transmitted in the order at a fixed data rate,wherein the fixed data rate is based on a harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments, andwherein a time between transmission of each of the fragments is equal to the harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments;
an assembly circuit for retrieving stored fragments from the buffer and presenting the fragments to a playback device in a temporal order; and
a gate circuit which receives fragments and selectively forwards the fragments to the buffer or to the assembly circuit in accordance with a temporal location of a received fragment relative to fragments to be presented to the playback device.
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Accused Products
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.
292 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for retrieving fragments of a temporally-ordered media presentation data stream, the system comprising:
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a buffer in which received fragments are stored, wherein the fragments were formed by dividing the temporally-ordered data stream into a sequence of segments and further dividing the segments into fragments, a fragment has a length which is a function of the fragment'"'"'s location within the data stream, a nominal transmission time was assigned to each of the fragments within a segment, wherein the nominal transmission time for the fragment is based on a time interval, and wherein the time interval is a function of the length of the segment and the number of fragments in the segment, the fragments were sorted into an order in accordance with nominal transmission times, and the fragments were transmitted in the order at a fixed data rate, wherein the fixed data rate is based on a harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments, and wherein a time between transmission of each of the fragments is equal to the harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments; an assembly circuit for retrieving stored fragments from the buffer and presenting the fragments to a playback device in a temporal order; and a gate circuit which receives fragments and selectively forwards the fragments to the buffer or to the assembly circuit in accordance with a temporal location of a received fragment relative to fragments to be presented to the playback device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A device for receiving streaming digital media, the device comprising:
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a processor that receives fragments of the streaming digital media, wherein the fragments were formed by dividing the streaming digital media into a sequence of segments and further dividing the segments into the fragments, a fragment has a length which is a function of the fragment'"'"'s location within the data stream, a nominal transmission time was assigned to each of the fragments within a segment, wherein the nominal transmission time for the fragment is based on a time interval, and wherein the time interval is a function of the length of the segment and the number of fragments in the segment, the fragments were sorted into an order in accordance with nominal transmission times, and the fragments were transmitted in the order at a fixed data rate, wherein the fixed data rate is based on a harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments, and wherein a time between transmission of each of the fragments is equal to the harmonic mean of the time intervals of the segments; computer readable memory that stores a copy of each of the fragments; and an interface that provides the stored fragments of a segment to a display device in sequential order. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. In a media broadcast system in which digital media is divided into a sequence of fragments and the fragments are repetitively transmitted with different repetition periods, a system for presenting the media, the system comprising:
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a receiver that receives the fragments and detect each individual fragment that is received, wherein the fragments were formed by dividing the digital media into a sequence of segments and further dividing the segments into fragments, a fragment has a length which is a function of the fragment'"'"'s location within the digital media, a nominal transmission time was assigned to each of the fragments within a segment, wherein the nominal transmission time for the fragment is based on a time interval, and wherein the time interval is a function of the length of the segment and the number of fragments in the segment, the fragments were sorted into an order in accordance with nominal transmission times, and the fragments were transmitted in the order at a fixed data rate, wherein the fixed data rate is based on a harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments, and wherein a time between transmission of each of the fragments is equal to the harmonic mean of the time intervals for the segments; a decoder, wherein for each fragment that is received the decoder checks an index of all the fragments in the sequence to determine whether a copy of the received fragment has been stored; computer readable memory that loads the index and stores the received fragment if the index indicates that the received fragment has not been previously stored; and an interface that provides the stored fragments to a display device in sequential order. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification