GB2528050A - Video and audio digital data and distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

Network distribution of audio or video data, the network comprising a head end 4 including apparatus 6-16 for receiving digital data which is broadcast to the head end via any of cable, satellite and terrestrial systems and input into a combiner in the head end via a plurality of feeds. The data are combined such that different services within the plurality of input data are modulated and allocated to different channel numbers in the combined data, which is distributed to user locations through the network 20. At each location, a digital TV tuner 38 allows the user to select the channel number or service that they wish to watch. Preferably, the services can be selected without needing a control signal to be sent to the head end. Alternatively, a control signal may be used to allow the user to select an internet service. The digital services may include television or radio channels or internet or Ethernet services. Preferably, the data are distributed around the network as optical signals. The embodiment is a hotel headend which is installed in a hotel or similar allowing a range of digital services to be delivered to a large number of rooms without requiring multiple individual decoding devices.

Description

Video and Audio digital data and distribution system The invention to which this application relates is a system for the distribution of video and/or audio data which allows any, or any combination, of the provision of television, radio and/or internet services to be provided to a puraHty of ocations, with each of the locations typically provided with at least a display screen and speakers to aflow the video and audio data to be displayed to the user.

Conventionally, in order to receive the ever increasing array of video and audio data and generate the increasing number of services which can be provided from the same, each receiving location is provided with receiving apparatus, hereinafter referred to as a broadcast data receiver, which is provided with means to process and decode the received digital data and generate, via the display screen and speakers, the video and audio in a synchronised manner to provide television, radio and/or Nthernet services. Typically, the broadcaster receiver is connected to means, such as a satellite antenna or connection to a cable network by which the video and audio data which has been transmitted from a remote broadcast location is received at the broadcast data receivers via the satellite or cable network.

While the above conventional systems are acceptable for use in separate, standalone, domestic premises; in buildings where there are a relatively large number of users these standalone systems are relatively clumsy and can result in considerable replication of the apparatus \vhich is provided and, as a result, unnecessary expense being incurred. It is known to be able to provide common receiving apparatus in the form of a single satellite antenna and/or cable connection and connected apparatus which includes switching means to allow the distribution of the digital data which has been received, to a number of different users connected to the same network and each of the users can then separately and independently, choose to view and/or listen to particular portions of the digital data which is transmitted to each of the users and processed by eth broadcast data receivers at each of the ocations. It is known that the distribution of the digital data can be via coaxia' cabk \vhich is limited in terms of the scalability of the same, or via optica' fibre caHe networks.

In either case, a problem is that at each of the user locations, there is required to be installed a broadcast data receiver and associated equipment. Whilst this may be acceptable in certain environments such as seff contained domestic apartments within an apartment block, or in a house provided as part of a new housing estate, in other environments such as hotels and other residencies, where specific user locations are, for example, rented on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, and/or other environments such as shops, restaurants, bars, cruise ships and the like, there is a need to provide video and audio services to the different user locations with a minimum of apparatus being required to be installed in each of the rooms or locations so as to minimise expense. Conventionally, this has meant that only limited audio and data services are provided at these user locations as the expenditure of providing the conventionally required apparatus to each of the locations and the associated connecting network to each of these locations to provide the extensive services which could be made available is prohibitive.

An aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a network distribution system for use in a plurality of user locations and, in particular, to providc a network distribution system which is particularly effective and efficient in relatively high density user locations such as hotels, restaurants or the like and which aflows a greater range of services to be made available whilst also minimising the cost of doing so.

in a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a network distribution system for audio and/ or video data, said distribution network comprising a head end including apparatus for receiving digital data which is broadcast to the head end via any, or any combination, of cab'e, satellite and/or terrestria' broadcast systems to provide a range of services, said digita' data provided in a plurality of input feeds to a combiner to allow the said digital data to all be available for distribution throughout the distribution network to a number of user ocations and at each of said user locations there is provided a display screen and/or speakers and a digital television tuner connected thereto and selection means to allow user selection of services from the range of services and wherein the digital data received at the head end is allocated to specific services and modulated to respective channel numbers which can be selected via the selection means at the respective user locations and upon selection the digital data tuner at the user location obtains the required digital data for the user selected service.

