Cloud to Cable TV is the platform that makes it easy to send music channels, video channels, video on demand, and any other multimedia streaming content to millions of subscribers.  Cloud to Cable enables a friendly distribution system for media owners, content providers, to subscribers in IPTV, Cable TV, OTT, or even satellite operators.

We have developed a technology that sim greatly simplifies multimedia delivery of deliver music & TV content to cable operators and mobile devices, all in one-stop shop. Upload your content to our online drive or cloud storage, and get ready for distribution and monetization.;

Our intellectual property portfolio includes the following assets:

• US patents
• European patents
• Software and trade secrets

Our patented innovative technology is called:    CLOUD to CABLE

In essence, cloud to cable brings value by bringing to you, an easy way to do:

• Music broadcasting to Operators, mobile, IPTV, cable TV, or even satellite,
• Modern virtualization and cloud technologies integrated into our software,
• Broadcasting with fault-tolerance, ready for high-reliability, and great quality of service.
• Parallel transcoding meaning you can deliver 5, 10, 50, even 100 music or TV channels depending on the hardware chosen, number of instances, and bandwidth purchased from us,
• Web-based approach, yes all is web-based, no funky DIGICIPHER II, MPEG TS, or any of that, all if works on the web, works with Cable TV, Satellite, all and all.
• Interactive and VOD integration
• TV & Music all in one Platform

PDF file with our presentation slide deck:

US Patent 10,123,074

Today, the US Pat 10,123,074 issued for Cloud to Cable, after a provisional was filed December 2014. This patent covers the currently commercialized Cloud to Cable TV system.  The process was not that long, considering that the initial firm, NOVAK DRUCE was disbanded and I had to transfer the case to Greg Nelson and Fox & Rothschild, LLP in West Palm Beach, FL.

The patent issued  is titled: Method, system, and apparatus for multimedia content delivery to cable TV and satellite operators 

A patent continuation was filed in October to cover other aspects of the invention, as shown in the picture the patent generates video with an MPEG Transport Stream that is compatible with a Cable TV system.

What is Cloud to Cable?

The main aspects and novelty of the invention include but are not limited to the following items:

• Integration of web-elements, web pages, or HTML5-related content with rendering of this content on OTT, IPTV, and most importantly, Cable TV systems.
• Virtualization and use of containers in the distribution of music and TV content to cable operators, by provision at virtual machine or docker container with the web page plus content for rendering purposes.
• Essentially, the patent covers music and TV distribution to cable operators and systems for broadcasting.
• Over-the-Top, IPTV systems, or Cable TV operators can now integrate novel ReactJS, Javascript, and all advanced mechanisms for designing user interfaces into their video feeds.
• Audio and music channels can be integrated and created by just connecting to the web-based content provider.
• Fault-tolerance and high-reliability is presented in the disclosure.

In many ways, the invention covers a device, system, and methods to accomplish media distribution with ease, reducing costs, and implementing a novel mechanism that replaces satellite delivery, hardware encoders, and many other devices,

Cloud to Cable Video

A video can be found at EGLA’s Youtube Channel:

This weekend I went and spent some time hacking some code at the “NBC Universal Hackathon” and trying it out new ideas, meeting new friends, and learning a ton on many technological aspects and innovating.  The particular problem that we decided to to solve was the irrelevance  aspects of current TV and how more interactive could it be with current technologies.  The way to solve it thru a collaborative experience where users can interact with their phones and cameras with the video shown on screen.

The team was composed by: Satya, Paul Valdez, Juan Gus, Myself, and Chris.

What we did what simple, we could create a website that could have a canvas that could be treated with effects, add the TV/Video feeds into it and  that distribute the content using a platform like “Cloud to Cable TV” to cable operators or OTT/IPTV systems.

The solution required a few items to be setup and configured:

• RTMP Server or WebRTC Setup to receive video feeds from Smartphones or your laptop,
• FFMPEG to encode, compress, and publish  video/audio feeds
• Mobile App with RTMP Client or WebRTC Client or laptop. We tried several but this one worked out ok.
• A web application in Python to map each feed and position it on top of the TV Channel video source (assuming an M3U8 feed or a movie in MP4)

With this in place, it is a matter compiling CRTMP, FFMPEG, and we tried other components as Deep Learning such as the “Deep Fakes” project. The idea that we had was to replace one of the actors image, as well as superimposed our live feeds into the video.

Issues:

• The safari browser doesn’t allow you to play content with autoplay features, meaning that the user MUST initiate a playback. If SAFARI sees or detects that onLoad the content autoplays this fails.
• There are issues with SAFARI and dynamically loading the content and video.oncanplaythrough() is required to be added to the javascript.

The live feeds had a delay of about 30-40seconds, as it had to:

• Convert and push from mobile phone to RTMP Server,
• Grab RTMP Stream and send it as an m3u8 encoded file to the website.

The standard CRTMP Screen would look like and connections from Gus and Pablo successfully took place:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                     Services|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| c |      ip       | port|   protocol stack name   |     application name    |
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 1112|           inboundJsonCli|                    admin|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 1935|              inboundRtmp|              appselector|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 8081|             inboundRtmps|              appselector|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 8080|             inboundRtmpt|              appselector|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 6666|           inboundLiveFlv|              flvplayback|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 9999|             inboundTcpTs|              flvplayback|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 5544|              inboundRtsp|              flvplayback|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 6665|           inboundLiveFlv|             proxypublish|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 8989|         httpEchoProtocol|            samplefactory|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 8988|             echoProtocol|            samplefactory|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|tcp|        0.0.0.0| 1111|    inboundHttpXmlVariant|                  vptests|
+---+---------------+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+

We were trying to use WebRTC but we had many issues with latency and delays.

