Cloud Infrastructure for Customized TV Channel Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for creating customized television channels are uneconomical, unwieldy, and unable to scale with demand, requiring significant investments in physical hardware, software, and equipment for each new linear workflow.
Innovation Solution
Leveraging a cloud infrastructure to create customized television channels by transferring and processing digital content, allowing for the creation of multiple formatted versions that can be stored and assembled into customized distribution channels using a manifest manipulator, enabling customization on a per-region or end-customer basis without the need for traditional infrastructure investments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a TV Channel Operator creates a new linear workflow for each customized TV channel, then the customization capability is improved, but the infrastructure investment and device complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple linear workflows into a single cloud-based processing platform. Multiple content sources and customization workflows are consolidated into a unified cloud infrastructure that serves all customized channels from a shared resource pool, eliminating the need for separate physical infrastructure per channel.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses digital copying of content and workflow configurations in the cloud rather than physical duplication of hardware. Customized channels are created by copying and configuring digital workflow templates in the cloud infrastructure, allowing unlimited customization without proportional increases in physical infrastructure.
2Reliability
If traditional linear workflows are used for each customized channel, then content delivery is reliable, but the system cannot scale with demand
Solution Approach 1:
The cloud infrastructure is designed as a universal platform that can handle multiple customization scenarios and content delivery requirements simultaneously. A single cloud-based system provides multi-functional capabilities to serve different channel customizations, regions, and devices through standardized APIs and processing pipelines.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional linear workflow model to a multi-dimensional cloud-based architecture that adds temporal and spatial dimensions. Content can be processed, stored, and delivered across multiple time zones and geographic regions simultaneously through the cloud platform, enabling global scaling without linear infrastructure expansion.
3Productivity
If physical hardware and equipment are invested in for each customization, then the content processing capability is improved, but the cost and time for deployment increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cloud infrastructure performs preliminary content processing, formatting, and validation in advance before content needs to be delivered. Content is pre-processed and staged in the cloud, so when a customized channel request comes in, the content is already prepared and can be quickly assembled and delivered without lengthy processing delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical physical hardware systems with software-based cloud processing. Instead of investing in physical encoders, splicers, and playout equipment for each customization, the system uses virtualized software workflows in the cloud that provide equivalent or superior processing capabilities without the associated hardware costs and deployment times.
Data Source
AI summary
Creating a customized channel of content. A cloud infrastructure receives digital content, such as television show, advertisement, and the like, transmitted over an Internet Protocol (IP) network from a local broadcaster or channel owner. A plurality of formatted versions of the digital content is stored in a content repository in the cloud infrastructure. Each of the plurality of formatted versions differs from the others based on one or more of: an encoded bit rate, resolution, and frame rate; each of the plurality of formatted versions are aligned at a same fragment boundary. A manifest manipulator, deployed in the cloud infrastructure, creates the customized channel by selecting a particular sequence of fragments stored in the content repository and transmitting the particular sequence of fragments on the customized channel. The customized channel may be transmitted via a plurality of different propagation mediums.