WO2001002974A1 - Decentralized internet-based program production system - Google Patents

Abstract

A decentralized network for the high-quality transmission of live or prerecorded interactive Internet-based programs such as shows, classes, and meetings to a virtually unlimited number of clients any place in the world. At least one bi-directional repeater/aggregator (12) communicates between a server (10) and one or more clients (16-20) for receiving the program content from the server (10) and re-broadcasting the content to a plurality of clients (16-20), and aggregating data from the plurality of clients (16-20) and sending a composite thereof to the server (10). The server (10) is programmed to fold the composite input presented by each repeater/aggregator (12, 14) into a picture of the total audience response.

Description

DECENTRALIZED INTERNET-BASED PROGRAM PRODUCTION SYSTEM

This application derives from and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application

No. 60/142,655, filed July 6, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

It will be assumed that the reader is familiar with basic Internet technology. To the

extent that explanatory information is required, the reader is referred to How The Internet

Works by Preston Galla (1997, Ziff-Davis Press) and Computer Networks and Internets by

Douglas Comer (Second Edition, 1999; Prentice-Hall, Inc.), the contents of which are hereby

incorporated by reference.

The production of Internet- based program content and producer information can be

thought of as consisting of two types of signals: (1) the audio and video content of the

program itself (hereinafter, the "A/V content") and (2) commands. The A/V content is

typically sent to the client over the Internet as streaming video and streaming audio. Because

audio and video content contain a large amount of information, streaming techniques typically

compress the content, and transmit die compressed content to the client in IP packets using

UDP protocol. Unlike the TCP protocol typically used to transmit text, UDP does not

constantly check to see if data has been received by the client, and does not resend packets if

they are lost in the course of transmission to the client. The loss of video information (e.g., an

occasional frame) or audio information is acceptable and is frequently minimally detectable by

the viewer. Producer information such as commands tell the system to launch such features as

poll, chat, and talk-back and are known, per se, in Internet- based broadcast system

technology. Poll, for example, typically launches one or more text-based questions, with a choice of answers for each question, and is a way to gather information about viewers' tastes,

opinions, knowledge, etc. Chat provides the viewer with a way to interact with other viewers.

Talk-back permits the viewer to send questions and comments directly to the commentator.

Other features are known as well, and this list is only intended to be exemplary.

Similarly, the foregoing descriptions of streaming audio and video signals are exemplary

only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. Those skilled in the

art appreciate that many different protocols can be used, although the foregoing are the

currently used standards, and will understand that this invention is not limited to the use of

any particular protocol, A/V content or command.

As the program content is created as part of the interactive presentation, the content's

producer (or production team) launches commands, such as poll, with the intent that the

viewer see and respond to the poll questions at particular points in the presentation. The

broadcast is generated by a server to a number of clients. The A/V content and commands

are received by the client and stored in respective buffers. When the buffers fill, or reach some

other predetermined condition, an audio player and a video player are launched within the

viewer's computer, and A/V content can be watched and heard while subsequent packets are

being delivered. When viewers are to interact with the broadcast program, the viewers'

responses are sent to the broadcasting server.

In practice, the number of clients receiving and/or participating in an interactive

broadcast is limited by many factors. Some of them are computer-specific resources (such as

random access memory (RAM), central processing unit (CPU) speed, etc.), operating system-

(OS) specific resources (e.g., WINDOWS NT has different limits than Unix), and bandwidth

and network congestion which can substantially impede the quality and continuity of the

server/client connection. Due to implementation specifics of sockets under most operating systems, the upper limit for the number of concurrent socket connections on a single machine

is approximately 65,000 regardless of the other factors that may reduce that number

substantially. The broadcast system must, however, be able to register and address the

participants, broadcast to them, receive interactive input from them and respond appropriately

to the interactive input within the limitations imposed.

