LOGICAL NODE IDENTIFICATION IN AN INFORMATION TRANSMISSION NETWORK

• US 20130024899A1
• Filed: 09/07/2012
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Comcast IP Holdings I LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Son, Yong Ho, Rajdev, Nikhil
• Granted Patent: US 8,918,824 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/103 using a shared central buffer; using a shared memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/201 Multicast operation; Broadcast operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64 Addressing network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00; support for multicast or broadcast of one-way stream services H04L65/611
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A system for generating and sending a Logical Node identification signal as part of a data stream is disclosed. The system also includes subscriber stations capable of receiving and extracting Logical Node identification information from a data stream. The subscriber stations create new messages including the Logical Node identification signal and send the message to the transmission network system control, such that switching of data streams to an appropriate channel over the information transmission network is done consistent with the network topology.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to;

assign a channel for transmission of a program to a remote device;

transmit, to the remote device, a unique identifier for the program;

transmit, to the remote device and a network device, a logical identifier that uniquely identifies the network device as the network device corresponding to the remote device; and

transmit, to the remote device, the program in response to receiving, from the remote device, a message comprising the logical identifier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

receive the message comprising the logical identifier and associate the remote device with a logical node, wherein the logical node is identified by the logical identifier.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

assign one of a plurality of other control modules to cause transmission of the unique identifier for the program, the logical identifier, and the program in response to receiving a request for the program from the remote device.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

cause a corresponding one of the other control modules to transmit programs to the remote device using the logical identifier indicated in the message received from the remote device.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

select a modulator and a channel for transmitting programs to the remote device using the logical identifier indicated in the message received from the remote device.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

switch, using the logical identifier indicated in the message received from the remote device, from a first modulator and a first channel for transmitting programs to the remote device to a second modulator and a second channel for transmitting programs to the remote device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

provide the unique identifier for the requested program;

generate the logical identifier transmitted to the remote device; and

combine the unique identifier and the logical identifier for transmission to the remote device.

8. A method, comprising:

providing first identification information into a first datastream, the first identification information for routing communication to the apparatus;

providing the first datastream to a user device via an intermediate node;

receiving a second datastream from the user device via the intermediate node, wherein the second datastream includes second identification information, the second identification information for routing communication to the user device;

in response to receiving the second identification information in the second datastream, establishing a session with the user device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method is performed by a session manager.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the intermediate node is associated with a logical node.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first identification information comprises an address of the session manager and an identifier of the logical node.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the second identification information comprises an identifier of the user device.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the session is selected from a User Datagram Protocol (UDP)-based session and a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)-based session.

14. A method comprising:

providing a logical node identifier to a plurality of remote devices, wherein the logical node identifier identifies a correspondence between the plurality of remote devices and a session control manager;

responsive to a program request from a remote device of the plurality of remote devices, providing, by a computing device having at least one processor, packet identification information to the remote device, wherein the packet identification information is indicative of the requested program;

receiving the logical node identifier from the remote device; and

providing the requested program for receipt by the remote device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

selecting a channel for providing the requested program using the logical node identifier received from the remote device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

storing a mapping between the remote device and the selected channel.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining the correspondence between the plurality of remote devices and the session control manager using the logical node identifier received from the remote device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to another program request from the remote device, providing packet identification information indicative of the another requested program to the remote device using the correspondence between the plurality of remote devices and the session control manager.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing the another requested program to the remote device using the correspondence between plurality of remote devices and the session control manager.