U.S. patent number RE43,207 [Application Number 12/239,620] was granted by the patent office on 2012-02-21 for decision support method for planning broadcast transmissions.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Darby & Mohaine, L.L.C.. Invention is credited to Silvia Conti, Enrico Gulfi, Marianna Salurso.
United States Patent |
RE43,207 |
Salurso , et al. |
February 21, 2012 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Decision support method for planning broadcast transmissions
Abstract
A method and system for booking and scheduling requests for
broadcast of programs by a station in which a request has at least
a program time duration and required minimum broadcast bandwidth
and the station has a fixed bandwidth broadcast capability. A
schedule is maintained of programs that have been booked for
broadcast, each booked program having a date of broadcast, time for
broadcast, time duration and broadcast bandwidth and the request is
checked against the schedule of the booked programs for
availability of the requested minimum bandwidth for the time
duration of the request. The request also can contain a specified
time and date for the broadcast. If the request can be satisfied a
notice of acceptance is sent and if it cannot, advice is given of
this and a listing of alternate times is provided at which the
request can be satisfied.
Inventors: |
Salurso; Marianna (Cassina
d'Agno, CH), Conti; Silvia (Lugano, CH),
Gulfi; Enrico (Porza, CH) |
Assignee: |
Darby & Mohaine, L.L.C.
(Wilmington, DE)
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Family
ID: |
24967794 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/239,620 |
Filed: |
September 26, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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Reissue of: |
09738390 |
Dec 15, 2000 |
7113738 |
Sep 26, 2006 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/3.01;
455/419; 455/3.03; 455/452.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
21/26216 (20130101); H04N 7/165 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04H
20/71 (20080101) |
Field of
Search: |
;455/3.01,419,3.03,452.2,3.06,418,509,452.1,510
;725/38,39,61,62,91,94,87 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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WO99/49663 |
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Sep 1999 |
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WO |
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WO00/67449 |
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Nov 2000 |
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WO |
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WO00/67449 |
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Nov 2000 |
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WO |
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Other References
European Application No. 01310260.3, European Search Report, 4
pages, Oct. 1, 2003. cited by other .
Press Release, "The Fantastic Corporation Launches v2.0 of
Industry's Only End-To-End Solutions For Broadband Multimedia," 2
pgs., Apr. 19, 1999. cited by other .
European Search Report. cited by other .
Press Release--The Fantastic Corporation Launches v2.0 of
Industry's Only End-to-End Solutions for Broadband Multimedia (2
pgs.). cited by other.
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Primary Examiner: Lee; John J
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Perkins Coie LLP
Claims
We claim:
1. A method for booking and scheduling a request made by a first
party to a second party for broadcast at a preferred time of first
party controlled program content having at least one of audio and
video information of a given time duration and having a required
minimum broadcast bandwidth to be broadcast by a station associated
with the second party and has a fixed maximum bandwidth broadcast
capability comprising the steps of: said second party maintaining a
schedule of programs that have been booked for broadcast by the
station, each booked program having a date of broadcast, time for
broadcast during the day, time duration and broadcast bandwidth;
said .[.first.]. .Iadd.second .Iaddend.party .[.submitting.].
.Iadd.receiving .Iaddend.a request for broadcast of first party
program content by the station .[.to.]. .Iadd.from .Iaddend.said
.[.second.]. .Iadd.first .Iaddend.party with the request having the
parameters of program time duration, required bandwidth and a
preferred broadcast time during one or more days of a week; and
said second party checking the request against the schedule of
already booked programs scheduled for broadcast for availability of
the requested minimum bandwidth for the time duration and preferred
time of broadcast of the request made by said first party.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of said second
party replying to the request made by a said first party by
providing a listing of times and dates that the request can be
satisfied.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the request made by said first
party further includes a certain date of broadcast and further
comprising the step of said second party replying as to whether or
not the request can be satisfied.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of replying by said
second party further comprises providing a listing of alternate
dates and times that the request made by said first party can be
satisfied if the original request of said first party cannot be
satisfied.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of said second
party replying that the request has been accepted; and uploading
the first party program content of the request to a broadcast
station.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the program content is uploaded by
said second party after receipt of the reply of the acceptance of
the request made by the said first party that made the request.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of scanning composes:
comparing the minimum bandwidth of the program request to the
difference between the fixed bandwidth and the bandwidth of any
program that has been booked.
