Multicast video advertisement insertion using routing protocols

1. A method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a signal including first video material, from a video source, over a video content network, to consumer premises equipment, via a hub router, wherein said video source has a source address and wherein there is a first path length between said hub router and said video source; and

controlling, by a supplemental video material server coupled to said hub router, an insertion of supplemental video material into said signal obtained by said consumer premises equipment upon occurrence of a first triggering condition by announcing a short route metric from said supplemental video material server, said short route metric which causes said hub router to perceive a second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as shorter than said first path length, said supplemental video material server having a source address identical to said source address of said video source, such that said consumer premises equipment obtains said supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server instead of said first video material from said video source.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, upon occurrence of a second triggering condition, announcing, from said supplemental video material server coupled to said hub router, a long route metric which causes said hub router to perceive said second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as longer than said first path length, such that said consumer premises equipment again obtains first video material from said video source instead of supplemental video material from said a supplemental video material server.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said first video material is continually transmitted from said video source during the insertion of said supplemental video material into said signal.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein: said first video material comprises program material, said supplemental video material comprises advertising material, and said supplemental video material server comprises an advertisement server.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises occurrence of a certain time in a list accessible to said supplemental video material server.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises receipt of a triggering signal by said supplemental video material server.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising providing said triggering signal to said supplemental video material server from at least one of:

said video source; and

a centralized supplemental video material server.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, upon occurrence of a second triggering condition, withdrawing said announcement of said short route metric by said supplemental video material server such that said consumer premises equipment again obtains first video material from said video source instead of supplemental video material from said a supplemental video material server.

9. A system comprising:

a video source having a source address;

a video content network;

a hub router having a first path length to said video source;

consumer premises equipment coupled to said video source over said video content network, via said hub router; and

a supplemental video material server coupled to said hub router and having a source address identical to said source address of said video source;

wherein:

said video source is configured to transmit a signal including first video material, over said video content network, to said consumer premises equipment, via said hub router; and

said supplemental video material server is configured to control an insertion of supplemental video material into said signal obtained by said consumer premises equipment upon occurrence of a first triggering condition by announcing a short route metric which causes said hub router to perceive a second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as shorter than said first path length, such that said consumer premises equipment obtains said supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server instead of said first video material from said video source.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein said supplemental video material server is further configured to announce, upon occurrence of a second triggering condition, a long route metric which causes said hub router to perceive said second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as longer than said first path length, such that said consumer premises equipment again obtains said first video material from said video source instead of said supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein said supplemental video material server is further configured to announce, during said transmitting said first video material from said video source, and prior to said first triggering condition, said long route metric.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein said first video material comprises program material, said supplemental video material comprises advertising material, and said supplemental video material server comprises an advertisement server.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises occurrence of a certain time in a list accessible to said supplemental video material server.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises receipt of a triggering signal by said supplemental video material server.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein said triggering signal is provided to said supplemental video material server from said video source.

16. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a centralized supplemental video material server, wherein said triggering signal is provided to said supplemental video material server from said centralized supplemental video material server.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein said video source is located in a regional data center of an operator of said video content network.

18. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a centralized supplemental video material server which is coupled to said supplemental video material server and provides said supplemental video material thereto.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory, tangible computer readable recordable storage medium including computer usable program code, executable on at least one processor of a supplemental video material server, the computer usable program code being configured to cause said at least one processor of said supplemental video material server to control an insertion of supplemental video material into a signal including first video material obtained by a consumer premises equipment by announcing, upon occurrence of a first triggering condition, a short route metric from said supplemental video material server, said short route metric which causes a hub router coupled to a video content network to perceive a second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as shorter than a first path length, between said hub router and a video source, such that said consumer premises equipment coupled to said hub router obtains supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server instead of said first video material from said video source.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , further comprising computer usable program code configured to cause said at least one processor of said supplemental video material server to announce, upon occurrence of a second triggering condition, a long route metric which causes said hub router to perceive said second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as longer than said first path length, such that said consumer premises equipment obtains said first video material from said video source instead of said supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server.

21. The computer program product of claim 20 , further comprising computer usable program code configured to cause said at least one processor of said supplemental video material server to announce, during transmitting of first video material from said video source, and prior to said first triggering condition, said long route metric.

22. The computer program product of claim 21 , wherein said first video material comprises program material, said supplemental video material comprises advertising material, and said supplemental video material server comprises an advertisement server.

23. The computer program product of claim 21 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises occurrence of a certain time in a list accessible to said supplemental video material server, further comprising computer usable program code configured to cause said at least one processor of said supplemental video material server to access said list.

24. The computer program product of claim 21 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises receipt of a triggering signal by said supplemental video material server, further comprising computer usable program code configured to cause said at least one processor of said supplemental video material server to act upon said triggering signal.

25. An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting a signal including first video material, from a video source, over a video content network, to consumer premises equipment, via a hub router, wherein said video source has a source address and wherein there is a first path length between said hub router and said video source; and

means for, controlling, by a supplemental video material server coupled to said hub router, an insertion of supplemental video material into said signal obtained by said consumer premises equipment upon occurrence of a first triggering condition by announcing a short route metric from said supplemental video material server, said short route metric which causes said hub router to perceive a second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as shorter than said first path length, said supplemental video material server having a source address identical to said source address of said video source, such that said consumer premises equipment obtains said supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server instead of said first video material from said video source.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 , further comprising means for, upon occurrence of a second triggering condition, announcing, from said supplemental video material server coupled to said hub router, a long route metric which causes said hub router to perceive said second path length, between said hub router and said supplemental video material server, as longer than said first path length, such that said consumer premises equipment again obtains first video material from said video source instead of supplemental video material from said a supplemental video material server.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 , further comprising means for causing said first video material to be continually transmitted from said video source during the insertion of said supplemental video material into said signal.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein: said first video material comprises program material, said supplemental video material comprises advertising material, and said supplemental video material server comprises an advertisement server.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises occurrence of a certain time in a list accessible to said supplemental video material server.

30. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein at least one of said first and second triggering conditions comprises receipt of a triggering signal by said supplemental video material server.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 , further comprising means for providing said triggering signal to said supplemental video material server from at least one of:

said video source; and

a centralized supplemental video material server.

32. A supplemental video material server for coupling, via a video content network, to a hub router, consumer premises equipment, and a video source, said supplemental video material server having a source address identical to a source address of the video source, said supplemental video material server comprising:

a memory;

at least one processor, coupled to said memory; and

a tangible, computer-readable recordable storage medium, including computer usable program code, loadable into said memory and executable on said at least one processor, the computer usable program code being configured to cause said at least one processor to control an insertion of supplemental video material into a signal including first video material obtained by the consumer premises equipment by announcing, upon occurrence of a first triggering condition, a short route metric from said supplemental video material server, said short route metric which causes the hub router to perceive a second path length, between the hub router and said supplemental video material server, as shorter than a first path length, between the hub router and the video source, such that the consumer premises equipment coupled to the hub router obtains said supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server instead of said first video material from the video source.

33. The supplemental video material server of claim 32 , further comprising computer usable program code configured to cause said at least one processor of said supplemental video material server to announce, upon occurrence of a second triggering condition, a long route metric which causes the hub router to perceive said second path length, between the hub router and said supplemental video material server, as longer than said first path length, such that the consumer premises equipment obtains said first video material from the video source instead of said supplemental video material from said supplemental video material server.