In one embodiment, the digital data allows the provision of services comprising any combination of television channels, radio channels, and/or an internet/Ethernet service, with the television and/or radio channels being generated from any or any combination of data received via satellite, cable and/or terrestrial broadcast systems.

lypically the control signals which are generated by user interaction at the respective user locations, allow user interaction \vith the television tuner at each respective location and hence allow the user selection of a television and/or radio channel to be viewed at that time at that location.

In one embodiment additional or alternative user interactions causes the generation of control signals which are transmitted from the respective user locations to the head end location via the optica' fibre network. Typicafly these control signals aflow the user sdection of a particular service such as for examp'e, an internet service, to be provided and/or controlled.

TypicaUy the control signal indudes data which is representative of a user selection of a particular service which has been made at that time as well as data which is indicative of the particular user location from which the control signal has been sent and hence the ocation for which the change is to be made.

Typically, each of the user locations allows user interaction in order to allow simultaneous and independent selection of services by each of the users at the different locations connected to the network.

In one embodiment, the network has multiple composite video inputs provided at the head end for receiving broadcast data from a number of different data providers and/or locations.

Typically each of the composite video inputs is input into a fully integrated service which allows the various inputs to be combined and then formatted into an optical format so as to allow the same to be transmitted through the optical fibre network to the appropriate location in response to the user selections received.

Typically at the head end the channels from the data inputs are each modulated onto a standard Digital Terrestrial TV channel number prior to transfer to the various locations which means that, at each location the user can select the television and/or radio channel that they may wish to view by selecting the appropriate digital terrestrial TV channel number.

in one embodiment the optical wavelength for the transmission of the digita' data via the optica' fibre net\vork will be I 55OnM which aflows the same GPON fibre to be used for the provision of Ethernet data to allo\v an internet service to be provided.

Thus, all of the digital data services can be provided over a common optica' fibre and hence over a common optica' fibre network.

in one embodiment, the control and monitoring of the operation of the network at a particular premises may be performed at that premises location or, alternatively, can be controlled via an external communication system allowing, for example, a service provider who provides the apparatus and service to a number of hotels and/or other premises to remotely control and monitor the operation of the services at each of the locations. This therefore means that a service provider can provide a service to a hotel or other premises and avoid the need for the staff of the hotel or other premises, to be directly involved in the provision of the service which can be useful in minimising complaints, reduces the need for on site training and/or the possibility of staff interference in the provision of the service.

In a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of distributing digital services to a number of user locations from a head end at which digital data for the generation of the digital services is received, said digital services made available via selection means in communication with a television, speakers and a digital data tuner at each of the user locations, wherein at the head end allocating the digital data which has been received to specific services and modulating the services to respective channel numbers and transmitting all of the data to each of the user locations such that at least some of said services can be selected via the selection means at the respective user locations by the user selection of the appropriate channel number at the user location causing the digital data tuner to obtain the data for the sdected channeL Specific embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings; wherein Figure 1 illustrates a network distribution system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and Figure 2 fllustrates in more detail, the head end of the network distribution system of Figure 1.

Referring firstly to Figure 1, there is illustrated a distribution network 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Typically, the network will be provided at or within a premises and, for the purpose of illustration, will hereonin be described for use in a hotel premises.

The head end 4 of the network is typically provided at a location in the premises through which the service is to be distributed such as, for example, in a designated room. A plurality of video and audio data feeds 6-16 are connected as inputs to the head end which, in this embodiment, are illustrated by the terrestrial digital television feed aerial 6 and a plurality of broadcast data receivers 8 to 16, each of which is connected to receiving apparatus for digital data which may be transmitted to the location via satellite broadcast systems and/or cable broadcast systems. It will be appreciated that in hotels, there is often a demand for a wide range of television and radio channels to be provided from many different countries and therefore it may be necessary to have a number of different video and/or audio feeds such as those indicated. In one embodiment each of the feeds are fed to a rack system 18 which will be described in more detail in Figure 2. It is also possible that further feed sources of video and/or audio may be connected to the head end such as, for examçde, prerecorded video and/or audio data feeds he'd on one or more storage media.

