Methods and apparatus for local channel insertion in an all-digital content distribution network
US9237381B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 6, 2009 |
| Grant date | Jan 12, 2016 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 21, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N21/4382
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for inserting local content of interest in an all digital content delivery network. In one embodiment, the content delivery network comprises a cable television or satellite network, and an RF channel thereof is separated or isolated from an incoming multiplex of all-digital content transmission. The separated RF channel is demodulated to provide a multiplexed transport stream, and packets corresponding to one or more programs from the transport stream are replaced with packets obtained from local compression and encoding of analog programming such as e.g., personal, educational and government (PEG) programming. The inserted programming may also contain closed captioning and emergency data alerts. The resulting encoded transport stream is then re-inserted into the multiplex, modulated, and put back onto the RF channel. In an alternate embodiment, space is reserved within the downstream multiplex so as to avoid having to remove an existing program stream.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.