Patent ID: 8726308

Claim:
A method of operation in a premises based multimedia communication system having a source device that receives multimedia content from a remote content source and that transmits the multimedia content to a rendering device via at least one premises communication network, the method comprising: the source device receiving data packets carrying video frames of the multimedia content from the remote content source via at least one remote delivery communication network; the source device transmitting a single copy of the data packets carrying video frames of the multimedia content to the rendering device via the at least one premises communication network utilizing a first encryption technique that includes link layer encryption, when a bit error rate compares favorably to a bit error rate threshold; the source device transmitting at least two copies of the data packets carrying the video frames of the multimedia content to the rendering device via the at least one premises communication network utilizing a second encryption technique that disables link layer encryption, but uses at least partially enabled content layer encryption, when the bit error rate compares unfavorably to the bit error rate threshold; the rendering device, when receiving the single copy of the data packets carrying the video frames, decodes the single copy of the data packets carrying the video frames; and the rendering device, when receiving the at least two copies of the data packets carrying the video frames, decodes a first copy of the video frames and upon successful decoding of the first copy of the video frames discards a second copy of the video frames, but when unsuccessful in decoding the first copy of the video frames, the rendering device decodes the second copy of the video frames.