The FFMPEG command required and that was used for the demo was:

ffmpeg -re  -i rtmp://96.71.39.58/live/pablo -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -ac 1 -strict -2 -crf 18 -profile:v baseline -maxrate 200k -bufsize 1835k -pix_fmt yuv420p -flags -global_header -hls_time 3 -hls_list_size 4 -hls_wrap 10 -start_number 1 /var/www/html/live/pablo.m3u8

ffmpeg -re  -i rtmp://96.71.39.58/live/gus -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -ac 1 -strict -2 -crf 18 -profile:v baseline -maxrate 200k -bufsize 1835k -pix_fmt yuv420p -flags -global_header -hls_time 3 -hls_list_size 4 -hls_wrap 10 -start_number 1 /var/www/html/live/gus.m3u8

The Mobile App published an RTMP Stream to the server under /live/pablo and /live/gus.  The demo video on what it will look like:

For screen capturing in a Mac with FFMPEG with 3 screens, list your devices and capturing to avoid any MOOV issues and useless MOV/MP4 files.

ffmpeg -f avfoundation -list_devices true -i "" 

ffmpeg -f avfoundation -i "3:0" -t 120 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:v libx264 -c:a libmp3lame -r 25 teleport.mov

The presentation we made to the judges at the “NBC Universal Hackathon” can be found here:

The source code consists on an HTML site using DOM objects, video source, and a canvas. As shown, the video is hidden it is native format in ways that you can use canvas drawing to copy the video from the “src” in m3u8, MOV, MP4 or whatever format your browser can handle to the canvas. The canvas is then the placeholder for all the overlays and divs. The idea with the canvas is that messages can then by typed and exchange between users, as a WhatsApp application or any other chat application that uses the canvas.

var canvas = document.getElementById("c");
var context = canvas.getContext("2d");

window.onload = function() {
 // document.getElementById("fb-profile").style.display = "none";
  
    var canvas = document.getElementById("c");
    var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
    // grab the video element
    // var video = document.getElementById("v");
    
    // drawVideo(context, video, canvas.width, canvas.height);
    // calls drawVideo() function, passing all the objects

}

var splayer = {};

function showIt(id, url, hideOrNot) {
  console.log(id+"  "+url+ " setting it to " +hideOrNot); 

  splayer["v_"+id] = document.getElementById("v_"+id);
  document.getElementById(id).style.display = hideOrNot;
  if (document.getElementById(id).style.display == "none" ) { 
     document.getElementById(id).style.display = "block";
     var vId = "vsrc_"+id; 
     console.log("playing "+vId + "  "+url);
     document.getElementById(vId).src = url;
     if (splayer["v_"+id].paused) { 
        console.log("Video paused.... ");
        splayer["v_"+id].load();
        splayer["v_"+id].oncanplaythrough = function() {
            splayer["v_"+id].play();
         };
     } else {
       console.log("Video is playing already..."); 
     }
  } else {
     console.log(" Stopping .... v_"+id);
     splayer["v_"+id].pause();
     document.getElementById(id).style.display="none";
  }
}

 var player = document.getElementById("v");
 
function ChangeHarry(){
    console.log("Playing Harry Potter.... ");
    document.getElementById("vsrc_main").src = "http://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/teleportme/videos/HarryPotterClip.mp4";
    player.load();
    player.play();
    drawVideo(context, player, canvas.width, canvas.height);
}

function ChangeQueen(){
  console.log("Playing Queen of the South ... ");
  player.pause();
  document.getElementById("vsrc_main").src="http://96.71.39.58/queen0.mp4";
  player.load();
  player.play();
  // drawVideo(context, player, canvas.width, canvas.height);
}

setTimeout(function() {
       showIt ("first", "https://mediamplify.com/teleport/iwantharry.mp4", "none");
       setTimeout(ChangeHarry, 6000);
     } , 2000 );

setTimeout(function() { 
      showIt ("first", "https://mediamplify.com/teleport/iwantharry.mp4",  "block"); 
}, 8000 ); 

setTimeout(showIt, 5000, "second", "http://96.71.39.58/live/pablo.m3u8", "none");
setTimeout(showIt, 6000, "third",  "http://96.71.39.58/live/gus.m3u8", "none");
console.log("Starting changing stuff"); 

setTimeout(function() {
            console.log("Preeping to switch to Queen of the South" ); 
            showIt ("first", "https://mediamplify.com/teleport/iwantqueen.mp4", "none"); 
          }, 13000);  

setTimeout(showIt, 15000, "third",  "http://96.71.39.58/live/pablo.m3u8", "none"); 
setTimeout(showIt, 15010, "second", "http://96.71.39.58/live/gus.m3u8" ,  "none"); 

// setTimeout(showIt, 20000, "third", "http://96.71.39.58/live/gus.m3u8", "none"); 
setTimeout(function() { 
            console.log("Queen of the South");
            ChangeQueen();                        
            showIt("first", "", "block");
           }, 19000); 



function fbProfile() {
    var x = document.getElementById("fb-profile");
    if (x.style.display === "none") {
        x.style.display = "block";
    } else {
        x.style.display = "none";
    }
}

function drawVideo(context, video, width, height) {         
   context.drawImage(video, 0, 0, width, height); // draws current video frame to canvas     
   var delay = 100; // milliseconds delay for slowing framerate
   setTimeout(drawVideo, delay, context, video, width, height); // recursively calls drawVideo() again after delay
}

For a functional demo, 1st allow the site to play video in autoplay:

We didn’t win the “NBC Universal Hackathon” but had a ton of fun doing it!.  We failed in the presentation, it was only 3 minutes and our presenter disappeared in the last minute, and Gus improvised and didn’t use all the time provided by the judges. We knew we were done when no questions were asked. …. Anyways!!! You cannot always win.

