REALNETWORKS, INC. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140201139 | CORE DATA SYNCHRONIZATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - To synchronize data between a remote database and a local object-graph-and-persistence-framework, a synchronization framework receives messages from the local object-graph-and-persistence-framework indicating that a locally-managed object has been retrieved from a local datastore and instantiated or that the locally-managed object has been created, modified, or deleted. When the synchronization framework determines that the message was instigated by a local user's activity (as opposed to a background synchronization process), the synchronization framework synchronizes the locally-managed object with the remote database. | 07-17-2014 |
20140161348 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO DETECT AND SELECT BEST PHOTOGRAPHS - Disclosed is a software routine which determines which photographs in a corpus are similar, groups the similar photographs, and which then determines which photographs within a group meet criteria of “better” photographs. | 06-12-2014 |
20140143247 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO CURATE MEDIA COLLECTIONS - Disclosed is a service which obtains media directly from users and from online sources, which obtains events and anniversaries from online sources, which obtains location and date information associated with photographs, which dynamically provides users with a selection of automatically curated collections of photographs based on the then-current location of the user, based on and relevant to personal and publicly recognized anniversaries and holidays (with dates obtained directly from the users and from online sources), based on specific people or locations associated with dates, events, and anniversaries, and which presents intelligently organized location-based collections which can be quickly re-organized by a user. | 05-22-2014 |
20140119673 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO PERFORM DYNAMIC LAYOUT OF PHOTOGRAPHS - Disclosed is a layout software routine which automatically creates complex and aesthetically pleasing layouts without any user interaction, though user interaction is possible. | 05-01-2014 |
20140066033 | CUSTOM RINGBACK TONE SYSTEMS AND METHODS - A ringback tone service may be configured by determining an indication to suggest one or more callers to a user of a mobile-telephony device and obtaining historical call data describing recent calls placed by recent callers to the mobile-telephony device in a recent period of time. After identifying a number of frequent callers for whom no custom ringback tone is currently provisioned, the user is prompted to select from a list of custom ringback tones that are available to provision for incoming calls from the frequent caller(s). In some cases, the user may send a message to the caller, allowing the caller to select his or her own custom ringback tone via a user interface provided by a ringback tone-service provider. | 03-06-2014 |
20140059595 | CONTEXT-AWARE VIDEO SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Media-playback devices may render context-aware media along with a continually updated set of selectable asset identifiers that correspond to assets (e.g., actors, locations, articles of clothing, business establishments, or the like) currently presented in the media. Using the currently-presented assets or asset controls, a viewer can access contextually relevant information about a selected asset. | 02-27-2014 |
20140053061 | SYSTEM FOR CLIPPING WEBPAGES - Disclosed is software which enables a service which allows users to load screen-shots of webpages to boards as clipped content, which preserves “live” links to the webpages from the clipped content, which identifies the content which was clipped, and which preserves links and other dynamic content in the clipped content. | 02-20-2014 |
20130311287 | CONTEXT-AWARE VIDEO PLATFORM SYSTEMS AND METHODS - A video-platform server may obtain and provide context-specific metadata to remote playback devices, including identifying advertising campaigns and/or games that match one or more assets (e.g., actors, locations, articles of clothing, business establishments, or the like) that are depicted in or otherwise associated with a given video segment. | 11-21-2013 |
20130157629 | CUSTOMIZABLE MEDIA AUTO-REPLY SYSTEMS AND METHODS - An auto-reply service provides to callers event-specific audiovisual media messages that were custom recorded on the callee's mobile-telephony device. The auto-reply service selects the media messages at least in part based on an event schedule associated with the callee. | 06-20-2013 |
20130151988 | SOCIAL-CHRONOGRAPHIC-GEOGRAPHIC MEDIA FILE BROWSING SYSTEM AND METHOD - Users are able to browse a digital-media content based on social-graph-related criteria, time-related criteria, and geolocation-related criteria. A social-chronographic-geographic media file browsing system builds a social-chronographic-geographic media query and retrieves digital-media content (and associated metadata) based on a given user's search criteria. In accordance with various embodiments, the social-chronographic-geographic media file browsing system retrieves an interactive map from cartographic data provider and then places a graphical media control on the interactive map according to the provided geolocation-related criterion. | 06-13-2013 |
