Abstract: A method of assigning advertisements to slots in video channels of a bundle of channels provided to an end user. The method includes managing credits, for each specific channel of the channels, indicative of a difference between a number of advertisements provided by an owner of the specific channel that were displayed on other channels and a number of advertisements provided by owners of other channels displayed on the specific channel In addition, scores indicative of a predicted success of the advertisement with the end user are calculated for a plurality of advertisements. An advertisement to be displayed to the end user is selected responsive to a function of both the calculated scores and the managed credits.

Abstract: A method of providing a video program with overlay content. The method includes receiving a video program and transcoding the received video program into a plurality of segments, by the processor, each segment representing a different period of the video program. In response to receiving an instruction to add overlay content to the video program, a subset of the segments of the video program to which the overlay content is to be added is selected. Overlay content is added to the selected segments and the segments of the video program to which overlay content was added, together with the segments of the video program that were not selected are transmitted to a receiver.

Abstract: A method of video distribution including receiving a manifest including links to blocks, which blocks form at least a portion of a video program, selecting at least some of the links in the manifest, to which auxiliary information is to be added and adding, to each of the selected links, auxiliary information, which does not affect a block referred to by the link. A log of links requested by clients is retrieved from a storage unit, links relating to a specific video program are filtered from the retrieved log, and information on an extent to which the specific video program was viewed, is determined responsive to the filtered links.

Abstract: A method of video distribution including receiving a manifest including links to blocks, which blocks form at least a portion of a video program, selecting at least some of the links in the manifest, to which auxiliary information is to be added and adding, to each of the selected links, auxiliary information, which does not affect a block referred to by the link. A log of links requested by clients is retrieved from a storage unit, links relating to a specific video program are filtered from the retrieved log, and information on an extent to which the specific video program was viewed, is determined responsive to the filtered links.

Abstract: A method of providing a video manifest to a client. A router manages, for each of a plurality of ad placement units, a measure of advertisement avails provided by the router to the ad placement unit for filling with advertisements, receives a client request for a video content, and chooses an ad placement unit from the plurality of ad placement units, to select advertisements to be placed in avails of the requested video content, at least partially responsive to the managed measures of advertisement avails. The received client request is directed to the chosen ad placement unit.

Abstract: A method of providing a video manifest to a client. A router manages, for each of a plurality of ad placement units, a measure of advertisement avails provided by the router to the ad placement unit for filling with advertisements, receives a client request for a video content, and chooses an ad placement unit from the plurality of ad placement units, to select advertisements to be placed in avails of the requested video content, at least partially responsive to the managed measures of advertisement avails. The received client request is directed to the chosen ad placement unit.

Abstract: A method of adding advertisements to a video stream. The method includes storing for each of a plurality of advertisements, a plurality of versions of the advertisement including same advertisement content with different overlay indications of relative location of the advertisement in an advertisement session. Upon receiving an indication of a video stream, the method includes selecting advertisements for insertion into the video stream, selecting relative positions of the selected advertisements in one or more advertisement sessions in the video stream, identifying for each of the selected advertisements, one of the plurality of versions of the advertisement corresponding to the selected relative position of the advertisement in the one or more advertisement sessions, and providing an indication of the video stream with the identified versions in the selected relative positions.

Abstract: A method of adding advertisements to a video stream. The method includes storing for each of a plurality of advertisements, a plurality of versions of the advertisement including same advertisement content with different overlay indications of relative location of the advertisement in an advertisement session. Upon receiving an indication of a video stream, the method includes selecting advertisements for insertion into the video stream, selecting relative positions of the selected advertisements in one or more advertisement sessions in the video stream, identifying for each of the selected advertisements, one of the plurality of versions of the advertisement corresponding to the selected relative position of the advertisement in the one or more advertisement sessions, and providing an indication of the video stream with the identified versions in the selected relative positions.

Abstract: A method of providing a video program with overlay content. The method includes receiving a video program and transcoding the received video program into a plurality of segments, by the processor, each segment representing a different period of the video program. In response to receiving an instruction to add overlay content to the video program, a subset of the segments of the video program to which the overlay content is to be added is selected. Overlay content is added to the selected segments and the segments of the video program to which overlay content was added, together with the segments of the video program that were not selected are transmitted to a receiver.

