Method and apparatus for delivering simultaneous constant bit rate compressed video streams at arbitrary bit rates with constrained drift and jitter

A video server system comprising:

• a video server for outputting a plurality of bit streams of constant bit rate data;
• one or more destination systems, each for receiving one of said constant bit rate data streams;
• a network interface coupled to said server and associated with one of said destination systems;
• a network connection between said network interface and said destination system;
• and
• a bit pump containing a plurality of entries, each entry including a pointer to a specified location in memory and header information defining the nature of the data transmission over the network.

A method for operating a video server system comprising the steps of:

• coupling a network interface to a video server and, via a network connection, one of a plurality of destination systems;
• outputting from said server a bit stream of constant bit rate data;
• providing coarse-grain synchronization of said constant bit rate data based upon a time period derived by a plurality of packets of said constant bit rate data;
• and
• providing fine-grain synchronization based upon the bit rate of said bit stream.

A method for operating a video server system comprising the steps of:

• coupling a network interface to a video server and, via a network connection, one of a plurality of destination systems;
• and
• outputting from said server a bit stream of constant bit rate data;
• utilizing a bit pump responsive to a plurality of entries, each entry including a pointer to a specified location in memory and header information defining the nature of the data transmission over the network.