SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BROADCASTING VIDEO PROGRAMS AND RESPONDING TO A SUBSCRIBER RESTART COMMAND

摘要

A system is disclosed for providing broadcast programming to subscriber locations including an intermediate video supplier, subscriber location equipment and one or more video sources. The intermediate video supplier includes a video buffer and a video server that processes received subscriber requests and retrieves, according to the subscriber requests, either of currently broadcast programming or broadcast programming previously buffered in the video buffer by the video server. The subscriber location equipment includes a remote control and a local control unit that transmits the subscriber requests to the video server via one or more data links and receives, from the video server, the broadcast programming for display on a local video display via the data link. A subscriber may initiate a restart command with a single action via the remote control to restart a currently viewed program from the beginning even if the currently viewed program was joined in progress.