20120216293 | MEDIA SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM PROVIDING CONDITIONAL ACCESS TO MEDIA CONTENT FROM VARIOUS CLIENT DEVICES - A system for protecting the digital rights of content owners allows digital media to be delivered to only those media rendering client devices that have been approved for the media content. Before delivering requested media, the media service provider may determine whether the media rendering client device that requested the media is the type of device that is authorized to receive the request media. If it is, the media service provider may transmit the media to a middleman server over a network (such as the Internet). A middleman server may then serve the media to the client device over a local network. By allowing the media content to be distributed to approved devices only, the media service provider can prevent a user from using the media in a way that is not authorized by the content owner. | 08-23-2012 |
20120215699 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING AND SHARING MEDIA CONTENT - A device initialization method includes generating a license request for a personal media device. A timeout indicator may be obtained for a subscription associated with the personal media device. The license request and the timeout indicator may be combined to form a device license for the personal media device. The device license may be digitally-signed to form a signed device license. | 08-23-2012 |
20120185258 | DIGITAL AUDIO SIGNAL COMPRESSION METHOD AND APPARATUS - Compression of audio signal data is described herein. In various embodiments, the compression of each unit of the audio signal data includes the employment of a distribution substantially representative of a subblock of residual data of the unit of audio signal data, to reduce the amount of data having to be transmitted to transmit the unit of audio signal data to a recipient. | 07-19-2012 |
20120179459 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING AUDIO SIGNALS - A method of pre-processing an audio signal transmitted to a user terminal via a communication network and an apparatus using the method are provided. The method of pre-processing the audio signal may prevent deterioration of a sound quality of the audio signal transmitted to the user terminal by pre-processing the audio signal, and by enabling a codec module, encoding the audio signal, to determine the audio signal as a speech signal. Also, the method of pre-processing the audio signal may improve a probability that the codec module may determine a corresponding audio signal as a speech when the audio signal is transmitted via the communication network by pre-processing the audio signal using a speech codec. | 07-12-2012 |
20120177105 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTING BUFFERING TIME FOR MEDIA DATA - The invention is related to methods and apparatus for tailoring an amount of Pre-Data that can be used in media clip streaming applications. A variable-bit-rate encoded media clip can be encoded at an average playback bit rate. When the actual transmission bit rate exceeds the average playback bit rate, a maximum bit deficit computation that uses the average playback bit rate overestimates the amount of Pre-Data that can be used to buffer the media clip. Embodiments of the invention tailor the amount of Pre-Data at least in part to the amount of data used to encode intervals of data and to actual transmission bit rates or to predictions of actual transmission bit rates, thereby decreasing the amount of Pre-Data that can be used and decreasing a latency time before play of the media clip begins. | 07-12-2012 |
20120169588 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING FOR INPUT LATENCY IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE - Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices and systems associated with adjusting for input latency within an electronic are disclosed. An electronic device may receive a user input, such as a user actuation of a device key. A latency adjusted time of the input may be calculated based, at least in part, on a latency of the electronic device in determining the user actuation of the device key. The latency adjusted time may be used to determine a result of the user input. | 07-05-2012 |
20120166948 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY CREATING A MEDIA ARCHIVE FROM CONTENT ON A RECORDING MEDIUM - A media player for creating a media archive may include a media reader to read media content from a recording medium inserted into the media reader. The media player may also include an archival component to store the media content in a storage medium. In one embodiment, the media player includes a playback component to play back the media content from the storage medium concurrently with the storage of the media content by the archival component. | 06-28-2012 |
20120148064 | AUDIO ON-DEMAND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - An audio-on-demand communication system provides real-time playback of audio data transferred via telephone lines or other communication links. One or more audio servers include memory banks which store compressed audio data. At the request of a user at a subscriber PC, an audio server transmits the compressed audio data over the communication link to the subscriber PC. The subscriber PC receives and decompresses the transmitted audio data in less than real-time using only the processing power of the CPU within the subscriber PC. According to one aspect of the present invention, high quality audio data compressed according to lossless compression techniques is transmitted together with normal quality audio data. According to another aspect of the present invention, metadata, or extra data, such as text, captions, still images, etc., is transmitted with audio data and is simultaneously displayed with corresponding audio data. | 06-14-2012 |