8. The method of claim 5 wherein the program content is uploaded by
said second party only shortly prior to the time of broadcast.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of said second party
maintaining the schedule comprises maintaining a computer data file
of the booked programs of program duration, bandwidth and time and
date of broadcast, and the step of checking comprises placing the
time duration, minimum bandwidth and preferred time of broadcast of
the program content of the request made by a said first party in
computer data form, and scanning the computer data form of the
request against the data file.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein each of multiple requests of one
or more first parties for broadcast at the same time are placed in
computer data form, and the computer data form of the multiple
requests are compared to determine if the total bandwidth needed to
satisfy the multiple requests is within the maximum bandwidth
capability of the station.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the second party books multiple
requests of one or more first parties for broadcast at the same
time provided that the total bandwidth of the multiple requests
does not exceed the maximum bandwidth capability of the
station.
.Iadd.12. A method for scheduling a request made by a content
provider to a broadcaster to broadcast at a preferred time
controlled program content supplied by the content provider, the
controlled program content having at least one of audio and video
information of a given time duration and having a required minimum
broadcast bandwidth, comprising: the broadcaster receiving a
request, submitted by the content provider, for broadcast of
program content by the station to said broadcaster with the request
having the parameters of program time duration, required bandwidth
and a preferred broadcast time during one or more days of a week
the broadcaster, having an associated station that has a fixed
maximum bandwidth broadcast capability, maintaining a schedule of
programs that have been booked for broadcast by the station, each
booked program having a date of broadcast, time for broadcast
during the day, time duration and broadcast bandwidth; and the
broadcaster checking the request against the schedule of already
booked programs scheduled for broadcast for availability of the
requested minimum bandwidth for the time duration and preferred
time of broadcast of the request made by said first
party..Iaddend.
.Iadd.13. The method of claim 12 further comprising having the
broadcaster replying to the request made by said content provider
by providing a listing of times and dates that the request can be
satisfied..Iaddend.
.Iadd.14. The method of claim 12 wherein the request made by said
content provider further includes a certain date of broadcast and
further comprising the step of said broadcaster replying as to
whether or not the request can be satisfied..Iaddend.
.Iadd.15. The method of claim 14 wherein the replying by said
broadcaster further comprises providing a listing of alternate
dates and times that the request made by said content provider can
be satisfied if the original request of said content provider
cannot be satisfied..Iaddend.
.Iadd.16. The method of claim 12 further comprising having said
broadcaster replying that the request has been accepted; and
uploading the program content of the request to the
station..Iaddend.
.Iadd.17. The method of claim 16 wherein the program content is
uploaded by said broadcaster after receipt of the reply of the
acceptance of the request made by the said content provider that
made the request..Iaddend.
.Iadd.18. The method of claim 17 wherein the scanning process
comprises comparing the minimum bandwidth of the request to the
difference between the fixed bandwidth and the bandwidth of any
program that has been booked..Iaddend.
.Iadd.19. The method of claim 16 wherein the program content is
uploaded by said broadcaster only shortly prior to the time of
broadcast..Iaddend.
.Iadd.20. The method of claim 12 wherein the schedule process
comprises maintaining a computer data file of the booked programs
of program duration, bandwidth and time and date of broadcast, and
the checking process comprises placing the time duration, minimum
bandwidth and preferred time of broadcast of the program content of
the request made by a said content provider in computer data form,
and scanning the computer data form of the request against the data
file..Iaddend.
.Iadd.21. The method of claim 20 wherein each of multiple requests
of one or more content providers for broadcast at the same time are
placed in computer data form, and the computer data form of the
multiple requests are compared to determine if the total bandwidth
needed to satisfy the multiple requests is within the maximum
bandwidth capability of the station..Iaddend.