Patent Issued for One of Our Media Streaming Technologies

As you have read in my blog, Cloud-to-Cable is a platform and technology that merges the worlds of cloud and Cable TV.

One of the main objectives of the patent and as you can read in the description is to:

” ……   systems, devices, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for media delivery from a cloud or IP-based distribution network, or CDN (Content Delivery Network) to MSO (Multiple System Operators) or head-ends that include cable and satellite delivery mechanisms. The present technology unifies cloud-based delivery (Mediamplify cloud) with the cable-based mechanism (e.g. Comcast, Verizon FiOS).” 

I filed for patent protection in the US and Europe for the methods and system called: “Method, system, and apparatus for multimedia content delivery to cable tv and satellite operators” now protected under US Patent 10,123,074 that will be published and formally issued on November 6th, 2018.  This patent protection gives me the exclusive rights in the US, and we are applying to Europe and other countries, for our method and system to broadcast TV and Music stations on Cable TV, OTT, IPTV, and other MVPD systems. The technology in place is in use by our Music for Cableproduct and is now branded under MEVIA : Cloud to Cable. The patents are owned by me and are available for licensing, including all specifications, and software to create our broadcasting network appliance (MEVIA Network Appliance)

Ted Deutch – Boca’s Congress Representative on HR.6557 – Inventors Protection Act

Ted Deutch is a well-known congressman that represents the area were EGLA COMMUNICATIONS is located, and after sending some emails to Mr. Deutch regarding how the new system in place for patent enforcement is no longer favorable for innovation and on the contrary is a incentive to steal technology and use it without paying royalties.  The HR. 6557 is a new legislation called “Inventors Protection Act” that aims to assist and help inventors protect their Intellectual Property after their patents have been issued by the USPTO.

Let’s recall new changes made in the USPTO regarding software patents, specially Alice and American Invent Act changes made, not forgetting IPRs and the PTAB processes now in place.

EGLA is glad to see our Congress react and move in the right direction and we are hopeful these efforts will fructify soon.

A few years back our team received a visit or this congressman at our offices in FAU – Research Park, before we moved to the EGLAVATOR.

Late September and early October total of two judgments have been filed thus far by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in the case against Music Choice’s patent. As indicated in the rulings for IPR2017-00888 and IPR2017-01191, partial axing fo the patents have been granted to Stingray or against Music Choice’s interest.  Interesting findings that enforce the value of our cloud to cable TV patents.

The final written decisions are available herein:

As Law360 points out:

” The case split the PTAB panel, with each of the three judges filing opinions. The majority ruling by Judge Mitchell Weatherly held that eight of the patent’s 20 claims are invalid because Stingray showed that a person skilled in the art would be motivated to combine the earlier inventions to arrive at Music Choice’s invention, which includes both a playlist and on-demand playback. Source: https://www.law360.com/media/articles/1091845/ptab-partly-axes-music-choice-patent-in-row-with-rival “

This goes in accordance to the prediction made by myself back when this issue was discussed initially, specially in the article where I analyzed the acquisition of Music Choice by Stingray digital.

Infringement and Damages Model

As expected Music Choice should be more interested not so much on the “Video on Demand” revenues which is what these two patents cover, but more so in the patent covering the method and system for broadcasting to Cable TV which is the main source of revenues for both companies. The patent in dispute will be resolved this Friday October 19th, 2018, and the patent 8,769,062 as well as the original applications from 2001-08-28 which is claimed as priority date.

It is my opinion that a similar outcome may result from the PTAB panel.

Hence, what would the damages be for Music Choice? Well, I don’t have access to any information but what is found online, and in a letter from 2014, Music Choice was claimed to have 56M homes, or 57M listeners per month.  Source: https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/atr/legacy/2014/08/18/307851.pdf ‘

In this document, Music Choice indicates that their Multi-Video Programming Distributors (MVPD) constitutes a main source of income for the company. Additionally, in a marketing material VOD distribution is said to have 72M subscribers as of Music Choice’s 2016 PDF :

http://corporate.musicchoice.com/files/2214/6228/4671/2016_Music_Choice_Media_Kit.pdf

In a similar filing, Music Choice makes a case with a rebuttal testimony by Gregory S. Crawford, PhD https://www.crb.gov/rate/16-CRB-0001-SR-PSSR-SDARSIII/rebuttals/2-21-17-music-choice.pdf 

Hence, assuming a price point of let’s say 0.05c to 0.25c/subscriber and recalling what Mr. Boyko said in a prior-conference call, Music Choice should have revenues could be:

• 0.05c per subscriber @ 50M subs = $30M/year
• 0.25c per subscriber @ 50M subs = $150M/year

Assuming now that, Stingray has landed $8M/quarter with an increase of 102.2% or 23.5% o the total revenues, from the 4th Quarter Report available online

” … or the quarter, Canadian revenues decreased 2.6% to $13.6 million (41.3% of total revenues) due to decrease in non-recurring revenues related to digital signage, United States revenues increased 102.2% to $7.8 million (23.5% of total revenues), whereas revenues in Other Countries increased by 34.4% to $11.6 million (35.2% of total revenues). (CNBC source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/globe-newswire-stingray-reports-fourth-quarter-2018-results.html) “

What this means is that somehow per year $32M/year o revenues were eroded from Music Choice’s pie, or since 2014 when the lawsuit was said to have had some issues with Stingray, then the total loss could be $32×4=$120M on damages.  Which, it seems to have been the offering made by Stingray digital to Music Choice for a full acquisition.

