Providing program restart functionality in a digital video network

• Main Authors: AZAM KHALID MOHAMMED, PALFREYMAN ANDREW, PICKENS JOHN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 13.11.2012
• Subjects: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

A technique for providing program restart functionality in a digital video network involves receiving requests from different end-user devices to restart a program and servicing the program restart requests from the different end-user devices via a single broadcast stream. In an embodiment, program restart requests that are received within an established time interval, referred to as an aggregation interval, are serviced by the same broadcast stream. Additionally, during the aggregation interval and before the program restart begins, personalized content can be provided to the end-user devices via, for example, unicasting. Once the aggregation interval is over, all of the unicast streams are switched over to the same broadcast stream and the program broadcast is restarted. In an embodiment, a switch buffer is provided just before the restarted broadcast stream in order to ensure a smooth transition from each of the multiple unicast streams to the restarted broadcast stream.