.Iadd.22. The method of claim 12 wherein the broadcaster books
multiple requests of one or more content providers for broadcast at
the same time provided that the total bandwidth of the multiple
requests does not exceed the maximum bandwidth capability of the
station..Iaddend.
.Iadd.23. An apparatus for scheduling a request made by a content
provider to a broadcaster to broadcast at a preferred time
controlled program content supplied by the content provider, the
controlled program content having at least one of audio and video
information of a given time duration and having a required minimum
broadcast bandwidth, comprising: a reception module, wherein the
reception module is configured to receive a request for broadcast
of program content by the station to said broadcaster with the
request having the parameters of program time duration, required
bandwidth and a preferred broadcast time during one or more days of
a week; a schedule module, wherein the schedule module is
configured to maintain a schedule of programs that have been booked
for broadcast by the station, each booked program having a date of
broadcast, time for broadcast during the day, time duration and
broadcast bandwidth; and a comparison module, wherein the
comparison module is configured to check the request against the
schedule of already booked programs scheduled for broadcast for
availability of the requested minimum bandwidth for the time
duration and preferred time of broadcast of the request made by
said first party..Iaddend.
.Iadd.24. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising: a reply
module, wherein the reply module is configured to reply to the
request made by said content provider by providing a listing of
times and dates that the request can be satisfied..Iaddend.
.Iadd.25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the request made by
said content provider further includes a certain date of broadcast
and further comprising the step of said broadcaster replying as to
whether or not the request can be satisfied..Iaddend.
.Iadd.26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the reply includes a
listing of alternate dates and times that the request made by said
content provider can be satisfied if the original request of said
content provider cannot be satisfied..Iaddend.
.Iadd.27. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising: an
acceptance module, wherein the acceptance module is configured to
send a reply that the request has been accepted; and upload the
program content of the request to the station..Iaddend.
.Iadd.28. The apparatus of claim 27 further including: an upload
module, wherein the upload module is configured to upload the
program content to said broadcaster after receipt of the reply of
the acceptance of the request made by the said content provider
that made the request..Iaddend.
.Iadd.29. The apparatus of claim 28 further including: a scan
module, wherein the scan module is configured to compare the
minimum bandwidth of the request to the difference between the
fixed bandwidth and the bandwidth of any program that has been
booked..Iaddend.
.Iadd.30. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the schedule means is
configured to maintain a computer data file of the booked programs
of program duration, bandwidth and time and date of broadcast, and
wherein the comparison module is configured to place the time
duration, minimum bandwidth and preferred time of broadcast of the
program content of the request made by a said content provider in
computer data form..Iaddend.
.Iadd.31. A system for booking and scheduling a request made by a
first party to a second party for broadcast at a preferred time of
first party controlled program content having at least one of audio
and video information of a given time duration and having a
required minimum broadcast bandwidth to be broadcast by a station
associated with the second party and has a fixed maximum bandwidth
broadcast capability, the system comprising: means for maintaining
a schedule of programs that have been booked for broadcast by the
station, each booked program having a date of broadcast, time for
broadcast during the day, time duration and broadcast bandwidth;
means for receiving a request for broadcast of first party program
content by the station from said first party with the request
having the parameters of program time duration, required bandwidth
and a preferred broadcast time during one or more days of a week;
and means for checking the request against the schedule of already
booked programs scheduled for broadcast for availability of the
requested minimum bandwidth for the time duration and preferred
time of broadcast of the request made by said first
party..Iaddend.
.Iadd.32. A tangible storage device whose contents cause a
scheduling system to perform operations for booking and scheduling
a request made by a first party to a second party for broadcast at
a preferred time of first party controlled program content having
at least one of audio and video information of a given time
duration and having a required minimum broadcast bandwidth to be
broadcast by a station associated with the second party and has a
fixed maximum bandwidth broadcast capability, the operations
comprising: maintaining, at the second party, a schedule of
programs that have been booked for broadcast by the station, each
booked program having a date of broadcast, time for broadcast
during the day, time duration and broadcast bandwidth; receiving a
request for broadcast of first party program content by the station
from said first party with the request having the parameters of
program time duration, required bandwidth and a preferred broadcast
time during one or more days of a week; and checking the request
against the schedule of already booked programs scheduled for
broadcast for availability of the requested minimum bandwidth for
the time duration and preferred time of broadcast of the request
made by said first party..Iaddend.
