초록 ▼

A virtual broadband transmitting unit (FIG. 2) includes a stream generator to generate a multiplicity of data streams (115) from an incoming media data stream, and a transmission manager to control the upload of the multiplicity of data streams along a multiplicity of transmission channels (112) to

A virtual broadband transmitting unit (FIG. 2) includes a stream generator to generate a multiplicity of data streams (115) from an incoming media data stream, and a transmission manager to control the upload of the multiplicity of data streams along a multiplicity of transmission channels (112) to at least one wireless communication network. A virtual broadband receiver (35) includes means to receive a multiplicity of media data streams from a multiplicity of data connections, and an assembly engine to assemble the data streams into a single media stream.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A device configured to facilitate live media transmission from a remote location, the device comprising: a first modem manager for enabling transmission of a first plurality of packets over an Internet connection to a receiver via at least one wireless communication network wirelessly accessible

1. A device configured to facilitate live media transmission from a remote location, the device comprising: a first modem manager for enabling transmission of a first plurality of packets over an Internet connection to a receiver via at least one wireless communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location;a second modem manager for enabling transmission of a second plurality of packets to the receiver via at least one WiFi communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location, wherein the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets are part of a live media stream; andat least one processor configured to receive the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets, and to distribute the first plurality of packets to the first modem manager and the second plurality of packets to the second modem manager in a manner such that the first plurality of packets are transmitted via the at least one wireless communication network and the second plurality of packets are transmitted via the at least one WiFi communication network;wherein whenever a change is detected related to a modem associated with at least one of the first modem manager and the second modem manager, the at least one processor configured to reconfigure the distribution of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets, by at least changing a Forward Error Correction (FEC) associated with one of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets. 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets in a manner permitting assembly of the live media stream at the receiver when the first plurality of packets are transmitted to the receiver via the at least one wireless communication network and when the second plurality of packets are transmitted to the receiver via the at least one WiFi communication network. 3. The device of claim 1. wherein the at least one wireless network includes at least one of a mobile telephone network, a cellular network, a satellite network, and a WiMax network. 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one wireless network includes a first cellular network and at least one of a second cellular network, a satellite network, and a WiMax network. 5. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to manage distribution of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets based on information associated with at least one performance factor, wherein the at least one performance factor is selected from a group consisting of: modem rate, bandwidth, modem reliability, operating license limitations, network congestion, modem error rate, transmission latency, and connection quality. 6. The device of claim 5, wherein the information associated with the at least one performance factor reflects the actual performance associated with a given modem associated with at least one of the first modem manager and the second modem manager. 7. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to analyze performance statistics of an ongoing upload session and to adjust distribution of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets based on the performance of the ongoing upload session. 8. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to inequitably distribute the plurality of packets between the first modern manager and the second modern manager such that a differing number of packets are transmitted via the at least one wireless communication network than via the at least one WiFi communication network. 9. The device of claim 1, further comprising: a third modem manager for enabling transmission of a third plurality of packets to the receiver via at least one WiFi communication network;wherein the at least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets, the second plurality of packets, and the third plurality of packets to the first modem manager, the second modem manager, and the third modem manager in a manner permitting assembly of the live media stream at the receiver. 10. The device of claim 1, further comprising: a third modem manager for enabling transmission of a third plurality of packets to the receiver via at least one other wireless communication network;wherein the at least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets, the second plurality of packets, and the third plurality of packets to the first modem manager, the second modem manager, and the third modem manager in a manner permitting assembly of the live media stream at the receiver. 11. The device of claim 1, wherein the change in the at least one of the first modem manager and the second modem manager includes connecting the first modem manager to a first modem, and disconnecting the second modem manager from a second modem. 12. The device of claim 1, wherein reconfigure the distribution of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets includes changing a number of packets in at least one of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets. 13. The device of claim 1, wherein FEC configuration is done at least when a new channel associated with at least one modem is open or an existing one is changed. 14. