Multimedia system and server and methods for use therewith

Abstract

A multimedia server receives a plurality of programs of a multimedia source. The multimedia server includes a tuning module to receive the plurality of programs and to select a set of programs from the plurality of programs based on a set of program select commands that is derived from select requests. A program mixer mixes the set of programs into a stream of program data. One or more transceiving modules transmit the stream of program data on to corresponding communication paths and receive the select requests. A client module produces the select requests for one or more clients. The client module includes a selection module to produce at least one of the select requests. A network interface controller transmits at least one of select requests to the multimedia server and receives the stream of program data via the communication path or paths in response.

1 . A multimedia system comprising:
 a multimedia server operably coupled to receive a plurality of programs of a multimedia source, wherein the multimedia server includes:
 a tuning module operably coupled to receive the plurality of programs and to select a set of programs from the plurality of programs based on a set of program select commands that is derived from select requests; 
 a program mixer operably coupled to mix the set of programs into a stream of program data; and 
 a first transceiving module operably coupled to transmit the stream of program data on to a first communication path and to receive the select requests; 
 a second transceiving module operably coupled to transmit the stream of program data via a second communication path; and 
   a client module that produces the select requests for at least one of a plurality of clients, wherein the at least one of the plurality of clients is operably coupled to receive at least a portion of the stream of program data, wherein the client module includes:
 a selection module operable to produce at least one of the select requests; and 
 a network interface controller operably coupled to transmit the at least one of select requests to the multimedia server and to receive the stream of program data via the first communication path. 
   
     
     
         2 . The multimedia system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of clients comprises at least one of: a computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a video telephone, a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, a monitor, a television, a high definition television, printer, and a facsimile machine. 
     
     
         3 . The multimedia system of  claim 1 , wherein the multimedia server further comprises:
 a control module operably to the tuning module, the program mixer, the first transceiving module and the second transceiving module, wherein the control module interprets the select requests to produce the set of program select commands, wherein the control module facilitates formatting the stream of program data for transmission via the first transceiving module and the second transceiving module, and wherein the control module facilitates deformatting of the select requests.   
     
     
         4 . The multimedia system of  claim 3 , wherein the first communication path comprises at least one of:
 a wireline connection, wherein the stream of program data and the select requests are transceived via the wireline connection utilizing a type of transceiving that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection;   a transmit wireline connection, wherein the stream of program data is transmitted via the transmit wireline connection utilizing a type of transmission that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection;   a receive wireline connection, wherein the select requests are received via the receive wireline connection utilizing a type of reception that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection;   a radio frequency path, wherein the stream of program data and the select requests are transceived via the radio frequency path utilizing the type of transceiving;   a transmit radio frequency path, wherein the stream of program data is transmitted via the transmit radio frequency path utilizing the type of transmission;   a receive radio frequency path, wherein the select requests are received via the receive radio frequency path utilizing the type of reception;   a infrared path, wherein the stream of program data and the select requests are transceived via the infrared path utilizing the type of transceiving;   a transmit infrared path, wherein the stream of program data is transmitted via the transmit infrared path utilizing the type of transmission; and   a receive infrared path, wherein the select requests are received via the receive infrared path utilizing the type of reception.   
     
     
         5 . The multimedia system of  claim 3 , wherein the control module further comprises:
 a host processor, external I/O bus, host memory, memory bridge interoperably coupled to provide server control operations, wherein the server control operations include: interpreting the select requests to produce the set of program select commands; and   coordinating the mixing of the set of programs, formatting of the stream of program data and transmitting the formatted program data, such that a client of the plurality of clients receives appropriate requested data.   
     
     
         6 . The multimedia system of  claim 5 , wherein the control module further comprises:
 a hard drive operably coupled to store at least a portion of the stream of data.   
     
     
         7 . The multimedia system of  claim 3 , wherein the control module further comprises:
 means for processing client access privileges for each of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
         8 . The multimedia system of  claim 1 , wherein the first transceiving module further comprises:
 an analog multiplexor for converting the stream of program data into analog signals, wherein the analog signals are transmitted to the at least one of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
         9 . The multimedia system of  claim 1 , wherein the set of program select commands comprises at least one of:
 audio program select;   video program select;   audio source;   video source;   volume adjust;   picture quality settings and adjustments;   displaying restrictions;   purchase requests;   picture-in-picture activation and deactivation;   picture-in-picture program select;   video blanking; and   audio muting.   
     