Description
.Iadd.CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION.Iaddend.
.Iadd.This patent application is a reissue application for commonly
assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,113,738, issued from U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 09/738,390, filed on Dec. 15,
2000..Iaddend.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a scheduling and booking method and
system to assist broadcast service providers in defining broadcast
schedules of programs of different types from a number of program
content providers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In present day communications, broadcast service providers are a
group of businesses that broadcast programs, such as sports,
cartoons, news, documentaries, etc., to public subscribers via
media such as a cable system or a satellite network. The broadcast
service providers own and operate the facilities from which the
broadcasts originate. Construction and operation of these
facilities usually involve substantial capital investment. To
recoup the investment and make a profit, the broadcast service
providers charge fees for the use of their facilities.
Traditionally, broadcast service providers operate their businesses
by renting-broadcast network capacity to content providers, i.e.,
organizations that create or aggregate content for the
business-to-business or consumer market. Content providers can be
produCers of virtually any type of program content, such as sports
events, drama and comedy shows, business training material,
education courses, infomercial, data, etc. Network capacity is
basically defined as the amount of capacity (bandwidth) that the
operator controls for a facility, this usually being measured in
Kbit/sec. The bandwidth typically is a fixed quantity which is a
function of the broadcast medium, such as wire or fiber optic cable
and satellite. Also, the broadcast service provider often can only
operate over a given bandwidth as assigned by a Governmental
agency, such as the Federal Communications Commission in the United
States. The bandwidth is usually available to the broadcast service
provider to rent on a 24 hour per day basis, but this also may be
subject to Government regulations and contractual provisions.
Thanks to the availability of network management technology,
broadcast service providers have been able to subdivide network
capacity and rent single portions (called "transponder space") to
content providers to broadcast their material, usually for the
ultimate purpose of producing revenue for the content provider. The
transponder space rented can be a certain amount or all of the
bandwidth available to the broadcast service provider for a certain
period of time. For example, a broadcast server provider may have
available a 1 megabit/sec capacity and the content provider needs
only 200 Kbit/sec to broadcast his content for a one hour time
period. Thus, the broadcast server provider has 800 Kbit/sec space
to rent to one or more other content providers for the same time
period.
Typically, a content provider has had to sign a rental contract
commitment (booking) for a considerable amount of network capacity
over a long period of time (for example, several hundred hours of
100 Kbit/sec capacity to be used over a six month period). This
often required a substantial up front monetary investment by the
content provider. The practice of requiring a substantial up front
payment and broadcast time commitment was based on the need of the
broadcast service providers to secure the business of content
providers by contractually binding their customers.
The evolution of content authoring and content management
technologies, such as being able to produce content by computer and
with a reduced number of people, has created a number of small and
medium-size content provider organizations that produce and need to
distribute the content that they produce. Such providers would like
to benefit from the advantages offered by broadband broadcast
networks in distributing the content, but cannot afford the
investment required to rent a full or a substantial part of the
full transponder space of a broadcast service provider. Also, the
long term contractual approach makes it difficult, if not
impossible, for content providers with limited financial resources
to access the broadcast networks needed to distribute their
content.
Due to competition and the advances in technology, the prices of
selling transponder space are falling, thereby eroding a main
revenue stream of the broadcast service providers. Thus, the
broadcast service providers are looking for new ways to increase
their revenue. The new market of energizing content providers
represents an interesting financial opportunity for broadcast
service providers. To accommodate this, the broadcast service
providers must try to restructure their businesses to rent a
maximum amount of their network capacity, such as by being able to
sell pieces of available transponder space to numerous content
providers.