SUMMARY In accordance with a preferred embodiment, a decentralized network is provided for

the high-quality transmission of live or prerecorded interactive Internet- based programs such

as shows, classes, and meetings to a virtually unlimited number of clients any place in the

world. The network can be implemented as, for example, a streaming media broadcasting

network with full interactivity capable of accessing a large world- wide audience (e.g., one

million users) with a broadcast server requiring only a single Tl line or the like.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, at least one bi-directional

repeater/aggregator communicates between a server and one or more clients for ( 1 ) receiving

the program content from a server and rebroadcasting the content to a plurality of clients, and

(2) aggregating data from the plurality of clients and sending a composite thereof to the

server. Preferably, the server is programmed to fold the composite input presented by each

repeater/aggregator into a picture of the total audience response.

The resulting increase in number of serviceable clients is arithmetic. If, for example, each repeater/aggregator can service 10,000 clients, every added repeater/aggregator can

increase the potential audience by 10,000 within substantially less bandwidth than that

required by a direct connection to the same number of viewers. Thus, a content producer

with three repeater/aggregators can reach 30,000 viewers; a content producer with seven repeater/aggregators can reach 70,000 users, etc., all within the bandwidth typically required

to reach 10,000.

Preferably, the audio, video, and interactive content will travel the shortest possible

distance over the public Internet, ensuring a high-quality transmission. While the placement

of a server and one or more R/As at the upstream end of the program producer's Tl line may

solve the operating system and hardware limitations on the number of concurrent sockets,

bandwidth would still be an issue. Preferably, the network disclosed herein accordingly

decentralizes the bandwidth required by putting the R/As as close to the viewer as possible

from a network topology standpoint. For example, if a number of viewers on AOL are logged

onto the program, the preferred location for the R/A serving them is the same network

segment as the modem pool at AOL where those viewers dial into. The next (less preferred)

location is on the AOL network. The next (even less preferred) location is on a well-

connected network that is connected directly to AOL privately (i.e., not through a public

Internet exchange, which are known to be congested).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematic of an exemplary decentralized network for

transmitting interactive Internet-based programs constructed in accordance with an exemplary

embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments in application of the invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 1. For illustration purposes only, this disclosure will describe the production system in terms relevant to classroom and/or entertainment programming. Unless the context indicates otherwise, the term "commentator" will be used to denote the classroom instructor, the entertainment program's host and/or other persons being viewed at the moment by the viewer; "client" will denote the viewer's computer system, including hardware and software; "server" will denote the computer(s) (including hardware and software) which deliver the program content to the client, and "viewer" will refer to the person(s) at the client end of the system. Other embodiments may be realized and structural or logical changes may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Although the embodiments are particularly described as applied to production systems in terms relevant to classroom and/or entertainment programming, it should be readily apparent that the invention may be embodied in any device or system having the same or similar problems.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, an exemplary system constructed in accordance with an

exemplary embodiment of the invention is composed of a production server in the form of

audio/video server 10 for broadcasting content and information such as an audio/video

stream and commands to clients 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26. A plurality of repeater/aggregators

12, 14 (each hereinafter, referred to as an "R/A" for brevity) are coupled for bi-directional

communication with the server 10, and receive the broadcast program from the server. The

R/As may be physically located anywhere in the world, but are preferably geographically

positioned to provide the shortest transmission path to the clients they each serve.

The first R/A 12 is illustratively shown coupled for bi-directional communication with

three clients 16, 18, 20 while the second R/A 14 is illustratively coupled for bi-directional

communication with another three clients 22, 24, 26. Although only two R/As have been

illustrated for clarity, those skilled in the art will recognize that any number (e.g., thousands)

of R/As can be used. Likewise, only three clients have been illustrated for each R/A for

clarity, but any number (e.g., thousands) of clients can be coupled to each R/A in actual use. Each R/A 12, 14 repeats the interactive content transmitted by the server 10. Some or

all of the content, may conveniently be partially or wholly pre-loaded into the R/As prior to

actual broadcast to the clients.

Each R/A 12, 14 additionally collects and aggregates feedback from the viewers with

whom it is communicating so that a composite user input can be passed along to the

producer's register. If a multiple-choice exam question is launched from the server, for

example, having three possible answers "A," "B," and "C," each R/A aggregates the answers

received from the clients with which it is communicating, and reports back to the register the

number (or percentage of) clients returning "A," returning "B," and returning "C" answers.