The question is, what would be the forward revenues would be for a Georgia-Pacific model that a damages expert would have done for pricing moving forward and how Stingray Digital would have to pay for any future earnings to Music Choice. The information collected indices a 35% tax by Stingray on royalties and potentially another 20-30% which in turn would make operations in the United States at no profit or even at a loss.

Conclusion

It is very hard to compute a damages calculation, assuming that infringement takes place in the surviving claims of the patents in dispute. Hence, if damages were to be computed should be in the range of 8-9 digits with upside to the future, not including potential treble damages which could account for more money to be paid.

Alternatively, Cloud to Cable TV  is the best technological platform for monetization with Cable TV and works using the most recent advancements in Cloud computing, Web technologies, and in combination with standard DVB Systems.  A unified patented technology for Cable TV distribution!

What is Cloud to Cable TV?

Use Case : Music for Cable | Amplify your Reach®

First Patent is Allowed and will be granted

The patent filed for an important component of the “CloudtoCableTV” architecture has received a “Notice of Allowance” meaning that a patent will be granted as soon as fees are paid by me.  I will also file for continuations and other divisional, including the European Patent Office action that is also pending as part of a PCT Filing.   This is the first patent created and issued at the “EGLAVATOR”

The Problem

Creating any “TV/Cable Network” is difficult.  The complexity of content distribution to cable/mobile operators (“affiliates”) is enormous and requires time, effort, lots of capital, and the use of multiple complex technologies.  As one example, satellite time required to distribute TV/music content cost thousands if not millions of dollars per year. In the case of music distribution, this is more complex, as revenues may need to be split among multiple brokers and intermediate agents.

Additionally, current cable TV subscribers want to consume their TV and music content ontheir mobile devices and tablets. Users want to enjoy their cable TV subscriptions at home, school and office,  — any time, any where.

Over-the-Top Platforms (OTT) are widely used today to sell individual subscriptions but not that many systems can reach out to millions of viewers without Cable TV’s help. Hence, Cable TV distribution provides a volume monetization outlet by tapping into millions of subscribers worldwide. Cable TV is the best monetization outlet for new networks including music channels, TV, and video Video on Demand (VOD) content.

In this white paper, we introduce MEVIA as a novel platform solution for content distribution to mobile, web, and Cable/Satellite TV systems. MEVIA effectively reduces cost and maximizes returns.

The Solution

MEVIA is a unifiedmultimedia platform that enables quick and easy distribution of TV, video, and music package content to cable and mobile operators.  MEVIA connects the worlds of web/mobile with Communications Service Provider (CSP) or Multi-System Operator (MSO) content distribution headends.

Our “Cloud to Cable” technology is a patented system that distributes and delivers TV, music, and video channels to satellite and cable TV operators as well as to mobile/web, providing a unified user experience. MEVIA is true to our “Amplify your reach®”slogan.

MEVIA also includes customizable mobile applications and specialized equipment for Satellite and Cable TV broadcasting.

When a content owner decides to distribute their content with MEVIA, the first step is to load TV feeds, music assets, and/or video content into MEVIA storage or ingest servers. The content is then made available securely in all the affiliate systems on Cable TV and mobile/web distribution via our mobile application. Finally, a content ownermay define special playlists and grid programming.Different pricing structures can be enables such as on aper subscriber-basis,per download, or a flat rate.

What Type of TV, Music, and Video Offers are Available?

The range of multimedia services that can be offered are:

• VOD or Video On Demand
• Linear Television Networks

A media owner could offer, for example, a Cable TV and Mobile package that includes:

• Thousands of VOD files
• 50+ Music channels with customizable screens
• 5+ Linear concert channels

What Type of Formats?

MEVIA uses all commonly available encoders and transcoders for audio and video, hence any file from any format can be ingested, processed and broadcasted. The most popular formats are MPEG, MP4, with encoding in H.264,. H.265, AAC, AC-3, and MP3.

How does MEVIA Work?

In essence, MEVIA connects to any web-based platform, rendering its contents and preparing multiple broadcast-ready streams for operators, mobile, and web.

These streams can deliver:

• Music with enhanced metadata
• TV/Video with real-time enriched web-based information, such as twitter feeds
• Music-only content

In summary, Cloud to Cable and MEVIA provides three main delivery mechanisms:

• Applications – Mobile and Web
• Linear streams – Cable Systems and Satellite Operators
• Over-the-Top Applications for Apple TV, Chromecast, Smart TVs,and private systems

We will present howthe business model works, some case studies. and our mobile application.

Business Model

The business model used by MEVIA issubscriber-based and perfectly aligns with the proven “Multichannel Video Provider Distributor” (MVPD)business model.  In this model, operators purchase packages from companies such as Time Warner, SONY, ESPN, Disney, CNN, and many others at prices that range from cents to several dollars paid per subscriber.  The MVPD generates revenue through adding targeted distribution capability.  In this case, an MVPD will use MEVIA to purchase TV, Music, and Video content, pay the content owner and resell that content rights to all their subscribers as part a “Digital” or “Premium” package, or as any format that the operator chooses to use. For Example a Cable TV Operator may purchase ESPN package for $3.95/subscriber and sell a premium package with ESPN For $29.99/subscriber, it is likely that other similar network would cost the operator between cents per subscriber to a few dollars.  Package pricing depends on volume and in some cases, years of negotiations and agreements.