Accordingly, a need exists to accommodate both the new type of
content providers and the broadcast service providers in being able
to address this new segment of business in a manner that provides
benefits to each. This requires proper scheduling of the to
available transponder space and booking of the program requests
from the various content providers.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/046,901 filed Mar. 24, 1998
(PCT WO 99/49663), entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BROADCAST
TRANSMISSION OF MEDIA OBJECTS," which is assigned to the assignee
of the subject application and whose entire disclosure is
incorporated herein by reference, discloses a new broadband
broadcast platform system that supports advanced network management
features. The system and method of that application, hereafter
called CECTM, assembles content from a number of different content
providers, for example, news and infomercials, as well as all other
types of content, and provides for distribution of the content at
different times of broadcast depending upon the needs of the
content provider in the distribution of a particular program. That
is, the programs have different durations, require different
network capacity and are scheduled for broadcast at different
times.
For example, a content provider may want to rent only the network
capacity (transponder space) required for one single content
transmission, e.g., 128 Kbit/sec, during 50 seconds on a given
date. Such a request does not require the need of a long-term
rental contract. Through the CECTM a content provider can directly
define a broadcast plan by specifying transmission specific
parameters such as program desired, start and stop time, required
bandwidth and transmission priority. Transmission priority is
usually assigned by negotiation between the broadcast service
provider and content providers, depending on factors such as price
charged for the transponder space at a desired program broadcast
time. For example, a content provider pays a low price when he
agrees to have his program broadcast at any free time of the
network capacity. Such a program would have a low transmission
priority as compared to a program guaranteed to be broadcast at a
specific time for which the content provider pays a higher rate.
Also, priority can be assigned by time of broadcast since the
number of potential subscribers available to view a program depends
on this, e.g., evening prime time hours as compared to early
morning hours.
By using features of the CECTM management system, the broadcast
service provider can define new business models based on parameters
such as volume of transmitted content, transmission time, content
type and number of subscribers. These parameters can be combined to
define the cost of broadcast services offered to content providers.
For example, the broadcast service provider can decide to charge
content providers based on the volume of content transmitted,
regardless of transmission time. Alternatively, a higher charge
could be applied if the content is transmitted during prime time
hours, i.e., a time during which traffic tends to be more
intense.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a scheduling and booking system
and method to be used interactively between content providers who
wish to rent transponder space and a broadcast service provider who
operates a facility having a defined channel capacity over which
programs are to be broadcast. In accordance with the invention, the
broadcast service provider operates a computer system that
maintains a schedule of programs that are booked for transmission.
The schedule includes the program parameters of duration and
bandwidth required for transmission, as well as the date and time
of transmission.
A content provider who wishes to rent transponder space to
broadcast a program submits a request to the broadcast service
provider, which request includes at least the program duration and
required bandwidth. The request also can include additional
parameters, such as a specific time of day for the broadcast and
broadcast date.
The system checks the request against the programs already booked
for broadcast and advises if the request can be satisfied or
rejects the request because of an existing booking. The check made
is to determine if the bandwidth is available, this being the
difference between the maximum channel capacity and the bandwidth
of already booked programs, is sufficient to accommodate the
bandwidth needed for the requested program. It is possible that the
broadcast channel capacity can accommodate transmission of two (or
more) programs at the same time so long as the maximum channel
capacity is not exceeded.
If the request also designates specific time and date parameters
for the program broadcast, the check can be made specific to such
designated times and dates. If a request is accepted, meaning that
it can be satisfied, a reply confirmation is generated and the
program request is booked on the schedule.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, if a request cannot be
satisfied, the system generates a list of available alternative
times and dates that can satisfy the request. The party making the
request can select one or more of the available alternatives and
resubmit the request. The process of checking the new request
against the program booked is repeated and a reply is given whether
the new request has been accepted or rejected. If accepted, a
confirmation is given and, if rejected, another list of
alternatives is provided.
