System and method for providing network access to antenna feeds
View Patent ↗A method and system for capturing, storing, and streaming over the air broadcasts based on user requests is disclosed. The system and method utilize subarrays of antenna elements for receiving over the air broadcasts. Processing pipelines are used to demodulate, transcode and index the content transmissions to produce content data that are streamed to users. In this way, the feeds from antennas can be accessed by users over a network connection.
1. A method of streaming television content transmissions from over the air broadcasts to user devices, the method comprising:
presenting users with a list of available television content transmissions, wherein the list of available television content transmissions is based on the over the air broadcasts available in a geographical location of each of the users;
receiving requests from the users to receive selected television content transmissions among the available television content transmissions;
allocating individual antenna elements, in an array of the antenna elements, to each of the individual users, so that different antennas elements simultaneously capture multiple copies of the same television content transmissions when different users want to receive the same television content transmissions, a tuner for the allocated antenna element tuning the antenna element to receive the television content transmission requested by each of the individual users to which the antenna element was allocated;
receiving the selected television content transmissions with the antenna element and storing separately for each of the individual users;
demodulating feeds from the antenna elements to generate unique content transmission data having MPEG-2 encoding for each of the individual users when the users have selected to receive the same television content transmission;
transcoding the content transmission data of each of the individual users to content data for each of the individual users, the content data having a different encoding supported by a device of each of the individual users; and
streaming the selected television content transmissions to the user devices as the transcoded content data.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising tuning the antenna elements to receive the selected television content transmissions from broadcasting entities.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the content transmission data are transcoded from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 encoding.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising transcoding the content transmission data to content data at two or more different resolutions.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising streaming the transcoded content data to the user devices with a resolution determined based on resolution of the user devices.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising storing the selected television content transmissions in a file store prior to streaming the selected television content transmissions to the users.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the file store stores the selected television content transmissions in a separate location for each individual user.
8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising assigning the antenna elements to the users from available antenna elements based on which antenna elements are optimized to receive the selected television content transmissions of the users.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the individual users are only streamed the selected content transmission received by the antenna element allocated for each of the individual users.
10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising assigning antenna elements on the fly as the users request the television content transmissions.
11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising dedicating antenna elements to users that are used to fulfill the requests for the television content transmissions.
12. A system for streaming television content transmissions to user devices, the system comprising:
an array of antenna elements, each of the antenna elements for receiving broadcast television content transmissions;
tuners for the antenna elements, each of the tuners for tuning an antenna element to receive the television content transmissions so that different antennas elements simultaneously capture multiple copies of the same television content transmissions when different users want to receive the same television content transmissions;
demodulators for demodulating and decoding feeds from the antenna elements to generate unique content transmission data for each of the individual users when the users have selected to receive the same television content transmission;
transcoders for converting the content transmission data of each of the individual users to content data for each of the individual users, the content data having a different encoding supported by the device of each of the individual users;
an application server presenting users with a list of available television content transmissions that are based on over the air broadcasts available in a geographical location of each of the individual users, wherein the application server receives requests from the user devices to receive selected television content transmissions among the available television content transmissions;
an antenna controller that allocates individual antenna elements within the array to receive the selected television content transmissions and to store separately for each of the individual users with a tuner for the allocated antenna element tuning the antenna element to receive the television content transmission selected by the user to which the antenna element was allocated; and
a streaming server that streams the selected television content transmissions as the transcoded content data to the user devices.
13. The system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the content transmission data are converted from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 encoding by the transcoders.
14. The system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the transcoders convert the content transmission data to the content data at two or more different resolutions.
15. The system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the streaming server streams the transcoded content data to the user devices with a resolution determined based on resolution of the user devices.
16. The system according to claim 12 , further comprising a file store for storing the transcoded content data prior to streaming the user devices.
17. The system according to claim 16 , wherein the file store stores the transcoded content data in a separate location for each individual user.
18. The system according to claim 12 , further comprising the antenna controller allocating the antenna elements to the users from available antenna elements based on which antenna elements are optimized to receive the selected content transmissions.
19. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the users are only streamed the selected television content transmission received by the antenna element allocated for each individual user.
20. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the antenna controller assigns the antenna elements on the fly as users request the television content transmissions.
21. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the antenna controller dedicates the antenna elements to users that are used to fulfill the requests for content transmissions the television.