System for the Transmission of Data for Video and/or Audio in a Defined Area

Abstract

A system for the transmission of data to a plurality of user devices from one or more sources. User devices located at a receiving location having a wireless range area and provided with capability of receiving data transmitted wirelessly within the area and processing the same to allow video and/or audio generated from the received data by the user device which typically includes a user interface to allow user interaction via the device to select, from one or more available programs or program channels, a program to be viewed and/or listed to via the device. The data for the selected program is obtained from the wirelessly transmitted data so as to be available to the user device. Typically a server and processing means for the data are located at a transmitting head end of a satellite transmission system and at the receiving location there is provided at least one set of wireless data transmission apparatus. The system allows selected programs or channels in group of programs and channels to be obtained using wireless transmission apparatus in a defined range area.

Claims

1. A system for the transmission of data to a plurality of user devices from one or more sources, said user devices located at a receiving location which has a wireless range area, said user devices provided with the capability of receiving data transmitted wirelessly within said area and processing the same in order to allow video and/or audio to be generated from the received data by the user device, said user device including means to allow user interaction via the device in order to select, from one or more available programs or programme channels, a programme to be viewed and/or listened to via the device, and data for the selected programme is obtained from the wirelessly transmitted data so as to be available to that user device, and wherein a server and processing means for the said data is located at a transmitting head end of a satellite transmission system and at the said receiving location there is provided at least one wireless data transmission apparatus.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the wireless data transmission apparatus acts as a Hotspot Access Point.

3. A system according to claim 1 wherein the wireless data transmission apparatus is adapted to assist with remote feedback of status and control of the apparatus and/or devices from the head end apparatus and/or other remote control apparatus.

4. A system according to claim 1 wherein there is provided a plurality of wireless data transmission apparatus at the receiving location which are controlled by common control software and/or processing means.

5. (canceled)

6. A system according to claim 1 wherein an IP enabled Satellite Link is used to provide the Network IP connection between the wireless data transmission apparatus at the receiving location and the server and processing means at the head end.

7. A system according to claim 1 wherein at the head end server and processing means there is provided an input which allows DVB inputs for the satellite service to be input and processed and transmitted to the Wireless data apparatus at the one or more receiving locations.

8. A system according to claim 7 wherein other sources of data are utilised including any or any combination of Cable or Terrestrial TV and/or other IP video and/or audio data streams such as any, or any combination of, remote files accessed over IP networks, files stored on a hard disk connected to the server.

9. A system according to claim 1 wherein a group of available programs or channels is selected with reference to predefined criteria by a server which receives data from one or more sources and transmits the data for the said programs or channels to the remote location for onward transmission at the receiving location via the Wi-Fi apparatus to thereby make the said group to be available to the said user devices when located in the said defined area.

10. A system according to claim 1 wherein the system is scalable with reference to the number of user devices which can access content and/or a number of different geographically spaced receiving locations which receive data via the satellite transmission system from a common transmitting head end.

11. A system according to claim 9 in which the said group of available programs or channels is a subset of the programs for which data is broadcast to the server from one or more said sources in the form of any or any combination of satellite, cable, DAB, DVBT transmission sources.

12. A system according to claim 9 wherein the said predefined criteria are determined by a service provider for the defined area and/or the owner or operator of a premises within which the defined area is located.

13. (canceled)

14. A system according to claim 1 wherein Forward Error Correction (FEC) is used on the datastream for wireless transmission and/or transcoding is used to ensure that the programs occupy a known minimum wireless bandwidth.

15. A system according to claim 1 wherein the data for the said group of programs or channels is adapted into an Internet Protocol (IP) following receipt by the server and prior to transmission to the remote location in order to render the data in a preferred format for wireless transmission.

16. (canceled)

17. A system according to claim 16 wherein the adaptation includes a reduction of the bit rate at which the data is to be transmitted to the remote location.

18. A system according to claim 17 wherein the data for the programs in the said group of programs or channels is multicast wirelessly from the server and wireless transmission apparatus within the said defined area so that the data for all of the group of programs or channels is available to be selected and received by all of the user devices located within the defined area.