Abstract: Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) HTTP streaming protocols allow for video streaming at client devices. Embodiments relate to a storage controller configured for efficient memory usage for storage and throughput. The storage controller concatenates file segments to a number of contiguous physical storage blocks and updates a manifest file with offset values as pointers to the contiguous physical storage blocks for video streaming to client devices.

Abstract: A method of distributed statistical multiplexing of video data. The method includes generating a plurality of blocks forming a pre-processed video media corresponding to an original video media, the plurality of blocks including, for one or more sub-portions of the original video media, a plurality of interchangeable blocks that represent the sub-portion. Optionally, at least some of the blocks are transmitted to at least one multiplexer and reconstructed by the at least one multiplexer, for a plurality of communication channels, from at least some of the transmitted blocks.

Abstract: A video stream admission method including receiving one or more parameters of a video stream, indicative of a required bandwidth for the video stream, in a plurality of different quality levels and determining based on the received one or more parameters, whether a channel can meet a predetermined condition for each of the plurality of quality levels, according to an available bandwidth of the channel.

Abstract: A method of media transmission. The method includes providing at least one variable bit rate (VBR) video stream and multiplexing the at least one VBR video stream together with auxiliary data related to the at least one VBR video stream, in a constant bit rate (CBR) stream. The stream is transmitted to a first receiving unit, which is adapted to discard the auxiliary data as padding and use the at least one VBR stream and to a second receiving unit, which is adapted to extract the auxiliary data and use it in further handling of the at least one VBR stream.

Abstract: A method of delivering a video stream, including encoding a video stream into a first encoded stream and selecting encoding parameter values for subsequent transcoding the first encoded stream into a specific second encoded stream. Furthermore, the method includes transmitting the first encoded stream with the selected encoding parameter values to a transcoder over a standard communication network, transcoding the first encoded stream into a second encoded stream having the selected parameter values and forwarding the second encoded stream.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method of delivering a video stream. The method operates by determining a group of video streams to be provided to a particular destination over a particular communication link. Next, the band width of the link is allocated to the video streams based upon the particular properties of the various video streams to be transmitted. The video streams are processed so that they fit into the band width allocations. Next, the video streams are transmitted in separate channels, synchronized with respect to each other, to reach the subject destination.

Abstract: A method of providing post-processing information to client decoders. The method includes encoding a video, by an encoder and determining one or more parameters of sharpening, color space bias correction or contrast correction for post-processing of a frame of the encoded video. The method further includes transmitting the encoded video with the determined one or more parameters to a decoder.

Abstract: A method of transmission over a packet based network including providing data packets to be transmitted on the packet based network during a predetermined time interval and arranging the provided data packets in a transmission block according to desired transmission times of the data packets, such that one or more gaps remain between at least some of the data packets. The method further includes adding padding bytes to the transmission block in a manner which substantially fills the one or more gaps and providing the block for transmission on the packet based network.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method of delivering a video stream. The method operates by determining a group of video streams to be provided to a particular destination over a particular communication link. Next, the band width of the link is allocated to the video streams based upon the particular properties of the various video streams to be transmitted. The video streams are processed so that they fit into the band width allocations. Next, the video streams are transmitted in separate channels, synchronized with respect to each other, to reach the subject destination.

Abstract: A method of delivering a video stream, including encoding a video stream into a first encoded stream and selecting encoding parameter values for subsequent transcoding the first encoded stream into a specific second encoded stream. Furthermore, the method includes transmitting the first encoded stream with the selected encoding parameter values to a transcoder over a standard communication network, transcoding the first encoded stream into a second encoded stream having the selected parameter values and forwarding the second encoded stream.

Abstract: A video stream admission method including receiving one or more parameters of a video stream, indicative of a required bandwidth for the video stream, in a plurality of different quality levels and determining based on the received one or more parameters, whether a channel can meet a predetermined condition for each of the plurality of quality levels, according to an available bandwidth of the channel.