Method for the transmission and distribution of digital television signals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10158924-B2
Application number	US-201213465966-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2012
Priority date	Jan 30, 2004
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

A system for the end-to-end delivery of digital television signals. In a preferred embodiment a digital television signal is: received from production equipment, typically in BD format at approximately 1.4 gigabits per second (Gbps); the received signal is transmitted to a venue point-of-presence; converted for transmission via a 270 Mbps local loop; transmitted to a fiber network point of presence/video service edge; packetized into TCP/IP packets in a video gateway; and routed to one or more destination addresses via the fiber network; received at one or more video service edge destinations; converted to a digital television format, typically SDI; and either transmitted via a second 270 Mbps local loop for delivery to a customer site and subsequent conversion to a 1.4 Gbps HD signal, or converted directly to a 1.4 Gbs HD signal at the receiving video service edge.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for preparing an High Definition (HD) signal for transmission over a data network including the steps of:
(a) receiving an HD signal at a first data rate;
(b) converting said HD signal to a compressed HD signal at a second data rate, said second data rate being lower than said first data rate, and wherein said HD signal and said compressed HD signal are digital signals;
(c) transmitting, from a source location, said compressed HD signal via a 270 Mbps loop to a network point-of-presence that is remote from the source location;
(d) converting said compressed HD signal into TCP/IP packets in a video gateway for transmission over a data network; and
(e) delivering said TCP/IP packets to a router.

2. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over a data network of claim 1 wherein said first data rate is 1.485 Gbps.

3. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over a data network of claim 1 wherein said second data rate is 270 Mbps.

4. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over said data network of claim 1 wherein said first HD signal conforms to SMPTE292.

5. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over a data network of claim 1 wherein said data network is an MPLS network and said router is a label edge router.

6. A system for preparing an High Definition (HD) signal for transmission over a data network comprising:
an encoder for compressing an HD signal at an HD data rate to a compressed HD signal at an Standard Definition (SD) data rate, wherein said HD signal and said compressed HD signal are digital signals;
a video gateway, remote from the encoder and configured to communicate with said encoder via a local loop to receive said compressed HD signal, wherein said compressed HD signal is configured by said video gateway into packets output through a gateway network connection; and
a router configured to communicate with said gateway network connection to receive said packets and transmit said packets over a data network.

7. The system for preparing an HD signal for transmission over a data network of claim 6 wherein said encoder is remote from said video gateway, the system further comprising:
a first converter in communication with said encoder for converting said compressed HD signal stream to an optical signal;
a second converter in communication with said video gateway for converting said optical signal back to said compressed HD signal; and
an optical fiber connecting said first and second converters to carry said optical signal from said first converter to said second converter.

8. The system for preparing an HD signal for transmission over a data network of claim 6 wherein the local loop comprises a 270 Mbps loop.

9. The system for preparing an HD signal for transmission over a data network of claim 6 wherein said encoder is remote from said video gateway, the system further comprising:
a first converter in communication with said encoder for converting said compressed HD signal to an optical signal;
a second converter in communication with said video gateway for converting said optical signal back to said compressed HD signal;
an optical fiber connecting said first and second converters to carry said optical signal from said first converter to said second converter; and
wherein the local loop comprises a 270 Mbps loop.

10. A method for preparing an High Definition (HD) signal for transmission over a data network including the steps of:
(a) receiving an HD signal at a first data rate;
(b) converting said HD signal to a compressed HD signal at a second data rate, said second data rate being lower than said first data rate, and wherein said HD signal and said compressed HD signal are digital signals;
(c) transmitting, from a source location, said compressed HD signal via a local loop to a network point-of-presence that is remote from the source location;
(d) converting said compressed HD signal into TCP/IP packets in a video gateway for transmission over a data network; and
(e) delivering said TCP/IP packets to a router.

11. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over a data network of claim 10 wherein said first data rate is 1.485 Gbps and the local loop is a 270 Mbps loop.

12. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over a data network of claim 10 wherein said second data rate is 270 Mbps.

13. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over said data network of claim 10 wherein said first HD signal conforms to SMPTE292.

14. The method for preparing HD signals for transmission over a data network of claim 10 wherein said data network is an MPLS network and said router is a label edge router.

Assignees

• Beaudoin Scott
• Jones Scott
• Brillhart Scott
• Brown Michael
• Korte Ryan
• Level 3 Communications Llc

Inventors

• Beaudoin Scott
• Jones Scott
• Brillhart Scott
• Brown Michael
• Korte Ryan

Classifications

• H04N21/2343

  involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements {(video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762)} · CPC title

• H04N21/64322 Primary

  IP · CPC title

• H04N21/2381

  Adapting the multiplex stream to a specific network, e.g. an Internet Protocol [IP] network {(transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601)} · CPC title

• H04N21/64707

  for transferring content from a first network to a second network, e.g. between IP and wireless · CPC title

• H04N21/6405

  Multicasting {(data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18)} · CPC title