What is claimed is:
1. An output service system comprising:
at least one client for generating order information for ordering output of material data; and
at least one output server for outputting the material data based on the order information provided from the client or clients,
the order information including a pointer for obtaining the material data; and
the output server or output servers obtaining the material data stored at a location other than the output server or output servers based on the pointer included in the order information.
2. An output service system as defined in claim 1, further comprising a relay server existing between the at least one client and the at least one output server, the relay server selecting one of the at least one output server as an apparatus for outputting the material data according to the order information from the at least one client and providing the order information to the selected server.
3. An output service system as defined in claim 2, wherein the relay server comprises servers at a plurality of steps.
4. An output service system as defined in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the order information is provided to the output server or servers via a network.
5. An output service system as defined in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the order information is provided to the output server or servers by being recorded in a recording medium.
6. A computer-readable recording medium storing order information for ordering output of material data, the order information including a pointer to obtain the material data.
7. A method of outputting material data according to order information including a pointer for obtaining the material data, the order output method comprising the steps of:
obtaining the material data based on the pointer included in the order information; and
outputting the material data that have been obtained.
8. An order output apparatus for outputting material data according to order information including a pointer for obtaining the material data, the order output apparatus comprising:
acquisition means for obtaining the material data based on the pointer included in the order information; and
output means for outputting the material data that have been obtained.
9. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program to cause a computer to execute an order output method for outputting material data based on order information including a pointer for obtaining the material data, the program comprising the procedures of:
obtaining the material data based on the pointer included in the order information; and
outputting the material data that have been obtained.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A system comprising:
a broadcast head-end;
a source module including:
a source input to receive a plurality of packets from the broadcast head-end;
a source counter incremented by a source clock; and
a timestamper to add a source timestamp to each of a plurality of packets based on the source counter; and
a sink module including:
a sink input to receive the plurality of packets from the source module;
a reference timestamp module to associate as a reference timestamp, the source timestamp of the most recent packet in the plurality of packets having a program clock reference;
a sink counter incremented by a sink clock; and
a synchronization module to synchronize the sink counter to a broadcaster transmit counter using a current source timestamp and the reference timestamp.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the source module is a playback module.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the source module is a receiver module.
4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the source module and sink module are co-located.
5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of packets include one or more of video data and audio data.
6. An apparatus comprising:
an input module to receive a plurality of packets from a source module, each of the plurality of packets having a source timestamp corresponding to a source module packet arrival time;
a reference timestamp module to associate as a reference timestamp, the source timestamp of a most recent packet in the plurality of packets having a program clock reference; and
a synchronization module to synchronize a sink counter to a broadcaster transmit counter using a current source timestamp and the reference timestamp.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the sink counter and the source counter are to be driven by asynchronous clocks.
8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the synchronization module is to infer the current source timestamp based on a current value of the source counter.
9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of packets are to be received from a playback module.
10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the source module is a receiver module.
11. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the source module and sink module are to be co-located.
12. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of packets include one or more of video data and audio data.
13. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein source module packet arrival time corresponds to a time that the source module receives a packet from a broadcaster.
14. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the synchronization module includes a sink clock frequency adjustment module.
15. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the synchronization module includes a sink counter adjustment module.
16. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a sink module, a plurality of packets from a source module, each of the plurality of packets having a source timestamp corresponding to a source module packet arrival time;
associating as a reference timestamp, the source timestamp of a most recent packet in the plurality of packets having a program clock reference; and
synchronizing a sink counter to a source counter based on a current source timestamp and the reference timestamp.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the sink counter and the source counter are driven by asynchronous clocks.
18. The method according to claim 16, further including inferring the current source timestamp based on a current value of the source counter.
19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of packets are received at a playback module.
20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of packets are received from a receiver module.
21. The method according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of packets include one or more of video data and audio data.
22. The method according to claim 16, wherein source module packet arrival time corresponds to the time that the source module receives a packet from a broadcaster.
23. The method according to claim 16, wherein synchronizing the sink counter to the source counter includes adjusting the frequency of a source clock.
24. The method according to claim 16, wherein synchronizing the sink counter to the source counter includes adjusting the sink counter.
25. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising one or more instructions which, if executed by a processor, cause a computer to:
receive, at a sink module, a plurality of packets from a source module, each of the plurality of packets having a source timestamp corresponding to a source module packet arrival time;
associate as a PCR (program clock reference) timestamp, the source timestamp of the most recent packet in the plurality of packets having a PCR; and
synchronize a sink counter to a broadcaster transmit counter using a current source timestamp and the PCR timestamp.
26. The medium according to claim 25, wherein the instructions, if executed, further cause the computer to infer the current source timestamp based on a current value of the source counter.
27. The medium according to claim 25, wherein the plurality of packets include one or more of video data and audio data.
28. The medium according to claim 25, wherein source module packet arrival time corresponds to the time that the source module receives a packet from a broadcaster.
29. The medium according to claim 25, wherein the instructions, if executed, further cause the computer to adjust the frequency of a source clock to synchronize the sink counter.
30. The medium according to claim 25, wherein the instructions, if executed, further cause the computer to adjust the sink counter to synchronize the sink counter.