20120143724 | METHOD FOR SELLING CONTENT OVER A NETWORK - A method to generate revenue from supplied content is provided. Content is provided to a consumer via a network by providing a content service that allows the consumer to select and retrieve content as a package together with a clearing of the selectable content to an operator used by the consumer to select and retrieve the content via the network. Any content selected by the consumer is supplied directly to the consumer via the operator. The operator is charged for the supplied content. | 06-07-2012 |
20120124179 | TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT IN ADAPTIVE STREAMING PROTOCOLS - A proxy server manages media-data traffic in a network by leveraging the logical separation between the playlist and media segments in modern adaptive streaming protocols to redefine a media stream from an end client's perspective. In various embodiments, the media stream can be redefined from the client's perspective by dynamically modifying the playlist before the playlist is received by the end client and/or by dynamically modifying requests for media segments before the requests are forwarded to a media-origin server. | 05-17-2012 |
20120110149 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING A CLIENT ELECTRONIC DEVICE - A method and computer program product for obtaining a main configuration file from a client electronic device upon the client electronic device being coupled to at least a portion of a media distribution system. The main configuration file defines one or more enhanced functionalities of the client electronic device. The client electronic device is coupled to the at least a portion of the media distribution system using a binary transfer protocol configured to transfer media data from the at least a portion of a media distribution system to a client electronic device. | 05-03-2012 |
20110276712 | MULTI-OUT MEDIA DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A multi-out media delivery system and method are provided herein. | 11-10-2011 |
20110270426 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING FOR INPUT LATENCY IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE - Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices and systems associated with adjusting for input latency within an electronic are disclosed. An electronic device may receive a user input, such as a user actuation of a device key. A latency adjusted time of the input may be calculated based, at least in part, on a latency of the electronic device in determining the user actuation of the device key. The latency adjusted time may be used to determine a result of the user input. | 11-03-2011 |
20110246649 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATING AND CAPTURING DESIRED MEDIA CONTENT FROM MEDIA BROADCASTS - A media agent that monitors multiple broadcast transmissions and a method for the same. The media agent establishes connections with broadcast transmissions and then identifies characteristics of the media content contained within the broadcast transmission. The association between the identified characteristic of the media content and the connected broadcast transmission is maintained to allow the information gathered from the broadcast transmission to be used meaningfully. | 10-06-2011 |
20110231572 | PERSONAL MEDIA DEVICE - A personal media device includes a housing assembly, a display panel located on the housing assembly, and a control assembly located on the housing assembly. The control assembly includes a slider assembly, a first switch assembly positioned proximate a first side of the slider assembly, and a second switch assembly positioned proximate a second side of the slider assembly. The control assembly is configured to extend across substantially an entire width of the housing assembly. | 09-22-2011 |
20110218983 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ORGANIZING AND EDITING METADATA - In the metadata organization system a metadata classification module dynamically reads metadata organization information, such as, for example, metadata field information, metadata display set information, and metadata category grouping information, from the metadata organization database, reads metadata from a metadata database, and organizes the metadata for display to a user in a graphical user interface. In the graphical user interface, a user may add, delete, and/or modify the metadata in the display. As the user changes the metadata, the metadata database is updated and the user's changes are reflected in the graphical user interface. | 09-08-2011 |
20110197078 | RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT AND USAGE REPORTING ON A CLIENT DEVICE - An integrity hash is obtained of rights information stored at a client device. The rights information is associated with content stored at the client device. The integrity hash is encrypted using a client device key to generate an encrypted hash. The client device key is externally inaccessible from the client device. The encrypted hash is stored on the client device. | 08-11-2011 |
20110196942 | ADAPTIVE VARIABLE FIDELITY MEDIA DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD - An adaptive variable fidelity media provision system and method are provided herein. | 08-11-2011 |
