Conventional Internet Protocol [IP] communications allow a content service provider to stream media assets to a subscriber’s client device over a network of commercial Internet service providers. The client device is typically a Set-Top-Box [STB]. This is a device specifically crafted to provide a user interface for the selection and playout of the streamed content to a TV or other form of video monitor. The client device may also be an application on a computer, or mobile device.
The content is transported via Unicast Internet Protocol [IP]. Unicast is a one-to-one communication means. An individual server entity [or software thread] streams the content in near real-time, to each individual subscriber’s client device. Video on Demand requires operational immediacy, as the subscriber is free to select, then Start, Pause, Fast-Forward, Rewind, and re-Start a chosen content stream at any time.
The Content Service Provider uses a large plurality of server threads to support the equally large plurality of individual users viewing the content. In between the Server and the STB video rendering device is the Public Internet. For each server thread and its corresponding STB there is a Unicast Internet Protocol stream. The upstream control traffic supporting this session is trivial.
Hybrid VoD 