Method for resolving delivery path unavailability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11665265-B2
Application number	US-202217861989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2022
Priority date	Dec 14, 2010
Publication date	May 30, 2023
Grant date	May 30, 2023

Abstract

An apparatus, system and method are disclosed for resolving bandwidth constriction using multiple bandwidths and/or multiple content delivery paths. The apparatus, system and method may include recording requested video content and/or delivering the recorded video content to resolve bandwidth constriction using alternate bandwidths or delivery paths.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
after a request associated with content, and based on a determination that a multicast delivery path is unavailable for sending the content to a second device, receiving the content by a first device; and
sending, by the first device, to the second device, and via a delivery path different from the multicast delivery path, at least a portion of the content.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending the at least the portion of the content is via unicast delivery from the first device to the second device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending the at least the portion of the content is:
based on a determination that there is sufficient bandwidth for unicast delivery from the first device to the second device; and
via unicast delivery from the first device to the second device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination that the multicast delivery path is unavailable for sending the content to the second device comprises a determination that there is insufficient bandwidth for multicast delivery of the content via allocated bandwidth of the multicast delivery path.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
based on a determination that there is sufficient bandwidth for delivery of a second portion of the content via the multicast delivery path, and after the sending the at least the portion of the content to the second device, prohibiting the first device from sending the second portion of the content via the delivery path different from the multicast delivery path.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a storage request that identifies at least one of the second device or a user associated with the second device; and
storing by the first device, based on the storage request, the at least the portion of the content.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device comprises one or more of: a network digital video recorder (nDVR), a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR), a vault server, a gateway server, or an edge server.

8. A method comprising:
sending, by a second device, a request associated with content; and
after a determination that a multicast delivery path toward the second device is unavailable for sending the content to the second device, receiving by the second device, from a first device, and via a delivery path different from the multicast delivery path, at least a portion of the content,
wherein the at least the portion of the content was received by the first device after the request.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the receiving the at least the portion of the content is via unicast delivery from the first device to the second device.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the receiving the at least the portion of the content is:
after a determination that there is sufficient bandwidth for unicast delivery from the first device to the second device; and
via unicast delivery from the first device to the second device.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the receiving the at least the portion of the content is after a determination that there is insufficient bandwidth for multicast delivery of the content via allocated bandwidth of the multicast delivery path.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
after the receiving the at least the portion of the content at the second device, and based on a determination that there is sufficient bandwidth for delivery of a second portion of the content via the multicast delivery path, receiving the second portion of the content via the multicast delivery path.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first device comprises one or more of: a network digital video recorder (nDVR), a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR), a vault server, a gateway server, or an edge server.

14. A computing device comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to:
after a request associated with content, and based on a determination that a multicast delivery path is unavailable for sending the content to a second device, receive the content; and
send, to the second device and via a delivery path different from the multicast delivery path, at least a portion of the content.

15. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to send the at least the portion of the content via unicast delivery from the computing device to the second device.

16. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to send the at least the portion of the content:
based on a determination that there is sufficient bandwidth for unicast delivery from the computing device to the second device; and
via unicast delivery from the computing device to the second device.

17. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the determination that the multicast delivery path is unavailable for sending the content to the second device comprises a determination that there is insufficient bandwidth for multicast delivery of the content via allocated bandwidth of the multicast delivery path.

18. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing device to:
based on a determination that there is sufficient bandwidth for delivery of a second portion of the content via the multicast delivery path, and after the sending the at least the portion of the content to the second device, prohibit the computing device from sending the second portion of the content via the delivery path different from the multicast delivery path.

19. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing device to:
receive a storage request that identifies at least one of the second device or a user associated with the second device; and
store, based on the storage request, the at least the portion of the content.

20. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the computing device comprises one or more of: a network digital video recorder (nDVR), a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR), a vault server, a gateway server, or an edge server.

21. A computing device comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to:
send a request associated with content; and
after a determination that a multicast delivery path toward the computing device is unavailable for sending the content to the computing device, receive, from a first device and via a delivery path different from the multicast delivery path, at least a portion of the content,
wherein the at least the portion of the content was received by the first device after the request.

22. The computing device of claim 21 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to receive the at least the portion of the content via unicast delivery from the first device.

23. The computing device of claim 21 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to receive the at least the portion of the content:
after a determination that there is sufficient bandwidth for unicast delivery from t

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Garg Amit
• Brown Tom

Classifications

• H04N21/4334

  Recording operations (recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27) · CPC title

• H04N21/4622

  Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859) · CPC title

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04N21/631

  Multimode Transmission, e.g. transmitting basic layers and enhancement layers of the content over different transmission paths or transmitting with different error corrections, different keys or with different transmission protocols · CPC title

• H04L67/568

  Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching · CPC title