19. A system according to claim 1 the data from a satellite uplink is provided as a plurality of data streams over an IP satellite link using multicast IP and the additional multicast transmission of forward error correction data is provided from the uplink to the designated areas modems via the satellite IP transmission for each data stream so as to enable IP based user devices, which are primarily connected wirelessly at the designated areas, to recover any video & audio data that may have been lost during the transmission of the data over the satellite and subsequently via any wired but most typically wireless local area networks at the designated areas.

20. (canceled)

21. A system according to claim 1 wherein the said group of programs or channels changes over time with the selection of the group made with respect to specific programs or channels and the programs are provided in the same order and on selected channels as they would be provided when streamed as part of a conventional channel service.

22. A system according to claim 1 wherein a user interface is generated on the screen of each device and identifies the group of programs or channels available from the service at that time, and the user can then select to view and/or listen to one of the programs at that time if their device is within the said wireless range area.

23. (canceled)

24. A system according to claim 1 wherein the system includes a router for use in communication with the server to assist in configuring the data which is to be wirelessly provided at the defined area.

25. A system according to claim 1 wherein the same data as that required for the said group of programs which is wirelessly provided to the defined wireless range area is blocked from being transmitted via a broadband internet connection to the said area so as to prevent duplication of data being provided to the area and reduce the amount of data being carried by the said broadband internet connection.

26. A system according to claim 1 wherein there is transmission of data from the user's device to the server when the user's device is in the defined wireless range area so as to register the device at the server.

27. A system according to claim 1 wherein the wireless transmission of the said data to the user devices within the defined wireless range area is via a distribution system which is local to that area such as a Local Area Network (LAN).

28. (canceled)

29. (canceled)

30. A system for the transmission of data to a plurality of user devices from one or more sources, said user devices located within range of wireless transmission apparatus to receive data transmitted wirelessly within a defined area and processing the same in order to allow video and/or audio to be generated on the user device, said user device including means to allow user interaction via the device in order to select, from a service of one or a group of available programs or programme channels, a programme to be viewed and/or listened to via the respective user device, and wherein the said multicast group of available programs or channels is selected with reference to predefined criteria by a server which receives data from the one or more sources and wherein said server is located at a satellite uplink facility remote from the said area to transmit the data via satellite IP to the wireless transmission apparatus so as to transmit data wirelessly within the defined area.

Description

Specific embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the following Figures; wherein

[0057] FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a data transmission system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and

[0058] FIG. 2 illustrates a system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention illustrating the components utilised in the system and the respective location of the same,

[0059] FIG. 3 illustrates schematically a distribution system in accordance with the invention.

[0060] FIG. 4 graphically illustrates the manner in which the system performance can be optimised with respect to the parameters of video bit rate, tolerance to loss and latency.

[0061] FIG. 5 illustrates a user device display showing two embodiments of user interfaces;

[0062] FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of the software levels utilised to control the operation of the system; and

[0063] FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate graphically results from two trials of use of embodiments of the system

[0064] Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a satellite data transmission system of the toe which can be utilised to perform the current invention. There is provided a head end transmission station 4 at a first geographical location which is provided to allow the transmission, and receipt of data. The data which is transmitted is typically representative of a number of television and radio channels and is transmitted via satellite 6 to a plurality of locations 8 which are remote from the head end and one such receiving location is indicated but it should be appreciated that the format of each receiving location will typically be the same with each location 8 provided with a suitably directed antenna to receive the data from the satellite 6. It will typically also be possible for control and other data to be transmitted from the receiving location 8 to the head end 4.

[0065] The system in accordance with the invention is shown in more detail in FIG. 2 at which there is again shown the head end 4, satellite 6 and a receiving location which in this case is in the form of a public building such as a rail or bus terminus, but could equally be a cafe, restaurant or other relatively high density location or indeed any location at which the system as herein described would be of advantage. In accordance with the invention, at the head end 4 there are provided one, but typically a number of data sources such as DVB tuners 12 which feed data for the said television and radio channels onwards to processing apparatus and a server in accordance with the invention. Other sources can be used such as by using other tuner types or by direct IP connection.

