- Number
- 10165026
- Published
- 2018-12-25
- Filed
- 2012-12-26
- Assignee
- Disney Enterprises, Inc.
- Inventors
- Chiarulli; Michael V. et al.
- CPC
- H04N21/8126; H04H60/73; H04L65/60; H04H60/06; H04N21/26266
- Verdict
- Set aside streaming/transport plumbing
- Source
- Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline
Abstract
There is provided a method and system for generating and distributing an encoded content transport stream. The method comprises obtaining metadata and at least one unique identifier that identifies content elements, generating a recipient specific list using the metadata and at least one of the unique identifiers, creating a content transport stream using the recipient specific list including the metadata and the identified content elements, encoding the content transport stream to generate the encoded content transport stream, and distributing the encoded content transport stream through at least one network path. The metadata may include destination points and priority information of the encoded content transport stream, which may take the form of sections of television programming or block of commercial advertisements.
Background
BACKGROUND(1) Television programs, live sports, and other media content are delivered to consumers from broadcast and cable networks through regional, sales, or other affiliate endpoints. The broadcast and cable networks must choose the various versions of the media content to be delivered to the affiliate based on time zones, market clearances, regionalization, or other criteria. The broadcast and cable networks are further required to choose transport paths to ensure the media content arrives concurrently and efficiently. Therefore, the broadcast and cable networks must process a wide variety of data, ranging from regional commercial scheduling, time zone delays, sport clearances, and transport path health, to name a few, before the media content is delivered to affiliates.(2) At present, broadcast and cable networks require coordination of multiple systems in order to properly process and transmit the media content to affiliates. Often this is done manually by the broadcast and cable networks. Therefore, switching of the media content or the transport path must be controlled manually after observation of the affiliate needs. Furthermore, affiliates are often required to manually contact or otherwise alert the broadcast and cable networks if change is required. Thus, for example, continual adjustment must be made if a transport stream is impaired and media content is not arriving at the affiliate correctly or efficiently.SUMMARY(3) The present disclosure is directed to inte
Claims
1. A method for use by a system including a processor and a memory, the memory having at least one unique identifier (UID) identifying a corresponding at least one content element, for generation and distribution of at least one encoded content transport stream, the method comprising: obtaining, using the processor, metadata and the at least one UID from the memory, the at least one UID identifying the corresponding at least one content element; generating, using the processor, a recipient specific list (RSL) using the metadata and the at least one UID, wherein the RSL corresponds to a playlist of media content for an affiliate endpoint recipient of the encoded content transport stream, and wherein the RSL includes at least a commercial scheduling metadata corresponding to at least a commercial content; delivering the RSL to an RSL analyzer to determine, based on a priority of the RSL, a number of one or more RSL processor engines, wherein determining the number of the one or more RSL processor engines is further based on at least one of a cost to process the RSL, requirements of the RSL, and a workload of a transport stream creator, and wherein the metadata includes priority information for determining the priority of the at least one encoded content transport stream; creating, using the processor, at least one content transport stream using the RSL, the at least one content transport stream including the metadata and the corresponding at least one content element, wherein the metadata includes at least one of a name and a location of the affiliate endpoint recipient; encoding, using the processor, the at least one content transport stream to generate the at least one encoded content transport stream; and distributing, using the processor, the at least one encoded content transport stream through at least one network path to the affiliate endpoint recipient for further distribution by the affiliate endpoint recipient to consumers of the affiliate endpoint recipient; wherein the creating uses the determined number of one or more RSL processor engines, and wherein determining the number of the one or more RSL processor engines is further based on at least one of a cost to process the RSL, requirements of the RSL, and a workload of a transport stream creator, and wherein the metadata includes priority information for determining a priority of the at least one encoded content transport stream.
7. A system for generation and distribution of at least one encoded content transport stream, the system comprising: a memory including: at least one unique identifier (UID), the at least one UID identifying a corresponding at least one content element; a transport stream creator; and a network director; a processor for executing the transport stream creator to: obtain metadata and the at least one UID from the memory; generate a recipient specific list (RSL) using the metadata and the at least one UID, wherein the RSL corresponds to a playlist of media content for an affiliate endpoint recipient of the encoded content transport stream, and wherein the RSL includes at least a commercial scheduling metadata corresponding to at least a commercial content; deliver the RSL to an RSL analyzer to determine, based on a priority of the RSL, a number of one or more RSL processor engines, wherein determining the number of the one or more RSL processor engines is further based on at least one of a cost to process the RSL, requirements of the RSL, and a workload of a transport stream creator, and wherein the metadata includes priority information for determining the priority of the at least one encoded content transport stream; create at least one content transport stream using the RSL, the at least one content transport stream including the metadata and the corresponding at least one content element, wherein the metadata includes at least one of a name and a location of the affiliate endpoint recipient; and encode the at least one content transport stream to generate the at least one encoded content transport stream; wherein the creating uses the determined number of one or more RSL processor engines, and wherein determining the number of the one or more RSL processor engines is further based on at least one of a cost to process the RSL, requirements of the RSL, and a workload of a transport stream creator, and wherein the metadata includes priority information for determining a priority of the at least one encoded content transport stream; a network director, under the control of the processor, configured to: distribute the at least one encoded content transport stream through at least one network path to the affiliate endpoint recipient for further distribution by the affiliate endpoint recipient to consumers of the affiliate endpoint recipient.
13. A system for generation and distribution of at least one encoded content transport stream, the system comprising: a memory including: at least one unique identifier (UID), the at least one UID identifying a corresponding at least one content element; a transport stream creator; an RSL analyzer; at least one RSL processor engines; and a network director; a processor for executing the transport stream creator to: obtain metadata and the at least one UID from the memory; and generate a recipient specific list (RSL) using the metadata and the at least one UID, wherein the RSL corresponds to a playlist of media content for an affiliate endpoint recipient of the encoded content transport stream, and wherein the RSL includes at least a commercial scheduling metadata corresponding to at least a commercial content; the processor further for executing the RSL analyzer to: receive the RSL; and deliver the RSL to an RSL analyzer to determine, based on a priority of the RSL, a number of one or more RSL processor engines, wherein determining the number of the one or more RSL processor engines is further based on at least one of a cost to process the RSL, requirements of the RSL, and a workload of a transport stream creator, and wherein the metadata includes priority information for determining the priority of the at least one encoded content transport stream; create at least one content transport stream using the RSL, the at least one content transport stream including the metadata and the corresponding at least one content element, wherein the metadata includes at least one of a name and a location of the affiliate endpoint recipient; and encode the at least one content transport stream to generate the at least one encoded content transport stream; wherein the creating uses the determined number of one or more RSL processor engines, and wherein determining the number of the one or more RSL processor engines is further based on at least one of a cost to process the RSL, requirements of the RSL, and a workload of a transport stream creator, and wherein the metadata includes priority information for determining a priority of the at least one encoded content transport stream; the processor further for executing the network director to: distribute the at least one encoded content transport stream through at least one network path to the affiliate endpoint recipient for further distribution by the affiliate endpoint recipient to consumers of the affiliate endpoint recipient.