The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 02, 2010
Filed:
Oct. 25, 2007
Yun Zhang Pei, Beijing, CN;
Ling Shao, Beijing, CN;
Dong Xie, Beijing, CN;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A channel merging method for a VOD system, said method comprises the steps of: in response to requests from a plurality of clients for a video program, establishing a root channel (S) and at least one sub-channel (S), said root channel (S) being established according to a request from a client that makes the earliest request, each of said sub-channels (S) being established in response to a request from a client that makes a later request; and monitoring variation of the number of the clients that are using each of said established channels, and maintaining the channel if the number of the clients using the monitored channel is not zero, and closing the channel if the number of the clients using the monitored channel becomes zero.