摘要 |
A broadband gateway configured to operate as a virtual broadband gateway may comprise a network portion and a local portion. The network portion is communicatively coupled to the local portion via a plurality of physical layer connections to one or more network access service providers. The virtual broadband gateway may acquire content from one or more providers, process the content for delivery to one or more local devices, and deliver the content to the one or more local devices. The remote portion may be implemented in one or more network devices. The network devices may be owned and/or operated by one or more content providers, one or more network access service providers, and/or one or more independent entities. Gateway functions performed by the network portion may comprise, for example, content downloading, content streaming, content authentication, data format conversion, service negotiation, service selection, data encryption, data decryption and/or data storage.
|