Abstract:
The disclosure is directed to a system and method for recovery of a broadcast source. Television data is received from the source and encoded. The encoded television data is stored by either (1) appending the encoded television data to programs on a data storage or (2) overwriting an oldest program with the encoded television data if the data storage does not have capacity to append. The source is monitored for a broadcast failure. As long as the broadcast source is operational, television data is received, encoded, and stored. Once a broadcast failure is detected, selected programs on the data storage are decoded and broadcast. This decoding and broadcasting continues until the broadcast failure at the broadcast source is repaired.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/787890, filed Mar. 31, 2006. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    The disclosure is directed to a method and process for recording broadcast signals, such as cable television signals, onto a storage device to provide a source of program content for the broadcast system in the event of a failure within the broadcast system resulting in a loss of one or more broadcast signals. The system can be configured to replay recorded content until the problem in the broadcast system is resolved. 
         [0003]    Broadcast system failure is a term often used to describe a technical failure that forces an unexpected halt in the transmission of programming. The technical failure can be the result of a subsystem failure at the broadcast system facility, or it can be the result of a larger or regional failure such as a loss of electricity. Broadcast system failure is a tremendous concern for operators of broadcast system facilities. Broadcast failure during commercials or sponsorships can cost the operators of the broadcast facility a considerable amount of revenue. Further, broadcast failure can cause viewers to lose confidence in the broadcast system and to switch their attention to other broadcast stations. 
         [0004]    A system is needed to ensure continuous broadcast of scheduled programming, in the event of a broadcast system failure. In addition to providing a system for continuous broadcast of scheduled programming, it is desirable that the system not require additional staff, be non-intrusive, and be easily be integrated into the existing broadcast system. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    This disclosure relates to a system for providing dynamic recovery for a broadcast facility in the event of a technical failure that leads to a disruption of programming. The disclosed examples include several advantages. Among these advantages is a system that provides continuous broadcast of scheduled programming in the event of a broadcast system failure. In addition, the system does not require additional staff, is non-intrusive, and can easily be integrated into the existing broadcast system. 
         [0006]    In one aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method for recovery of a broadcast source. The method includes receiving television data from the broadcast source and encoding the television data. The encoded television data is stored on a data storage by either (1) appending the encoded television data to programs on the data storage if the data storage includes capacity to store the encoded television data, or (2) overwriting an oldest program with the encoded television data if the data storage does not have capacity to append. The broadcast source is monitored for broadcast failure. As long as the broadcast source is operational, the method continues to receive television data, encode the television data, and store the encoded television data until broadcasting failure is detected. Once a broadcast failure is detected, the method decodes a selected program on the data storage and broadcasts the selected program. This decoding and broadcasting selected programs on the data storage continues until the broadcast failure at the broadcast source is repaired. 
         [0007]    In another aspect, the disclosure is directed to a system suitable for recovery of a broadcast source. The system includes a data storage device, an encoder/decoder module, an interface, and a system controller. The encoder/decoder module includes encoder and decoder circuit boards and is coupled to the data storage device. The encoder/decoder module selectively receives and encodes television data into a selected format to create encoded television data, and presents the encoded television data to the data storage device. The interface receives selected inputs provided to the system including information related to a broadcast failure at the broadcast source. The system controller is coupled to the encoder/decoder module, the data storage device, and the interface. The system controller monitors data flow through the encoder/decoder module, organizes the storage of data within the storage device, and receives inputs from the interface. Upon the broadcast failure, the system controller effects a system mode change such that selected encoded television data on the storage device is decoded in the encoder/decoder for broadcast until the broadcast failure is repaired. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  shows an example recovery system of the present disclosure. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a more detailed view of an example of the recovery system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0010]      FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  are schematic illustrations of example data structures within an example of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating an example method of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0012]    This disclosure relates to a system for providing recovery for a broadcast television facility in the event of failure that leads to a disruption of the transmission of programming. The disclosure, including the figures, describes the system with reference to illustrative examples. Other examples are contemplated and are mentioned below or are otherwise imaginable to someone skilled in the art. For example, the term television should not be construed to mean only analog or digital broadcasts through typical transmissions such as off-air, cable, and satellite. Rather, the term television can include any transmittable video including video available from websites, Internet protocol television (IPTV), and others. The scope of the invention is not limited to the few examples, i.e., the described embodiments of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is defined by reference to the appended claims. Changes can be made to the examples, including alternative designs not disclosed, and still be within the scope of the claims. 
