Methods and apparatus for selecting digital access technology for programming and data delivery

A method of operating client equipment in communication with a content distribution network, said equipment comprising a plurality of supported conditional access options and at least one application, the method comprising:

• running said at least one application on said client equipment;
• providing at least one hardware or software interface capable of interface with said conditional access options;
• said client equipment discovering its conditional access options;
• reporting said discovered conditional access options from said client equipment to a headend entity of said content distribution network;
• receiving from a bandwidth optimization entity of said network first information indicating a network preference for a particular one of said plurality of supported conditional access options, said preference for said particular one being selected based on a conditional access option shared by said client equipment and other equipment in said network;
• and
• transmitting a request for one or more of a plurality of content elements to said network, said request comprising a selection of a conditional access option for receiving said one or more of said plurality of content elements via said network, said selection being based at least in part on said first information received from said bandwidth optimization entity.

A method for operating a video processing device for use in a content-based network, comprising:

• polling one or more hardware elements for conditional access capabilities;
• receiving one or more conditional access capabilities in response to said polling;
• generating information describing the conditional access capabilities supported by said video processing device;
• and
• transmitting a request for a particular content to a network entity;
• if said request comprises a request for particular content compatible with said conditional access capabilities of said video processing device, receiving said requested compatible content via a selected network interface having optimized network resources;
• and
• if said request comprises a request for particular content not compatible with said conditional access capabilities of said video processing device, receiving (i) said requested non-compatible content, and (ii) software needed by said video signal processing device to decode said requested non-compatible content.

Network server apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device in data communication with said processor;
• and
• a computer program adapted to run on said processor, said program being adapted to:
• receive information indicating conditional access capabilities of a plurality of network client devices;
• determine at least one content element compatible with an identified conditional access capability of at least two client devices;
• and
• receive a request for said at least one content element from said at least two client devices, said at least two client devices sharing a conditional access capability;
• invoke a bandwidth-conserving content delivery mechanism for delivery of the requested content element to said at least two client devices sharing said conditional access capability.

A method of identifying programming deliverable over a network that is available for on-demand viewing by a user, the method comprising:

• determining capabilities profiles provided by a plurality of conditional access (CA) modules contained in respective ones of a plurality of client devices;
• determining on-demand programs compatible with said capabilities profile;
• transmitting a list of said on-demand programs comprising information identifying said programs to said plurality of client devices;
• receiving a selection for the same one of said on-demand programs from two or more client devices, said two or more client devices each having the same conditional access module;
• a network agent multicasting said same one of said on-demand programs to said two or more client devices, said same one of said on-demand programs utilizing said same conditional access module;
• wherein said multicast to said two or more client devices sharing said same conditional access module conserves bandwidth on said network.

A client device enabled for communication with a content distribution network, said client device comprising:

• a plurality of conditional access functions, each having a substantially distinct conditional access capability;
• at least one hardware or software interface capable of interface with said conditional access functions;
• and
• at least one microprocessor configured to run a computer program thereon, the program configured to, when executed:
• generate profile data relating to said conditional access functions of said client device for transmission to a network entity of said content distribution network;
• transmit a request for one or more of a plurality of content elements to said network;
• and
• in response to said request, receive said one or more of said plurality of content elements as a multicast distributed at least to said client device and at least one other client device sharing at least one conditional access function with said client device, said one or more of said plurality of content elements being transmitted according to said shared at least one conditional access function.