Patent · US Expired

Operations center with video storage for a television program packaging and delivery system

US5600573A · kind A · utility

655Cited by
92References
69Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 2, 1994
Grant dateFeb 4, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 2, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/478
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention is an operations center that organizes and packages television programs for transmission in a television delivery system. The center is capable of receiving, storing, packaging and delivering countless programs in various signal formats. The center is a particularly useful invention for program delivery systems which will provide subscribers with video on demand, near video on demand and/or the ability to select programs from on-screen menus. The center's primary components are a receiver, system controller, video storage, computer assisted packaging system (CAP) and output equipment. The components can receive, convert, store, select, retrieve, encode and otherwise process multiple program signals, gather program identities of analog and/or digital programs, generate menus, package programs efficiently based on subscriber needs and the available bandwidth, and output packaged program products to multiple remote sites. To perform these functions, the CAP creates program lineups, menus, instructions on the packaging of programs, and/or allocates available bandwidth. In the preferred embodiment, the packaged program products contain programs, control information…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.