         [0013]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a dynamic disaster recovery system  10  is shown schematically. The system includes a number of cooperating sub-systems or modules including: a system control module  12 ; an input/output module  13 ; an encoder/decoder module  14 ; a data store  15  and a user interface  17 . 
         [0014]    Television data from a broadcast source (not shown) enters into the system at the input/output module  13  as raw data and is then routed into the encoder/decoder module  14 . There the data is encoded into a suitable format which compresses the data into files or segments which are then stored in a data storage device  15 . The encoding format is typically one for which public standards exists such as modified MPEG-2 but any number of other suitable encoding formats could be used, as long as they meet the system requirements of encoding speed, image quality and data compactness. The television data encoded includes audio as well as video data and further includes all extra information from the originating broadcast signal associated with the vertical blanking interval (VBI). 
         [0015]    The data storage device  15  is preferably a magnetic hard disk drive of sufficient capacity and data transfer speed to handle the data flow requirements of the system. In one embodiment the data storage device can be a hard disk array or RAID (redundant array of independent disks) that can provide a higher level of operating performance and reliability. Although only one encoder is shown as a component of the encoder/decoder module  14 , multiple boards operating in parallel can be used. In a preferred embodiment two encoder boards each capable of encoding two separate television data streams are employed giving the system a recording capacity of four independent television channels. 
         [0016]    When system  10  is operating in a recording mode, encoded television data is continuously recorded onto storage device  15 . The system initially generates a growing archive of broadcast material until a preset limit is reached whereupon subsequent encoded television data is recorded on top of the oldest data stored and thereby erasing it. The result is a dynamic archive of television material containing the most recent material broadcast. 
         [0017]    The system control module  12  monitors the flow of data through the encoder/decoder module  14 , organizes the storage of data within storage device  15  and manages the operational mode of the system with input from a human system operator through a user interface  17 . The user interface may be affected through the Internet, intranet, or World Wide Web (WWW) enabling remote control and monitoring of the disaster recovery system  10 . 
         [0018]    If there is a failure of the broadcast system and subsequently a loss of input television data into the disaster recovery system  10 , the control module  12  will effect a change of mode from recording television data to playing out television data stored on storage device  15  to the broadcast system. Encoded television data stored on storage device  15  will be sent to the encoder/decoder module, decoded, and transmitted to a transmission or uplink facility where it will be used as a broadcast signal to provide programming content until the time when the failure of the broadcast system is repaired and the original programming signal restored. At that point, system control module  12  will effect a change of mode back to encoding and recording television data onto storage device  15 . In a preferred embodiment the encoder/decoder module contains two decoder cards, each capable of decoding one channel, thereby enabling the disaster recovery system to provide two channels worth of television content simultaneously. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  shows the system control module  12  in more detail. A configuration module  22  is connected via a central control module  20  to a user interface  17 . The configuration module  22  can be controlled by users to set the operating parameters of the system including the number of encoders and decoders active within the system, the number and location of data storage devices, the total amount of encoded material to be stored on the storage devices, and the parameters affecting television decoding and play-out such as at what point among the archived material to start play-out and the duration of a play-out cycle. Record management module  24  is connected via central control module  20  to monitoring and switching module  28  from which it receives metadata describing the television material being encoded by the encoder/decoder module  14 . This metadata could include content description, time-code information or other data associated with the broadcast signal and is used to organize the storage of encoded television data. Additionally the metadata could include time-stamp data originating from the central control module  20 . 
