System and method for providing a private mosaic

1. A method for providing video data for a privately defined channel selection mosaic, said method comprising:

defining at least one base layer channel from among a group of video channels, wherein said group of video channels includes candidate channels for selection as private mosaic preview channels;

creating a dependency mapping of said group of video channels, said dependency mapping comprising a binary tree having said at least one base layer channel as a root node and succeeding branches comprising preview channels most likely to be viewed by viewers of a preceding preview channel;

defining each of said preview channels of said succeeding branches as an enhanced layer channel;

defining at least one data block in at least one depending frame of said enhanced layer channel as depending on at least one similar data block in at least one base frame of said preceding preview channel;

encoding from said group of video channels as an encoded group of video channels based on hierarchical synchronized video encoding, wherein encoding said group of video channels based on hierarchical synchronized video encoding comprises encoding said enhanced layer channel as a function of said preceding preview channel, and wherein encoding said enhanced layer channel as a function of said preceding preview channel comprises encoding said at least one depending block of said at least one depending frame of said enhanced layer channel as a function of said at least one similar data block of said at least one base frame of said preceding preview channel; and

transmitting said encoded group of video channels to at least one private mosaic user device for assembly of said privately defined channel selection mosaic.

2. The method according to claim 1 and also comprising grouping said group of video channels based on viewing profiles as indicated by statistical analysis of viewing statistics.

3. The method according to claim 1 and also comprising grouping said group of video channels based on similarity of video data broadcast on video channels in said group of video channels.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein said group of video channels is definable by at least manual input.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

scaling broadcast data from said encoded group of video channels as required for said privately defined channel selection mosaic.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said transmitting is via at least one of a satellite, cable or an IP connection.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein said encoding is performed with multi-view video compression (MVC).

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said encoding using said hierarchal synchronized video encoding comprises encoding said group of video channels into a single video stream.

9. A private mosaic generation system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to execute instructions stored in said memory, said instructions comprising:

defining a base channel from among a group of candidate channels for selection as private mosaic preview channels;

creating a dependency mapping of said group of candidate channels, said dependency mapping comprising a binary tree having said base channel as a root node and succeeding branches comprising preview candidate channels most likely to be viewed by viewers of a preceding preview candidate channel;

defining each of said preview channels of said succeeding branches as an enhanced channel;

defining at least one data block in at least one depending frame of said enhanced channel as depending on at least one similar data block in at least one base frame of said preceding preview channel;

encoding from said group of candidate channels as an encoded group of candidate channels based on hierarchical synchronized video encoding, wherein encoding said group of candidate channel based on hierarchical synchronized video encoding comprises encoding said enhanced channel as a function of said preceding preview channel, and wherein encoding said enhanced channel as a function of said preceding preview channel comprises encoding said at least one depending block of said at least one depending frame of said enhanced channel as a function of said at least one similar data block of said at least one base frame of said preceding preview channel; and

transmitting said encoded group of candidate channels to at least one private mosaic user device for assembly of a privately defined channel selection mosaic.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said instructions further comprising determining which of said encoded group of candidate channels is to be defined as said base channel and which of said encoded group of candidate channels is to be defined as said enhanced channel depending on said base channel.

11. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said instructions comprising:

routing said encoded group of candidate channels for encoding from a data stream of broadcast data; and

setting a desired resolution for each of said group of candidate channels and to tune and scale associated videos in accordance with a desired resolution.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein said encoding comprises using MVC encoding.

13. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said encoded group of candidate channels is transmitted via at least one of satellite, cable or an IP connection.

14. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said system is part of a broadcast headend.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a set of instructions which when executed perform a method comprising:

defining a base channel from among a group of candidate channels;

creating a dependency mapping of said group of candidate channels, said dependency mapping comprising a binary tree having said base channel as a root node and succeeding branches comprising preview channels most likely to be viewed by viewers of a preceding preview channel;

defining each of said preview channels of said succeeding branches as an enhanced channel;

defining at least one data block in at least one depending frame of said enhanced channel as depending on at least one similar data block in at least one base frame of said preceding preview channel;

encoding from said group of candidate channels based on hierarchical synchronized video encoding, wherein encoding said group of candidate channel based on hierarchical synchronized video encoding comprises encoding said enhanced channel as a function of said preceding preview channel, and wherein encoding said enhanced channel as a function of said preceding preview channel comprises encoding said at least one depending block of said at least one depending frame of said enhanced channel as a function of said at least one similar data block of said at least one base frame of said preceding preview channel; and

transmitting said encoded group of candidate channels to at least one private mosaic user device for assembly of a privately defined channel selection mosaic.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein said group of candidate channels are encoded into a single video stream.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein said encoding is performed with multi-view video compression (MVC).

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein said method further comprising scaling broadcast data from said encoded group of candidate channels as required for said privately defined channel selection mosaic.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein said group of candidate channels are grouped based on similarity of video data broadcast on video channels.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein said group of candidate channels are grouped based on viewing profiles as indicated by statistical analysis of viewing statistics.