MEVIA will provide as many channels as are included in an agreement with a specific provider,and will deliverthat contentto the operator in the format that their system supports– Linear TV, VOD, or Interactive.

Case Study: CABLEVISION MEXICO

As an example, CABLEVISION MEXICO needed 50+ music channels branded under their name “CABLEVISION”in market.  They provided a set of backgrounds that were used for customizable screensbroadcasted to their users on channels 800-850. The broadcast should include their logo and artist/song metadata, as shown here:

MEVIA created all the music channels simultaneously and broadcasted a lineup ready for more than 1 Million subscribers in Mexico City. Similar screens were made for AXTEL TV, a smaller operator in Mexico City.

Sample Set Top Boxes for DMX and CABLEVISION Music

Case Study: MOOD MEDIA

MOOD MEDIA ingested thousands of song files into MEVIA’s storage platform via secured FTP (SFTP). The files were stored in 256Kbps format in some cases where stored in MP3 in others AC-3.\

The multimedia content might be hosted within MEVIA’s storage platform and content management. In this case study, a product was created for DMX Music/MOOD Media in 2013-2015 timeframe where all the assets were hosted by MEVIA. MEVIA applications and platform was used to synchronize up to 10+ Cable Operators broadcasting multiple packages with 50+ music channels,some with audio-only some others with video and metadata.   MOOD MEDIA had over 20M subscribers in operators that included TIGO, CLARO, and many others.

In this case, a customized HTML web application and native applications were used together for mobile/web and OTT that complemented the Cable Operator offering.

Demonstration: Case Study Using Spotify (Internal Test)

Assume a CSPhas decided to make a deal with “Spotify” and would like to broadcast music to  2M subscribers with a package composed of 50 music channels from Spotify and a few music video channels from a different provider,VEVO.

Without our Cloud to Cable technology, this would be a daunting task, besides the associated cost for satellite fees, and additional complications.  In this figure, MEVIA facilitates distribution of a web application to be part of the Cable TV channel line-up.

MEVIA Cloud will connect to the web-provider and retrieve all required webassets that are currently in use by Spotify. The authentication and authorization can also be linked in connection with the Cable Operator and MEVIA provides a method for single sign-on.

MEVIA can accommodate 50-100 music channels broadcasting in SD, HD, or even 4K depending on the bandwidth that the operator may have available for this service.

Now, an Operator will be able to offer a particular set of Spotify playlists to its subscribers and increase Spotify® music viewership by 2M subscribers.

Similarly, VEVO has no cable TV product offering, MEVIA can enable both VOD and Linear Programming streaming from the same appliance using our caching and distribution network that has been put in place for Spotify®

[spiderpowa-pdf src=”http://edwinhernandez.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MEVIA-box-appliance.pdf”]MEVIA-box-appliance

Case Study: SKY Brasil and SKY TUNES Application

SKY BRASIL® created SKY TUNES,a product that was powered by MEVIA from 2013-2015.  MEVIA provided all OTT streams for thousands of customers in that part of the world. SKY TUNES mobile applications were downloaded by millions of subscribers in IOS and Android.   MEVIA provided to SKYTUNES APIs, streams, and playlists for the application, as well as analytics.

Multimedia Ingest

Ingest of media can be done to our cloud storage in our platform, by simply adding and dropping all the required music files in MP3, AAC, or AC-3 Formats.

Movies can also be uploaded and ingested by accessing the storage and uploading all the required MP4, MPEG-2, or any other format encoded in any known video encoder, suchas H.264, H.265, MPEG2 Video, and many others.

Mobile Apps for MEVIA

MEVIA provides two middleware components, one for music content that was branded initially as “Mediamplify Music” and MEVIA Apps. The fist app is music-centric only, and is capable of handling thousands of music channels in linear format, including“keyword” seed stationscapability.  MEVIA is more video and music centric, in other words playback of video and music for IOS and Android. The sample implementations and can be customizedwith any additional branding or screens as the operator requires.

Patents and Trademarks

Amplify your Reach ® is a registered trademark of EGLA COMMUNICATIONS

US15/538,911 and PCT/US2015/067464 METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR MULTIMEDIA CONTENT DELIVERY TO CABLE TV AND SATELLITE OPERATORS

 US PATENT 7339493MULTIMEDIA CONTROLLER

For a PDF version of this document: What is Cloud to Cable

Music for Cable and CLOUD TO CABLE

Sites Relaunched: cloudtocable.com, cloudforcable.com, musicforcable.com and ubiquicast.com

Music Choice vs Stingray Digital – Case 2:16-cv-586-JRG-RSP

 vs. 

We will discuss in the article, the judge’s order (Judge Roy Payne) and memorandum regarding all the claims terms and its construction. As expected, the judge went for:

“[C]laims ‘must be read in view of the specification, of which they are a part.’” Id. (quoting Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 979 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (en banc)). “[T]he specification ‘is always highly relevant to the claim construction analysis.

