Patent ID: 8544048

Claim:
A method for receiving audio and visual programming content, comprising at a client receiver: receiving a transmission schedule for a plurality of content, wherein the plurality of content is comprised of both a plurality of channels of linear content and a plurality of nonlinear content, the transmission schedule indicating transmission methods selected from the set broadcast and unicast of content in the plurality of content, wherein the transmission schedule is based on one or more of (i) at least one preference of one or more users associated with the client receiver; (ii) a cost of broadcast transmission versus unicast transmission of content; (iii) an identified available broadcast transmission capacity; and (iv) a demand for the plurality of channels of linear content and the plurality of nonlinear content; and selectively capturing, in accordance with the transmission schedule and the at least one preference of one or more users associated with the client receiver, a first content and a second content from the plurality of content, wherein the first content is received via a broadcast transmission, and the second content is received by a unicast transmission, wherein the first content and the second content correspond to different programs; wherein the transmission schedule is created using a cost function represented by Cost ⁡ ( Schedule ⁢ ⁢ S ) = ∑ i ∈ Broadcast ⁡ ( s ) ⁢ B ⁡ ( i ) * D ⁡ ( i ) * [ ⅇ ⁢ ⁢ t ⁢ ( i , S ) - tU ⁡ ( i ) ) tau ⁡ ( i ) ⁢ i ] + ∑ i ∈ Unicast ⁡ ( s ) ⁢ U ⁡ ( i ) × D ⁡ ( i ) wherein S represents a schedule, Cost(Schedule S) represents the cost assigned to the schedule, ∑ i ∈ Broadcast ⁡ ( s ) covers a plurality of audiovisual contents scheduled for broadcast transmission in schedule S, ∑ i ∈ Unicast ⁡ ( s ) covers a plurality of audiovisual contents scheduled only for unicast transmission, “i” represents an asset, D(i) represents the fractional demand for an audiovisual content, B(i) represents the cost of broadcast of the audiovisual content, U(i) represents the cost of unicast distribution of the audiovisual content, t(i,S) represents the time that the audiovisual content is scheduled for broadcast transmission by the schedule, tU(i) represents the target time at which the audiovisual content should be broadcasted, and tau(i) represents a time constant.