SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIDEO DISTRIBUTION OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL NETWORKS
A system, method and user interface ( 1300 ) for providing media or content recommendations are provided. More specifically, the system, method and user interface provide media recommendations including enabling a user to select a first media object, the first media object having a first set of characteristics, enabling the user to select a second media object, the second media object having a second set of characteristics, and recommending a plurality of additional media objects, each of the plurality of additional media objects having at least one characteristic in common with the first set of characteristics and at least one characteristic in common with the second set of characteristics.
1 . A method for providing content on an Internet Protocol (IP) network having a plurality of content sources, the method comprising: connecting at least one client to the network;
communicating a request over the network to the content sources, the request requiring each of the plurality of content sources to identify channels on which each of the plurality of content sources provides content;
selecting a channel identified by the at least one client; and
providing content to the at least one client on the selected channel.
2 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising providing a table of available content sources to the at least one client.
3 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the providing the content step includes:
receiving a raw audio-video stream from an external source;
encoding the audio-video stream with a low latency encoder; and
providing the encoded audio-video stream on the selected channel.
4 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein if a number of clients selecting the identified channel is greater than or equal to two, further comprising:
multicasting the content on a second channel not being used by the plurality of content sources; and
notifying the number of clients of the content on the second channel.
5 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the selecting the identified channel step includes manually selecting the identified channel via a mechanism on the at least one client.
6 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the selecting the channel step includes:
displaying an identified channel number on a display device coupled to the at least one client; and
selecting a displayed identified channel.
7 . The method as in claim 6 , wherein the displayed identified channels are cycled through by a user.
8 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the selecting the channel step includes:
displaying an identified channel number on a display device coupled to the content source; and
selecting a displayed identified channel.
9 . The method as in claim 8 , wherein the display device is integrated into the content source.
10 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the selecting the channel step includes:
scanning through available identified channels;
displaying each available identified channel on a display device coupled to the at least one client in a cyclic manner; and
selecting a displayed identified channel.
11 . The method as in claim 10 , wherein a name and location of the content source is displayed with each identified channel.
12 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the at least one client is a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) player device.
13 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
presenting a list of the plurality of content sources to a remote client via a gateway; and upon selection of one of the plurality of content sources, streaming content from the selected content source to the remote client.
14 . The method as in claim 13 , wherein the streaming further comprises processing the content into a format and data rate required by the remote client.
15 . The method as in claim 14 , wherein the remote client accesses the network via a second network.
16 . A system for providing content on an Internet Protocol (IP) network having a plurality of content sources, the system comprising:
at least one client, coupled to the network, that communicates a request over the network to the content sources, the request requiring each of the plurality of content sources to identify channels on which each of the plurality of content sources provides content; and
at least one server, coupled to the network, that provides content to the at least one client from one of the identified channels selected by the at least one client.
17 . The system as in claim 16 , wherein as each server is connected, the connected server associates each used channel to an identifier of the content source using the channel and stores the associations in a table of all available content sources.
18 . The system as in claim 17 , wherein the identifier is a media access control (MAC) address with an associated Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that defines the mechanisms by which content on the content source device may be accessed.
19 . The system as in claim 17 , wherein the identifier is an Internet Protocol (IP) address with an associated Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that defines the mechanisms by which content on the content source device may be accessed.
20 . The system as in claim 17 , wherein the server provides the table of available content sources to each of the plurality of content sources and the at least one client device.
21 . The system as in claim 17 , wherein the server provides the table of available content sources to each of the at least one client.
22 . The system as in claim 16 , wherein the server is further configured to receive an audio-video stream from a content source, encode the audio-video stream with a low latency encoder and provide the encoded audio-video stream on the selected channel.
23 . The system as in claim 16 , wherein if the number of clients selecting the identified channel is greater than or equal to two, the server being configured to multicast the content on a second channel not being used by the plurality of content sources and notify the number of clients of the content on the second channel.
24 . The system as in claim 16 , wherein the at least one client includes a selecting mechanism disposed on the at least one client for manually selecting the identified channel.
25 . The system as in claim 16 , wherein the at least one client is coupled to a display device that displays the identified channels.
26 . The system as in claim 25 , wherein a name and location of the content source is displayed with each identified channel.
27 . The system as in claim 25 , wherein the displayed identified channels are cycled through by a user.
28 . The system as in claim 16 , wherein the at least one client scans through available identified channels and displays each available identified channel on a display device coupled to the at least one client in a cyclic manner.
29 . The system as in claim 28 , wherein a name and location of the content source is displayed with each identified channel.
30 . The system as in claim 16 , wherein the at least one client is a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) player device.
31 . The system as in claim 30 , wherein the at least one server is further configured to package the provided content in such a way as to appear as a file to the DLNA player device and serve the packaged file to the DLNA player device.
32 . The system as in claim 31 , wherein the at least one server presents each channel being used by the plurality of content sources as a set of files to the DLNA player device.
33 . The system as in claim 16 , further comprising a gateway that presents a list of the plurality of content sources to a remote client, wherein upon selection of one of the plurality of content sources, the at least one server streams content from the selected content source to the remote client.
34 . The system as in claim 33 , wherein the at least one server processes the content into a format and data rate required by the remote client.
35 . The system as in claim 34 , wherein the remote client accesses the network via a second network.