The invention provides a system and method for maintaining a
schedule for a broadcast service provider which is able to book or
reject additional program broadcast requests based on the available
channel capacity and can accommodate scheduling based on a request
of program duration and required bandwidth and time and date of
broadcast. The invention can be configured to schedule program
transmissions from requests made by a plurality of content
providers, to maintain a schedule of programs to be transmitted
based on program duration and required transmission bandwidth, to
accommodate requests for transmission of other programs within the
maximum channel capacity of a broadcast station, and to determine
if a request of a program broadcast from a content provider can be
satisfied based on the duration and bandwidth of the program as
compared to programs already booked by a broadcast service
provider.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other feature, objects and advantages of the present invention will
become more apparent upon reference to the following specification
and annexed drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a typical broadcast
system;
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a broadcast plan;
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing various transmission parameter
requirements;
FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams of broadcast satisfaction
requirements;
FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the system and method; and
FIG. 7 is a diagram of a scheduler station and broadcast
center.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 shows the overall concept of a broadcast system that
provides assistance to content providers when planning the
distribution of multimedia content to one or more end-user devices
22 over a broadcast network 20. The end-user devices 22 can be any
one of a television receiver, personal computer, Web-TV appliance
or similar device. The devices 22 receive signals over the network
20 which can be a cable, telephone wires, satellite, or
conventional AM or FM broadcast. The receiver 22 is compatible with
the network and can include any necessary converter box or
circuitry. All of this is conventional.
In FIG. 1, as an illustrative example, a content provider (not
shown) desires to request the distribution of certain of its
program content. It does this by issuing a broadcast request using
a scheduler application (described below) from a scheduler station
14 connected locally or remotely to a broadcast center 16. The
scheduler station 14 can be a computer available to the content
provider that provides access to the broadcast center 16. This can
be done, for example, on the Internet, by modem, or by dedicated
line. The broadcast center 16 includes, or is connected to
activate, the necessary transmission equipment (not shown), e.g.,
satellite link transmitter, TV or cable transmitter, etc.
The broadcast center 16 includes the necessary apparatus for a
scheduling and booking system, described below, to manage use of
the bandwidth available on the broadcast network 20. The broadcast
request made by the content provider from the scheduler station 14
includes information used by the scheduling and booking system to
determine the availability of the requested exact time or other
times for transmission of the content. The system operates to
determine a transmission time for each broadcast request of a
content provider and ensures that at no time will the amount of
bandwidth requested exceed the total amount of bandwidth available
at the broadcast network 20. This equipment includes a computer of
the necessary capacity that operates with an application program to
perform the scheduling and booking process, as described below.
This booking process uses the interaction between the booking
system at the broadcast center 16 and the request made by a content
provider through the scheduler station 14. This is described in
FIGS. 3 6.
FIG. 2 shows a broadcast plan of a broadcast service provider, that
is, the schedule of programs booked to be broadcast from the
broadcast center, for a brief period of time. The plan can include
content from one content provider or an assembly of content from
different providers. FIG. 2 shows only the time layout plan. As
seen, over certain periods of time of one day, e.g.. from 15:10 to
about 15:20, there are blocks of time for program transmission of
both sport news and stock market updates. The two different
programs are broadcast at the same time but on different portions
of the bandwidth spectrum available to the broadcast service
provider. At a later time, shown as about 15:30, a stock market
update is broadcast at the same time as the sports news and
continues over from about 16:00 to 16:05 with world news. Another
stock market update is to be broadcast from about 16:20 to about
16:46 together with the world news which continues to about 16:45.
The remainder of the program content is similarly analyzed show to
somewhat past 16:00.
The broadcast plan of FIG. 2 is kept by the computer of the
broadcast service provider over a period of time limited basically
only by the capacity of the booking system computer. That is, there
is a schedule of all of the programs booked for transmission by the
network. This will include many programs of different duration and
having different bandwidth requirements. The broadcast service
provider must keep the schedule on an accurate up-to-date basis and
assure that adequate bandwidth is available for all booked
programs.