[0066] In this embodiment the processing means include a system and network processor 14 which communicates with video processing apparatus 16 to allow adaptation of the video data prior to onward transmission to a Sat IP server 20 which is also in communication with a DRM processing means 18. The data is then passed to an FEC encoder 22 and all this is provided and the processing performed at the head end 4.

[0067] After this, the adapted data is then transmitted in a Sat IP format to be received by the one or more receiving locations 8 and typically a two way IP Satellite link is used.

[0068] At the receiving location 8 there is provided Wireless data transmitting apparatus s 24 which transmits the received data within a wireless range 26. The apparatus 24 may comprise a number of Wireless data transmitting units, perhaps provided at different parts of the receiving location 8 so as to maximise the wireless range. Each of the units will typically link to an overall controller 24 communicating back to the headend 4.

[0069] The wirelessly transmitted data represents the television and radio service which is generated from the head end and which is then made available to the users within the range 26 via their devices such as mobile phone 28 or tablet device 30.

[0070] A standard internet connection 32 is also typically provided at the remote location but this could, in addition, or alternatively, be delivered over the same IP Satellite Link 34 link as the television and/or radio data from the head end and/or by other means.

[0071] Referring now to FIG. 3 there is illustrated in broken lines an area 102, in which there is provided a wireless transmission system to provide a wireless data transmission range in which user devices 104, 106, 108 can be selectively used. A considerable number of the devices 104, 106, 108 can be used at the same time and each of which can potentially be used by the user of the device to request a programme that is to be viewed. The programme may be selected by the user from a range of programs or the programme may be to view a specific live event, such as a sports event. Due to the relatively large amount of data which is required to be transmitted via the broadband service to meet each user request, so it will be appreciated that there is a significant capacity requirement.

[0072] In order to meet the demand then, in accordance with the system as illustrated in FIG. 3 there is provided a satellite broadcast source 110 which transmits data in a conventional format to be received at an uplink location 112 which receives the data via antenna 114. The said data, which is typically a subset of the received data, such as for one programme or a subset of channels, is then selected via one or more tuners 116 to allow the required data for the service which is to be provided to the user devices to be generated.

[0073] The selected data then passes through video processing 118, Sat IP server 120 and FEC encoder 122 located at the uplink location 112. These allow the generation of data streams for onward transmission via the satellite IP uplink of multiple, typically live/real time, video & audio streams (TV channels) over an IP satellite link using multicast IP and the additional multicast transmission of forward error correction data for each stream so as to enable the IP based user devices, which are primarily connected wirelessly, to recover any video & audio data that may have been lost during the transmission of the data over the satellite and subsequent wired and /or wireless local networks.

[0074] A system and network controller 124 and Digital Rights Management controller 126 are also provided.

[0075] The selected and processed data is then passed, in conjunction with broadband internet service data 128, to a router/server 130 in a satellite IP format to an uplink transmitter 132 to a satellite IP transmitter 34. The selected and processed data is then received at one, but typically a number of different locations, via antenna and LNB 136 provided at each of the areas 102. At each of the areas the received data is passed to a satellite IP modem and router 138 and made available via the WiFi Access point 140 to the defined area 102.

[0076] Each of the user devices 104, 106, 108 can then be independently controlled to allow the user to access programme data which is available from the range which is transmitted wirelessly within the defined area 102. By providing the router/server at the satellite uplink location so the same service can be made available to a number of destinations simultaneously and at each of said destinations the same service can be received and made available for use by user devices.

[0077] In one embodiment the multicasting of data can be achieved by a set of software applications running on a Linux based PC platform which allows customization of the system for each specific use case and installation. The use of DVB-S/S2/T/T2/C tuner demodulators allow reception of broadcast TV and an IP input allows content to be taken in from IP sources whilst file inputs allow preloaded content to be played out. Transcoding of the multiple data streams can be performed if required.

