Delivery of digital content

• US 8,966,557 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2008
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Corson, Greg
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Raman, Usha
• Application Number:
  US12/229,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20090070842A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,379 Days
• Field of Search: 725/101, 725/97
• US Class Current: 725/101
• 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 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• 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 21/26266 for determining content or additional data repetition rate, e.g. of a file in a DVB carousel according to its importance arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26275 for distributing content or additional data in a staggered manner, e.g. repeating movies on different channels in a time-staggered manner in a near video on demand system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A system and method for providing multimedia content through a cable, satellite television or other content server system is disclosed. A server facility which provides multimedia content divides formatted multimedia content into data chunks (e.g., collections of data corresponding to one minute lengths) prior to transmission to a user/subscriber receptor unit, and sends the divided data chunks according to a schedule which permits instantaneous starting and viewing of the multimedia content, such as movies, upon user/subscriber request. The user/subscriber receptor unit includes a cable box, video game device, or the like having a digital video recording capability and at least a memory capacity or disk space sufficient to store a complete unit of media content, such as full-length feature film. The invention does not require intensive interaction between the server facility and the receptor unit, but rather, only requires sending of content signals in the form of an interleaved media stream from the server facility to the receptor unit. Further, the invention requires the use of no more than six times the bandwidth of the original signal for operation.

Claims

1. A method of delivering digital content from a server to a plurality of user/subscriber devices configured to receive, store, and playback digital content, the method comprising:

dividing digital content into a plurality of discrete, sequential data chunks;

receiving, from at least one of the plurality of user/subscriber devices, a request for streaming the digital content;

repeatedly transmitting the plurality of data chunks from the server to the plurality of user/subscriber devices over a plurality of transmission channels according to a transmission schedule upon receiving the request for streaming the digital content, wherein the transmission schedule provides transmission intervals for repeating the transmission of each of the plurality of data chunks at a frequency equal to a time index of the data chunk in the digital content; and

dynamically adjusting the transmission schedule in order to ensure that the transmission of the plurality of data chunks over the plurality of transmission channels never exceeds a maximum number of six transmission channels per transmission interval by removing all subsequent transmissions of a particular data chunk from the transmission schedule when the server determines that all of the plurality of user/subscriber devices connected to the server have received said particular chunk.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one data chunk is transmitted non-sequentially.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one transmitted data chunk is stored at the plurality of user/subscriber devices prior to consumption of the at least one transmitted data chunk by a user/subscriber device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one divided data chunk is stored at the plurality of user/subscriber devices prior to transmission of the remainder of the plurality of divided data chunks according to the transmission schedule.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a transmitted data chunk is consumed simultaneously with the storage of another transmitted data chunk on the plurality of user/subscriber devices for subsequent consumption.

6. A method of delivering digital content from a server to a plurality of user/subscriber devices configured to receive, store, and playback digital content, the method comprising:

dividing digital content into a plurality of discrete, sequential data chunks;

receiving, from at least one of the plurality of user/subscriber devices, a request for streaming the digital content;

repeatedly transmitting the plurality of data chunks from the server to the plurality of user/subscriber devices over a plurality of transmission channels according to a transmission schedule upon receiving the request for streaming the digital content, wherein the transmission schedule provides transmission intervals for repeating the transmission of each of the plurality of data chunks at a frequency equal to a time index of the data chunk in the digital content, and wherein at least one of the plurality of transmission channels is dedicated to a set of data chunks common to a plurality of digital contents, wherein the set of data chunks common to a plurality of digital contents includes one or more data chunks making up an early portion of a digital contents program; and

dynamically adjusting the transmission schedule in order to ensure that the transmission of the plurality of data chunks of the digital content over the plurality of transmission channels never exceeds a maximum number of six transmission channels per transmission interval by removing all subsequent transmissions of a particular data chunk from the transmission schedule when the server determines that all of the plurality of user/subscriber devices connected to the server have received said particular chunk.

7. A method of delivering digital content from a server to a plurality of user/subscriber devices configured to receive, store, and playback digital content, the plurality of user/subscriber devices comprising a first user/subscriber device and a second user/subscriber device, the method comprising:

dividing digital content into a plurality of discrete, sequential data chunks;

receiving, from the first user/subscriber device, a first request for streaming the digital content;

repeatedly transmitting the plurality of data chunks from the server to the first user/subscriber device over a plurality of transmission channels according to a transmission schedule upon receiving the first request to stream the digital content, wherein the transmission schedule provides transmission intervals for repeating the transmission of each of the plurality of data chunks at a frequency equal to a time index of the data chunk in the digital content;

receiving from the second user/subscriber device, a second request for streaming the digital content, the second request being received subsequent in time after the first request;

adding the second user/subscriber device to the transmission schedule for transmission of the divided digital content upon receiving the second request for streaming the digital content;

transmitting the plurality of data chunks over the plurality of transmission channels to the second user/subscriber device simultaneously with the first user/subscriber device according to the transmission schedule; and

dynamically adjusting the transmission schedule in order to ensure that the transmission of the plurality of data chunks over the plurality of transmission channels never exceeds a maximum number of six transmission channels per transmission interval by removing all subsequent transmissions of a particular data chunk from the transmission schedule when the server determines that all of the plurality of the user/subscriber devices, including the first user/subscriber device and the second user/subscriber device, connected to the server have received said particular chunk.

8. A method of delivering digital content from a server to a plurality of user/subscriber devices configured to receive, store, and playback digital content, the method comprising:

dividing the digital content into a plurality of discrete, sequential data chunks;

transmitting a first subset of the plurality of data chunks to the plurality of user/subscriber devices for pre-storage at the user/subscriber devices prior to receiving a request from the user/subscriber devices for streaming the digital content, wherein the first subset comprises less than a total number of the plurality of discrete, sequential data chunks of the digital content;

receiving, from at least one of the plurality of user/subscriber devices, a request for streaming the digital content subsequent to the pre-storage of the first subset at the user/subscriber devices;

transmitting a second subset of the plurality of data chunks from the server to the plurality of user/subscriber devices over a plurality of transmission channels according to a transmission schedule, upon receiving a request for the digital content from the one or more user/subscriber devices, wherein the transmission schedule provides transmission intervals for repeating the transmission of the second subset of the plurality of data chunks at a frequency equal to a time index of the data chunk in the digital content, wherein the second subset is disjoint from the first subset, and comprises only the plurality of discrete, sequential data chunks of the digital content not included in the first subset; and

dynamically adjusting the transmission schedule in order to ensure that the transmission of the second subset of data chunks over the plurality of transmission channels never exceeds a maximum number of six transmission channels per transmission interval by removing all subsequent transmissions of a particular data chunk of the second subset from the transmission schedule when the server determines that all the user/subscriber devices connected to the server have received said particular chunk.