Abstract: A method for increasing the storage capacity of a video server which utilizes an array of disks is disclosed. The server is operated so that the continuity of a plurality of bit streams is maintained. The inventive method has advantageous characteristics with respect to storage capacity, streaming capacity, start-up latency of new streams, amount of required buffer capacity, scalability, reliability and multiple bit rates.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for achieving alignment of the header fields of a specific layer, such as the transport layer header fields, at a receiving host. The receiving host determines a number of padding bytes that need to be added to the transport layer header for the fields to be properly aligned in the memory of the receiving host. This number is determined dynamically for each connection because different connections require different numbers of padding bytes. The number of padding bytes for a connection is determined by the receiving host from the first packet received for a particular connection. Specifically, the receiving host examines this first packet and determines the position of the first byte of the transport layer protocol header, and therefore, the number of padding bytes required to achieve 32-bit (or 64 bit) alignment. The receiving host communicates the number of padding bytes to the transmitting host.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for interfacing a video storage system, such as a disk array, and a video stream application executing on a computer network or stand-alone system. The interface provides a method for storing video stream data by allocating storage space in units of stripes and for accessing the data in units of fixed length segments, wherein each stripe includes one fixed length segment from each disk of the array. The interface also queues submitted I/O transaction requests so that I/O transactions requested on a current I/O cycle i are not performed until the next I/O cycle i+1. The I/O transactions thus queued are performed in an order which permits a maximum number of I/O transactions to be performed each I/O cycle, regardless of the order in which they were submitted. In addition, the interface also queues the submitted I/O transaction requests so that the completion of an I/O transaction on a current I/O cycle i is not returned until the next I/O cycle i+1.