[spiderpowa-pdf src=”http://edwinhernandez.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Music_Choice_v_Stingray_Digital_Group_Inc__txedce-16-00586__0145.0.pdf”]Music_Choice_v_Stingray_Digital_Group_Inc__txedce-16-00586__0145.0

As shown, in all cases where Music Choice made a simple term definition, Judge Payne went for the simplest and more appropriate meaning to the words. Music Choice won pretty much all terms in their favor and in all “indefinite” arguments did not move an inch in favor of Stingray. Hence the judge also sided with Music Choice’s arguments and claim construction. For instance:

• What was the goal on trying to interpret a Cable TV system as it if was not a digital system? I don’t really understand why Greenberg did not agree to this simple term?  And the judge sided with Music Choice: “Accordingly, the Court rejects Defendants’ proposed “not a digital network” and “signal” limitations and determines the transmission-system terms have their plain and ordinary meaning without the need for further construction.”   The claim recites a first transmission and a second transmission system,
• The same thing with “multicast,” this is a well-known term in all Cable TV systems, where multicasting is used to transmit all Linear TV signals. “Accordingly, the Court rejects Defendants’ proposed “not a digital network” and “signal” limitations and determines the transmission-system terms have their plain and ordinary meaning without the need for further construction.”
• A very similar analysis is found with the term “trigger message” where the judge sided with the same simple meaning as follows:” Accordingly, the Court construes “trigger message” as follows: “trigger message” means “message configured to initiate an action”
• And you can find a very similar argument for most of the terms in dispute.

All the evidence is sealed and there is no way to see exactly how these terms match the device in dispute, however, Music Choice’s attorneys should be prepared and if those terms were favorable to them, now one can asume that their evidence to match these terms is solid.

We will keep track on this case and how this develops, on a different note, Music Choice also got hit by Stingray with several IPRs:

Music Choice then has to defend the following IPR cases filed by Stingray Digital regarding this particular case:

• Trial Number – IPR2017-01450
  Filing Date – 5/18/2017
  Patent # – 9,414,121
  Title – SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING AN ON-DEMAND ENTERTAINMENT SERVICE
  Patent Owner –  MUSIC CHOICE
  Petitioner – Stingray Digital Group Inc.
  Tech Center – 2400
• Trial Number – IPR2017-01192
  Filing Date – 3/31/2017
  Patent # – 8,769,602
  Title – SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING AN INTERACTIVE, VISUAL COMPLEMENT TO AN AUDIO PROGRAM
  Patent Owner –  MUSIC CHOICE
  Petitioner – Stingray Digital Group Inc.
  Tech Center – 2400
• Trial Number – IPR2017-01191
  Filing Date – 3/30/2017
  Patent # – 9,351,045
  Title – SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A BROADCAST ENTERTAINMENT SERVICE AND AN ON-DEMAND ENTERTAINMENT SERVICE
  Patent Owner –  MUSIC CHOICE
  Petitioner – Stingray Digital Group Inc.
  Tech Center – 2400
• And maybe others http://www.gbpatent.com/content/uploads/IPR.pdf

For example we found:  http://ptolitigationcenter.com/2017/05/pto-litigation-report-may-19-2017/

Disclosure: EGLA, which I own, provided a platform for DMX for digital music distribution. Stingray acquired DMX Music but not our technology and kept its own music delivery system, the infringing system now. However, EGLA owns a patented technology that is called “CLOUD to CABLE TV“ that enables delivery of linear music channels to Cable TV subscribers in a more clever, fault-tolerant, and efficient way than these patents disputed here. Source: http://edwinhernandez.com/2016/08/01/platform-nternet-tv-music/

https://www.slideshare.net/edwinhm/egla-communications-cloud-to-cable-tv-licensing-proposal?qid=9a8ef586-78a7-45a5-b02f-fc6ad1e0a95a&v=&b=&from_search=1

and,

Patent for MediaPlug  for the Cloud to Cable TV – WIPO Format

EGLA CORP has a patented technology, superior to all the patented technologies out there, that brings the Cloud -based systems and generated images for music and TV channels that can be overlapped.  The Cloud to Cable TV system provides:

• A system to convert HTML5 to Video, MPEG-4 or MPEG2Video, or H.265
• A fault-tolerant system for MVPD and MSO’s – Cable TV Systems
• Streaming for M3U8, HTTP Streaming, and compatible with other technologies
• Virtualized TV in a box system with Cloud

The device is called MediaPlug and also contains other Management APIs, as well as a good implementation tested with:

• Cisco
• Ericsson
• Huawei
• and Many other multi-plexers

Advantages over all other systems

There is no dependency into any Set Top Box or DOCSIS 2.0, DOCSIS 3.0, or other MPEG frames or dependencies in changes to STB.

All the systems, are fault-tolerant and enable great reliability and remote management system for all distribution devices

Uses standard DSL/Cable Modem technologies with the system to deliver 50, 100, 200 music channels, and 10-20 HD/SD/4K TV Channels.

Many more advantages that are benefit DRM security, provisioning, and tracking for media playback.

A Cloud to Cable TV™ Platform for Music, TV, and Video

Dr. Edwin A. Hernandez
Chief Technology Officer – EGLA COMMUNICATIONS

Mediamplify® is the one stop shop multi-platform media distribution for web, mobile, and Cable TV systems. Mediamplify® enables a cloud-based infrastructure to be connected with Cable TV head ends or Multi-System Operators (MSOs), just as Comcast, AT&T, CLARO, TIGO Home, among thousands of Cable/Satellite systems around the world with over 1 Billion viewers.

As such, EGLA’s has coined the term “Cloud to Cable™” which means that content available in that cloud platform can also be broadcasted to Cable TV as well seamlessly and with minimum Cable TV content can also be available in the cloud and to any connected device, all in one unified platform, Mediamplify®.

Mediamplify® is the platform that merges the cloud and Cable TV facilitating the offering of TV and Video Cable TV content in mobile devices and any other connected platforms as well as delivering Music, Video, and TV content commonly available in connected devices and mobile to Cable TV systems.

What is Cloud to Cable™?

