At&t Intellectual Property I, L.p.

Mark W Altom

Douglas M Nortz

Robert Sayko

David J Segelstein

David Crawford Gibbon

Behzad Shahraray

Andrea Basso

Han Q Nguyen

Thomas Joseph Killian

Juan A Garay

Sunil Maloo

Herani Soewarto Brotman

John H Zink

Susan Feit

David Parisi

Steven J Solomon

A system for delivering content over a network includes a server. The server is configured to divide the content into multiple segments, to create multiple data streams using the segments of the content, and to transmit each of the data streams via a respective multicast session, wherein a copy of each of the multiple segments is transmitted during a single time slot of the multicast session.

System and method for delivering content over a multicast network

A system for providing multicast distribution of incrementally enhanced content is disclosed. The system may include encoding content by utilizing an incremental layer encoding algorithm to generate a low resolution base stream for content and one or more incremental streams for the content. The incremental streams may each have higher resolutions than the base stream. The system may provide the base streams and one or more of the incremental streams to a client device based on available bandwidth and based on the capabilities of the client device. Each of the streams of content may be provided to the client device by having the client device connect to one or more multicast sessions. As the streams are accessed by the client device, the client device may combine and decode the base streams, along with any accessed incremental streams, to obtain the content at an available resolution.

Multicast distribution of incrementally enhanced content

A plurality of multimedia data streams that are being provided via an internet protocol (IP) network is received, wherein each multimedia data stream carries multimedia content. Real-time metadata relating to the plurality of multimedia data streams is generated based on the multimedia content. The metadata is provided in real-time in a metadata stream to a plurality of user devices, via the IP network. The plurality of multimedia data streams may be multicast within the IP network. The metadata may be multicast in real-time in a metadata stream to a plurality of user devices, via the IP network.

System and method for providing information to users of a communication network

An end user computer is assigned a multicast content distribution group by a network service intelligence platform. The network service intelligence platform authenticates a token sent by the user and signed by a third part content controller, and provides the user with credentials for joining the group. The credentials include an authorization key as well as identifications of the user and the requested content. The credentials are encrypted and authenticated by the third party content controller. The user includes the encrypted and authenticated credentials in a join request sent to a network resource, such as an edge router. After verifying the credentials, the network resource adds the end user computer to the multicast group.

Authorization, authentication and accounting protocols in multicast content distribution networks

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Martinsville, NJ, United States of America

Mark W Altom