Method and system for transferring content to a networked unit

• US 8,776,153 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2001
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ansari, Ahmad, Erickson, John Robert, Costa, Pierre, Medford, Brad Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Raman, Usha
• Application Number:
  US09/842,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20020170063A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,822 Days
• Field of Search: 725/90, 725/94, 725/95, 725/93, 725/100, 709/232, 709/235
• US Class Current: 725/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/324 intermediate the transmitter and receiver terminals, e.g. at an exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32427 Optimising routing, e.g. for minimum cost
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/238 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams hybrid fiber coaxial [HFC] networks for downstream channel allocation for video distribution H04L12/2801; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/631 Multimode Transmission, e.g. transmitting basic layers and enhancement layers of the content over different transmission paths or transmitting with different error corrections, different keys or with different transmission protocols
• 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 21/64792 Controlling the complexity of the content stream, e.g. by dropping packets intermediate media network packet handling H04L65/765; proxy provisioning conversion or adaptation for reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data H04L67/5651; negotiation of resources in wireless networks H04W28/16

Abstract

A system for transporting content to subscriber premises includes a centralized content repository, a subscriber unit, and a network connecting the subscriber unit and repository. The content can be video, image, or other files and the network can include a digital subscriber line (DSL) link. The repository stores higher quality parts of decomposed content files. The subscriber unit locally stores lower quality parts of the content files corresponding to the higher quality parts in the repository. The lower quality parts can be downloaded to the subscriber unit during off-peak hours. During operation, a subscriber selects a locally stored file. In response to the selection, the repository downloads at least one of the higher quality parts corresponding to the selected file to be combined with one of the lower quality parts stored by the subscriber unit for real-time presentation of the content.

Claims

1. A method of downloading video content representing a subscriber program to a subscriber terminal over an asymmetric digital subscriber line, comprising:

Decomposing, at a server, using a pyramid compression technique, a video content into a plurality of video quality portions during compression of the video content, wherein the compression of the video content uses one of a sub-band technique and a vector quantization technique, wherein the decomposing produces a low-quality video portion and a plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions of the video content, such that each combination of said low-quality video portion and a combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions provides a different bit rate of the video content corresponding to a different video quality level of the video content having a higher video quality than said low-quality video portion, wherein said low-quality video portion comprises a complete copy of the video content;

Downloading from the server, prior to receiving a request for the video content from the subscriber terminal, said low-quality video portion comprising said complete copy of the video content, to the subscriber terminal via the asymmetrical digital subscriber line during off-peak hours for storage locally at the subscriber terminal;

receiving from a user at the subscriber terminal, a selection request for the video content made subsequent to downloading and storing of said low-quality video portion comprising said complete copy at the subscriber terminal;

determining, by the server, in response to receiving the selection request for the video content from the subscriber terminal, a bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line assigned to the subscriber terminal;

determining, by the server, an optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions for the determined bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line to the subscriber terminal;

retrieving, by the server, said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions;

downloading from the server, said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions retrieved by the server, to the subscriber terminal via the asymmetrical digital subscriber line in real time; and

recombining at the subscriber terminal, said locally stored low-quality video portion comprising said complete copy of the video content with said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions downloading from the server in real time, for presentation of the video content, wherein the recombining step provides a higher video quality of the video content at a bit rate exceeding the assigned bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line to the subscriber terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions is predetermined by the server to be optimized for a different bandwidth, wherein the compression further comprises sub-band coding and wherein said low-quality video portion further comprises lower spatial frequency sub-bands than said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions of the video content.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a service level assigned to the subscriber terminal,

wherein the step of determining said optimized combination further comprises determining said optimized combination for the service level assigned to the subscriber terminal.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said plurality of video quality portions are organized in a pyramidal scheme.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recomposing said low-quality video portion and said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions representing the subscriber program at the subscriber terminal for presenting the video content to the user.

6. A system for providing video content representing a program over an asymmetric digital subscriber line, comprising:

a networked subscriber device;

a server processor in data communication with a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium containing computer program instructions that when executed by a computer provide video content to the networked subscriber device, the computer program instructions comprising;

instructions to decompose a video content into a plurality of video quality portions during compression of the video content using a pyramid compression technique, wherein the compression of the video content uses one of a sub-band technique and a vector quantization technique, wherein the decomposing produces a low-quality video portion and a plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions of the video content, such that each combination of said low-quality video portion and a combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions provides a different bit rate of the video content corresponding to a different video quality level of the video content having a higher video quality than said low-quality video portion, wherein said low-quality video portion comprises a complete copy of the video content;

instructions to download, prior to receiving a request for the video content from the networked subscriber device, said low-quality video portion, comprising said complete copy of the video content, to the networked subscriber device via asymmetrical digital subscriber line during off-peak hours for storage locally at the networked subscriber device;

instructions to receive from the networked subscriber device, a selection request for the video content made by a user subsequent to download and storage of said low-quality video portion comprising said complete copy at the networked subscriber device;

instructions to determine a bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line assigned to the networked subscriber device, in response to receiving the selection request for the video content from the networked subscriber device;

instructions to determine an optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions for the determined bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line to the networked subscriber device;

instructions to retrieve said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions;

instructions to download, said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions that is retrieved, to the networked subscriber device via the asymmetrical digital subscriber line in real time; and

at the networked subscriber device, recombining said locally stored low-quality video portion comprising said complete copy of the video content with said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions downloading in real time, for presentation of the video content, wherein the recombining provides a higher video quality of the video content at a bit rate exceeding the bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line assigned to the networked subscriber device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions to decompose further comprise instructions to decompose the compressed video content using a pyramidal scheme.

8. The system of claim 6, the computer program instructions further comprising:

instructions for determining a service level assigned to the networked subscriber device;

wherein the instructions to determine said optimized combination further includes instructions to determine said optimized combination for the service level assigned to the network subscriber device.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a set of instructions that when executed by a computer provide video content representing a program to a subscriber terminal over an asymmetrical digital subscriber line, the set of instructions comprising:

instructions to decompose a video content into a plurality of video quality portions during compression of the video content using a pyramid compression technique, wherein the compression of the video content uses one of a sub-band technique and a vector quantization technique, wherein the decomposing produces a low-quality video portion and a plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions of the video content, such that each combination of said low-quality video portion and a combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions provides a different bit rate of the video content corresponding to a different video quality level of the video content having a higher video quality than said low-quality video portion, wherein said low-quality video portion comprises a complete copy of the video content;

instructions to download, prior to receiving a request for the video content from the subscriber terminal, said low-quality video portion, comprising said complete copy of the video content, to the subscriber terminal via asymmetrical digital subscriber line during off-peak hours for storage locally at the subscriber terminal;

instructions to receive from the subscriber terminal, a selection request for the video content made by a user subsequent to downloading and storing said low-quality portion comprising said complete copy at the subscriber terminal;

instructions to determine a bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line assigned to the subscriber terminal, in response to receiving the selection request for the video content from the subscriber terminal;

instructions to determine an optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions for the determined bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line to the subscriber terminal;

instructions to retrieve said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions for download to the subscriber terminal in real time;

instructions to download, said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher quality video portions that is retrieved, to the subscriber terminal via the asymmetrical digital subscriber line in real time, allowing the subscriber terminal to recombine said low-quality video portion comprising said complete copy of the video content, locally stored therein, with said optimized combination of one or more of said plurality of incrementally higher video quality portions downloading in real time, wherein the recombining at the subscriber terminal provides a higher video quality of the video content at a bit rate exceeding the bandwidth of the asymmetrical digital subscriber line assigned to the subscriber terminal.