Technique for providing uninterrupted switched digital video service

1. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a subscriber of a video content network offering a switched digital video service, a request to establish a new switched digital video session within a service group of said video content network, said service group comprising both preferred and standard subscribers and having a plurality of existing sessions;

determining whether adequate bandwidth is available to establish said new switched digital video session without tearing down any of said existing sessions;

responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, tearing down at least one of said existing sessions, with those of said existing sessions corresponding to said preferred subscribers being exempted from teardown,

wherein, responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, sending a ping signal to selected ones of said subscribers within said service group who have not changed channels for a predetermined time and who are not preferred subscribers, wherein said preferred subscribers are not sent said ping signal, and

requiring a manual response to said ping signal from set top terminals of said selected ones of said subscribers; and

establishing said new switched digital video session in accordance with said request.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining said preferred subscribers exempted from said teardown from among said subscribers; and

determining said selected ones of said subscribers as subscribers associated with set top terminals inactive for at least said predetermined time and who are not preferred subscribers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said determining said preferred subscribers comprises:

accessing a computerized list, said computerized list indicating preferred status of said preferred subscribers.

4. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a subscriber of a video content network offering a switched digital video service, a request to establish a new switched digital video session within a service group of said video content network, said service group comprising both preferred and standard subscribers and having a plurality of existing sessions;

determining whether adequate bandwidth is available to establish said new switched digital video session without tearing down any of said existing sessions;

responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, tearing down at least one of said existing sessions, with those of said existing sessions corresponding to said preferred subscribers being exempted from teardown,

wherein, responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, sending a ping signal to selected ones of said subscribers within said service group associated with set top terminals inactive for at least said predetermined time,

receiving an automatic response from at least one set top terminal of said preferred subscribers in response to said ping signal based on an indication of a preferred status of said preferred subscribers, and

requiring a manual response to said ping signal from at least one set top terminal of those subscribers of said selected ones of said subscribers within said service group associated with a set top terminal inactive for said at least said predetermined time and who is a standard subscriber,

wherein said at least one of said existing sessions which is torn down is associated with said set top terminal inactive for said at least said predetermined time and who is said standard subscriber, and fails to manually respond to said ping signal; and

establishing said new switched digital video session in accordance with said request.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein receiving said automatic response comprises causing said set top terminals of said preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal according to a software routine loaded onto said set top terminals of said preferred subscribers during a provisioning process, in response to accessing of a computerized list, said software routine comprising computer readable program code which causes said set top terminals of said preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said provisioning process comprises an initial provisioning process.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein said provisioning process comprises a periodic update.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein said causing of said set top terminals of said preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal comprises activating said software routine pre-existing on said set top terminals of said preferred subscribers by sending a flag thereto, in response to accessing of said computerized list, said software routine comprising computer readable program code which causes said set top terminals of said preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal upon activation by said flag.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein said at least one of said existing sessions which is torn down is with a set top terminal of one of those selected ones of said subscribers who fails to manually respond to said ping signal.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein said computerized list comprises a database of billing information.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said preferred subscribers comprise commercial subscribers and wherein said standard subscribers comprise residential subscribers.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said preferred subscribers and said standard subscribers vary by program.

13. A switched digital video control apparatus for use in a video content network offering a switched digital video service and having a service group comprising both preferred and standard subscribers, said apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to said memory, and operative to:

receive, from a subscriber of said video content network, a request to establish a new switched digital video session within the service group of the video content network, the service group having a plurality of existing sessions;

determine whether adequate bandwidth is available to establish the new switched digital video session without tearing down any of the existing sessions;

responsive to said determination indicating that the adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of the existing sessions, tear down at least one of the existing sessions, with those of the existing sessions corresponding to the preferred subscribers being exempted from teardown,

wherein responsive to said determination indicating that the adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of the existing sessions, send a ping signal to selected ones of the subscribers within the service group who have not changed channels for a predetermined time and who are not preferred subscribers, and

require a manual response to said ping signal from set top terminals of the selected ones of the subscribers,

wherein the at least one of the existing sessions which is torn down is with a set top terminal of one of those selected ones of the subscribers who fails to manually respond to said ping signal; and

establish the switched digital video session in accordance with said request.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein said at least one processor is further operative to determine the preferred subscribers exempted from said teardown from among said subscribers, and determining said selected ones of said subscribers as subscribers associated with set top terminals inactive for at least said predetermined time and who are not preferred subscribers.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising a computerized list embodied in a non-transitory manner in a tangible, computer-readable storage medium accessible to said at least one processor, said list indicating preferred status of the preferred subscribers, wherein said at least one processor is further operative to determine the preferred subscribers by accessing said computerized list.

