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US 9,178,743 B2Granted
System and method of managing video content streams
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorDinesh Nadarajah
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method includes buffering a plurality of video streams within a buffer of a video server and generating a unicast video output and a multicast video output at the buffer.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- buffering a plurality of video streams within a plurality of buffers of a video server, wherein the video streams correspond to channels;
- generating, via a buffer of the plurality of buffers, a unicast video output for a particular channel and a multicast video output for the particular channel;
- receiving a request for the particular channel of the channels at the video server from a set top box;
- joining the set top box to a multicast group associated with the particular channel;
- sending the unicast video output for the particular channel from the video server to the set top box via a plurality of data packets until a determination by the video server indicates that the set top box joined the multicast group;
- and
- sending the multicast video output for the particular channel to the set top box when the determination by the video server indicates that the set top box joined the multicast group.
4 more elements
A server comprising:
- a plurality of buffers;
- a processor;
- a memory accessible by the processor;
- and
- a computer program embedded within the memory, the computer program comprising instructions executable by the processor to perform operations including:
- buffering a plurality of video streams within the plurality of buffers, wherein the video streams correspond to channels;
- generating, via a buffer of the plurality of buffers, a unicast video output for a particular channel and a multicast video output for the particular channel;
- receiving a request for the particular channel of the channels from a set top box;
- joining the set top box to a multicast group associated with the particular channel;
- sending the unicast video output for the particular channel to the set top box via a plurality of data packets until a determination by the processor indicates that the set top box joined the multicast group;
- and
- sending the multicast video output for the particular channel to the set top box when the determination by the processor indicates that the set top box joined the multicast group.
9 more elements
A method comprising:
- sending a channel change request corresponding to a selected channel from a set top box to a first server;
- determining, at the set top box, whether the first server is in service;
- when the first server is in service:
- receiving a unicast video output for the selected channel from a buffer at the first server prior to joining a multicast group associated with the selected channel, wherein the unicast video output is received continuously via a plurality of data packets until a determination by the first server indicates that the set top box has been joined to the multicast group associated with the selected channel;
- and
- receiving a multicast video output for the selected channel from a multicast replication point of the buffer after joining the multicast group associated with the selected channel.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.