Multicast Metadata Stream for IP Network Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication network systems are inefficient and costly due to time-consuming content searches and resource wastage from establishing unicast channels for each user requesting multimedia content.
Innovation Solution
Multicasting multimedia data streams and real-time metadata via an IP network to user devices, allowing for efficient delivery of content and policy-based information, such as user preferences, content provider policies, and service provider policies, through a metadata stream.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If unicast channels are established for each user requesting content, then content delivery is achieved, but resource efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple unicast content delivery channels into a single multicast channel. Instead of establishing separate unicast connections for each user requesting the same content, the system combines these requests and delivers content through one shared multicast channel, thereby improving resource efficiency while maintaining reliable content delivery to all users.
Solution Approach 2:
The multicast channel serves multiple users simultaneously, making it universal in its function. A single channel can deliver content to any number of users who have joined the multicast group, replacing the need for multiple dedicated unicast channels and thus improving resource utilization.
2Loss of information
If content searches are performed at centralized and distributed locations, then content matching user requests is identified, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing multicast channels for content and pre-generating metadata describing available content. When users request content, the system leverages these pre-prepared resources rather than performing searches from scratch, significantly reducing search time while maintaining accurate content identification through the pre-generated metadata.
3Productivity
If multiple unicast channels are established for content delivery, then content reaches multiple users, but network resource usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate content delivery streams into a single multicast stream. Instead of maintaining separate unicast channels for each user, the system combines these into one multicast channel that efficiently delivers content to multiple users simultaneously, reducing overall network resource consumption while preserving the ability to serve multiple users.
Data Source
AI summary
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.