Services Gateway VOD Prepositioning and DRM Reformatting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IPTV systems face challenges in efficiently managing and distributing on-demand video content, particularly in ensuring secure access and formatting for various display devices, while also addressing content rights management and user convenience.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a services gateway that communicates with a VOD provider to preposition content, manage Digital Rights, and reformat it for different devices, ensuring secure access and user-friendly delivery through a networked system with integrated DRM and mass storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If on-demand content is streamed from a server across the network, then users can access content on-demand, but access time is delayed and network bandwidth is consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-positions VOD content to a services gateway before user requests. When content is requested, it is immediately available from the gateway without needing to be streamed from the remote server, eliminating access delays and reducing network bandwidth consumption during actual playback
2Loss of time
If content is pre-positioned at the services gateway, then immediate access is enabled, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A services gateway is introduced as an intermediary component between the VOD provider and set-top boxes. This gateway handles content pre-positioning, DRM license management, and formatted content delivery, centralizing complexity in a dedicated component rather than distributing it across the entire system
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple formats are maintained for different devices, then device compatibility is improved, but storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system stores content in multiple formats (e.g., different resolutions like 480p, 720p, 1080p) to accommodate different display capabilities. The services gateway automatically selects and delivers the appropriate format based on the set-top box capabilities, ensuring compatibility while managing storage efficiently through format-specific optimization
4Reliability
If DRM protection is implemented, then content rights are protected, but ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The services gateway automatically manages DRM license acquisition and content protection without requiring user intervention. Users simply select content to watch, and the gateway handles all DRM-related operations in the background, maintaining both security and user convenience
Data Source
AI summary
A services gateway includes a processor configured to send a request for a video-on-demand content, receive a first content stream from a video-on-demand content server, and process the first content stream to retrieve the video-on-demand content. The first content stream includes the video-on-demand content and is protected with a first digital rights management scheme. The processor is further configured to encode the video-on-demand content in a second content stream, and provide the second content stream over a local area network to a playback device. The second content stream is protected with a second digital rights management scheme. In an embodiment, the processor can be further configured to store the video-on-demand content in a mass storage.