Patent ID: 7089577

Claim:
A process for supplying video-on-demand programs to a plurality of customers over a shared hybrid fiber coaxial cable transmission medium (hereafter HFC) of a cable TV system, comprising the steps: receiving one or more input streams of MPEG or other compressed video data in packets from one or more video servers; receiving one or more requests for video-on-demand programs transmitted by said customers over an upstream logical channel on said HFC; mapping said one or more requests to one or more program identifier codes, and sending messages to one or more video servers telling them which video-on-demand data files to output, and using said program identifier codes to cull out compressed video packets of at least requested video-on-demand programs; determining the customer from which each upstream request came; determining how many programs and/or services each customer requested from the same customer premises; looking up the number of tuners each customer has in his cable modem or gateway; determining which logical channels and subchannels are available to send requested programs and/or services; comparing the number of requested programs and/or services from each customer premises to the number of tuners in that customer's cable modem or gateway; step for culling out packets bearing data of said components of all requested video programs and/or other services from streams of packets output by servers in response to requests sent thereto, and attempting to organize and transmit packets bearing data of all components of the programs and/or services requested by a customer on a number of channels that matches the number of tuners said customer has in his or her cable modem or gateway; sending one or more downstream messages to said customers telling them which logical channels and subchannels upon which they can find their requested video-on-demand program(s) or other requested services.