IL150154A

IL150154A - Method and apparatus for identifying a signal route for delivery of video-on-demand to a subscriber terminal

Info

Publication number: IL150154A
Application number: IL150154A
Authority: IL
Original assignee: Ncube Corp
Priority date: 2000-01-13
Filing date: 2002-06-11
Publication date: 2007-12-03
Also published as: US9100703B2; CN1194545C; ATE402565T1; AU775889B2; US20150334427A1; BR0107620A; ES2309073T3; MXPA02006833A; CA2395389A1; EP1264478A4; PT1264478E; CN1416646A; AU2937201A; DE60134960D1; JP4988116B2; KR20020093789A; US20130227623A1; US8418214B2; US9781480B2; EP1264478B1

Abstract

A set top box includes an interface to a video system configured to deliver data to an individual subscriber or subset of subscribers that are part of a larger group of subscribers, wherein the data is not delivered to the other subscribers of the larger group, the interface adapted to receive communications from one or more modulators of a modulator group of the video system. The set top further includes a decoder configured to extract a modulator group identifier periodically inserted into communications directed to the set top box from the one or more modulators, the modulator group identifier unique to a physical transmission path from a headend of the video system to the one or more modulators. The set top includes a video request interface to the video system, the video request interface configured to output a request for video data including the modulator group identifier.