         [0020]    Play-out control module  26  is activated by a signal from the central control module  20  and controls the flow of data from storage device  15  to encoder/decoder module  14 . Concurrent to the activation of play-out control module  26 , monitoring and switching module  20  is activated by central control module  20  that then switches the decoder to active status and the encoder to passive status. 
         [0021]    While the system is encoding and recording data, the monitoring and switching module  28  transmits metadata to the record management module  24  and an operating status signal to central control module  20 . If there is a failure of the broadcast system and television data is not being received and encoded by encoder/decoder module  14 , the status signal received by central control will indicate the system failure and a message will be sent to the user interface  17  announcing the failure and prompting a switchover from recording mode to play-out mode. A user would then press or click a button on the interface to effect the switch over to decoding and play-out. In an alternative embodiment, a user could be monitoring the status of the broadcasting system by watching a video display of the broadcast programming and affecting the switchover when the failure of the programming signal is visually observed. In yet another embodiment, the central control module automatically effects a switchover when a failure status signal is received from the monitoring and switching module. 
         [0022]    Turning now to  FIG. 3   a , the data structure  30  of encoded television data stored on storage device  15  is represented schematically. The data is an aggregation of individual segments  32 , each of which is sequentially identified by metadata  34 . The data represented is n segments arranged chronologically from 1 to n, with 1 representing the first data segment to be received and encoded and n representing the last segment to be received. The number of segments, n in this case, reflects the total amount of data storage specified by the configuration module that in turn was set by a user of the system through user interface  17 . The data segments are shown as being of equal size, or duration, but this need not be the case. The data segments could be, for example, program content segments of 5-10 or more minutes duration or they could be individual advertisements of 30, 45 or 60 seconds duration.  FIG. 3   b  illustrates the order in which individual data segments are replaced by newer data segments when the total storage limit of n has been surpassed and new segments are encoded and recorded. 
         [0023]    When the system is switched from record to play-out mode, the play-out control module will indicate which data segment will be the first to be sent to the encode/decode module for decoding and play-out. If the system has been configured to play-out all the stored material starting from the oldest, the situation depicted in  FIG. 3   b  would result in data segment  4  being sent first for decoding. This need not be the case, because the configuration module allows flexibility in the scheduling of the play-out material. For example, the system could be configured to start play-out at the start of the oldest completely stored program, or at the start of the first available advertisement prior to the start of the oldest completely stored program. Alternatively, the play-out can be configured relative in time to the failure of the broadcast signal, for example decoding and play-out could be configured to start with the segment recorded precisely 2 hours before the signal failure. Once activated the play-out can be configured to play-out for a preset duration of time or can be configured to play-out in a continuous loop until the problem from the originating broadcast site is resolved. 
         [0024]      FIG. 4  is a simplified flow chart illustrating the main steps in both the recording and playout modes of the inventive method of providing back-up broadcasting means in the event of a failure at a main broadcasting facility. The method ensures that there is always sufficient recent content available which can be rebroadcast to satisfy the immediate needs of a broadcasting organization. The method further ensures that once activated the playout of the back-up content will continue with minimal human intervention until the problem at the main broadcasting facility is resolved. 
         [0025]    In the method of  FIG. 4 , the system  10  receives television data  100  in the example through module  13  and then encodes the data  110  with module  14 . If the data storage  15  is has not reached capacity with stored encoded programming  120 , the module  12  causes the incoming programming to be appended to “the end” of the previously encoded and recording programming  130  on the storage  15 . If at step  120 , the data storage has reached capacity, the incoming programming is written over the oldest stored contents  140  on the storage  15 . This continues as long as the main broadcast facility supplying the programming continues broadcasting  150 . Once the main broadcast facility stops broadcasting, generally from a failure, the next item of programming, according to the playout list, is retrieved from storage  15  and decoded  160  with module  14 . This decoded programming is then provided to a transmitter for broadcast  170 . The system also checks to see whether the main broadcast facility is again operational, and continues to decode the next items on the playout list and transmit the decoded items until the main facility is operational.