System and method for transmitting and receiving data

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for transmitting and receiving data that can transmit data over a plurality of data paths simultaneously and that provides a plurality of transmission queues which enable data transmissions to be continuously prioritized and which do not cause bottlenecking of data. In the preferred embodiments, the present invention comprises a data transmission facility, at least one forward data path, at least one data reception facility, and at least one reverse data path. Data is transmitted in response to a request to transmit data which may be locally generated at the data transmission facility, or may be remotely generated at any of the data reception facilities and transmitted to the data transmission facility through the reverse data path. The requested data is then transmitted from the data transmission facility through at least one forward data path to at least one data reception facility. Data is transmitted in the form of at least one header packet and at least one data packet for each data file. In the event that errors are detected in this transmission of data, retransmissions of the corrupted data may then be requested by any of the data reception facilities through the reverse data path. The transmitted data is finally received by at least one data reception facility, where a copy of the requested data file is recovered and the data is used as desired.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for transmitting data to a group of data reception facilities, each of which is to receive at least one packet, the method comprising: 
 generating a plurality of packets, each of which contains a group address associated with the group of data reception facilities; and    transmitting each of said plurality of packets to at least one data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities that is identified in each packet of said plurality of packets.    
     
     
         2 . The method defined in  claim 1  wherein at least one of said plurality of packets is a data packet.  
     
     
         3 . The method defined in  claim 2  wherein at least one of said plurality of packets is a header packet.  
     
     
         4 . The method defined in  claim 3  wherein the at least one header packet indicates the number of the at least one data packets.  
     
     
         5 . The method defined in  claim 3  wherein the at least one header packet indicates the size of each of the at least one data packets.  
     
     
         6 . The method defined in  claim 5  wherein the size of the at least one data packet is based on whether compression is being applied to the at least one data packet.  
     
     
         7 . The method defined in  claim 5  wherein the size of the at least one data packet is based on whether forward error correction is being applied to the at least one data packet.  
     
     
         8 . The method defined in  claim 3  wherein the at least one data packet and the at least one header packet are generated and queued at a data transmission facility.  
     
     
         9 . The method defined in  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of packets is transmitted in response to a request for data from the at least one data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities.  
     
     
         10 . The method defined in  claim 9  wherein the request for data is a request for retransmission of data upon detection of an error condition.  
     
     
         11 . The method defined in  claim 9  wherein the request for data is transmitted over at least one first directional data path.  
     
     
         12 . The method defined in  claim 11  wherein the requested data is transmitted to the group of data reception facilities over at least one second directional data path.  
     
     
         13 . The method defined in  claim 12  wherein the at least one second directional data path is selected prior to transmitting each of the plurality of data packets to the group of data reception facilities.  
     
     
         14 . The method defined in  claim 12  wherein the request for data and the requested data are transmitted over at least one bidirectional data path.  
     
     
         15 . A method for interactive communication between a group of data reception facilities and a data transmission facility, the method comprising: 
 receiving at the data transmission facility a request for data from each data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities over at least one first data path;    generating at least one data packet having at least a portion of the requested data;    generating at least one header packet having a group address associated with the group of data reception facilities, wherein each of the at least one header packets is associated with a corresponding one of each of the at least one data packets; and    transmitting each of the at least one data packets and each of the at least one header packets to at least one data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities over at least one second data path.    
     
     
         16 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein the second data path is selected prior to transmitting each of the at least one data packets and each of the at least one header packets.  
     
     
         17 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein the requested data is reconstructed from each of the at least one data packets having at least a portion of the requested data at the at least one data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities.  
     
     
         18 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein the data reception facility is a cable headend.  
     
     
         19 . The method defined in  claim 18  wherein the data received by the cable headend is transmitted to a set-top box over a cable network.  
     
     
         20 . The method defined in  claim 19  wherein the request for data is transmitted by the set-top box.  
     
     
         21 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein each data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities is located in at least one cable subscribers, home.  
     
     
         22 . The method defined in  claim 21  wherein the request for data from each data reception facility is transmitted from the at least one cable subscribers' home.  
     
     
         23 . The method defined in  claim 22  wherein a direct broadcast transmits the requested data from the data transmission facility to the at least one cable subscribers' home.  
     
     
         24 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein the request for data occurs when data is needed by the at least one data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities.  
     
     
         25 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein the at least one data reception facility in the group of data reception facilities verifies the presence, identity, and integrity of the requested data transmitted by the data transmission facility.  
     
     
         26 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein the request for data is a request for retransmission of data upon detection of an error condition.  
     
     
         27 . The method defined in  claim 15  wherein the data requested is for program guide data.