ON DEMAND SYSTEM AND METHOD USING DYNAMIC BROADCAST SCHEDULING

摘要

A system and method for broadcasting content includes a content provider (102) which interfaces with one or more clients (114) through a network (106). The content provider (102) includes a scheduler (104) responsive to requests for content from clients. The scheduler (104) provides the content in blocks by making the blocks available to requesters by a plurality of streams wherein a subsequent requester accesses blocks from previous requester's streams complemented by a subset of blocks as a stream for this requester to complete an entire set of blocks for the subsequent requester. By manipulating the scheduler as a function of user requests, this system and method is able to provide a video on demand service at a fractional bandwidth usage of a conventional VOD system.