By aggregating the data, information can be returned to the register utilizing less

bandwidth than would be required by the return of individual responses from each client.

Further, each R/A can be programmed to retain the answers from each specific client, or

other non-priority data, for later transmission to the register at a time when bandwidth is

available or the time more convenient. Moreover, any of a variety of reports can be generated

from the raw data accumulated in the R/As. For example, statistical analyses can be

performed, trends and correlations analyzed, etc. The reports can be generated at the R/As,

or some or all the raw data can later be transmitted to the register or any other location for a

global analysis. The data from the R/As to the register or other receiving location, can

accordingly be sent continuously or the data can be batch-processed and forwarded in batches.

In exemplary operation, a viewer may log into the system via an R/A which, in turn,

registers the viewer with the server 10. The client may be registered using any known

identification system, such as by both the socket number at which the client's R/A is coupled

to the server, as well as by the R/As socket number at which the client is connected. The

system is thereby flexible enough to enable the program's A/V content and/or producer information such as selected commands to be downloaded by one or more specific clients at

one or more specific R/As by tagging the content/command packet with the appropriate

addresses. Thus, producer information can be sent to viewers in response to specific inputs,

the presence of certain keywords in, for example, a talk-back or chat statement, or in response

to any other criteria which the producer or broadcaster wishes to use. Producer commands

thus enable a variety of functions to be performed such as chat (between two or more clients),

poll of users, etc.

Bandwidth is also saved by combining the interactive feedback from all clients at each

R/A prior to transmission to the server. Transmitting combined feedback saves the protocol

overhead which would otherwise arise from generating and processing separately headered

packets from directly connected clients.

Bandwidth can also be saved by using each R/A as a filter to avoid or delay

transmission of irrelevant (or non-priority) data to the server. For example, the unnecessary

transmission to the server, and processing by the server, of each and every bid in an Internet-

based auction is avoided when each R/A only transmits the highest bid cast by the clients to

which it is connected. Bids which are less than die highest are irrelevant. Accordingly, only

the highest of the bids received from the clients within each predefined window are forwarded

to the server.

Preferably, clients connect to the producer's register, which assigns the client to the

appropriate R/A, to which the client connects or is connected. Each client's user logs on by

providing his/her username and password. The register to which the user is connected

confirms that the user is registered. If the user is not registered, a registration procedure can

be launched. Once registration is completed or confirmed, the user receives files which will be used

as the program is viewed. These files may, for example, be plug-ins, players, slides, interface

artwork, and software updates. Preferably, the files have previously been loaded into a

plurality of distribution servers 28, 30 for transmission to the client through the R/As after

log-in. In practice, it is desirable to have one or more ratios of R/As to each distribution

server (e.g., one distribution server for every five R/As). The server is thereby free to perform

other tasks, while many more clients can be serviced than by the server alone.

Clients may be assigned to a particular R/A based upon parameters deemed important

to the particular broadcast. For example, it may be desirable to assign clients to R/As that are

geographically closest to them. This may, however, result in an uneven assignment of clients

among the available R/As, which load some R/As while utilizing others inefficiendy.

Alternatively, users may be assigned to R/As in a "round robin" manner, whereby users are

evenly distributed among the R/As as they log in.

Additional servers can be employed if desirable. For example, archive servers are

preferably employed to store archived broadcasts for future, on-demand access by participants.

When receiving and evaluating audience response, it may also be desirable to assign specific

tasks to individual servers. For example, a news programmer might want to pay special

attention to the incoming Talk Back messages, and so would assign a separate server to handle

only Talk Back. Meanwhile, another operator at another server could tend exclusively to Chat

searches, a third operator at a third server could monitor Poll results, etc.

