Patent ID: 9225762
Filing Date: 2015-12-29
Classification: H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method of streaming Over-the-Top (OTT) content on a network to subscribers, comprising: obtaining via unicast streaming a digital video transport stream of an item of the OTT content, the digital video transport stream being of a resolution and bit rate selected from an available set of different resolutions and bit rates for the digital video transport stream; transmitting the digital video transport stream of the selected resolution and bit rate in an Internet Protocol (IP) multicast stream over the network to subscribers; monitoring bandwidth utilization of the network during the obtaining and transmitting operations to control switching of the bit rate to a different bit rate for the digital video transport stream during the obtaining and transmitting operations to provide adaptive rate control of the IP multicast stream by retrieving the digital video transport stream via the unicast streaming at the different bit rate, wherein unicast pulls associated with the unicast streaming of the digital video transport stream from a server at a headend of the network are switched to a streaming file of a higher bit rate when the monitored bandwidth utilization of the network is below a lower bandwidth utilization threshold and the unicast pulls are switched to another streaming file of a lower bit rate when the monitored bandwidth utilization of the network exceeds an upper bandwidth utilization threshold.