Methods and arrangements for system providing media via multicast distribution
US8732327B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 23, 2009 |
| Grant date | May 20, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 19, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N21/64322
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention relates to a server and a method for achieving a fast channel change in e.g. an IPTV system. This is achieved by selecting a source for retrieving the requested channel based on the current load of the FCC server. The source may be the streaming server providing the regular multicast stream or a buffer providing a buffered version of the requested channel. According to one embodiment requests for fast channel change (relating to the same channel) are grouped and served and served as a bundle over multicast. By doing that one can alleviate the load on the FCC server and the network since multiple clients can share the same stream.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.