Method and system for streamlining multimedia transmissions
View Patent ↗A customer-premises equipment (CPE) gateway and methods for operation thereof, and a multimedia server and methods for operation thereof are disclosed. The method for the CPE gateway including: (a) receiving, by the CPE gateway, a first internet group management protocol (IGMP) compliant command; (b) generating by the CPE gateway, in response to the first IGMP compliant command, a unicast command that instructs a multimedia server to generate a unicast media stream; wherein the generating including concealing multicast information from at least one IGMP compliant entity that follows the CPE gateway; and (c) transmitting, by the CPE gateway, the unicast command to the at least one IGMP compliant entity; wherein the unicast command passes through the at least one IGMP compliant entity and reaches the multimedia server.
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a first multicast command at a customer-premises equipment gateway from a separate multimedia end unit; wherein the first multicast command is directed to a multicast server that is capable of executing the first multicast command;
generating by the customer-premises equipment gateway, in response to the first multicast command, a unicast command that instructs a multimedia server to generate a unicast media stream, the unicast command being substituted for the first multicast command received from the separate multimedia end unit;
transmitting the unicast command from the customer-premises equipment gateway to the multimedia server, the unicast command reaching the multicast server and the multimedia server;
receiving a dedicated media stream at the customer-premises equipment gateway that was generated by the multimedia server, wherein at least a portion of the content of the dedicated media stream is selected to match user identification information; and
transmitting a customized dedicated media stream that is responsive to the dedicated media stream from the customer-premises equipment gateway to the multimedia end unit, the customized dedicated media stream being customized to include multicast parameters expected by the multimedia end unit.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising preventing a transmission of the first multicast command to the multicast server that is capable of executing the first multicast command.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the customer-premises equipment gateway, the unicast media stream; and
transmitting, by the customer-premises equipment gateway, to the multimedia end-unit a customized media stream that is responsive to the unicast media stream;
wherein the customized media stream is customized by the customer-premises equipment gateway in response to multicast expected parameters expected by the multimedia end unit.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a second multicast command at the customer-premises equipment gateway that instructs the multicast server that is capable of executing the second multicast command to transmit a multicast media stream to the multimedia end unit.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying a sequence numbering of at least one packet of a media stream at the customer-premises equipment gateway in response to a sequence numbering expectation of the multimedia end unit.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the multimedia end unit is a set top box.
7. A customer-premises equipment gateway, comprising:
a first interface that, when operating receives a first multicast command from a separate multimedia end unit, the first multicast command being directed to a multicast server that is capable of executing an internet group management protocol (IGMP) compliant command;
a processor that, when operating generates a unicast command in response to the first multicast command and substitutes the unicast command for the first multicast command, the unicast command instructing a video server to generate a unicast media stream;
a second interface that, when operating transmits the unicast command to at least one IGMP compliant entity, wherein the unicast command reaches the multicast server and the video server;
wherein the second interface when operating further receives a dedicated unicast media stream from the video server in response to user identification information;
wherein the first interface when operating further transmits a customized dedicated media stream to the multimedia end unit based on the dedicated unicast media stream, and wherein the customized dedicated media stream is customized by the customer-premises equipment gateway to include multicast parameters expected by the multimedia end unit.
8. The customer-premises equipment gateway of claim 7 , further adapted to prevent the first multicast command from being transmitted to the multicast server.
9. The customer-premises equipment gateway of claim 7 , wherein the processor when operating further generates a second multicast command to instruct the multicast server to transmit a multicast media stream to a multimedia end unit coupled to the customer-premises equipment gateway.
10. The customer-premises equipment gateway of claim 7 , the customer-premises equipment gateway, when operating, further modifies a sequence numbering of at least one packet of a media stream in response to a sequence numbering expectation of the multimedia end unit.
11. The customer-premises equipment gateway according to claim 7 , wherein the multimedia end unit is a set top box.
12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a first multicast command at a customer-premises equipment gateway from a video server, the customer-premises equipment gateway being separate from a multimedia end unit, and wherein the first multicast command is directed to a multicast server that is capable of executing the first multicast command;
generating by the customer-premises equipment gateway, in response to the first multicast command, a unicast command that instructs the video server to generate a unicast media stream, the unicast command being substituted for the first multicast command received from the video server;
transmitting the unicast command from the customer-premises equipment gateway to the video server, the unicast command reaching at least one multicast server and the video server;
receiving a dedicated media stream at the customer-premises equipment gateway that was generated by the video server, wherein at least a portion of the content of the dedicated media stream is selected to match user identification information; and
transmitting a customized dedicated media stream that is responsive to the dedicated media stream from the customer-premises equipment gateway to the multimedia end unit, the customized dedicated media stream being customized to include multicast parameters expected by the multimedia end unit.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising preventing a transmission of the first multicast command to the multicast server that is capable of executing the first multicast command.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, by the customer-premises equipment gateway, the unicast media stream; and
transmitting a customized media stream that is responsive to the unicast media stream to the multimedia end-unit from the customer-premises equipment gateway;
wherein the customized media stream is customized by the customer-premises equipment gateway in response to multicast parameters expected by the multimedia end unit.
15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
generating a second multicast command at the customer-premises equipment gateway that instructs the multicast server that is capable of executing the second multicast command to transmit a multicast media stream to the multimedia end unit.
16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising modifying a sequence numbering of at least one packet of a media stream at the customer-premises equipment gateway in response to a sequence numbering expectation of the multimedia end unit.
17. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the multimedia end unit is a set top box.