Patent ID: 11924521
Assignee: TIME WARNER CABLE ENTERPRISES LLC
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 6:
7. Computerized network apparatus comprising:
first data interface apparatus, the first data interface apparatus configured to receive a plurality of transport streams (TS) each comprising a plurality of packetized content from a network;
second data interface apparatus, the second data interface apparatus configured to communicate with a plurality of computerized client devices within the network; and
digital processor apparatus, the digital processor apparatus in data communication with the first data interface apparatus and the second data interface apparatus and configured to execute at least one computer program thereon, the at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions configured to, when executed by the digital processor apparatus, cause the computerized network apparatus to:
receive data representative of a request for packetized digitally rendered content, the request originated from a first one of the plurality of computerized client devices;

utilize at least the data representative of the request to determine whether to provide the requested packetized digitally rendered content to the first one of the plurality of computerized client devices as at least one of: a new unicast stream thereto, or multicast stream switched into one of the plurality of TS delivered to the computerized network apparatus as an updated TS;
based on a determination that the requested packetized digitally rendered content will be provided to the first one of the plurality of computerized client devices as the multicast stream switched into the one of the plurality of TS delivered to the computerized network apparatus as the updated TS, cause the first one of the plurality of computerized client devices to join the multicast stream via receipt of the updated TS;
identify and re-format the requested packetized digitally rendered content from the updated TS into a format capable of being utilized by the first one of the plurality of computerized client devices; and
cause delivery, via the multicast stream, of the requested packetized digitally rendered content to the first one of the plurality of computerized client devices.