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to manage a video encoder configured to alter at least one compression rate of media to be transmitted in the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets. 15. A device configured to facilitate a live media transmission from a remote location, the device comprising: at least one processor configured to receive at least a first plurality of packets and a second plurality of packets, both associated with a live media stream, and to distribute the first plurality of packets and second plurality of packets to a plurality of modems, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: enable transmission of the first plurality of packets to a receiver via at least one ireless communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location; andenable transmission of the second plurality of packets to the receiver via at least one WiFi communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location;wherein whenever a change related to at least one of the plurality of modems is detected, the at least one processor is further configured to redistribute the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets by at least changing a Forward Error Correction (FEC) associated with one of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets. 16. The device of claim 15, wherein FEC configuration is done at least when a new channel associated with at least one modem is open or an existing one is changed. 17. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to pull at least one third plurality of packets associated with the live media stream and to distribute the at least one third plurality of packets to enable transmission of the at least third plurality of packets to the receiver via the at least one WiFi communication network wireless accessible from the remote location. 18. The device of claim 15, wherein the at east one processor includes at least one modem manager configured to: cause distribution of the first plurality of packets to at least one wireless modem in the at least one wireless communication network, the at least one wireless communication network including at least one of a cellular network, a WiFi network, and a WiMax network; andcause distribution of the second plurality of packets to at least one WiFi modem in the at least one WiFi communication network. 19. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets based on feedback information received from at least one of the plurality of modems wherein the feedback information is at least one of: information regarding the success of an uploading, timeliness and quality of the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets, missing packets, reconstructed packets, serial numbers and timestamps of packets received, requests for retransmission of packets, and statistics of the packets incoming into the receiver. 20. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to enable transmission of the live media only via the at least one wireless communication network when a performance of at least one wireless modem in the at least one wireless communication network permits the live media stream to be assembled at the receiver at a desired quality. 21. The device of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of modems lacks sufficient performance to singularly transmit the live media stream at a desired quality, while a combined performance of the plurality of modems has sufficient performance to transmit the plurality of data packets in a manner permitting the live media stream to be assembled at the receiver at a desired quality. 22. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to distribute the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets in a manner that enables the first plurality of packets to be transmitted via the at least one wireless communication network while the second plurality of packets are transmitted via the at least one WiFi communication network. 23. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive feedback about a performance of at least one of the plurality of modems, and to distribute packets accordingly. 24. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform at least one of the FEC and a retransmit mechanism when transmitting the second plurality of packets to the receiver. 25. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to manage a video encoder configured to alter at least one compression rate of video to be transmitted in the first plurality of packets and the second plurality of packets. 26. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to process performance characteristics of at least one upload session using at least one of a plurality of modems associated with the at least one wireless communication network and the at least one WiFi communication network, and using the performance characteristics to terminate distribution of packets to a specific modem from the plurality of modems. 27. The device of claim 26, wherein by terminating distribution of packets to the specific modem the at least one processor is enabled to reduce transmission costs of the live media transmission. 28. A method for transmitting a live media transmission in a cost-effective manner, the method comprising: providing a device configured to facilitate a live media transmission from a remote location, the device including at least one processor configured to receive a plurality of packets and to use a plurality of modems to transmit the plurality of packets to a receiver via at least one wireless communication network and at least one WiFi communication network;distributing the plurality of packets between the plurality of modems in a first manner at a first transmission cost;receiving information indicative of performance trends of at least some of the plurality of modems; anddistributing the plurality of packets between the plurality of modems in a second manner different from the first manner, to achieve a transmission cost lower than the first transmission cost. 29. The method of claim 28, further comprising: receiving information related to differing costs of data transmission over the at least one wireless communication network or the at least one WiFi communication network. 30. A device configured to facilitate a live media transmission from a remote location, the device comprising: at least one processor configured to receive at least a first plurality of packets and a second plurality of packets, both associated with a live media stream, and to distribute the first plurality of packets and second plurality of packets to a plurality of modems, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: enable transmission of the first plurality of packets to a receiver via at least one wireless communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location; andenable transmission of the second plurality of packets to the receiver via at least one WiFi communication network wirelessly accessible from the remote location;process performance trends of at least one upload session using the plurality of modems; andbased on the performance trends, terminate distribution of packets to a specific modem from the plurality of modems;wherein by terminating distribution of packets to the specific modem the at least one processor enables to reduce transmission costs of the live media transmission.