Description

Method and apparatus for identifying a signal route for delivery of to a subscriber terminal nCUBE Corporation 139434 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING A SIGNAL ROUTE FOR DELIVERY OF TO A SUBSCRIBER TERMINAL Background of the Invention The invention relates to the field of delivery of More the invention relates to identification of an signal path from a video server to a subscriber cable TV such as CNN and video programming from a VOD transmit programming signals from a cable hub or a headend facility to one or more cable subscribers via a hybrid fiber optic and coaxial cable television In accordance with National Television Standards Committee the video signals are carried in 6 MHz channel slots that are kept separate by using frequency division multiplexing Each separate baseband video signal is assigned a unique and to its assigned RF frequency so that multiple signals may simultaneously share the HFC network in accordance with 1 Programming signals from the hub or headend are typically transmitted as either analog signals or as digital transport For each analog programrnirig signal may occupy a 6 MHz An example of a digital protocol by which the digital transport streams may be communicated is Moving Pictures Experts Group or which is described in more detail in the attached Appendix is a standardized protocol by which moving pictures and accompanying sound tracks may be communicated This standard defines data each including a packet header and data For digital networks or video server multiple digital signals or programs may share a 6 MHz The digital signals are typically transmitted using quadrature amplitude modulation and are typical QAM modulations a combination of analog and QAM signals may be transmitted to cable subscribers via the HFC network using A modulator has a throughput of approximately 38 which is equivalent to ten simultaneous each at Mbps Multiple HFC networks or paths from each hub carry cable programming to different such as different geographic For cable an is typically used to broadcast programming signals over all of the HFC networks in a corresponding 6 MHz slot or RF channel Additional may broadcast additional signals to all of the HFC networks in other RF each neighborhood receives all of the same programs over the corresponding RF channel For such a scheme of broadcasting VOD programming to every area or neighborhood may be For assume that a hub feeds three HFC where each HFC network provides data to a different Assume for that to meet demand for each neighborhood requires a maximum of twenty simultaneous Assuming that one QAM channel is required for every ten twenty programs is equivalent to 2 QAM channels or 12 For all three the video server in the hub would need to support 60 simultaneous video programs so that 6 QAM channels would be If all 6 QAM channels are and broadcast on all three HFC 36 MHz of bandwidth would be required on each HFC because each neighborhood may be expected to require only 12 MHz of this technique has a disadvantage of resulting in unnecessary bandwidth being provided to each what is needed is a technique and system for delivery of VOD data which does not suffer from the aforementioned drawback of typical It is to this end that the present invention is Summary of the Invention The invention is a method and apparatus for identifying an appropriate video signal path for delivery of to a subscriber in a VOD In the VOD each signal path from a VOD server services only the subscribers within a designated area or The signal path may be a portion of a hybrid fiber optic and cable network The other unused signal paths in the HFC network may then service subscribers in other Because each path need not service every the total bandwidth provided by the VOD server need not be provided to every area so that bandwidth is not the bandwidth provided to each area can be commensurate with the needs of that In accordance with the a unique identification may assigned to each The video server may periodically transmit the appropriate identification to the subscriber of each The subscriber terminals may be to receive the unique When a subscriber requests VOD the identification received by the terminal from the VOD server is returned to the server along with the From the the VOD server may determine the area in which the requesting subscriber is The VOD server may then transmit the requested to the area in which the subscriber is located for reception by the This prevents the VOD server from having to unnecessarily send the requested programming to all the other In accordance with one aspect of the a VOD server identifies an appropriate video signal path for delivery of VOD to a subscriber in a VOD The subscribers may be arranged according to a plurality of each group having one or more corresponding signal paths from the server to the subscribers of the Each group receives a corresponding identification from the A subscriber request for programming from the server includes the identification associated with the group to which the subscriber In response to the the server provides the requested programming to the subscriber via the signal which corresponds to the in accordance with the a video on demand headend for distributing video on demand to one or more groups of subscribers is provided wherein each group of subscribers is serviced by one or more modulators connected to the headend wherein each modulator modulates the video on demand data at a different The headend comprises a video an application server connected to the video means for periodically generating a unique identification packet for each group of means for receiving a request for video on demand data from a the request comprising the unique identification packet for the group of subscribers to which the subscriber the request for particular video on demand data and a unique subscriber and means for selecting a modulator from the one or more modulators servicing the group of subscribers to which the subscriber belongs based on the unique identification In accordance with another aspect of the a video on demand system for distributing video on demand is comprising a headend having a video server and an application server and one or more modulators connected to the one or more groups of subscribers each being serviced by one or more the one or more modulators servicing a particular group of subscribers modulating the video on demand data at different frequencies so that the modulated signals to the particular group of subscribers share the same physical The headend further comprises means for assigning a unique plant identifier for each group of subscribers so that video on demand data destined for a particular group of subscribers is