20110191700 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING AND DISPLAYING CLASSES OF GRAPHICAL DISPLAY OBJECTS - In the graphical display object system, a user can create a class of graphical display objects such that the various members of the class may share common features. In addition, the graphical display object system builds the graphical display objects based upon the common class definitions as well as the custom features of the graphical display object. | 08-04-2011 |
20110173523 | WEB MEDIA ASSET ID SYSTEM AND METHOD - Methods of dynamically identifying a server provided media asset on a client device are provided herein. | 07-14-2011 |
20110167169 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR UNINTERRUPTED STREAMING - A streaming media presentation transmission error recovery system and network. In one embodiment, in the event of a connection failure to a selected server, an alternative “mirrored” server is selected to resume the transmission of a selected streaming media presentation. One embodiment of the present invention provides for transparent switching from an interrupted media data stream to a stream from a newly-created network connection by providing an overlap between media that has been received and the data that is received via the new connection. | 07-07-2011 |
20110161493 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTING BUFFERING TIME FOR MEDIA DATA - The invention is related to methods and apparatus for tailoring an amount of Pre-Data that can be used in media clip streaming applications. A variable-bit-rate encoded media clip can be encoded at an average playback bit rate. When the actual transmission bit rate exceeds the average playback bit rate, a maximum bit deficit computation that uses the average playback bit rate overestimates the amount of Pre-Data that can be used to buffer the media clip. Embodiments of the invention tailor the amount of Pre-Data at least in part to the amount of data used to encode intervals of data and to actual transmission bit rates or to predictions of actual transmission bit rates, thereby decreasing the amount of Pre-Data that can be used and decreasing a latency time before play of the media clip begins. | 06-30-2011 |
20110154202 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROVIDING FOR THE CONTROL OF A MUSIC PLAYER TO A DEVICE DRIVER - A system and method of providing for the control of a music player to a device driver. One embodiment of the system comprises an electronic music player that is connected to a plurality of music renderers via device drivers via a music renderer controller. The music renderer controller comprises a device integration application program interface for providing a standard interface for communicating with each of the device drivers. Each of the device drivers manage a selected music renderer. The device drivers can display a graphical interface for displaying notifications, customized controls, links to websites, or any other type of information desired by the manufacturer of the device driver. The device drivers can also customize the interfaces of the music render to rename textual elements that are displayed by the device driver. Furthermore, the device drivers can command the music player to suspend and resume playback of music items during selected periods. | 06-23-2011 |
20110153860 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTING BUFFERING TIME FOR MEDIA DATA - The invention is related to methods and apparatus for tailoring an amount of Pre-Data that can be used in media clip streaming applications. A variable-bit-rate encoded media clip can be encoded at an average playback bit rate. When the actual transmission bit rate exceeds the average playback bit rate, a maximum bit deficit computation that uses the average playback bit rate overestimates the amount of Pre-Data that can be used to buffer the media clip. Embodiments of the invention tailor the amount of Pre-Data at least in part to the amount of data used to encode intervals of data and to actual transmission bit rates or to predictions of actual transmission bit rates, thereby decreasing the amount of Pre-Data that can be used and decreasing a latency time before play of the media clip begins. | 06-23-2011 |
20110150418 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PLAY WHILE RECORDING PROCESSING - A system and method of the present invention allow the playback of recorded data as the data is being recorded. Data is read from a source location, converted into an encoded format and stored in a database. At the same time, the stored data is read from the database, and played as the data is being recorded. | 06-23-2011 |
20110080840 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING NETWORK CONDITIONS - A system and a method determine network conditions. The system includes a server computer and a client computer. The server computer is configured to transmit data packets comprising a data object from the server computer to the client computer. The client computer includes a transmission latency detector and a transmission bandwidth detector. The transmission latency detector uses transmission time and receipt time values to determine the changes in time it takes selected portions of the data object to be transmitted from the server computer to the client computer. The transmission bandwidth detector uses identified back-to-back data packets to determine the transmission bandwidth between the server computer and the client computer. | 04-07-2011 |