     
         10 . A multimedia server for use in a multimedia system, the multimedia server comprising:
 a tuning module operably coupled to receive a plurality of channels from a multimedia source and to select a set of channels from the plurality of channels based on a set of channel select commands that is derived from select requests;   a channel mixer operably coupled to mix the set of channels into a stream of channel data;   a transceiving module, operably coupled to transmit the stream of channel data on to a communication path and to receive the select requests from at least one client module, remote from the multimedia server and affiliated with at least one of a the plurality of clients, wherein the communication path comprises:
 a wireline connection, wherein the stream of channel data and the select requests are transceived via the wireline connection utilizing a type of transceiving that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection; 
 a transmit wireline connection, wherein the stream of channel data is transmitted via the transmit wireline connection utilizing a type of transmission that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection; and 
 a receive wireline connection, wherein the select requests are received via the receive wireline connection utilizing a type of reception that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection; and 
   a control module operably to the tuning module, the channel mixer, and the transceiving module, wherein the control module interprets the select requests to produce the set of channel select commands, wherein the control module facilitates formatting the stream of channel data for transmission via the transceiving module, and wherein the control module facilitates deformatting of the select requests;   wherein the control module formats the stream of channel data based on the type of transceiving to produce formatted channel data,   wherein the transceiving module provides the formatted channel data to the at least one of the plurality of clients during transmitting intervals on the wireline connection,   wherein the client module causes the select requests to be formatted based on the type of transceiving to produce formatted select requests,   wherein the transceiving module receives the formatted select requests via the wireline connection during receiving intervals on the wireline connection, and   wherein the control module determines the transmitting intervals and the receiving intervals.   
     
     
         11 . The multimedia server of  claim 10 , wherein the transceiving module further comprises:
 a transmission router operably coupled to the control module and the channel mixer;   wherein the control module causes the stream of channel data to be formatted based on the type of transmission to produce formatted channel data, and   wherein the transmission router provides the formatted channel data to the at least one of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
         12 . The multimedia server of  claim 10  wherein the transceiving module further comprises:
 a reception router operably coupled to the control module;   wherein the client module formats at least one of: the select requests and inbound data based on the type of reception to produce formatted reception data, and   wherein the reception router receives the formatted reception data via the wireline connection.   
     
     
         13 . The multimedia server of  claim 10 , wherein the control module further comprises:
 a host processor, external I/O bus, host memory and memory bridge interoperably coupled to provide server control operations, wherein the server control operations include:   interpreting the select requests to produce the set of channel select commands; and   coordinating the mixing of the set of channels, formatting of the stream of channel data and transmitting the formatted channel data, such that a client of the plurality of clients receives appropriate requested data.   
     
     
         14 . The multimedia server of  claim 13 , wherein the control module further comprises:
 a hard drive operably coupled to store at least a portion of the stream of data.   
     
     
         15 . The multimedia server of  claim 10 , wherein the control module further comprises:
 means for processing client access privileges for each of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
         16 . The multimedia server of  claim 10 , wherein the transceiving module further comprises:
 an analog multiplexor for converting the stream of channel data into analog signals, wherein the analog signals are transmitted to the at least one of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
         17 . The multimedia server of  claim 10  further comprising:
 a second transceiving module operably coupled to transmit the stream of channel data via a second communication path.   
     
     
         18 . A method for use in a multimedia system, the method comprising:
 providing multimedia services to a local area network having at least one communication path that comprises at least one of:
 radio frequency path, wherein the stream of channel data and the select requests are transceived via the radio frequency path utilizing the type of transceiving that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection; 
 transmit radio frequency path, wherein the stream of channel data is transmitted via the transmit radio frequency path utilizing the type of transmission that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection; 
 receive radio frequency path, wherein the select requests are received via the receive radio frequency path utilizing the type of reception that includes at least one of: time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, pulse code modulation, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, carrier sense multi-access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection; 
 infrared path, wherein the stream of channel data and the select requests are transceived via the infrared path utilizing the type of transceiving; 
 transmit infrared path, wherein the stream of channel data is transmitted via the transmit infrared path utilizing the type of transmission; and 
 receive infrared path, wherein the select requests are received via the receive infrared path utilizing the type of reception; 
   receiving a plurality of channels from at least one multimedia source;   receiving select requests from at least one client module via the communication path;   generating a set of channel select commands from the select requests;   selecting a set of channels from the plurality of channels based on the set of channel select commands;   mixing the set of channels into a stream of channel data; and   transmitting the stream of channel data on to the communication path such that at least one of a plurality of clients receives at least a portion of the stream of channel data.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 interpreting the select requests to produce the set of channel select commands;   formatting the stream of channel data for transmission via the transceiving module;   deformatting of the select requests as part of generating the set of channel select commands.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising;
 interpreting the select requests to produce the set of channel select commands; and   coordinating the mixing of the set of channels, formatting of the stream of channel data and transmitting the formatted channel data, such that a client of the plurality of clients receives appropriate requested data.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 storing at least a portion of the stream of data on a hard drive.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 processing client access privileges for each of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 converting the stream of channel data into analog signals, wherein the analog signals are transmitted to the at least one of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 transmitting the stream of channel data via a second communication path.