modulated using the one or more modulators that service that particular group of In accordance with another aspect of the a video on demand delivery method for disliibuting video on demand to one or more groups of subscribers wherein each group of subscribers is serviced by one or more modulators connected to a each group of subscribers being assigned a unique plant identification is The method comprises receiving the unique plant identification by a particular generating a video on demand data request by the particular subscriber to the the video on demand data request including the unique plant the data request and a unique subscriber and at the a modulator from the one or more modulators assigned to the group of subscribers that the particular subscriber is part based on the unique plant Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 A illustrates a video on demand system in accordance with the Figure IB illustrates the video path assignment in accordance with the and Figure 2 illustrates a method for identifying a VOD signal route in accordance with the Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment The invention is particularly applicable to a VOD system and it is in context that the invention will be It will be that the system and method in accordance with the invention has greater Figures 1 illustrate a block schematic diagram illustrating an example of a preferred embodiment of a system in accordance with the present A hub or headend 100 may include a video server 102 and an application server 104 which are connected In a preferred the video server may for an nCube Corporation MediaCube and may include one or more pieces of software or software modules being executed by the one or more processors of the video server such as an operating system from nCube a streaming protocol application program from nCube and an video server application program from Oracle The video server 102 is well known elements thereof may be altered or may be substituted by others without departing from the The video server 102 may also include a data formatter which formats digital data into a form suitable for In a preferred the data formatter 106 may for a well known MPEG In a preferred the application server 104 may include a Sun Microsystems server running a Solaris operating system available from Sun a database application program an available from Oracle and other application programs in Java The application server 104 may be conventional elements thereof may be altered or may be substituted by such as motion picture programming and the may be generated by the video server 102 from prestored video programs or movies stored in the video attached storage devices or may be stored remotely from the video server and cornmunicated to the video The data may be formatted for transmission by the data formatter For the data may be formatted in accordance with multiple program transport stream digital video signal standard for digital video asynchronous serial interface In a preferred the formatted video data may for up to simultaneously broadcast programs Selected programs may then be provided to each of a plurality of well known quadrature amplitude modulation modulators 1 QAM 6 in the example For programs may be programs may be provided to modulator programs may be provided to modulator programs may be provided to modulator programs may be provided to modulator programs may be provided to modulator and programs may be provided to modulator Each modulator may include an up converter 119 as is well In a preferred the modulators 116 may the video signals to a 300 MHz frequency for transmission while the modulators 118 may the video signals to a 306 MHz frequency for It will be apparent that other transmission frequencies may be In the modulators may be incorporated into the hub for as part of the video server Each group of programs may then be routed to one or more groups of subscribers 136 Figure via one or more network links such as in a hybrid fiber optic and coaxial cable Because network links 120 and 122 may be multiplexed the links 120 and 122 may share the same physical transmission other links 126 and may share the same physical Each designated grouping of RF QAM modulators from which a given group of subscribers may receive a video signal may be referred to as a plant Plant Plant B and Plant C is the example shown in Figure modulators 108 and 110 may correspond to Plant A which services subscriber group modulators 112 and 114 may correspond to Plant B which services subscriber group and modulators 116 and 118 may correspond to Plant C which service subscriber group Each plant may represent one of the physical HFC networks extending from a headend or hub through an optical node to a Each group of subscribers may be located in a different area or Each subscriber terminal in a plant or subscriber group may include well known reception and display apparatus such for a box and a television set and may be located in subscriber homes or places of In addition to transmitting data requested by each plant may also transmit an identification designator to the subscribers serviced by the For this each plant may be assigned a unique plant identification code name or In the example Plant A may be assigned a first identification ID which is communicated to subscribers of group Plant B may be assigned a second identification ID which is communicated to subscribers of group and Plant C may be assigned a third identification ID which is communicated to subscribers of group In the preferred the identifications are packetized by the data formatter or multiplexer 106 into packets to herein as in accordance with the in more detail in the attached Appendix in which header information identifies the program identification which correlates its payload type as in the program map table The payload in this case includes the appropriate identification code or An appropriate identification packet is preferably transmitted recurrently every 1 to each of the subscriber groups via one of the modulators associated with each For the identification packets may be transmitted by the 300 MHz modulators and 1 In which the subscribers of each group may monitor the received 300 MHz signal for the identification The subscriber terminals of the groups may be to monitor the received signals for the plant identification packets by an appropriate application program which is into the subscriber For the application program may be loaded at the time of manufacture or installation of each subscriber the application program may be provided to the subscriber terminals by the application server or by another application over a LAN 146 and a well known quadrature phase shift key modem 144 via forward path 140 or via a broadcast