Systems and methods for inserting supplemental content into a quadrature amplitude modulation signal using existing bandwidth

1. A method comprising:

establishing a unicast quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal between a server and a client device for delivery of content;

identifying packetized supplemental content for delivery to the client device;

determining an amount of bandwidth available for use within the unicast QAM signal;

determining an amount of bandwidth needed for transmission of the packetized supplemental content in the unicast QAM signal;

determining whether the amount of bandwidth needed for delivery of the packetized supplemental content is greater than the amount of bandwidth available for use within the unicast QAM signal;

in response to determining that the amount of bandwidth needed for delivery of the packetized supplemental content is greater than the amount of bandwidth available for use within the unicast QAM signal, reducing a bit rate of the packetized supplemental content, thereby reducing an amount of data required to transmit the packetized supplemental content in the unicast QAM signal;

transcoding the packetized supplemental content into a supplemental QAM signal; and

inserting the supplemental QAM signal into the unicast QAM signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the unicast QAM signal comprises:

receiving, from the client device, a request for the content;

retrieving the content from a content database;

encoding the content as a QAM signal in a frequency of the unicast QAM signal; and

communicating the QAM signal from the server to the client device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a signal from the client device to insert supplemental content.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

retrieving the packetized supplemental content; and

allocating at least one of a plurality of dedicated processing devices to the packetized supplemental content.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein transcoding the packetized supplemental content comprises transcoding the packetized supplemental content using the at least one dedicated processing device.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein allocating the processing device to the packetized supplemental content comprises:

identifying a plurality of available dedicated processing devices;

determining a current workload of each of the plurality of available dedicated processing devices; and

in response to determining that a current workload of a first dedicated processing device is less than a current workload of each other of the plurality of available processing devices, allocating the first dedicated processing device to the packetized supplemental content.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein allocating the at least one processing device to the supplemental content comprises:

identifying a plurality of available dedicated processing devices;

identifying a service group to which the client device belongs;

determining whether the service group to which the client device belongs is currently being served by any of the plurality of dedicated processing devices; and

in response to determining that the service group to which the client device belongs is currently being served by a first dedicated processing device of the plurality of available dedicated processing devices, allocating the first dedicated processing device to the packetized supplemental content.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content is media content, the method further comprising:

causing the content transmitted over the unicast QAM signal to the client device to be played; and

during delivery of the content, causing the packetized supplemental content to be played.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the packetized supplemental content is a video file, and wherein reducing the bit rate of the packetized supplemental content comprises reducing an image resolution of the video file.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the packetized supplemental content is a video file, and wherein reducing the bit rate of the packetized supplemental content comprises encoding the video file using a codec that reduces the bit rate of the packetized supplemental content.

11. A system comprising:

a server; and

control circuitry configured to:

establish a unicast quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal between a server and a client device for delivery of content;

identify packetized supplemental content for delivery to the client device;

determine an amount of bandwidth available for use within the unicast QAM signal;

determine an amount of bandwidth needed for transmission of the packetized supplemental content in the unicast QAM signal;

determine whether the amount of bandwidth needed for delivery of the packetized supplemental content is greater than the amount of bandwidth available for use within the unicast QAM signal;

in response to determining that the amount of bandwidth needed for delivery of the packetized supplemental content is greater than the amount of bandwidth available for use within the unicast QAM signal, reduce a bit rate of the packetized supplemental content, thereby reducing an amount of data required to transmit the packetized supplemental content in the unicast QAM signal;

transcode the packetized supplemental content into a supplemental QAM signal; and

insert the supplemental QAM signal into the unicast QAM signal.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive, from the client device, a request for the content;

retrieve the content from a content database;

encode the content as a QAM signal in a frequency of the unicast QAM signal; and

communicate the QAM signal from the server to the client device.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a signal from the client device to insert supplemental content.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

retrieve the packetized supplemental content; and

allocate at least one of a plurality of dedicated processing devices to the packetized supplemental content.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein transcoding the packetized supplemental content comprises transcoding the packetized supplemental content using the at least one dedicated processing device.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

identify a plurality of available dedicated processing devices;

determine a current workload of each of the plurality of available dedicated processing devices; and

in response to determining that a current workload of a first dedicated processing device is less than a current workload of each other of the plurality of available processing devices, allocate the first dedicated processing device to the packetized supplemental content.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

identify a plurality of available dedicated processing devices;

identify a service group to which the client device belongs;

determine whether the service group to which the client device belongs is currently being served by any of the plurality of dedicated processing devices; and

in response to determining that the service group to which the client device belongs is currently being served by a first dedicated processing device of the plurality of available dedicated processing devices, allocate the first dedicated processing device to the packetized supplemental content.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

cause the content transmitted over the unicast QAM signal to the client device to be played;

and during delivery of the content, cause the packetized supplemental content to be played.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the packetized supplemental content is a video file, and wherein reducing the bit rate of the packetized supplemental content comprises reducing an image resolution of the video file.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the packetized supplemental content is a video file, and wherein reducing the bit rate of the packetized supplemental content comprises encoding the video file using a codec that reduces the bit rate of the packetized supplemental content.