Cloud to Cable™ is a patent-pending technology that brings HTML5 generated content to a cable operator head end in the format and reliability required in a traditional MSO.  Hence, any HTML5 website or service with video, TV, social media, can be broadcasted to a Cable Operator without major technological challenges.

The content is created in a HTML or HTML5 compatible webpage that can include Javascript or any other web-enabled technology.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80G-rh6Dlns[/embedyt]

How Cloud to Cable™ Music Works?

The Cloud to Cable™ Music Platform uses the power of the cloud to scale and create server instances that handle music/audio playlist management, music encoding, playlist, Digital Rights Management (DRM), while delivering audio with the highest quality assurance. Additionally, metadata and Application Programing Interfaces (APIs) assist with the development of mobile applications to stream music from multiple music genres that are mastered by a DJ, a machine learning algorithm, or created by end users.

Broadcasting to Cable TV™

Our Cloud to Cable TV™ technology includes a cloud storage platform and all the required software and intelligence to broadcast content from the cloud to any cable TV operator. Once content, playlists, and music are available in our cloud the music is delivered to the Cable TV headed to our edge servers co-located in the cable operator premises.

Streaming to Web, Mobile, and Connected Devices (Internet TV)

The music available in Medianplify® can be streamed to mobile devices, web, tablets, Smart TVs and any connected devices such as the Chromecast® and Apple TV®. Internet TV is a reality with Mediamplify.

The same music selection is also available in any of our mobile applications: MEVIA (iOS and Android) that includes TV/Video, and Safety, or Mediamplify Music™. On the web, music playlists are used to create a web interface with HTML5 content that can also be injected into a Cable TV broadcast.

Mediamplify® can also be integrated to third party applications using a  JSON / REST API interface. As examples of third party developers, we can mention SKY TUNES and DMX2GO.

Mobile Applications for Music

The music application reference implementation of iPhone is customizable providing a great User Interface (UI), Bluetooth Audio, Metadata Integration, as well as social support. Our mobile software is flexible and portable.

MEVIA : Internet TV with a Mobile Application for TV, Video, and Safety

MEVIA brings together video, music, and safety all in one mobile experience.   MEVIA connects to our MEDIAMPLIFY® Platform and provides a rich multimedia experience designed for: Education and Learning, Corporate Branding and Image, Cable TV broadcasting, and more.

Our patented technologies are unique having our target markets in Latin America and the United States.

MEVIA Music

MEVIA Music brings over 1000+ music channels without commercials or with commercials with casting capability for Chromecast® and AirPlay® devices. The Music is available thru a rich menu experience for Android and iPhone. Ads can be programmed and injected, we also have a solution for buildings, corporations, and organizations with WiFi or their own Cable TV network. The same music can also be licensed to Cable TV in packages of 50, 100, 200, or more music channels in DVB format, this is all connected with our MEDIAMPLIFY Platform, bring effective Cloud to Cable TV™ experience.

Music Content Available for Cable TV, Mobile, Web

We classified our music content in over 200 different music channels and more than 2400 playlists available without commercial or with advertisement insertion when requested by the customer.  Some of the sample music genres:

• Latin Music
• Electronic
• Jazz
• Rock/Classic Rock
• Merengue
• Salsa
• Classic
• Blues
• National / Particular country
• Tango
• Rancheras/Mexican
• Lounge
• Instrumental
• Country
• Piano
• Alternative
• TOP 40
• Christian Music
• 70s’, 80’s, 90’s, POP2K

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW_sjBjECjM[/embedyt]

MEVIA Video

MEVIA video provides over 1000+ TV Channels of Internet TV, Movies, Educational Content, and more.  Ads can also be injected as part of this offering, additionally Custom TV network (Internet TV or Cable TV or both) can be created and casted in buildings, boats, and any other organization. APIs are also available for Video Streaming and 3rd party apps thru our MEDIAMPLIFY® Platform.

Video Content available for Cable TV, Mobile, and Web

We have access to over 1000+  TV channels in SD/HD from different countries and genres around the world that include:  Al-Jazeera America, Russian Times,  AFP, EdgeSports, MED TV,  TV5 France, EuroNews, PressTV, Voice of America, BBC.  There are also thousands of videos from several providers that can be packaged and resold, including BBC Documentaries, Independent movies, and FILMON Movies, this source provides content to iTunes and others.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csrlydZACNc[/embedyt]

MEVIA Safety

We are incorporating for LATAM and US markets, the security function that enables sending emergency messages to a loved one. This functionality is very helpful for LATAM markets where robberies and theft of mobile devices is prevalent. Hence your multimedia experience will be covered by the MEVIA Safety feature.

MEVIA Safety is triggered with the power button on device or using the Bluetooth Low Energy device.

Additionally, corporate customers of MEVIA Music or MEVIA Video will be able to enjoy of this particular functionality.

Benefits of MEVIA and MEDIAMPLIFY

The integration of MEVIA with MEDIAMPLIFY and all Cloud to Cable capabilities makes MEVIA a unique value proposition for consumers.

Hence, MEVIA is a better offering over Spotify, Pandora, Hulu, and Netflix; assuming you were able to license their platforms,  a comparative analysis of MEVIA is shown in this chart:

Integrated MEVIA and Cloud to Cable TV™

As mentioned early, MEVIA also offers all MEDIAMPLIFY® capabilities including Cloud to Cable, delivering all the content available in Music/Video to any Cable Operator. Hence all MEVIA music, TV, and video content can be broadcasted to a Cable TV MSO all over the world.