20110067115 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR SELECTIVE ADVERTISING IN MEDIA CONTENT - Embodiments of techniques for distributing and rendering media content are provided. In response to a request for a first media file, a combined media file is generated having first and second segments that together include data from the first media file and from a second media file. The combined media file is then provided to a player module operable to render only data from the first media file during a first operating mode, and operable to render data from both the first and second media files during a second operating mode. For example, the first media file may be a music file, and the second media file an advertisement. A consumer may play the music portion without special software or a license, but the advertisement will be rendered as well. Alternatively, the consumer may purchase a license and use special playback software to render the music without the advertisement. | 03-17-2011 |
20100296578 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTRACODING AND DECODING VIDEO DATA - A video system for coding a stream of video data that includes a stream of video frames divides each video frame into a matrix of a plurality of subblocks, wherein each subblock includes a plurality of pixels. The video system operates in accordance with nine prediction modes. Each prediction mode determines a prediction mode according to which a present subblock is to be coded. One of the nine prediction modes is selected to encode the present subblock, wherein the selected prediction mode provides for a minimum error value in the present subblock. | 11-25-2010 |
20100277649 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING VIDEO FRAMES AND CORRECTING MOTION - System and method for generating video frames. The system includes a frame generator which generates one or more intermediate frames based upon one base frames. Each of the base frames are comprised of a plurality of macroblocks. Furthermore, one or more of the macroblocks have a motion vector. The macroblocks are comprised of a plurality of pixels. In the frame generation process, the frame generator performs a number of steps such as: (i) determines whether frame generation is appropriate, (ii) examines the first and second base frames to check for the presence of textual characters, (iii) selects a frame generation method based upon information in the first and second frames, (iv) filters the generated frames. In one embodiment, the system includes a server computer having an encoder, a client computer having a decoder, and a network connecting the server computer to the client computer. In this embodiment, the frame generator resides and executes within the client computer and receives the base frames from the decoder. | 11-04-2010 |
20100268965 | AUTO-NEGOTIATION OF CONTENT FORMATS USING A SECURE COMPONENT MODEL - In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, secure content objects are transcoded from an input format to an output format based upon identified capabilities of a receiving device. In one embodiment, a plurality of trusted processing components are identified to collectively transcode the secure content object from the identified input format to the determined output format. In one embodiment, each of the trusted processing components are authenticated prior to operating on the secure content object. | 10-21-2010 |
20100268898 | SCHEDULED RETRIEVAL, STORAGE AND ACCESS OF MEDIA DATA - A system and method automates a scheduled retrieval, storage, and access of media data. Media data is retrieved from an external source and downloaded to an end user media device storage for subsequent playback at the end user media device. Media data is accessible from the end user media device storage based upon criteria including a selection of the end user, rules regulating the media data, and whether a playback time of the media data is sufficient to retrieve additional media data. The system performs regularly scheduled dynamic controls to determine whether additional media data is required for continuous and uninterrupted access of the media data. | 10-21-2010 |
20100235631 | DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT HANDLER AND RELATED METHODS - A system and method of providing universal digital rights management system protection is described. One feature of the invention concerns systems and methods for repackaging and securing data packaged under any file format type, compression technique, or digital rights management system. Another feature of the invention is directed to systems and methods for securing data by providing scalability through the use of modular data manipulation software objects. | 09-16-2010 |
20100225805 | VIDEO PROCESSOR AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED DEINTERLACING AND INVERSE TELECINE - A video apparatus is provided with automatic deinterlacing and inverse telecine pre-filtering capability to automatically analyze the frames of the video to determine at least whether the video is one of telecine, non-telecine progressive and non-telecine interlaced formatted, and to automatically reformat the video into a non-telecine progressive format if the video is determined to be one of telecine and non-telecine interlaced formatted. | 09-09-2010 |
20100223327 | RE-HEADERER SYSTEM AND METHOD - A re-headerer media packaging and serving system and method are provided herein. | 09-02-2010 |
