System and method of automated testing of a compressed digital broadcast video network

Abstract

A switched, digital high-broadband network provides automated control and in-service and out-of-testing of analog video signals, encoded and decoded real time, into MPEG 2 digitized format with a high level of security and protection of content and without attendant degradation of the analog signal sometimes experienced in satellite transmissions. The switch network, typically an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, has multiple gateways for connection to video signal sources and sinks. Each gateway includes an analog/digital video switch for receiving the video signals and distributing them to an MPEG 2 encoder for conversion into digital packets. A multiplexer is coupled to the encoder and a digital switch for inserting the multiplexed signal into the switched ATM network. The multiplexer and the digital switch encode destination address information into the digital packets to ensure proper routing. Each gateway further includes a de-multiplexer and MPEG 2 decoder connected to the digital switch for separating the digital packets from the ATM network into separate MPEG 2 streams subsequently decoded into analog video and returned to the video sinks. A command and control center is coupled to each gateway for remote testing of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint circuits; testing a switch circuit before and after the establishment of a connection to a customer; in service testing of MPEG 2 encoding content; detecting and isolating digital network problems, and off-line network testing and automating network utilization. The command and control center includes test executives which ensure the quality and availability of video traffic. The test executives run continuously run without manual intervention providing network operators with network status through user consoles.