Benefits to Broadcasters and Media Companies

Our platform enables broadcasters to sell direct to MSOs bypassing all distribution channels and creating a-la-carte alternative packages for Cable TV subscribers while at the same time offering mobile and casting options as Chromecast® and Apple TV®.

In summary:

• Tap into a market of millions of consumers worldwide on Cable TV systems
• Tap into consumers with mobile, web and connected devices
• Decrease costs for end-customers and increase revenues
• Bundle content from our existing repertoire with yours, creating a better offering to consumers.
• Provide additional features to your offering, music, videos, and casting.

Benefits to Cable Operators and Telcos

Cable operators in the US can partner with COMCAST and TV Everywhere ® services to allow mobile broadcast to mobile.  MEDIAMPLIFY® is a similar offering with a greater selection of services for operators.  The MEVIA App uses Encryption Media Extension services (EME) and also supports other Digital Rights Management (DRM) that facilitate the access to live and pre-recorded contents.   In the rest of the world, cable operators may partner with MEVIA to handle the delivery of TV and Music content to all their subscribers.  MEVIA sill protect all DRM content and facilitate viewership in any device.

Telco’s and Operators that are still in transition to digital can integrate MEVIA as a mobile “play” and bring all the content in cable plus all the additional content from our wide range of TV offerings.

Benefits to Universities and Training

Universities usually own a TV channel or series of TV channels and are offering e-Learning content to their students and communities. MEVIA and MEDIAMPLIFY are hence great tools to enhance e-Learning. MEDIAMPLIFY truly amplify your reach to all potential e-learners.

Bing music, video, news, some sports, and choose what your students and faculty may have access to.  Universities and training academies may bundle content to their audiences with TV, Music, and other relevant content in addition to training and educational videos, as such these bundles can offer great avenues for revenues to Universities, Technical Institutes, and any other educational system.

Benefits to Small Businesses and Brands

Small businesses and brands can truly amplify their reach with consumers. Brand association is then done with MEVIA, MEVIA brings video, TV, music, and safety to consumers in small business.  MEVIA Amplify your reach with multiMEVIA experiences.

For more details the full white paper:

MEVIA: EGLA COMMUNICATIONS Updates

We have done tremendous progress on MEVIA, the message, the branding and overall improved to a responsive site our corporate image. Focusing on the CLOUD TO CABLE TV message and our mobile app, MEVIA.

New Web Presence

We decided to build a new site to cover all technology offerings and services offered by  EGLA COMMUNICATIONS.  The new website uses a parallax, HTML5 responsive interface with great integration to social networks, our own cloud and although released about a week a go, still is ongoing new updates, and more improvements to come.

EGLA COMMUNICATIONS

The new responsive design incorporates HTML5 Video and also provides support for Open Graph integration to Facebook and Slideshare. You can still access the old site at blog.eglacomm.net

We enforced and support the following areas for EGLA that include our products in:

• CLOUD to CABLE Platform (Mediamplify)
• MEVIA Application, and
• Wireless Products

Cloud to Cable  

EGLA offers its Cloud to Cable product. Cloud to Cable is a technology that connects cloud-based platforms and all its content in HTML/Video/Music  and distributes them to Cable TV systems in a seamless and effortless manner. You can then distribute the same content to mobile, desktops, and other connected devices

Cloud to Cable has enabled EGLA to distribute our music content to MSOs and cable operators around the world (http://eglacomm.net/platform)

Our team prepared some illustrative videos on what CLOUD TO CABLE is, and how it enables both mobile and Cable TV experiences all in one platform at an affordable rate.

The first video is in english:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80G-rh6Dlns

And a translation in spanish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0HETfMU_rg

Music for CABLE

Our CLOUD TO CABLE  platform (MEDIAMPLIFY) provides us with a great place for a Music service that is offered from  our platform to any Cable TV system or IPTV network. These music product is also available  thru our MEVIA APP, in both Android and IOS.

Our music content is diverse and unique, we prepared a video introducing our content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW_sjBjECjM

Our platform is available for licensing enabling any Music streaming service to connect with millions of Cable TV subscribers.

TV for Cable

Just like Music, our TV/Video offering is available both for web/mobile and Cable TV. We count with 1000+ TV Channels and networks from all over the world. We offer this content to our customers in CABLE TV or thru our mobile app, MEVIA..  The TV/Movies are available in all formats and ready for distribution to your MSO or IPTV system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csrlydZACNc

Similarly, Cloud to Cable Video Platform is available for licensing to any TV Broadcaster. We include a playback and real-time video production for your broadcasting needs.

MEVIA

Mevia is a great application to deliver multiMEVIA content to costumers in mobile apps or tablets, also enables the control of connected devices like the Chromecast and Apple TV.  MEVIA is our mobile app and CLOUD TO CABLE extension for smartphones and smart TVs. The MEVIA App experience is available consumers but also available to businesses and universities. The market segments where MEVIA fits are:

• Retail businesses
• Stores
• Universities
• Coffee Shops and Restaurants

You can associate your brand with Music and Video content easy with MEVIA.

In Spanish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C0KdOViiDA

In English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxAW2NXgg7g

MEVIA SAFETY

This is part of our feature set for LATAM, an announcement on platform and services will be done soon. We use our own custom Bluetooth Low Energy button to support MEVIA Safety features on MEVIA. Quickly send your current GPS location to a friend or family member in case of emergency or simply asking for assistance.

Wireless Products

Our Wireless Products Portfolio was revamped and stylized with:

• MobileCAD  (http://eglacomm.net/mobilecad)
• MobileCAD with RF Simulation (http://eglacomm.net/mobilecadrf)
• MobileIPP Protocol (http://eglacomm.net/mobileipp)