Employing helper transport streams for re-multiplexing

• US 9,538,210 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2015
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Beheydt, Samie, Vanhaecke, Joachim M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhao, Wei
• Application Number:
  US14/948,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080782A1
• Time in Patent Office: 407 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/67 Common-wave systems, i.e. using separate transmitters operating on substantially the same frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23608 Remultiplexing multiplex streams, e.g. involving modifying time stamps or remapping the packet identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4344 Remultiplexing of multiplex streams, e.g. by modifying time stamps or remapping the packet identifiers

Abstract

In one system embodiment, a master re-multiplexer may be configured to receive an indexed transport stream, re-multiplex the indexed transport stream by performing a set of re-multiplexing operations, generate a helper transport stream, the helper transport stream comprising a description of the set of operations, wherein the set of operations comprises both program clock reference (PCR) re-stamping and inserting packets, and providing the helper transport stream over a communications network to plural remote re-multiplexers capable of identically re-multiplexing the indexed transport stream based on the helper transport stream.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a first re-multiplexer, the first re-multiplexer comprising a processor executing a first set of instructions to create a second indexed transport stream, the first set of instructions comprising;

receiving a first indexed transport stream;

receiving a helper transport stream comprising information associated with a previous re-multiplexing operation;

inserting packets into the first indexed transport stream based on the information; and

program clock reference (PCR) re-stamping the first indexed transport stream based on the information;

a second re-multiplexer located remotely from the first re-multiplexer, the second re-multiplexer comprising a processor executing a second set of instructions to create a third indexed transport stream identical to the second indexed transport stream, the second set of instructions comprising;

receiving the first indexed transport stream;

receiving the helper transport stream comprising information associated with the previous re-multiplexing operation;

inserting packets into the first indexed transport stream based on the information; and

program clock reference (PCR) re-stamping the first indexed transport stream based on the information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein inserting packets comprises inserting packets of the first indexed transport stream in the second transport stream and third transport stream.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein inserting packets comprises inserting null packets, PSI packets, SI packets, PSIP packets, other packets, or a combination of two or more of the null packets, the PSI packets, the SI packets, the PSIP packets, and the other packets.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the first indexed transport stream comprises receiving an indexed multi program transport stream.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the information comprises a set of operations associated with the previous re-multiplexing operation.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the second set of instructions further comprises:

separating the helper transport stream from the first indexed transport stream.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second set of instructions further comprises:

separating the helper transport stream from one or more additional indexed transport streams.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the second set of instructions further comprises:

clocking with a common clock source the first indexed transport stream and the third transport stream.

9. A system, comprising:

a first re-multiplexer, the first re-multiplexer comprising a processor executing a first set of instructions to create a second indexed transport stream, the first set of instructions comprising;

receiving a first indexed transport stream;

receiving a helper transport stream comprising a description of a previous re-multiplexing operation; and

generating the second transport stream based on the helper transport stream and the description through program clock reference (PCR) re-stamping and packet insertion;

a second re-multiplexer located remotely from the first re-multiplexer, the second re-multiplexer comprising a processor executing a second set of instructions to create a third indexed transport stream identical to the second indexed transport stream, the second set of instructions comprising;

receiving the first indexed transport stream;

receiving the helper transport stream comprising a description of a previous re-multiplexing operation; and

generating the third transport stream based on the helper transport stream and the description through program clock reference (PCR) re-stamping and packet insertion.

10. The system of claim 9, the first set of instructions further comprising:

providing the second transport stream over a communications network.

11. The system of claim 9, the first set of instructions further comprising:

receiving one or more additional helper transport streams respectively associated with one or more new re-multiplexed transport streams.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein an index value for each packet of the first indexed transport stream comprises a unique address for a defined time window or packet count for the each packet separate from a PID value.

13. The system of claim 9, the first set of instructions further comprising:

generating the second transport stream based on a clock reference common to the first re-multiplexer and the second re-multiplexer.

14. The system of claim 9, the first set of instructions further comprising:

separating the helper transport stream from the first indexed transport stream.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving a first indexed transport stream at a first re-multiplexer;

receiving a helper transport stream at the first re-multiplexer comprising information associated with a previous re-multiplexing operation;

inserting packets at the first re-multiplexer into the first indexed transport stream based on the information;

program clock reference (PCR) re-stamping at the first re-multiplexer the first indexed transport stream based on the information creating a second indexed transport stream;

receiving the first indexed transport stream at a second re-multiplexer;

receiving the helper transport stream at the second re-multiplexer comprising information associated with the previous re-multiplexing operation;

inserting packets at the second re-multiplexer into the first indexed transport stream based on the information; and

program clock reference (PCR) re-stamping at the second re-multiplexer the first indexed transport stream based on the information creating a third indexed transport stream identical to the second indexed transport stream.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein inserting packets comprises inserting packets of the first indexed transport stream in the second transport stream and third transport stream.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein inserting packets comprises inserting null packets, PSI packets, SI packets, PSIP packets, other packets, or a combination of two or more of the null packets, the PSI packets, the SI packets, the PSIP packets, and the other packets.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the information comprises a set of operations associated with the previous re-multiplexing operation.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving one or more additional helper transport streams respectively associated with one or more new re-multiplexed transport streams.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating the second transport stream based on a clock reference common to the first re-multiplexer and the second re-multiplexer.