Patent ID: 8352990

Claim:
A system for processing a broadcast stream, carrying video channels and an electronic program guide (EPG) information, and for distributing same over a local area network to a plurality N of subscriber terminals (STs), the system comprising: (a) a plurality of N broadcast tuners, each broadcast tuner being configured for tuning in a respective one of the video channels of the broadcast stream; (b) an EPG tuner for extracting the EPG information from the broadcast stream; and (c) a multichannel proxy module, comprising: (i) a live conversion system for buffering and processing said tuned-in video channels, comprising: (i-1) a media buffer, operatively coupled to the N broadcast tuners and configured to buffer respective media payloads for the tuned-in video channels, the media buffer being indexed for each tuned-in video channel; (i-2) a realtime processing module for providing normal play and trick play functions for each respective video channel, including processing the respective media payloads, the realtime processing module comprising a plurality of N realtime processing function units; (i-3) an output buffer configured to accumulate a predetermined number of media packets contained in the media payloads for transmission to the respective STs in a form of network packets; wherein the media buffer and the output buffer are partitioned into respective N sections assigned to a respective one of the N realtime processing function units; (ii) an EPG conversion sub-system for converting the EPG information into a format suitable for transmission over the local area network; and (iii) a streaming control sub-system for transmitting each buffered and processed video channel to a corresponding ST and for controlling the normal play and trick play functions of said buffered and processed video channel by the ST.