Apparatus and method for providing video content and supplemental information to a client over a switched digital video content-based network

A system for providing video content and supplemental information, comprising:

• a plurality of clients;
• a switched digital video content-based network;
• a program material processing unit interconnected to said plurality of clients via said switched digital video content-based network, said program material processing unit being configured to obtain a first group of program streams and to send to a given one of said clients only a subset of said program streams selected by subscribers in a neighborhood of said given one of said clients, said video content being contained in a given one of said subset of said program streams, said given one of said clients being tuned to a channel corresponding to said given one of said subset of said streams;
• and
• a supplemental information processing unit interconnected to said plurality of clients via said switched digital video content-based network, said supplemental information processing unit being configured to send said supplemental information over said switched digital video content-based network, to said given one of said clients, based at least in part upon said channel to which said client is tuned;
• wherein:
• said video content and said supplemental information are both sent on an identical carrier frequency corresponding to said channel;
• and
• said video content and said supplemental information employ a substantially identical quadrature amplitude modulation scheme, said video content is broken into packets identified via a first packet identifier, and said supplemental information is broken into packets identified via a second packet identifier.

An apparatus for providing video content and supplemental information to a client over a switched digital video content-based network, said apparatus comprising:

• means for transmitting said video content from a head end, over said switched digital video content-based network, to said client, wherein said head end obtains a first group of program streams and sends to said client only a subset of said program streams selected by subscribers in a neighborhood of said client, said video content being contained in a given one of said subset of said program streams, said client being tuned to a channel corresponding to said given one of said subset of said streams;
• and
• means for transmitting said supplemental information from said head end, over said switched digital video content-based network, to said client, based at least in part upon said channel to which said client is tuned;
• wherein:
• said video content and said supplemental information are both sent on an identical carrier frequency corresponding to said channel;
• and
• said video content and said supplemental information employ a substantially identical quadrature amplitude modulation scheme, said video content is broken into packets identified via a first packet identifier, and said supplemental information is broken into packets identified via a second packet identifier.