20100217993 | DISPLAY WINDOW CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD - An embodiment of a method for rendering an item of media content includes obtaining a media presentation having a media-content portion and a display-window-configuration component. The display-window-configuration component is recovered from the media presentation and causes a defined display window to be presented contemporaneously with rendering the media content of the media-content portion. And an embodiment of a method for rendering an item of media content having an action-indicator associated with an action includes analyzing the media content to detect the action-indicator and executing the associated action. For example, the action-indicator may be a watermark, which may be visible while an image portion of the media content is displayed. | 08-26-2010 |
20100169464 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING INTEGRATED MEDIA - Methods and system deliver media to users of media presentation systems. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a media server communicates with a media presentation system, such as a media player for streaming video and audio, to present subscription and non-subscription media to the user of the media presentation system. Subscription media may include multi-tiered media packages and individual media offerings as selected by the user. The media may be presented in various formats, including video, a graphical display, an audio presentation, a graphical and audio presentation, URL links, and interactive windows. Information about the user, the user's subscription status, the user's media presentation system and information about the media providers and the media offered by the media providers are maintained by the media server. The media server updates the foregoing information in accordance with the interaction between the media server, the users of media presentation systems, and the media providers. | 07-01-2010 |
20100158099 | Systems and methods for video/multimedia rendering, composition, and user interactivity - An interactive video/multimedia application (IVM application) may specify one or more media assets for playback. The IVM application may define the rendering, composition, and interactivity of one or more the assets, such as video. Video multimedia application data (IVMA data may) be used to define the behavior of the IVM application. The IVMA data may be embodied as a standalone file in a text or binary, compressed format. Alternatively, the IVMA data may be embedded within other media content. A video asset used in the IVM application may include embedded, content-aware metadata that is tightly coupled to the asset. The IVM application may reference the content-aware metadata embedded within the asset to define the rendering and composition of application display elements and user-interactivity features. The interactive video/multimedia application (defined by the video and multimedia application data) may be presented to a viewer in a player application. | 06-24-2010 |
20100153195 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOFTWARE PRODUCTS - A system and method for selling software products over a network. The system includes a server computer with access to software products. The system is configured to allow a user to purchase a subscription for the periodic acquisition of selected software products. In one embodiment, as part of the subscription, the user pays an amount during selected billing intervals. In return, the system issues to the user a number of credits for downloading at no additional charge at least one of the software products during a credit interval, which may be equal in length to the billing interval. In one embodiment, the system debits a number of credits in response to fulfilling a user's purchase request. The system may be also configured to deduct credits that are not used within selected credit intervals. | 06-17-2010 |
20100131776 | SCALABLE AND EXTENSIBLE SECURE RENDERING OF DIGITAL CONTENT - A number of digital content rendering modules are equipped such that selective subsets of the modules may be employed to render digital content of different media, and of different format types. The modules are organized into a hierarchy, with a selected one occupying a root position of the hierarchy, to exclusively receive the digital contents to be rendered, and that each module is further responsible for verifying the integrity of its immediate downstream modules, to collectively protect the digital contents being rendered. Additionally, in accordance with another aspect, a tamper resistant module is employed to recover digital contents provided in a protected state, obfuscating the recovery. Further, the modules may be of different application domains. | 05-27-2010 |
20100121983 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING UPDATE INFORMATION - A system and a method for providing update information. The system includes a client computer which is operably connected to a program information server. The program information server maintains one or more program information items. The system also includes a program selection server which allows the user to select which of the program information items are to be viewed by the user. Based upon a dynamically adjustable polling period, the client computer requests the program information server to provide the client computer new program information items. The program information items include one or more media items that may be selected for viewing by a user positioned at the client computer. The client computer provides a newness indicator to the user, the newness indicator indicating to the user when one or more items of the media content is new and has not been previously viewed by the user. | 05-13-2010 |