The data representing each of the feeds to the rack 18 is modulated and passed to a distribution network 20 \vhich in this embodiment includes an optical fibre distribution network and the network includes a plurality of feeds, 22 to 34 in this example, each of which leads to, in this example, a respective hotel room in which there is provided a television 36 and a tuner 38.

Also typically provided, but not shown, are a remote control or other user interaction means in each of the hotel rooms which allow the user to interact with the television 36 in their room and select a particular service such as internet, or a particular television or radio channel, which they wish to use, view and/or listen to at that time.

Typically, in use, there is provided on each of the television screens an initial options menu which allows the user to be made aware of all the services which are available and then subsequently to select the particular service which they wish to access. Typically, at least with regard to the selection of television and/or radio channels, the user can use control means at their location to interact with the tuner 38 at their location to select the particular channel that they wish to watch and/or listen to at that time. Thus, in this instance, the user interaction with the tuner at their location is as it would be with a conventional television service even though the data for the service in accordance with the invention is distributed via the optical fibre network. When the selection is made at the user location the signal is processed and the particular channel to which the data feed required for the selection has been modulated is identified and the appropriate data which is available from the network is obtained by the tuner at the users ocation and made avaflabk by the tuner to be shown and/or listened to be the user via the television at their location. This therefore means that no signa' needs to be sent back to the head end as the channds which are sekcted by the user at the location are those channels to which the digital data feeds at the head end have been modulated and transmitted via the distribution network. The channel numbering will also typically be disp'ayed on an on screen menu which shows the programmes which are available on each of the channels at that time and in the future and which can therefore be selected by the user. This therefore avoids the need to have a full broadcast data receiver functionality at the user location as there is no need for the processing and retrieval of specific data from transport streams of data as the data for the service has already been allocated to the specific channels at the head end.

In certain instances it is possible for a particular user to select to receive another service such as an internet service and, in this case, a control signal is transmitted from the user location via the optical distribution network 20 back to the head end 18. The control signal will typically indicate the hotel room location from which the same has come and hence the location to \vhich the selected service is to be provided in order to provide the particular user selection which has been made. Upon receipt of the control signal, the head end determines the particular service which is required and the appropriate data is retrieved and transmitted to the particular location to provide the selected service.

The provision of the television, radio and/or other services using an optical fibre distribution network, means that the number of user locations which can be connected to the network is substantially unlimited and therefore allows the system to be provided throughout a re'ative high density user premises in an efficient and economical manner.

Tn addition, the head end may be connected to a monitoring service 40 such as that which may be used by the provider of this apparatus and service to the hotel premises to thereby allow the operation of the service and network to be controlled and monitored remotely.

Figure 2 illustrates the head end rack 18 in greater detail and shows a number of video input feeds, in this case four inputs 8, 10, 12 and 14 and a 111W connection 6 which can be provided as an analogue channel filter. The various input feeds are connected to an RF signal combiner 42 which allows the various data signals to be combined and then passed to a converter 44 which allows the RI signal from the combiner 42 to be converted into an optical format and then passed via laser 46 to the optical distribution network 20. Tn addition, the rack 18 is provided with a system power supply 46 and an I thernet I P function 48 which allows control and status logic 50 to be used on each of the feeds 8, 10, 12, 14 and 6 and also allows remote monitoring of the operation of the head end as previously described.

The present invention therefore provides an optical distribution network which allows the provision of a wide range of services in an efficient manner in a relevantly high density user environment and without the need for broadcast data receiver apparatus to be provided at each of the user locations.