file system such as Scientific Atlanta network controller BFS the plant identification may be transmitted as an MPEG stream by at least one of the modulators for each For at least one of the modulators on each plant may carry the unique identification as an MPEG program in its The modulators for each plant which contain the identification program may all have the same frequency assignment 300 These modulators are referred to herein as the reference modulators modulators The unique plant identification for each plant may be defined while configuring the VOD The identifications may be inserted into an MPEG transport packet by a wrapper program and stored by the video server 102 or accessible to The plant identification packets may be repeatedly transmitted along with other MPEG programming video and associated or alone via the RF channel associated with the reference a method for identifying a VOD signal route in accordance with the invention will be described in more Figure 2 illustrates a method 200 for identifying a signal route for a particular piece of VOD such as a to a particular subscriber that belongs to a particular In more when a such as a subscriber at terminal desires to order a the subscriber may turn to the movie channel on their a VOD application may be launched in their box in step This application program may be resident in the box or may be downloaded from the application server or another application upon the subscriber accessing the subscriber The application program may cause the 138 to tune to the channel defined as the reference modulator 300 in step The terrninal may then receive an identifier packet in step 206 and then read the plant identification by extracting the MPEG user data within a assigned MPEG program number in the MPEG multiplex on that reference modulator for the teirninal the reference modulator is the modulator The box of the subscriber terminal the terminal may then communicate the plant along with the movie the application server 104 of the hub 100 in response to the subscriber requesting a movie or other programming in step An identification unique to the subscriber terminal may also be sent to the hub For the subscriber terminal may communicate with the hub via a forward path 140 and a return path the modem 144 and the local area network The forward and return paths 142 may be part of an HFC It will be that communication between the subscriber terminals and the hub 100 may be provided by another such as a a direct telephone connection or the web Upon reception of the plant identification and subscriber terminal the application server 104 may determine which video server 102 output connector and program numbers serve that particular subscriber The hub can determine which of modulators are capable of reaching the requesting The requested video prograniming may then be transmitted by a modulator within the appropriate For terminal 138 is serviced by Plant modulators 108 and 110 are both capable of reaching the subscriber terrninal as shown in Figures the modulators are not capable of reaching the subscriber terminal An available program may then be selected from the corresponding program numbers for plant one of programs may be for transmitting the requested programming to the The selected QAM modulator RF frequency and program number may then be communicated to the requesting subscriber such as the terminal via forward path In the box of the subscriber terminal may then configure itself to receive data from that QAM The video server 102 may then provide the requested programming to the subscriber via the selected channel in step Once the program is the transmission may be During transmission of programming to a subscriber other terminals in the groups may interact with the hub 100 in this manner to receive requested by assigning a subset of the modulators to each of the subscriber groups available bandwidth of the system is utilized The excess bandwidth may be used for other While the foregoing has been with reference to particular embodiments of the it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes in these embodiments may be made without departing from the principles and spirit of the the scope of which is defined by the appended For the number of modulators and programs for each plant may be In the number of plants may be the specific protocols and modulation parameters disclosed herein may be The system may also include multiple channels to multiple sets of QAM thereby altering the number of modulators shown in Figures 1 Appendix The attached Appendix A contains information about the 29 standard entitled of Multimedia and Hypermedia 11 Appendix A DRAFT CD S3 IEC JTC 29 N 65S 29 N IT JTC IEC JTC 29 to ai in Union TittK Aua CM at to JTC approval ami Japan by technology coding moving and audio inform Introductory In accordance the JTC clause subdivision of the Project JTC into four Part Part Part and Part Conformance has been submitted to JTC 1 for its endorsement SC 23 N JTC 1 N In amicipatian of JTC endorsement af the accordance with Resolution S taken at the meeting of SC 1 Australia SC 23 N WD was distributed to the SC 23 members letter ballot closing an CD registration SC N As the majority of the SC 23 supports the CD registration SC 23 N the WD has been registered as CD In accordance with Resolutions and taken at the meeting of SC 29 WG of SC 29 N the Disposition of Comments report on the CD Registration ballot SC 23 N and the working document far CD SC 23 N have been submitted to SC 29 with a recommendation of issuing CD In accordance with Resolution 1 taken at the fourth SC 23 Plenary 1 of SC 29 N SC 29 has approved the Disposition of Comments report and instructed its Secretariat to issue CD ballot upon receipt of final text for CD by SC Editorial All letter ballots should be returned to SC 23 Secretariat later than ISO IEC JTC 29 Society Technology al Room Tokyo 1 OS JAPAN Tall IPSJ S A C A by Annex F Graphics of for 13818 FJ Introduction This pan of is an annex presenting graphically the Saam This pan in no way replaces the normauvc In all have been or fields may signaled by Fields length in Transport Stream syntax Figure Transport Scream diagram 1 EC PES packet Figure PSS packet diagram CA section id syntax length number next number Figure access section diagram IEC TS pregiarn map section Figure TS program scctian Private section CONDITIONAL ACCESS TABLE PROGRAM ASSOCIATION Figure Private section diagram CD Straam pack 2 Figure Program Stream diagram Program Stream map current grain extended packet map strea N 1 indicate map prefix id Tenia 32 length info length 24 8 16 1 5 7 elementary l elementar stream info N stream type length descriptors id 8 8 16 Figure Program Stream map diagram insufficientOCRQuality