20100071071 | SECURE MEDIA PATH SYSTEM AND METHOD - A secure media path system and method are provided herein. | 03-18-2010 |
20090319807 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTENT PLAYBACK AND RECORDING - A method for content playback and recording may include using a computer to obtain media content from a recorded medium. Concurrently with obtaining the media content, the method may include reencrypting the encrypted media content using a secondary encryption key and storing the reencrypted media content in a storage device. | 12-24-2009 |
20090201929 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SWITCHING FROM A UNICAST TO A MULTICAST DATA TRANSMISSION SESSION - A communications system and method provide a seamless switch from a first session to a plurality of multicast sessions. A server transmits data over both a first session and alternatingly between a plurality of synchronized multicast sessions. At predetermined time intervals, the server stops transmitting data over the currently active multicast session and starts transmitting over an idle multicast session. The server is further responsive to a request to stop transmitting the data over the first session at a time when the server alternates transmission between the multicast sessions. The time intervals are advantageously sufficient to allow a receiver to join an idle multicast channel and to send a request to stop the data transmission over the first session. | 08-13-2009 |
20090198732 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DEEP METADATA POPULATION OF MEDIA CONTENT - Methods and systems generate deep metadata associated with media content. The deep metadata may be used, for example, by media content recommendation systems. In one embodiment, a database includes a plurality of media files that are each associated with respective data models and metadata sets. A new media file is categorized by microgenre and automatically analyzed to generate a new data model. The new data model is compared to the database to determine a particular data model stored therein that satisfies a similarity threshold. In one embodiment, the comparison is limited to data models that are associated with the same microgenre as that of the new media file. A set of metadata associated with the particular data model stored in the database is then assigned to the new media file. In an example embodiment, the new media file is an audio file and the database is a music database. | 08-06-2009 |
20090198700 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF DEEP METADATA ASSOCIATED WITH MEDIA CONTENT - Methods and systems verify and control the quality of metadata associated with a media data file. The metadata may be used, for example, by media content recommendation systems. In one embodiment, a first attribute is selected from metadata associated with a media data file and an attribute dependency corresponding to the first attribute is determined. The metadata may be searched to determine whether it includes a second attribute that satisfies the dependency. If the dependency is not satisfied, the metadata is flagged for reevaluation. The metadata may also be flagged for reevaluation, for example, if the metadata includes inconsistent attributes, if the total number of assigned attributes within the metadata does not exceed a predetermined value, or if an expected attribute dimension is missing or does not include an expected number of defined attributes. In certain embodiments, user selections are controlled to provide consistent attribute combinations. | 08-06-2009 |
20090150409 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY CREATING A MEDIA ARCHIVE FROM CONTENT ON A RECORDING MEDIUM - A media player for creating a media archive may include a media reader to read media content from a recording medium inserted into the media reader. The media player may also include an archival component to store the media content in a storage medium. In one embodiment, the media player includes a playback component to play back the media content from the storage medium concurrently with the storage of the media content by the archival component. | 06-11-2009 |
20090148125 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY CREATING A MEDIA ARCHIVE FROM CONTENT ON A RECORDING MEDIUM - A media player may include a media reader to read media content from a recording medium inserted into the media reader. The media player may also include a media analysis component to identify one or more valid portions of the recording medium containing media content and one or more invalid portions of the recording medium without media content. In one embodiment, the media player includes an archival component to store the media content from the one or more valid portions in a storage medium and a playback component to play back the one or more valid portions of the media content from the storage medium concurrently with the identification of the one or more valid portions by the media analysis component and the storage of the media content by the archival component. | 06-11-2009 |