Incoming data can then be parsed and searched so that an operator can control the

quantity, by controlling the quality, of audience feedback. The program director will

accordingly only receive that input which will most benefit the show. The network described herein may additionally include monitoring capabilities to

maintain the high levels of performance for its producers. Various "status" systems monitor

the network continuously, redirecting traffic as required by the network, requiring various

"proxy" servers to act as intermediaries in checking producers' and participants' licenses and

registration permissions, handling updates and directing traffic to the appropriate

repeater/aggregators based on geographic location.

The system register permits the producer to register the show, and gather general and

specific demographic information from an aggregated database. The register creates the

aggregated database by tracking all the activity that occurs during presentation of the

program, and organizing the data by producers and participants. All viewer data is preferably

logged in appropriate tables from which reports can subsequently be generated. Viewers

connect to the Register to search for show and schedule information.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, one or more processor-

based systems are used to implement the modules described or apparent from the description

herein (e.g., server 10, distribution servers 28, 30, R/As 12, 14, and clients 16, 18, 20, 22,

24, 26) and to perform the functionality described (or inherent) herein. For each such

system, one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU)) are provided for

execution of one or more computer programs stored on any (one or more) known recording

mediums. The processor(s) perform, control, or at least inform the various processing steps

performed by the system in sending and retrieving data to and from at least one user interface

and/or network. A user interface may be connected direcdy to a bus or remotely connected

through a network (e.g., Internet). The network represents (wired or wireless) connection of

two or more devices, whether directly or indirectly connected (e.g., direcdy coupling through cable, indirect coupling through one or more hubs or servers, whether the network is local to

the processor-based system, geographically remote from system, or a distributed combination

of local/remote network components).

Preferably, one or more of the modules depicted in FIG. 1 are coupled (direcdy or

indirectiy) to one or more database structures for use in supplying storage functionality for the

modules in accordance with the operations described (or inherent) herein (e.g., storage of pre¬

loaded content in R/As, operating as the system or producer's register, etc.). The database

structures can take any form from an individual floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, CD-ROM,

redundant array of independent devices (RAID) system, to a network of storage devices. As is

well known in the art, the database structures may be physically connected within the same

location, or have one or more structures remotely located in different locations. Each module

may have dedicated or shared access to one or more database structures locally or remotely

located from the module.

The preferred embodiments described herein relate to Internet- based program

production systems capable of producing live interactive classroom instruction, virtual

"meeting halls," live interactive entertainment-type shows, pre-recorded interactive programs,

and the like. It should be apparent, however, that many modifications (e.g., structural,

logical, etc.) to the embodiments and implementations of the invention can be made without

departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The type of program content, for

example, is unlimited and it is foreseeable that the content can be at least the same as an

interactive version of anything currendy found on television or in the cinema. Moreover, any

known network or communication system (e.g., intranet, extranet, local area network (LAN),

wide area network (WAN), BBS, instant messaging network, etc.) may be used in lieu of or in

combination with the Internet, as used herein. While the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein depict a broadcast system utilizing

a computer-based client application, it should be readily apparent that the invention may be

implemented utilizing any type of equivalent client apparatus (e.g., network/stand-alone

computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), WebTV (or other Internet-only) terminals, set-

top boxes, cellular/PCS phones, screenphones, pagers, kiosks, thin-client, or other known

(wired or wireless) communication devices) executing one or more computer programs (e.g.,

specialized client software, standard Web browser software, etc.) to permit communication

with a host service. Alternative embodiments further include both centralized and

decentralized distribution of programs or content.

The components described herein may be one or more hardware, software, or hybrid

components residing in (or distributed among) one or more local or remote computer

systems. Although the components are shown or described as physically separated

components, it should be readily apparent that individual components may be omitted,

combined, or further separated into a variety of different components, sharing different

resources (including processing units, memory, clock devices, software routines, etc.) as

required for the particular implementation of the embodiments disclosed herein. Indeed, even

a single general purpose computer executing a computer program stored on a recording

medium to produce the functionality referred to herein may be utilized to implement one or

more of the components in the illustrated embodiments. Any user interface devices utilized

may be implemented as a graphical user interface (GUI) containing a display or the like, or

may be a link to other user input/output devices known in the art.

