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US 8,713,623 B2Granted
Technique for effectively providing program material in a cable television system
AssigneeTime Warner Cable Enterprises LLC
InventorPaul D. Brooks
Life of this patent
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AssigneeTime Warner Cable Enterprises LLC
InventorPaul D. Brooks
Estimating the term…
In a cable television system in accordance with the invention, program materials are made available to subscribers in a neighborhood on an as needed basis. Specifically, when a subscriber at a set-top terminal selects a program channel to watch, the selection request is transmitted to a headend of the system. In response to such a request, a controller in the headend determines whether the material of the selected program channel has been made available to the neighborhood. If it has been made available, the controller identifies to the set-top terminal the carrier which is carrying the requested program material, and to which the set-top terminal tunes to obtain the requested program material. Otherwise, the controller assigns an unused carrier to carry the requested program material, and informs the set-top terminal of the identity of the newly assigned carrier. The controller also retires those carriers assigned for the program channels which are no longer watched by the subscribers in the neighborhood.
Apparatus for use at a service node of a content delivery network, said apparatus configured to controllably provide a collection of program materials to a group of terminals serviced thereby, said group of terminals each being configured to receive said collection of program materials modulated on a plurality of carriers by said service node, said apparatus comprising:
A method for use in a content delivery network for controllably providing a collection of program materials to a group of terminals via a processing entity at a service node entity of said network, said group of terminals each being configured to receive said collection of program materials modulated on a plurality of carriers by said service node entity, said method comprising:
In a content delivery network for providing a plurality of programming channels to a group of terminals serviced via a service node apparatus, said group of terminals each being configured to receive said plurality of programming channels modulated on a plurality of carriers by said service node apparatus, a method of operating said service node apparatus, said method comprising:
Apparatus for use at a service node of a content delivery network, said apparatus configured to controllably provide a collection of program materials to a group of terminals serviced thereby, said group of terminals each being configured to receive said collection of program materials modulated on a plurality of carriers by said service node, said apparatus comprising:
A method for use in a content delivery network for controllably providing a collection of program materials to a group of terminals via a processing entity at a service node entity of said network, said group of terminals each being configured to receive said collection of program materials modulated on a plurality of carriers by said service node entity, said method comprising:
In a content delivery network for providing a plurality of programming channels to a group of terminals serviced via a service node apparatus, said group of terminals each being configured to receive said plurality of programming channels modulated on a plurality of carriers by said service node apparatus, a method of operating said service node apparatus, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.