20090144781 | AUDIO-ON-DEMAND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - An audio-on-demand communication system provides real-time playback of audio data transferred via telephone lines or other communication links. One or more audio servers include memory banks which store compressed audio data. At the request of a user at a subscriber PC, an audio server transmits the compressed audio data over the communication link to the subscriber PC. The subscriber PC receives and decompresses the transmitted audio data in less than real-time using only the processing power of the CPU within the subscriber PC. According to one aspect of the present invention, high quality audio data compressed according to lossless compression techniques is transmitted together with normal quality audio data. According to another aspect of the present invention, metadata, or extra data, such as text, captions, still images, etc., is transmitted with audio data and is simultaneously displayed with corresponding audio data. The audio-on-demand system also provides a table of contents indicating significant divisions in the audio clip to be played and allows the user immediate access to audio data at the listed divisions. According to a further aspect of the present invention, servers and subscriber PCs are dynamically allocated based upon geographic location to provide the highest possible quality in the communication link. | 06-04-2009 |
20090079244 | SEAT CADDY HAVING REAR BENCH-ENGAGING MEMBERS - A seat caddy having at least one rear member suitable to engage a bench. According to one embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein, typically two bench-engaging members are rotatably attached to the bottom rear of a seat cushion such that when rotated into an engagement position, the bench-engaging members may secure the seat cushion from moving, sliding or rotating away from an optimal bench position. Further, a storage bag may be removably attached to the bottom front of the seat cushion, such that the storage bag hangs from the front of the seat cushion and provides an additional securing force for maintaining the seat caddy position when engaged with a seat. | 03-26-2009 |
20090041256 | PRESERVING MATRIX SURROUND INFORMATION IN ENCODED AUDIO/VIDEO SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method and apparatus for preserving matrix-surround information in encoded audio/video includes a receiver operative to receive matrix-surround encoded audio signals via a modem, separate the audio signals into a frequency spectrum having discrete audio frequencies, and determine a cutoff threshold used to encode the matrix-surround encoded audio signals. The method and apparatus further includes a decoder operative to decode a first set of the audio frequencies below the determined cutoff threshold using a first matrix-surround preserving audio encoding method and to decode a second set of audio frequencies above the cutoff threshold using a second non matrix-surround preserving audio encoding method. | 02-12-2009 |
20090031038 | ADAPTIVE VARIABLE FIDELITY MEDIA DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD - An adaptive variable fidelity media provision system and method are provided herein. | 01-29-2009 |
20090031007 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING MEDIA DATA - A method and computer program product for receiving a plurality of media data file portions on a client electronic device from a remote distribution server computer. Each media data file portion is associated with a media data stream. A user is allowed to select a specific media data file portion for rendering. The specific media data file portion is chosen from the plurality of media data file portions. Upon the user selecting the specific media data file portion, at least a portion of the specific media data file portion is rendered and a specific media data stream associated with the specific media data file portion is obtained from an on-demand media server computer. | 01-29-2009 |
20090030976 | VARIABLE FIDELITY MEDIA PROVISION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A variable fidelity media provision system and method are provided herein. | 01-29-2009 |
20090028188 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMBINING MEDIA DATA - A method and computer program product for processing a locally-stored, specific media data file portion to generate a first normalized packetized stream. A remotely-sourced, specific media data stream is processed to generate a second normalized packetized stream. At least a portion of the first normalized packetized stream and at least a portion of the second normalized packetized stream are combined, using a packet loss tolerant stitching algorithm, to generate a loss-compensated media data stream. | 01-29-2009 |
20080301280 | WEB MEDIA ASSET IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD - Methods of dynamically identifying a server provided media asset on a client device are provided herein. | 12-04-2008 |
20080211965 | Automated inverse telecine conversion - The present invention is generally directed to automated methods and systems for converting image streams having a first frame rate to a second frame rate without the need for user intervention. Embodiments of the present invention obviate the effects of processing of a telecine process. In one embodiment, where frames are encoded by a single video field, a statistical analysis of the differences between adjacent frames reveals a telecine pattern, thereby identifying which frames to remove. In another embodiment, where frames are encoded by even and odd video fields, which are interleaved to produce the frame, a statistical analysis of the differences between adjacent fields reveals the telecine pattern, identifies which frames to remove, and identifies frames that are candidates for re-interleaving. | 09-04-2008 |