Apparatus and methods for packetized content delivery over a bandwidth efficient network

A computer readable apparatus comprising a non-transitory storage medium configured to store at least one computer program, said computer readable apparatus in data communication with a processor apparatus of a network controller apparatus, said at least one computer program configured to, when executed, cause said network controller apparatus to:

• receive a request for Internet Protocol (IP) packetized content at a switching system, said request for IP packetized content issued from at least one requesting IP enabled device;
• deliver legacy non-IP encoded content via said switching system to at least one other non-IP enabled device in a same service group as that of said requesting IP enabled device;
• determine whether said IP packetized content is currently being delivered over said switching system;
• based at least in part on a determination that said content is currently being delivered, enable said at least one requesting IP enabled device to access said IP packetized content;
• based at least in part on a determination that said IP packetized content is not currently being delivered, switch-in at least one stream via said switching system to effect delivery of said IP packetized content to said at least one requesting IP enabled device simultaneous with delivery of said legacy non-IP encoded content to said at least one other non-IP enabled device;
• and
• enable free intermix of said IP packetized with said non-IP content during said simultaneous delivery, via said switching system, of deliver said IP packetized content to said at least one requesting IP enabled device and said legacy non-IP encoded content to said at least one other non-IP enabled device.

A server apparatus within a switching system, comprising:

• a processor apparatus;
• and
• at least one storage device in data communication with said processor, said at least one storage device configured to store at least one computer program thereon, said at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed by said processor apparatus, cause said server apparatus to:
• receive data indicative of a request for Internet Protocol (IP) packetized content from one or more of a first client device or a first proxy thereof;
• in a first stream, deliver legacy non-IP content to one or more of a second client device or a second proxy thereof in a same service group as that of said one or more of said first client device or said first proxy thereof;
• determine whether said IP packetized content is currently being delivered over said switching system;
• based at least in part on a determination that said IP packetized content is currently being delivered, provide, to said one or more of said first client device or said first proxy thereof, information on how to access said IP packetized content;
• based at least on part on a determination that said IP packetized content is not currently being delivered, switch-in at least one additional stream via a switching device of said switching system to effect delivery of said IP packetized content simultaneous to said delivery of said legacy non-IP content;
• and
• during said simultaneous delivery, via said switching system, of (i) said IP packetized content to said one or more of said first client device or said first proxy thereof and (ii) said legacy non-IP content to said one or more of said second client device or said second proxy thereof, enable intermix of said first stream and said at least one additional stream irrespective of a content type being carried on one or more of said first stream or said at least one additional stream.