In addition, memory units described herein may be any one or more of the known

storage devices (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk

drive (HDD), floppy drive, zip drive, compact disk-ROM, DVD, bubble memory, etc.), and may also be one or more memory devices embedded within a processor or CPU, or shared

with one or more of the other components. The computer programs or algorithms described

(or inherent) herein may easily be configured as one or more hardware components, and the

hardware components shown may easily be configured as one or more software components

without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the

description or drawing of this disclosure, but only by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

Claims

1. A production system for distributing content and producer information to users

during a program, the system comprising:

a producer generating content and related producer information;

at least one repeater/aggregator, wherein each repeater/aggregator receives the

content and the producer information from said producer and distributes the content and producer information to at least one user; and

wherein each repeater/aggregator receives feedback information from the at least one

user, aggregates the feedback information, and outputs the aggregated feedback information

to the producer.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a server, said server producing and

outputting the content and producer information generated by said producer to said

repeater/aggregator and receiving the aggregated feedback information from said

repeater/aggregator during the program; and

wherein said producer is coupled to said at least one repeater/aggregator.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one interactive client

component associated with at least one user, each client component receiving the content and

producer information from an associated repeater/aggregator and presenting the content and

producer information to the user, each client component receiving feedback information from

the user and transmitting it to its associated repeater/aggregator.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the producer information includes at least one

producer command to be executed on said at least one client component.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the producer command comprises a chat

function to be performed between at least two client components associated with at least two

users.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the producer command comprises a poll

function to be performed by at least one client component associated with at least one user.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the producer command comprises a talk-back

function to be performed by at least one client component associated with at least one user.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the producer command comprises an exam

function to be performed by at least one client component associated with at least one user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each repeater/aggregator filters the feedback

information prior to sending the aggregated feedback information to the producer.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein each repeater/aggregator is connected to the

users via the Internet.

11. A production system comprising:

a production server, said production server producing and outputting a program and

inputting information from viewers during the production of the program; a plurality of interactive clients each respectively associated with at least one viewer,

each client receiving the program and presenting it to a viewer, each client receiving

information from a viewer; and

at least one repeater/aggregator, each repeater/aggregator connected to said

production server by a communication medium, each repeater/aggregator being further

connected to and associated with at least one client, each repeater/aggregator receiving the

program and distributing it to its associated client, each repeater/aggregator inputting

information from its associated client, processing the information and distributing it to said

production server.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the program comprises audio and visual

information.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the user information comprises feedback

information concerning the program.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein said production server further outputs to each

repeater/aggregator producer information to be executed by at least one client.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the producer information comprises commands

to be performed by at least one client associated with at least one viewer.

16. The system of claim 11 further comprising at least one distribution server

associated with and connected to at least one repeater/aggregator, each distribution server

being further connected to said production server, each distribution server transmitting files associated with said program to its respective repeater/aggregator for use by the viewers

during the program.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the files are selected from the group consisting

of plug-ins, players, slides, artwork and software updates.

18. The system of claim 11 further comprising a register connected to said

production server for registering authorized viewers with said system.

19. A method of producing a program to be transmitted over a network to a

plurality of users, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the program to a plurality of repeater/aggregators;

distributing the program from each repeater/aggregator to the plurality of users;

receiving feedback information from at least one of the plurality of users associated with

at least one of the plurality of repeater/aggregators;

aggregating the feedback information; and

incorporating the aggregated feedback into the program.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of screening content of the

feedback information prior to said aggregating step.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

providing producer information to the plurality of repeater/aggregators; and distributing the producer information from each repeater/aggregator to the plurality of

users.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the producer information includes at least one

producer command to be executed by a computer associated with at least one user.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the producer command is a chat command to

be performed between at least two computers associated with at least two users.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the producer command is a poll command to

be performed by at least one computer associated with at least one user.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the producer command is a talk-back

command to be performed by at least one computer associated with at least one user.

26. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of generating a report

reporting the aggregated feedback information.

27. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of using the aggregated

feedback information to generate a statistical analysis.

28. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of storing the aggregated

feedback information in a register.