# US 2014/0310735 A1 · Flat rate billing of content distribution

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- Number: US 2014/0310735 A1
- Document ID: US20140310735A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/250,971
- Filed: 2014-04-11
- Published: 2014-10-16
- Earliest claimed: 2013-04-12
- Assignees: Codemate A/S
- Applicants: Codemate A/S
- Inventors: Scott K. Brown; Michael Koehn Milland; Robert J. Gribnau; Theis Rauhe
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140310735A1

## CPC

- H04N 21/2543: Billing {, e.g. for subscription services (payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21)}
- G06Q 30/04: Billing or invoicing
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

The invention relates to flat rate billing schemes and ways of improving the cost-efficiency in the broadcasting of e.g. streaming media.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of providing a network content distribution service for delivering content from a content broadcaster to a service provider network to facilitate the service provider network to further distribute the content to content recipients; the method comprising
establishing a network content distribution service comprising
delivering said content to the service provider network by multicast distribution, and
providing a reserve distribution system to handle delivery errors of content occurring on the way to the content recipients;
billing the content broadcaster for using the network content distribution service according to a flat rate plan, the flat rate plan at least covering the distribution made by multicast distribution.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the content is streaming media.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises optionally further billing the content broadcaster according to a usage based plan based on the extent of usage of the reserve distribution system.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reserve distribution system enables the multicast distribution to be made via best effort internet access network.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein less than 50% of bits sent to the service provider network are sent by the reserve distribution system.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein less than 20% of bits sent to the service provider network are sent by the reserve distribution system.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises an alternative multicast distribution.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises a loss resilient coding of said content.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises distribution of loss resilient coding of said content by grid technology.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises a retransmission facility for the content recipients to request packets lost in the multicast distribution.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises content caching.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reserve distribution system enables the multicast distribution to be made via best effort internet access network and wherein the delivering content comprises distributing IP TV to the content recipients.

### Claim 13

A method for improving cost-efficiency in delivering content from a content broadcaster to a service provider network, facilitating the service provider network to further distribute the content to content recipients; the method comprising
enabling multicast distribution within the service provider network and delivering said content to the service provider network by multicast distribution, thereby reducing costs of data transport to the service provider network; and
providing a reserve distribution system to handle delivery errors of content occurring on the way to the content recipients, thereby improving efficiency of the data transport to the service provider network.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the content is streaming media.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the reserve distribution system enables the multicast distribution to be made via best effort internet access network.

### Claim 16 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein less than 50% of bits sent to the service provider network are sent by the reserve distribution system.

### Claim 17 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein less than 20% of bits sent to the service provider network are sent by the reserve distribution system.

### Claim 18 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises an alternative multicast distribution.

### Claim 19 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises a loss resilient coding of said content.

### Claim 20 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises distribution of loss resilient coding of said content by grid technology.

### Claim 21 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises a retransmission facility for the content recipients to request packets lost in the multicast distribution.

### Claim 22 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises content caching.

### Claim 23 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the reserve distribution system enables the multicast distribution to be made via best effort internet access network and wherein the method for improving cost-efficiency is used for distributing IP TV to the content recipients.

### Claim 24

A method of providing a network content distribution service for delivering content from a content broadcaster to a service provider network to facilitate the service provider network to further distribute the content to content recipients; the method comprising
establishing a network content distribution service comprising
delivering said content to a content cache connected to the service provider network, and
providing a reserve distribution system to handle delivery errors of content occurring on the way to the content recipients;
billing the content broadcaster for using the network content distribution service according to a flat rate plan, the flat rate plan at least covering distribution of the content from the content cache.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the content is streaming media.

### Claim 26 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the method comprises optionally further billing the content broadcaster according to a usage based plan based on the extent of usage of the reserve distribution system.

### Claim 27 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the distribution of content from the content cache to the content recipients is made by multicast distribution.

### Claim 28 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the distribution of content from the content cache to the content recipients is made by loss resilient grid technology.

### Claim 29 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the reserve distribution system enables the multicast distribution to be made via best effort internet access network.

### Claim 30 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises a multicast distribution.

### Claim 31 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises a loss resilient coding of said content.

### Claim 32 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises distribution of loss resilient coding of said content by grid technology.

### Claim 33 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the reserve distribution system comprises a retransmission facility for the content recipients to request packets lost in the distribution from the content cache.