Video on demand access by multiple devices
AssigneeMediacom Communications Corporation
InventorJoseph Thomas Ross
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for streaming a Video on Demand (VOD) asset includes receiving, at a host, a VOD asset request from a client over an internal network, and sending the VOD asset request from the host over an external network using a client/host address that includes a host address and a client address. The VOD asset targeted for the client including the client/host address is received at the host over the external network, and the VOD asset is streamed from the host to the client over the internal network.
Claims19
A method for accessing video on demand content by one or more client devices, comprising:
- receiving by the host an access request for video on demand content from a client device over an internal network;
- transmitting by the host on behalf of the client device the access request to a head end over an external network;
- receiving by the host from the head end access to the video on demand content over the external network;
- decoding the video on demand content by the host using a decoder authorized by the head end;
- and
- transmitting by the host the decoded video on demand content to the client device over the internal network.
A system for accessing content, comprising:
- a host device comprising a communication device in communication with a head end through an external network;
- and
- a client device in communication with the host device through an internal network and adapted to receive a user request to access content and transmit a request for access to a content asset to the host device in response to the user request, wherein the client device is in communication with a display for displaying the content asset;
- wherein the host device is adapted to request access to the content asset from the head end on behalf of the client device in response to receiving the request for access from the client device, the host device being adapted to access the content asset over the external network using the communication device and stream the content asset to the client device through the internal network for displaying on the display in response to approval to the request to access the content. the internal network.
A method for accessing one or more video on demand assets, comprising:
- receiving by a host device a request to access a video on demand asset from a client device unable to access the video on demand asset directly;
- transmitting by the host device an access request for the video on demand asset to a head end, wherein the access request includes a combination address including a host device address and a client device address;
- receiving by the host device from the head end a location of the video on demand asset;
- and
- transmitting by the host device the video on demand asset to the client device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.