Claims

1. 50154/2 A video on. demand headend for distobutmg video on demand to one or more groups of subscribers wherein each group of subscribers is serviced by one or more modulators connected to the headend wherein each modulator modulates the video on demand data at a different frequency, the headend comprising: a video server; an application server connected to the video server, means for periodically generating a unique identification packet for each group of subscribers; means for receiving a request for video on demand data from a subscriber, the request comprising the unique identification packet for the group of subscribers to which the subscriber belongs, the request for particular video on demand data and a unique subscriber identifier, and means for selecting a modulator from the one or more modulators servicing the group of subscribers to which the subscriber belongs based on the unique identification packet

2. The headend of Claim 1, wherein the application server further comprises means for assigning a program slot associated with the selected modulator to the requested video on demand data and means for communicating the selected modulator and the assigned program slot to the subscriber so that the subscriber terminal is configured to receive the requested video on demand data.

3. The headend of Claim 1 further comprising a two-way communications path between the headend and the one or more subscribers wherein the video on demand data request and the selected modulator and assigned program slot are communicated over the two-way communications path. 1 501 54/2

4. The headend of Claim 3, wherein the return path communicator further comprises a communications network connected to the headend and a modem connected between the one or more groups of subscribers and the communications network so that two-way data is communicated between the headend and the one or more groups of subscribers.

5. A video on demand system for distributing video on demand, comprising: a headend having a video server and an application server; one or more modulators connected to the headend, one or more groups of subscribers each being serviced by one or more modulators, the one or more modulators servicing a particular group of subscribers modulating the video on demand data at different frequencies so that the modulated signals to the particular group of subscribers share the same physical media; the headend further comprising means for assigning a unique plant identifier for each group of subscribers so that video on demand data destined for a particular group of subscribers is modulated using the one or more modulators that service that particular group of subscribers.

6. The system of Claim 5 further comprising a return path communicator for receiving data from the subscribers and communicating data to the subscribers; and one or more subscriber terminals within each group of subscribers, each subscriber teiminal further comprising means for receiving the unique plant identifier periodically transmitted by the headend to the group of subscribers and means for communicating a data request to the application server of the headend via the return path communicator to request that video on demand data is sent to the subscriber, the data request comprising the unique plant identification, the data request and a unique subscriber terminal identification; the headend further comprising means for selecting a modulator from the one or more modulators that service the particular subscriber, 150154/2 means for assigning a program slot in the selected modulator to the data requested by the subscriber and means for communicating the selected modulator and program slot to the subscriber via the return path communicator so that the subscriber terminal configures itself to receive the requested video of demand data.

7. The system of Claim 6, wherein the return path communicator further comprises a communications network connected to the headend and a modem connected between the one or more groups of subscribers and the communications network so that two-way data is communicated between, the headend and the one or more groups of subscribers.

8. A video on demand delivery method for distributing video on demand to one or more groups of subscribers wherein each group of subscribers is serviced by one or more modulators connected to a headend, each group of subscribers being assigned a unique plant identification, the method comprising: receiving the unique plant identification by a particular subscriber; generating a video on demand data request by the particular subscriber to the headend, the video on demand data request including the unique plant identification, the data request and a unique subscriber identification; and selecting, at the headend, a modulator from the one or more modulators assigned to the group of subscribers that the particular subscriber is part of, based on the unique plant identification.

9. The method of Claim 8 further comprising assigning a particular program slot from the selected modulator to the requested video on demand data, forwarding the particular program slot and the selected modulator information from the headend to the terminal of the particular subscriber, and configuring the terminal of the particular subscriber to receive the requested video on demand data. For the Applicants REINHOLD COHN AND PARTNERS