FIG. 3 shows the broadcast transmission parameters of a sample
program. This is the information of the request that is transmitted
by the scheduler user 14 to the scheduling and booking system at
the broadcast center 16. The information is:
TABLE-US-00001 content: e.g. sport news (optional) duration-30
minutes (required) bandwidth required-260 kbit/sec (required)
requested broadcast interval start 15:05 (required) end 16:00
where start and end are meant to include date and time. The
requested broadcast interval RBI is the time interval specified by
the scheduler user during which he or she expects the content to be
sent out. As described below in connection with FIG. 6, the booking
system attempts at step 105 to determine if the transmission can be
executed during the RBI. If not, at step 107, alternative
transmission times outside the RBI are examined and, if any are
found, they are proposed to the scheduler user. It should be
understood that the RBI is at least as long in time as the required
transmission duration, but otherwise can be of any length. A long
RBI indicates that the user has ascribed a lower priority to the
requested transmission because it permits the booking system to
schedule the transmission far into the future.
The goal of the scheduling and booking system at the broadcast
center 16 is to verify the availability of broadcast resources in
order to accommodate the scheduler user request into the broadcast
center.
In the example shown of sports news, the broadcast start and end
times are arranged in such a way that the broadcast takes place in
the time frame requested by the scheduler user, e.g., start time
15:05 and end time 16:00. The open ended start and end lines could
give to the request a lower priority and a lower pricing rate,
since the broadcast service provider can satisfy the request at any
time that bandwidth is available.
FIG. 4 shows the checking of whether or not a broadcast request can
be satisfied. Here, the request that is to be checked is the world
news, shown in a dotted (time) block R, with the duration, here in
a requested start-end time period, on the horizontal axis. The
height of the block R represents the bandwidth required to
broadcast the program.
Shown below the program request block R are the already scheduled
program content blocks S, with the time being on the horizontal
axis and bandwidth (vertical height of the blocks on the vertical
axis). The information of each of the blocks S, the schedule of the
already accepted booked requests, is already stored in the booking
system computer.
In FIG. 4, the total available bandwidth of the broadcast service
provider is shown between the two horizontal lines A and B. If no
program has been booked for a particular time period, the space
between lines A and B would be empty. The space F above each booked
program block S to the line B indicates the bandwidth that is free
and can accept one or more additional programs for broadcast. As
can be seen, because of its required bandwidth, the program request
R can be satisfied only during the time period of the middle one of
the already scheduled blocks S. This is not sufficient to satisfy
the request which requires a longer time duration.
FIG. 5 shows a situation where the same duration and bandwidth
request R as in FIG. 4 is made for the same time but perhaps on a
different situation. Here, the request R can be satisfied during
the time period from about 16:00 to 17:15 since there is available
bandwidth. The request also could be satisfied starting about 15
minutes earlier, but the requested broadcast interval does not
start so early.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the operation of the system and method.
In S101 the content provider defines one or more broadcast requests
and the associated parameters. As a minimum the request includes
program duration and the bandwidth required for broadcast. The time
of broadcast and desired date also can be provided. The content,
e.g., news, sports, etc., preferably is also provided for
information purposes. if the content provider does not know the
required bandwidth, a sample of the content can be sent to the
broadcast center for analysis. It should be noted that a broadcast
request can be made minutes, hours, days, weeks or months in
advance of the actual broadcast. Also, the actual content to be
broadcast even may not be available at the time the request is
made. In fact, the content is not required to be available until
actual broadcast time.
A broadcast request preferably is entered in a standard format this
is understood by the computer of the scheduler 14 and the booking
system. Typically, the scheduler has a data entry screen with
fields in which to enter the various request parameters. In S103,
the broadcast request is sent to the booking system by the
scheduler station 14. A number of requests can be sent in serial
form as a batch transmission.
The booking system receives the requests in S105. Each request is
checked in S107 for the availability of bandwidth over the required
program time duration and usually during a requested specified time
frame (start and end time). This is described with respect to FIGS.
4 5. A request for a specified time can be made to be satisfied for
only one day or for any fixed number of days. That is, a schedule
is kept in the booking system computer and is consulted for each
request made. If the requested required bandwidth for the program
duration is open, so that the transmission can be executed as
requested, the booking system in S109 books the request and informs
the scheduler station accordingly. The content provider receives
the confirmation of the booking of his request and stores it in
S111.
