System and method for transmitting files from a sender to a receiver in a television distribution network
First Claim
1. A method for transporting files from a cable headend, comprising:
- for each of the files;
transforming a file identifier of the file into a respective data identifier (DID);
determining a packet identifier (PID) based on the DID, wherein the PID is associated with a communications channel selected to transport said file;
determining a first identifier based on the DID; and
transmitting, from the headend via the communications channel, one or more packets associated with the file, each of the one or more packets including the PID and the first identifier, wherein said first identifier is adapted to enable receivers of said communications channel to selectively receive one or more packets associated with the file among packets transported via the communications channel;
wherein, for each of the files, the determining the first identifier based on the DID further comprises;
dividing the DID into at least two portions; and
performing one of;
performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for transmitting files from a sender to a receiver in a television distribution system, for example, a cable television distribution network, is provided. The files are transmitted without the need for transmitting a directory over an out of band communications link. In an exemplary embodiment, a filename corresponding to a file to be transmitted is provided to a transform. The transform calculates a PID based on the filename. The calculated PID is incorporated into the MPEG2 data stream carrying the corresponding file contents. When an application program running in the receiver requests a file, the filename of the requested file is provided to a transform operating in the receiver. The transmitter and receiver transforms are identical. The transform provides a corresponding PID at its output. The PID is used to tune a PID filter on the receiver end such that the requested file is selected from the incoming MPEG bit stream for processing by the processor.
21 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method for transporting files from a cable headend, comprising:
for each of the files; transforming a file identifier of the file into a respective data identifier (DID); determining a packet identifier (PID) based on the DID, wherein the PID is associated with a communications channel selected to transport said file; determining a first identifier based on the DID; and transmitting, from the headend via the communications channel, one or more packets associated with the file, each of the one or more packets including the PID and the first identifier, wherein said first identifier is adapted to enable receivers of said communications channel to selectively receive one or more packets associated with the file among packets transported via the communications channel; wherein, for each of the files, the determining the first identifier based on the DID further comprises; dividing the DID into at least two portions; and performing one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for receiving a file from a server, the file having a file identifier associated therewith, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining a data identifier (DID) from the file identifier of the file; and determining a packet identifier (PID) based on the DID, wherein the PID is associated with a communications channel used to transport said file; determining a first identifier based on the DID; and selectively receiving one or more packets associated with the file, among packets transported via the communications channel, using the PID and the first identifier; wherein, for each of the files, the determining the first identifier based on the DID further comprises; dividing the DID into at least two portions; and performing one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for transmitting data, comprising the steps of:
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calculating a plurality of data identifiers (DIDs) based on respective identifiers associated with respective sets of at least one packet; associating each set of at least one packet with the respective DID calculated from the identifier for that set of at least one packet; and calculating a plurality of packet identifiers (PIDs) based on the respective DIDs calculated for the respective sets of at least one packet; and transmitting, to a receiver associated with one of the plurality of PIDs, a list including a respective DID for each set of at least one packet associated with the same PID as the receiver; wherein, for each of the sets of at least one packet, the calculating a plurality of data identifiers (DIDs) further comprises; dividing the DID into at least two portions; and performing one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine a first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine a first identifier. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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27. A method for receiving data, comprising the steps of:
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(a) calculating a packet identifier (PID) based on an identifier associated with a desired set of at least one packet, the PID being associated with a receiver of the set of at least one packet; and (b) receiving a list associated with the PID, the list containing a plurality of data identifiers (DIDs), each DID in the list corresponding to a respective set of at least one packet that is to be received using that PID; wherein, for each of the respective set of at least one packet, the receiving the list containing the DIDs further comprises receiving DIDs that have been divided into at least two portions, wherein an XOR operation has been performed on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier or at least two of the at least two portions have been concatenated to determine a first identifier. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A system for transmitting a file from a sender to a receiver, the system comprising:
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a sender storage medium for storing said file, said file having a corresponding file identifier; a converter for converting the contents of said file into one or more packets to be transmitted; and a sender transformer for; transforming the file identifier into a respective data identifier (DID); determining a packet identifier (PID) based on the DID, wherein the PID is associated with a communications channel; and determining a first identifier based on the DID; wherein said converter is adapted to incorporate the PID and the first identifier into the one or more packets for transmission toward said receiver via the communications channel; and wherein, for each of the files, the determining the first identifier based on the DID further comprises; dividing the DID into at least two portions; and performing one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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35. A system for receiving a desired file from a provider, comprising:
a client processor configured to; transform a file identifier of a desired file into a respective data identifier (PID); determine a packet identifier (PID) based on the PID, wherein the PID is associated with a communications channel; determining a first identifier based on the DID; and use at least the first identifier to select one or more packets associated with the desired file, from among packets transported via the communications channel; wherein the client processor determines the DID, PID, and first identifier based on one or more common functions used by the provider to determine the DID, PID, and first identifier for the one or more packets before transmitting the one or more packets associated with the desired file via the communications channel; wherein, for each of the files, the determining the first identifier based on the DID further comprises; dividing the DID into at least two portions; and performing one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A computer readable medium encoded with computer program code, wherein when the computer program code is executed by a sewer processor, the server processor performs a method for transmitting one or more packets of a file, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining a data identifier (DID) based on a file identifier of the file; determining a packet identifier (PID) based on the DID; determining a first identifier based on the DID; assigning said PID and said first identifier to each of said one or more packets; and transmitting said one or more packets toward a receiver; wherein, for each file, the determining the first identifier based on the DID further comprises; dividing the DID into at least two portions; and performing one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier.
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42. A method of transmitting payload data from a headend to a television converter, comprising the steps of:
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spinning a plurality of data units from the group consisting of packets and files without transmitting a directory of all of the data units being spun; and calculating information used to spin the units of data by a common calculation that is used by the television converter to receive the units of data without a directory of all of the data units being spun; wherein, for each file, the calculating information used to spin the units of data by a common calculation that is used by the television converter to receive the units of data without a directory of all of the data units being spun further comprises; determining a data identifier (DID) based on a file identifier of a file; divides the data identifier into at least two portions; and performing one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine a first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier.
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43. In a system including at least one file storage medium, said file storage medium including at least one file to be transported from a file sender to a file receiver, wherein each of said at least one file to be transported has associated therewith a corresponding file identifier, a sender comprising:
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a packetizer; a transform; a mulitplexer; at least one file manager communicating with said file storage medium, said packetizer and said transform such that each of said at least one file on said file storage medium is provided to said packetizer and said corresponding at least one file identifier is provided to said transform; said transform, for each of said at least one file, determining a data identifier (DID) based on the file identifier of the file, determining a packet identifier (PID) based on the DID, determining a first identifier based on the DID, and providing;
the PID and the first identifier to the packetizer;said packetizer, for each of said at least one file, providing at least one corresponding data packet comprising said file to said multiplexer; said multiplexer, for each of said at least one file, providing a packetized bitstream including said file to be transported, each packet of said bitstream including at least a portion of said file; wherein, for each file, the transform determining the first identifier based on the DID further; divides the DID into at least two portions; and performs one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier. - View Dependent Claims (44)
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45. In a system including at least one file storage medium including at least one file to be transported from a sender to a receiver, wherein each of said at least one file to be transported has associated therewith a corresponding file identifier, a receiver comprising:
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at least one tunable filter; a transform; a packet processor; and a processor programmed to utilize said at least one file to be transported; said processor, for each of said at least one file, providing said file identifier of said file to said transform; said transform, for each of said at least one file, determining a data identifier (DID) based on the file identifier of the file, determining a packet identifier (PID) based on the DID, and providing the PID corresponding to said file to a tunable filter such that said tunable filter selects packets comprising said file and provides said selected packets to said packet processor; said packet processor providing said file to said processor; wherein, for each file, the transform determining the first identifier based on the DID further; divides the DID into at least two portions; and performs one of; performing an XOR operation on two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier;
orconcatenating at least two of the at least two portions to determine the first identifier.
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Specification