[0078] As shown with reference to FIG. 4, the system is configurable to ensure optimal performance for each installation by configuring: the ratio of multicast TV/Radio streams to available Internet bandwidth, configuring the data stream quality, resolution & bitrate, configuring the Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) the FEC code rate and/r Latency in the system.

[0079] The provision of the Server allows the ingestion of content from any of the types of input and allows the processing of video and audio to change any or any combination of Video and audio codec, Video and audio quality/bitrate, Video and audio container format, Generate Forward error correction, Buffer video and audio data, Pass block of data to FEC encoder, generate stream identification signalling, advertise the stream availability, sending data out over the network, packetizing and formatting data, transmission over an IP network of any size or configuration and any underlying physical transmission medium, The client user device can each then discover and select one or more available datastreams, buffer received video, audio and FEC data, decode FEC and using received data recover any lost packets. The device can then process the received video and audio and display the video and audio vi a display screen and speakers respectively.

[0080] The user device can be used for video streaming in a suitable format such as full screen or thumbnail views as illustrated in FIG. 5 in which multi-data stream preview displays 50, 52 are generated on the screen 54 in order to allow the user to preview multiple live streams simultaneously. The system also allows the screen 54 to display a user interface display 56 which allows the generation of information to the user such as information relating to the WiFi network indication to inform user to connect to the appropriate WiFi network, and it is possible to gain feedback in the form of performance statistics and device information which can be logged to the server or to a file on the device.

[0081] The system control can be achieved using a combination of software tools and one such stack of software is illustrated in FIG. 6 where there is provided several distinct layers formed from a combination of third party and in-house developed libraries with the third party layers including Libvlc, Live555 and in house developed layers including-Bx-WiFi, Qm1Vlc, Libraptor and LibraptorRTP. The use of multiple software control layers allows sub system development and testing to be performed without affecting the operation of the remaining control system and provides flexibility for future development changes.

[0082] Trials of the system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention have been performed in partnership with the BBC in a wireless data are in the form of a large tent and over a three day period during the Edinburgh Festival and members of the public were invited to download the application onto their device. In the trial a SAT>IP WiFi hotspot was created using four WiFi access points positioned at the site and the SAT-IP server generated 2 datastreams. The results identified that 62 unique user devices had been used and 47 of those were used simultaneously with 34 unique device types being used. The trial provided evidence that the system can be used with many different devices and that the use of FEC significantly improves the data stream reliability in a real word environment and FIG. 7 illustrates graphically the trial results.

[0083] A second trial was performed in a lecture hall at the University of Hertfordshire and students in the hall at that time used an embodiment of the system of the invention in order to watch a video stream as part of the lecture. Three WiFi access points were positioned at the Hall and again 2 data streams were generated. The results of the successful trial are indicated in FIG. 8 and in this trial 138 devices were connected and used by their users to select and view one of the data streams simultaneously.

[0084] The present invention therefore provides for the transmission of multiple live/real time video & audio streams (TV channels) over an IP satellite link using multicast IP. Typically there is the additional multicast transmission of forward error correction data for each stream so as to enable IP based user devices, which are primarily connected wirelessly, to recover any video & audio data that may have been lost during the transmission of the data over the satellite and subsequent wired and wireless local networks. This therefore allows a robust multicast system to be provided to user devices in a plurality of designated areas or locations, thereby allowing live events and/or programs on one or more selected channels to be available for the user to select to view independently of any internet connection which may or may not be provided to that area or location and thereby avoid the problems of bottlenecks and/or lack of availability.

[0085] The invention therefore allows the delivery of multiple live broadcast TV & Radio channels to many mobile clients in high density public spaces while simultaneously providing general internet access. Any number of users can access the content and the system is usable in any geographical location. The use of SAT>IP allows the passing through of any data received off-air unchanged whilst the possibility that the bit rate of streams>bandwidth of the wireless IP network is avoided by using transcoding at the SAT>IP Wireless data transmission apparatus to adjust the data stream bit rate if required.