Dynamic application insertion for MPEG stream switching
Disclosed herein are methods and systems for dynamically creating and inserting an application into an MPEG program transport stream. The application may be subsequently run on a customer premises equipment (CPE) device to effect switching between content streams for presentation to viewers based on other available data, such as targeting information.
1. A method for generating a stream-switching application, comprising:
identifying a first content stream and a second content stream;
creating packet identifier mapping data including information to identify the first content stream and the second content stream;
creating timing data to switch from the first content stream to the second content stream at a first time and to switch from the second content stream to the first content stream at a second time;
generating a stream-switching application including at least the packet identifier mapping data, the timing data, and a trigger for signaling the stream-switching application to be loaded and executed on an electronic device;
transmitting the first content stream;
transmitting the stream-switching application; and
transmitting the second content stream, wherein the stream-switching application is transmitted along with at least one of the first content stream and the second content stream to the electronic device.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting one or more additional content streams with the first content stream and the second content stream.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stream-switching application further includes a pre-compiled template application binary, and the packet identifier mapping data and the timing data are inserted into the template application binary to generate the stream-switching application.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the template application binary is encoded using OpenCable Content Definition Format (CoDF).
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stream-switching application is inserted into an MPEG stream and the packet identifier mapping data includes MPEG Packet Identifiers (PIDs) to identify the first content stream and the second content stream.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first content stream comprises programming content.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second content stream comprises alternative advertisement content.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stream-switching application is an Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) application.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving data from a consumer device, the data including information regarding the first content stream and the second content stream.
10. An apparatus for generating a stream-switching application, comprising:
an identifying processor that identifies a first content stream and a second content stream;
a mapping processor that creates packet identifier mapping data including information to identify the first content stream and the second content stream;
an electronic module operable to create timing data to switch from the first content stream to the second content stream at a first time and to switch from the second content stream to the first content stream at a second time;
an application server that generates a stream-switching application using the packet identifier mapping data, the timing data, and a trigger for signaling the stream-switching application to be loaded and executed on an electronic device and transmits the stream-switching application;
a first transmitter that transmits the first content stream; and
a second transmitter that transmits the second content stream , wherein the stream-switching application is transmitted along with at least one of the first content stream and the second content stream to the electronic device.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising transmitting one or more additional content streams with the first content stream and the second content stream.
12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the stream-switching application further includes a pre-compiled template application binary, and the packet identifier mapping data and the timing data are inserted into the template application binary to generate the stream-switching application.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the template application binary is encoded using OpenCable Content Definition Format (CoDF).
14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the stream-switching application is inserted into an MPEG stream and the packet identifier mapping data includes MPEG Packet Identifiers (PIDs) to identify the first content stream and the second content stream.
15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first content stream comprises programming content.
16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second content stream comprises alternative advertisement content.
17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the stream-switching application is an Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) application.
18. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising receiving data from a consumer device, the data including information regarding the first content stream and the second content stream.
19. A method for switching content streams, comprising:
receiving, at an electronic customer device, a stream-switching application, the stream-switching application comprising at least timing data, packet identifier mapping data, and trigger data for signaling the stream-switching application to be loaded and executed on the electronic customer device;
executing the stream-switching application, comprising:
extracting timing data from the stream-switching application, including a first time and a second time, the first time occurring before the second time; and
extracting packet identifier mapping data from the stream-switching application, the packet identifier mapping data including information to identify a first content stream and one or more second content streams;
receiving the first content stream at the electronic customer device;
receiving the one or more second content streams at the electronic customer device, wherein the stream-switching application is received along with at least one of the first content stream and the second content stream;
switching, at the first time, from processing the first content stream to processing one or more of the second content streams; and
switching, at the second time, from processing, the one or more of the second content streams to processing the first content stream.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the first content stream and the at least one second content stream comprise video and audio.
21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the processing of the first content stream and the one or more second content stream includes displaying the content.
22. The method of claim 19 , wherein after the stream-switching application has completed executing, it is deleted from the customer device.
23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising transmitting data, the data including information regarding the first content stream and the second content stream.