Multicast Channel Mapping for Set-Top-Box-Free TV Content Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Frequent failures of TV set-top boxes and content streaming devices in multi-room, multi-unit facilities like hotels and office buildings result in increased costs and inconvenience, necessitating a centralized content distribution system that eliminates the need for additional intelligent hardware in each room.
Innovation Solution
A centralized content selector switch receives requests from remote control devices via a separate communication path, maps them to RF video channels, and delivers content directly to TVs without requiring additional devices by using a multicast network channel to RF video channel conversion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If set-top boxes and content streaming devices are deployed in each room, then content delivery capability is improved, but device complexity and maintenance costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the intelligence and content selection capabilities from individual room devices (set-top boxes) and consolidates them into a centralized content selector switch. The remote control devices retain only basic control functions, while the centralized switch handles content retrieval, channel mapping, and multicast distribution, thereby reducing device complexity in each room while maintaining content delivery capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple set-top box functionalities into a single centralized content selector switch that serves the entire facility. By combining content selection, channel mapping, and distribution functions into one device, the system reduces the number of intelligent hardware components needed while improving overall system efficiency and reducing maintenance requirements.
2Adaptability or versatility
If intelligent hardware is installed in each room, then content selection capability is improved, but maintenance costs and failure risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes intelligence from vulnerable distributed devices and concentrates it in a protected centralized location. The content selector switch, housed in a secure facility room, performs all content selection and distribution functions, eliminating the need for each room to have its own intelligent hardware that could fail or require maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized content selector switch acts as an intermediary between the content sources and the display devices in each room. It receives content requests from remote controls, retrieves content from various sources, and distributes it via multicast to the appropriate rooms, thereby maintaining content selection capability without requiring intelligent hardware in each room.
3Device complexity
If remote control devices communicate over the content distribution network, then communication simplicity is improved, but network performance and content delivery reliability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the communication paths by separating control traffic from content distribution traffic. Remote control devices communicate with the content selector switch over a dedicated control network (such as WiFi or Ethernet), while content is distributed over the cable or satellite distribution network. This segmentation prevents control signals from interfering with content delivery and ensures both communication channels operate optimally.
Solution Approach 2:
The content selector switch serves as an intermediary that receives control requests from remote devices over the control network, processes these requests, and then retrieves and distributes content over the content distribution network. This intermediary role allows the system to maintain separate communication paths, improving both the simplicity of control and the reliability of content delivery.
Data Source
AI summary
A content selector switch selects, based on a received request for content from a particular remote control device, a multicast network on which to provide the requested particular content. Each multicast network channel of the plurality of multicast network channels is mapped to a respective video channel and each remote control device in the facility (e.g., hotel) is mapped to a respective video channel that the TV controlled by the remote control device stays tuned to. The content selector switch performs the selection by identifying which remote control device in the facility sent the request and selecting the multicast network channel that is mapped to the RF video channel the identified remote control device is mapped to. The content selector switch then provides the specific content on the selected multicast network channel to a multicast-to-channel output device that provides the content on the RF video channel for the TV tuned to that RF video channel to display.