If the transmission cannot be executed as requested, because the
time has already been booked and/or there is not enough bandwidth
available, as explained in FIGS. 4 5, the system determines in S121
and S123 if the request can be properly executed at a different
time. In order to find alternate transmission times the booking
system extends its checking of the program transmission duration
and bandwidth requested by the content provider through the
scheduler station. That is, when a request has been rejected and a
set of available alternate times/dates is to be generated, the
computer takes the request R and checks it against the booked
programs S on the schedule over a period of time. This can be
before or after a requested time. The schedule is the booked
programs, each with a start and end time, along a horizontal time
line and the bandwidths of the programs in the vertical direction
as shown in FIGS. 4 5. The program request (FIG. 3) is scanned
against this schedule data set to see what time and dates are
available to accommodate it (see FIGS. 4 5). The booking system can
be programmed to seek alternate broadcast times in any format,
e.g., for certain times of any one or more days (Monday to Sunday),
at given times during the day, and to the end of a calendar date.
These factors also can be specified in the request.
If no alternate transmission time is found, in S125 the booking
system rejects the broadcast request and informs the scheduler
station 14 who receives the notice in S127. The content provider
typically would then seek another broadcast service provider.
If alternate transmission times are possible to satisfy the
request, in S131 the booking system sends a list of these to the
scheduler station 14. In S133, the alternate time or times are
proposed, such as on a display, to the user at the scheduler
station for consideration by the user. In S135 if the user accepts
one of the suggested alternatives, this acceptance is sent as a new
request to the booking system where it is again checked for
availability and booked in S137. A confirmation is sent to the user
in S139 and the program is booked for transmission.
While not shown in FIG. 6, the cancellation of a booked program
also can be accommodated. That is, if a content provider wishes to
cancel a confirmed and booked request, assuming it is permitted to
do this under terms of the booking contract, a cancellation notice
is sent from the scheduler station 14. The booking program removes
the program time that has been booked and this is again made
available for booking to satisfy a new request. It should be
understood that each confirmation typically is assigned and
identification number with which the booking is associated. The
system computer can use this number to easily identify the specific
parameters of the booking to be cancelled.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention (see FIG. 7), the
scheduler station 14 allows the content provider user to define the
broadcast plan off-line. For that purpose, the scheduler station
includes a local database 42 that stores broadcast requests before
they are submitted to the booking system in the broadcast center
16. As mentioned above, broadcast requests can be defined and
submitted before the corresponding content is available. The basic
information necessary for making the request, the minimum bandwidth
required and content size, that is, the length of time of the
program. The content type, e.g., audio/video streaming, file, data
streaming also is usually provided as information to the broadcast
service provider. Other information can be submitted such as
preferred broadcast times (start-stop) and dates.
The program content has to be transferred to the broadcast center
16 before the transmission is supposed to start. Content can be
uploaded to the broadcast center in two different ways as shown in
FIG. 7:
1. The content provider sends the actual program content 46 from
the scheduler station 14 upon reception in either S111 or S139 of a
confirmation of the broadcast request. The content provider can
transfer the associated content to the broadcast center by any
suitable medium, such as over any standard TCP/IP (Internet)
connection designated as an uploader 48. The content is stored at
the broadcast center 16 until it is needed for broadcast.
2. The network operator, i.e., broadcast service provider, working
directly at the broadcast center can load the content on the
content repository of the broadcast center and make it available to
the content provider.
The foregoing embodiments demonstrate methods and devices
implemented and contemplated by the inventors in making and
carrying out the invention. While the invention has been
particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred
embodiments thereof, the embodiments are not intended to be
exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed
herein. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that
various changes in form and detail may be made therein without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Numerous
equivalent methods, devices, and techniques may be employed to
achieve the same result. Similarly, any process steps described may
be interchangeable with other steps in order to achieve the same
result. It is intended that the scope of the invention is defined
by the following claims and their equivalents.
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