EP0746158B1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Scalable interactive multimedia server system
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1996-05-14
•
Granted: 2001-08-08
•
Expires: 2016-05-14
Abstract
No abstract record available.
Inventors
- 👤 Thomas J. Dewkett
- 👤 William Todd Boyd
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 15:20
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/21; H04N21/23; H04N7/00; H04N7/14; H04N7/141; H04N7/148; H04N7/16; H04N7/173; H04N7/17309; H04N7/17336
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
322 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices (109) connected
to a network (108), comprising: a host computer system (101 - 104) for monitoring the MM
distribution system, a plurality of MM adapters (106), the MM distribution system characterized by said plurality of MM adapters connected to the host
computer system by an I/O bus (105), each MM adapter containing one or more MM controllers
(302), each MM controller containing a separate
controller bus (405) connected to an MM processor (401),
said controller bus also being connected to said I/O bus, one or more MM pairs (409) connected to the controller
bus, each MM pair including a single disk adapter (303) and a
single network adapter (304), the disk adapter connected
to one or more disk drives (107) for receiving data
blocks read from selected disk drives, graphical data
files being stored on the disks, and data blocks in a
requested data file being read directly from each
selected disk to the disk adapter, said MM pair comprising a separate pair bus (402) in each
MM pair for directly receiving the data blocks received
by the disk adapter and for directly transmitting the
data blocks to the network adapter and said disk adapter
and said network adapter connected via said pair bus with
said controller bus, the network adapter in each MM pair directly distributing
the data blocks from the pair bus to the network, each
data block being addressed to any viewing-control device
requesting a data file containing the data block, and means in each viewing-control device for issuing
interactive commands through the network to the network
adapter to control characteristics of data reception of
the requested data file being transmitted to the
viewing-control device, and certain ones of said interactive commands received by
said network adapter being forwarded to said MM processor
via said controller bus for processing.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
89 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 1, the command means at the
viewing-control device comprising means for generating a control block having a field for
containing a command being requested by the
viewing-control device, and means for sending the control block through the network
to the connected network adapter and transferring the
control block to an associated MM processor for the MM
processor to receive the command.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
59 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 1, further comprising the viewing-control devices being set-top-boxes (STBs)
connected to viewing devices respectively comprising
television (TV) sets, and commands being keyed into the STBs by viewers of the TV
sets.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
45 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 1, further comprising at least some of the graphical data files containing both
audio and visual information.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
41 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 2, further comprising movies comprising at least some of the graphical data
files.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
68 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 1, further comprising I/O channels in the host computer system connecting the
MM adapter bus to the host computer memory, commands from any viewing-control device being sent to
the network adapter and forwarded to the connected MM
processor for processing.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
109 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 2, further comprising a start command being sent through the network to the
connected network adapter and being transferred and
interpreted by the MM processor and forwarded to the host
computer system for determining authorization by the
viewing-control device to receive a data file requested
by the start command, and the host computer system
signalling, in case it does not grant an approval, the MM
processor that the requested data file is not to be sent
to the requesting viewing-control device.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
113 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 2, further comprising a start command being sent through the network to the
connected network adapter and being transferred and
interpreted by the MM processor and forwarded to the host
computer system for determining authorization by the
viewing-control device to receive a data file requested
by the start command, and the host computer system
signalling the MM processor that the requested data file
is to be sent to the requesting viewing-control device
because an attached viewing device is found authorized to
receive the data file.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
92 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 8, further comprising a stop command being sent through the network to the
connected network adapter and being transferred and
interpreted by the MM processor and forwarded to the host
computer system for processing transmission-termination
information for the viewing-control device, and the host
computer system signalling the MM processor to stop
reading and sending blocks of the requested data file to
the viewing-control device.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
105 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 2, further comprising a next-block command being sent by the viewing-control
device to the MM processor before a last block received
by the viewing-control device has been completely
transmitted by the viewing-control device to the TV set,
and the MM processor responding to the next-block command by
transmitting any next block in the data file for
reception by the viewing-control device before the last
block has been completely transmitted by the
viewing-control device to the TV set.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
82 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 2, further comprising a next-block command being sent by the viewing-control
device to the MM processor to request a next data block
when each data block is received and stored in a buffer
at the viewing-control device while a last-received data
block is being read and processed by the viewing-control
device from another buffer.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
100 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 10 or 11, further comprising
the MM processor testing for no last block being
available from the data file in response to receiving
each a next-block command as part of the processing of
the command by the MM processor, and the MM processor inserting a data file end signal in the
command and sending the command to the host computer
system for termination processing of the data file for
the viewing-control device.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
105 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 2, further comprising a viewing-control command being sent by the
viewing-control device through the network to the
connected network adapter and being transferred to the MM
processor to request a change in the viewing presentation
at the viewing-control device, and the MM processor controlling a selected disk to select
the next block in a data file to be sent to the
viewing-control device according to a control indication
put in the command-control block by the viewing-control
device.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
120 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 13, further comprising a fast-forward command indication being provided in a
command control block sent through the network to the
connected network adapter and being transferred to the MM
processor as the viewing-control command, the MM processor receiving the fast-forward command and
controlling a selection of a forward data block by
forward incrementing the data file by a predetermined
number of data blocks from a last data block transmitted
to the viewing-control device, and the MM processor continuing transmission of the data file
to the viewing-control device from the forward data
block.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
121 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 13, further comprising a fast-backward (rewind) command indication being
provided in a command control block sent through the
network to the connected network adapter and being
transferred to the MM processor as the viewing-control
command, the MM processor receiving the fast-backward command and
controlling a selection of a backward data block by
backward incrementing the data file by a predetermined
number of data blocks from a last data block transmitted
to the viewing-control device, and the MM processor continuing transmission of the data file
to the viewing-control device from the backward data
block.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
117 words
A hierarchical multimedia (MM) distribution system for
supporting "on demand" control of graphical data files
being received by viewing-control devices connected to a
network as defined in claim 13, further comprising a pause command indication being provided in a command
control block being sent through the network to the
connected network adapter and being transferred to the MM
processor as the viewing-control command, the MM processor receiving the pause command terminating
further transmission of any data block in the data file
to the viewing-control device until a no-pause command is
received from the viewing-control device, and the viewing-control device repeating a reading of data
from a buffer for a last picture displayed by an
associated viewing device.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.