16. A switched digital video control apparatus for use in a video content network offering a switched digital video service and having a service group comprising both preferred and standard subscribers, said apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to said memory, and operative to:

receive, from a subscriber of said video content network, a request to establish a new switched digital video session within the service group of the video content network, the service group having a plurality of existing sessions;

determine whether adequate bandwidth is available to establish the new switched digital video session without tearing down any of the existing sessions;

responsive to said determination indicating that the adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of the existing sessions, tear down at least one of the existing sessions, with those of the existing sessions corresponding to the preferred subscribers being exempted from teardown,

wherein, responsive to said determination indicating that the adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of the existing sessions, send a ping signal to selected ones of the subscribers within the service group associated with set top terminals inactive for at least said predetermined time,

receive an automatic response from set top terminals of the preferred subscribers in response to said ping signal based on an indication of a preferred status of said preferred subscribers, and

require a manual response to said ping signal from set top terminals of those subscribers of the selected ones of the subscribers within the service group associated with a set top terminal inactive for said at least said predetermined time and who is a standard subscriber,

wherein the at least one of the existing sessions which is torn down is associated with said set top terminal inactive for said at least said predetermined time and who is said standard subscriber, and fails to manually respond to said ping signal; and

establish the switched digital video session in accordance with said request.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein receiving said automatic response comprises causing the set top terminals of the preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal comprises said at least one processor to load a software routine onto the set top terminals of the preferred subscribers during a provisioning process, in response to accessing of a computerized list, said software routine comprising computer readable program code which causes the set top terminals of the preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said provisioning process comprises an initial provisioning process.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said provisioning process comprises a periodic update.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said causing of the set top terminals of the preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal comprises said at least one processor activating a software routine pre-existing on the set top terminals of the preferred subscribers by sending a flag thereto over the video content network, in response to accessing of a computerized list, said software routine comprising computer readable program code which causes the set top terminals of the preferred subscribers to automatically respond to said ping signal upon activation by said flag.

21. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein said computerized list comprises a database of billing information.

22. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said at least one processor is further operative to vary said preferred subscribers and said standard subscribers by program.

23. A set-top terminal for use in a video content network offering a switched digital video service, said set-top terminal comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to said memory, and operative to:

receive, from a head end of said video content network, a ping message requiring a response to exclude a session of said set-top terminal from a teardown; and

responsive to receiving the ping message, automatically respond to the ping message based on a preferred status of associated with said set-top terminal.

24. A method comprising:

receiving, from a subscriber of a video content network offering a switched digital video service, a request to establish a new switched digital video session within a service group of said video content network, said service group comprising both preferred and standard subscribers and having a plurality of existing sessions;

determining whether adequate bandwidth is available to establish said new switched digital video session without tearing down any of said existing sessions;

responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, tearing down at least one of said existing sessions, with those of said existing sessions corresponding to said preferred subscribers being exempted from teardown,

wherein, responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, send a ping signal to selected ones of said subscribers within said service group associated with set top terminals inactive for at least said predetermined time,

receive an automatic response from set top terminals of said preferred subscribers in response to said ping signal based on an indication of a preferred status of said preferred subscribers, and

require a manual response to said ping signal from set top terminals of those subscribers of said selected ones of said subscribers within said service group associated with a set top terminal inactive for said at least said predetermined time and who is a standard subscriber; and

establishing said new switched digital video session in accordance with said request.

25. A system comprising:

a video content network offering a switched digital video service;

a service group coupled to said video content network and having a plurality of terminals, said service group servicing both preferred and standard subscribers; and

a switched digital video control apparatus coupled to said video content network, said switched digital video control apparatus, said apparatus in turn comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to said memory, and operative to:

receive, from a given one of the subscribers, a request to establish a new switched digital video session within said service group, said service group having a plurality of existing sessions;

determine whether adequate bandwidth is available to establish said new switched digital video session without tearing down any of said existing sessions;

responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, tear down at least one of said existing sessions, with those of said existing sessions corresponding to said preferred subscribers being exempted from teardown,

wherein, responsive to said determination indicating that said adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of said existing sessions, send a ping signal to selected ones of said subscribers within said service group associated with set top terminals inactive for at least said predetermined time,

receiving an automatic response from set top terminals of said preferred subscribers in response to said ping signal based on an indication of a preferred status of said preferred subscribers, and

require a manual response to said ping signal from set top terminals of those subscribers of said selected ones of said subscribers within said service group associated with a set top terminal inactive for said at least said predetermined time and who is a standard subscriber; and

establish said switched digital video session in accordance with said request.