System and method for providing network access to antenna feeds
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of streaming television content transmissions from over the air broadcasts to user devices, the method comprising:
- presenting users with a list of available television content transmissions, wherein the list of available television content transmissions is based on the over the air broadcasts available in a geographical location of each of the users;
receiving requests from the users to receive selected television content transmissions among the available television content transmissions;
allocating individual antenna elements, in an array of the antenna elements, to each of the individual users, so that different antennas elements simultaneously capture multiple copies of the same television content transmissions when different users want to receive the same television content transmissions, a tuner for the allocated antenna element tuning the antenna element to receive the television content transmission requested by each of the individual users to which the antenna element was allocated;
receiving the selected television content transmissions with the antenna element and storing separately for each of the individual users;
demodulating feeds from the antenna elements to generate unique content transmission data having MPEG-2 encoding for each of the individual users when the users have selected to receive the same television content transmission;
transcoding the content transmission data of each of the individual users to content data for each of the individual users, the content data having a different encoding supported by a device of each of the individual users; and
streaming the selected television content transmissions to the user devices as the transcoded content data.
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Abstract
A method and system for capturing, storing, and streaming over the air broadcasts based on user requests is disclosed. The system and method utilize subarrays of antenna elements for receiving over the air broadcasts. Processing pipelines are used to demodulate, transcode and index the content transmissions to produce content data that are streamed to users. In this way, the feeds from antennas can be accessed by users over a network connection.
68 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of streaming television content transmissions from over the air broadcasts to user devices, the method comprising:
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presenting users with a list of available television content transmissions, wherein the list of available television content transmissions is based on the over the air broadcasts available in a geographical location of each of the users; receiving requests from the users to receive selected television content transmissions among the available television content transmissions; allocating individual antenna elements, in an array of the antenna elements, to each of the individual users, so that different antennas elements simultaneously capture multiple copies of the same television content transmissions when different users want to receive the same television content transmissions, a tuner for the allocated antenna element tuning the antenna element to receive the television content transmission requested by each of the individual users to which the antenna element was allocated; receiving the selected television content transmissions with the antenna element and storing separately for each of the individual users; demodulating feeds from the antenna elements to generate unique content transmission data having MPEG-2 encoding for each of the individual users when the users have selected to receive the same television content transmission; transcoding the content transmission data of each of the individual users to content data for each of the individual users, the content data having a different encoding supported by a device of each of the individual users; and streaming the selected television content transmissions to the user devices as the transcoded content data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for streaming television content transmissions to user devices, the system comprising:
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an array of antenna elements, each of the antenna elements for receiving broadcast television content transmissions; tuners for the antenna elements, each of the tuners for tuning an antenna element to receive the television content transmissions so that different antennas elements simultaneously capture multiple copies of the same television content transmissions when different users want to receive the same television content transmissions; demodulators for demodulating and decoding feeds from the antenna elements to generate unique content transmission data for each of the individual users when the users have selected to receive the same television content transmission; transcoders for converting the content transmission data of each of the individual users to content data for each of the individual users, the content data having a different encoding supported by the device of each of the individual users; an application server presenting users with a list of available television content transmissions that are based on over the air broadcasts available in a geographical location of each of the individual users, wherein the application server receives requests from the user devices to receive selected television content transmissions among the available television content transmissions; an antenna controller that allocates individual antenna elements within the array to receive the selected television content transmissions and to store separately for each of the individual users with a tuner for the allocated antenna element tuning the antenna element to receive the television content transmission selected by the user to which the antenna element was allocated; and a streaming server that streams the selected television content transmissions as the transcoded content data to the user devices. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification