Personalized content
A media switch enables a terminal to access content by receiving a content request from a terminal for a first piece of content to be distributed over a cable system, identifying a personal channel within resources available in the cable system to distribute the first piece of content to the terminal, transmitting access information to the terminal to enable the terminal to access the first piece of content through the personal channel, and interfacing with a cable headend to provide the first piece of content on the personal channel.
1. A method of providing multimedia content to a terminal device, the method comprising the following operations performed by one or more processors:
providing a channel over a network to distribute multimedia content to a terminal device;
transmitting, from a media switch to the terminal device, reusable access information associated with the channel;
determining whether there is adequate bandwidth to transmit the multimedia content;
determining whether more than one user has requested the multimedia content and if more than one user has requested the multimedia content, coordinating the transmission of the multimedia content so that the users share the same frequency or PID pair;
transmitting, from the media switch to a network device, the multimedia content in a compressed format and encapsulated with a data unit wrapper;
detecting at least one of a user command or a pause command from the terminal device; and
replying, based on scheduling of the multimedia content, to the detected user command.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reusable access information includes a process identification number.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reusable access information identifies a baseband frequency and a channel pairing.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the transmitting is performed by multiplexing the channel on the baseband frequency.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by determining a mapping of content into the channel as a frequency or PID pair.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by accessing a configuration database describing the frequency or content mapping.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by managing reception of an IP stream or other transport stream with the requested content.
8. An apparatus, comprising:
a storage device that stores a set of instructions; and
at least one processor coupled to the storage device, the set of instructions configuring the at least one processor to:
provide a channel over a network to distribute multimedia content to a terminal device;
transmit, from a media switch to the terminal device, reusable access information associated with the channel;
determine whether there is adequate bandwidth to transmit the multimedia content;
determine whether more than one user has requested the multimedia content and if more than one user has requested the multimedia content, coordinating the transmission of the multimedia content so that the users share the same frequency or PID pair;
transmit, from the media switch to a network device, the multimedia content in a compressed format and encapsulated with a data unit wrapper;
detect at least one of a user command or a pause command from the terminal device; and
reply, based on scheduling of the multimedia content, to the detected user command.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the reusable access information includes a process identification number.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the reusable access information identifies a baseband frequency and a channel pairing.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor transmits at least one of the reusable access information or multimedia content by multiplexing the channel on the baseband frequency.
12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by determining a mapping of content into the channel as a frequency or PID pair.
13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by accessing a configuration database describing the frequency or content mapping.
14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by managing reception of an IP stream or other transport stream with the requested content.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
providing a channel over a network to distribute multimedia content to a terminal device;
transmitting, from a media switch to the terminal device, reusable access information associated with the channel;
determining whether there is adequate bandwidth to transmit the multimedia content;
determining whether more than one user has requested the multimedia content and if more than one user has requested the multimedia content coordinating the transmission of the multimedia content so that the users share the same frequency or PID pair;
transmitting, from the media switch to a network device, the multimedia content in a compressed format and encapsulated with a data unit wrapper;
detecting at least one of a user command or a pause command from the terminal device; and
replying, based on scheduling of the multimedia content, to the detected user command.
16. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the reusable access information includes a process identification number.
17. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the reusable access information identifies a baseband frequency and a channel pairing.
18. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by determining a mapping of content into the channel as a frequency or PID pair.
19. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by accessing a configuration database describing the frequency or content mapping.
20. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by managing reception of an IP stream or other transport stream with the requested content.