Methods and apparatus to broadcast advanced television system committee video in switched digital video systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9277289-B2
Application number	US-201213710194-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2012
Priority date	Apr 22, 2005
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed to broadcast advanced television system committee (ATSC) video in switched digital video (SDV) systems. An example SDV broadcast method includes configuring a de-multiplexer to de-multiplex at least one of the plurality of MPTSs into a plurality of program streams, the at least one of the plurality of program streams comprising a first program stream and a second program stream, wherein the first program stream is selected and the second program stream is excluded based on a rating region table (RRT), independent of any user provided program stream request, and independent of any contractual commitment associated with any user. The example method includes configuring a switch to deliver the first program stream to an SDV broadcast engine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for broadcasting program streams in a switched digital video (SDV) system that receives a plurality of multiple program transport streams (MPTSs) comprising:
configuring a de-multiplexer to de-multiplex at least one of the plurality of MPTSs into a plurality of program streams, the at least one of the plurality of program streams including a first program stream and a second program stream, wherein the first program stream is selected and the second program stream is excluded based on a rating region table (RRT), independent of any user provided program stream request, and independent of any contractual commitment associated with any user; and
configuring a switch to deliver the first program stream to an SDV broadcast engine.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 , further including demodulating a radio frequency transmission to receive the plurality of MPTSs.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 , further including providing at least one control input to the de-multiplexer and the switch.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the SDV broadcast engine includes a video encoder and an Internet protocol (IP) television system server.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the SDV broadcast engine broadcasts the first program stream over an Internet protocol (IP) network.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 , further including decoding program information contained in the at least one of the plurality of MPTSs to update the RRT.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the RRT represents parental guidance information.

8. An apparatus to broadcast Internet protocol (IP) television (IPTV) streams via an IP-based network, the apparatus comprising:
a radio frequency receiver to receive a multiple program transport stream (MPTS) that contains a plurality of program streams;
a server to decode program information contained in the MPTS to update a rating region table (RRT), the RRT representing parental guidance information for program content;
a system manager to select a first program stream of the MPTS and to exclude a second program stream of the MPTS, wherein the first program stream is selected and the second program stream is excluded based on the RRT independent of any user provided program stream request, and independent of any contractual commitment associated with any user;
a broadcast engine to form a first IPTV program stream from the first selected program stream of the MPTS and to broadcast the first IPTV program stream and the second IPTV program stream via the IP-based network, wherein the excluded second program stream of the MPTS is not broadcast via the IP-based network.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the IPTV broadcast engine includes a video encoder and an IPTV system server.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the system manager is to determine program stream selections, the program stream selections including a first assignment of the first program stream to the first IPTV broadcast engine, and a second assignment of the second program stream to the second IPTV broadcast engine.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the system manager is to exclude a third program stream of the MPTS based on at least one of a business objective, an operational rule, a ratings rule, or a contractual commitment.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the IPTV broadcast engine is to encrypt the first IPTV program stream to form a first encrypted program, wherein forming the first IPTV program stream from the first compressed program stream includes packetizing the first encrypted program stream to form the first IPTV program stream.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the plurality of the program streams of the MPTS are compressed using a first compression format, and wherein the IPTV broadcast engine includes:
an encoder to convert the first program stream into a first compressed program stream using a second compression format that is different from the first compression format; and
an IPTV system server to form the first IPTV program stream from the first compressed program stream, and to broadcast the first IPTV program stream via an IP-based network for reception at two or more subscriber locations.

14. A tangible machine-readable storage disk or storage device including instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to perform a method comprising:
configure a de-multiplexer to de-multiplex at least one of a plurality of MPTSs into a plurality of program streams, the plurality of program streams including a first program stream and a second program stream, wherein the first program streams is selected and the second program stream is excluded based on a rating region table (RRT) independent of any user provided program stream request, and independent of any contractual commitment associated with any user; and
configure a switch to deliver the first program stream to a switched digital video (SDV) broadcast engine.

15. A tangible machine-readable storage disk or storage device as defined in claim 14 , further including instructions which, when executed, cause the machine to demodulate a radio frequency transmission to receive the plurality of MPTSs.

16. A tangible machine-readable storage disk or storage device as defined in claim 14 , further including instructions which, when executed, cause the machine to provide at least one control input to the de-multiplexer and the switch.

17. A tangible machine-readable storage disk or storage device as defined in claim 14 , wherein the SDV broadcast engine includes a video encoder and an Internet protocol (IP) television system server.

18. A tangible machine-readable storage disk or storage device as defined in claim 14 , wherein the SDV broadcast engine broadcasts the first program stream over an Internet protocol (IP) network.

19. A tangible machine-readable storage disk or storage device as defined in claim 14 , further including instructions which, when executed, cause the machine to decode program information contained in the at least one of the plurality of MPTSs to update the RRT.

20. A tangible machine-readable storage disk or storage device as defined in claim 14 , wherein the RRT represents parental guidance information.

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Medford Brad
• Phillips Debra
• Reed Vernon Daniel

Classifications

• H04N21/4345

  Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream · CPC title

• H04N21/434

  Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream {(demultiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00)} · CPC title

• H04N21/6332 Primary

  directed to client · CPC title

• H04N21/2362

  Generation or processing of Service Information [SI] · CPC title

• H04N21/84

  Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors {(systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73)} · CPC title