Arris Enterprises LLC

General Instrument Corporation

Motorola Mobility LLC

Andrew Wireless Systems Gmbh

General Instrument Corporation of Delaware

Kevin S Wirick

Wendell Sun

Michael A Casteloes

Ajay K Luthra

Siu-Wai Wu

Mark L Schaffer

Todd T Kassman

James M Stowe

A method is disclosed that includes: receiving, via a network digital video recorder, a request to record requested content; receiving, via a network digital video recorder at a first time, the requested content in a first format and the requested content in a second format; storing, via the network digital video recorder, the requested content in the first format; storing, via the network digital video recorder, the requested content in the second format; deleting, from network digital video recorder, the requested content in the second format after a predetermined time period; and transcoding, via an on demand transcoder, the requested content in the first format to the requested content in a third format after the predetermined time period.A method is disclosed, including: receiving request to record content; receiving the requested content in a plurality of versions; storing the requested content; from the plurality of versions, identify mezzanine content having a first format and resolution for retaining in storage; for a remaining plurality of versions: determine at least one criterion; retain one or more versions of the remaining plurality of versions in storage until the at least one criterion is met; receiving a request for playback of the requested content to a subscriber's device; determining whether the request may be fulfilled using any stored versions of the plurality of versions of the requested content; if the version having a format and resolution corresponding to the decoding capabilities of the subscriber's device is not stored, regenerate, from a stored version of the plurality of versions, the format and resolution that corresponds to the decoding capabilities of the subscriber's device.

System and method for multiscreen network digital video recording using on-demand transcoding

A method of video encoding is provided to reduce the cost of network DVR storage by building on a concept of Just-In Time (JIT) transcoding which eliminates storing all formats of content in a DVR. A super-encoding procedure is provided that encodes a high resolution format, such as HEVC, while metadata is provided for lower resolution formats, such as MPEG4. The metadata can include items like motion vectors to reduce the computational costs during JIT transcoding. The super-encoded data is stored in memory of the DVR. High resolution encoded data is read directly out of the DVR memory, while lower resolutions are transcoded from the DVR memory data using the metadata to increase efficiency.

Efficient just-in-time transcoding by parameter extraction

A method is disclosed that includes: receiving, via a network digital video recorder, a request to record requested content; receiving, via a network digital video recorder at a first time, the requested content in a first format and the requested content in a second format; storing, via the network digital video recorder, the requested content in the first format; storing, via the network digital video recorder, the requested content in the second format; deleting, from network digital video recorder, the requested content in the second format after a predetermined time period; and transcoding, via an on demand transcoder, the requested content in the first format to the requested content in a third format after the predetermined time period.

A method of distributing video program material, includes receiving a first multi-program transport stream (MPTS) containing multiple video services and distribution constraint data specifying at least one of the video services, and creating a second transport stream that contains at least the specified video service and complies with at least one constraint specified in the distribution constraint.

Method and apparatus for constrained distribution of television program material

A method of distributing video program material includes encoding the program material in accordance with a first distribution constraint (CBR) to produce a first stream (A), encoding the program material in accordance with a second distribution constraint, which is more relaxed that the first distribution constraint, to produce a second stream (B), and employing the first and second streams to produce a third stream (C) representing differences between the first and second streams.

Method and apparatus for distributing video program material

A method and apparatus is provided for encoding a video signal stream. The method includes receiving a video signal stream, identifying a plurality of individual segments within the video signal stream and encoding, off-line, recurring ones of the individual segments that recur with at least a first frequency to produce encoded recurring segments. The video signal stream is also encoded in real-time to generate a real-time encoded video stream. Segments in the real-time encoded video stream are replaced with their corresponding encoded recurring segments to thereby produce an encoded video output stream that includes some segments encoded in real-time and other segments encoded off-line.

Hybrid video encoder including real-time and off-line video encoders

Method and apparatus for distributing a content stream from a headend to a subscriber terminal is described. In one example, the content stream is processed at the headend to generate a sequence of instances having successively staggered reference frames. A request for the content streams is received from the subscriber terminal at an initial time. In response to the request, an instance from the sequence of instances having the first reference frame after the initial time is selected. The selected instance is transmitted towards the subscriber terminal.

Method and apparatus for delivering compressed video to subscriber terminals

A method and apparatus for providing an opportunistic data capability for an existing statistical multiplexing encoder platform, such as a multi-channel video data encoder. An Opportunistic Data Processor (ODP) is provided as a plug-in card or an external device that can be interfaced with an existing multi-channel encoder. The ODP communicates with a Quantization Level Processor (QLP) and Packet Multiplexer (PM) in the multi-channel encoder as if it was just another channel encoder. The ODP implements a special rate control scheme by encoding data and sending it to the PM only when a global Quantization Level (QL) indicates that spare bandwidth is available. Spare bandwidth is assumed to be available when the global QL is less than a threshold value. Moreover, the OPD sends a bandwidth need parameter to the QLP, as do the other channel encoders. However, the ODP's need parameter is scaled by a function of the global QL to attenuate its actual bandwidth need as the global QL increases to provide smooth variations in the ODP's encoded data rate.

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Olivenhain, CA, United States of America

Kevin S Wirick