Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080222045 | System and method of providing media content - A method of providing media content access is disclosed that includes providing a list of available media content to a display device and receiving a selection related to the list of available media content. The method further includes sending data related to the selection to a content source and to an access rule source and receiving media content from the content source based on the selection and an access rule related to the media content from the access rule source. The method also includes applying the access rule to the selected media content, where the access rule defines a restriction to limit access to the media content. | 09-11-2008 |
20080247520 | SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING CALLS - A system and apparatus for managing calls to voice mail is disclosed. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a voicemail system having a controller element that receives a call redirected away from a targeted communication device without providing the targeted communication device notice of the call responsive to a voicemail redirection request supplied by signaling information associated with the call. Additional embodiments are disclosed. | 10-09-2008 |
20090161532 | System and Method for Troubleshooting Broadband Connections - A method is disclosed that includes detecting a problem with a broadband connection at an end device and determining whether the problem can be resolved at the end device. The method also includes requesting that a data network connection device remotely connected to the end device attempt to determine a cause of the problem when the end device cannot resolve the problem. The method also includes determining whether the broadband connection is available. When the broadband connection is available, the method includes initiating a broadband data communication session via the data network connection device. | 06-25-2009 |
20090192870 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING CONSUMPTION OF MARKETING CONTENT - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a monitoring system having a controller to receive a consumption notice indicating whether marketing content supplied by a media communication system to a media processor has been properly consumed by the media processor according to a presentation time indicator associated with the marketing content. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 07-30-2009 |
20090193453 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HARVESTING ADVERTISING DATA FOR DYNAMIC PLACEMENT INTO END USER DATA STREAMS - A method is disclosed for selecting advertising data at an end user device, the method comprising monitoring a plurality of advertising data items in a first video data stream at the end user device; correlating advertising characterization data for the advertising data item with end user profile data for an end user at the end user device; and selecting based on the correlating at least one of the plurality of advertising data items for presentation during display of a second video data stream at the end user device. A system is disclosed for performing the method. A data structure is disclosed for containing data used by the system and method. | 07-30-2009 |
20090198588 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING MEDIA CONTENT - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a registration system having a controller to register a purchase of media content housed in a physical medium with one or more media sources to authorize a consumer of the purchased media content to electronically access from the one or more media sources at least a portion of media content that is similar to or a replica of the purchased media content. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 08-06-2009 |
20090199234 | SYSTEM FOR PRESENTING MARKETING CONTENT IN A PERSONAL TELEVISION CHANNEL - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to receive media content from a subscriber of a media communication system, receive marketing content from a marketing information source, and present the media content and the marketing content in a personal TV channel. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 08-06-2009 |
20090199254 | MANAGING MEDIA CONTENT FOR A PERSONAL TELEVISION CHANNEL - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to categorize media content of a subscriber according to one or more image features, and present at least a portion of the categorized media content in a personal television channel procured by the subscriber from a service provider of a media communication system. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 08-06-2009 |
20090204487 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING PARTIAL ADVERTISING DATA DURING TRICK PLAY - A method is disclosed including but not limited to initiating a trick play command having a trick play duration at the end user device during replay of video data an end user device main display; presenting an advertising data item having an advertising duration during execution of the trick play command; and presenting a remaining portion of the advertising data on a picture in picture (PIP) display on the main display after expiration of the trick play duration. A system is provided for executing the method. A data structure is provided in a computer readable medium for containing data used by the system and method. | 08-13-2009 |
20090204989 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING MEDIA CONTENT - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box having a controller to obtain display parameters associated with a display device, adjust a format of media content at the set top box based at least in part on the display parameters where the adjustment is of one or more portions of a display of the media content, and transmit the media content from the set top box to the display device. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 08-13-2009 |
20090210300 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING ADVERTISING DATA BASED ON END USER TRICK-PLAY TREND DATA - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing a computer program including but not limited to computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer are useful in performing a method for presenting advertising data, the method including but not limited to sensing current trick-play command data at an end user device; updating trick-play trend data for the end user device based on the current trick-play command data; and adjusting a number of advertising data items in an advertising data buffer presented at the end user device based on the trick-play trend data. A system is disclosed useful for performing the method. A data structure is disclosed for containing data used by the system and method. | 08-20-2009 |
20090210909 | Internet Media Via an Electronic Programming Guide - A set top box includes a processor configured to provide an electronic programming guide to available television programming, and list content available from the Internet within the electronic programming guide. | 08-20-2009 |
20090222854 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING ADVERTISING DATA DURING TRICK PLAY COMMAND EXECUTION - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method for presenting advertising data, the method including but not limited to receiving a video data stream at an end user device, receiving a video data stream at an end user device; recognizing a pattern in the video data stream indicating a particular arrangement of objects in the video data stream as scene start data; placing scene start marker data in the video data stream at the scene start data; receiving end user trick play command data during presentation of the video data stream at the end user device; and moving to the scene start marker data in the video data in response to the end user trick play command data. A system is disclosed for executing the method. A data structure is disclosed for containing data used by the system and method. | 09-03-2009 |
20090241143 | Method and System for Providing Set-Top Box Remote Access Functions in a Browser Extension - A method and a system for providing remote set-top box access functions in an Internet browser extension is disclosed. Web page content of a currently viewed web page is compared to an entertainment content database. The web page content is determined to be associated with entertainment content in the entertainment content database. Also, it is determined that there is a media manipulation action for the entertainment content, and a notification that the media manipulation action is available for the entertainment content is displayed. | 09-24-2009 |
20090241150 | Method and System for Providing Set-Top Box Remote Access Functions in a Browser Extension Based on Advertising Metadata - A method and a system for providing remote set-top box access functions in an Internet browser extension based on advertisement metadata is disclosed. A meta-data tag associated with an advertisement embedded on a currently viewed web page is scanned. It is determined that the meta-data tag is related to entertainment content. A media manipulation action for the entertainment content is determined. A notification that the media manipulation action is available for the entertainment content is displayed. Controls to store the media manipulation action on a user account are provided, and the manipulation action is stored to the user account. | 09-24-2009 |
20090271817 | Systems and Methods for Searching Based on Information in Commercials - A set top box includes a processor configured to detect a commercial and analyze the commercial to identify an advertised video content. The processor is further configured to search an electronic programming guide for availability of the video content and record the video content in response to a user input. | 10-29-2009 |
20090271819 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENDING ADVERTISING DATA BASED ON DATA ASSOCIATED WITH VIDEO DATA - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method, the method including but not limited to monitoring video data for advertising data keys; correlating the advertising data keys with penetration data for an end user; and selecting advertising data for the end user based on the correlation. A system is disclosed that is useful in performing the method. A data structure embedded in a computer readable medium is disclosed that contains data used by the system and method. | 10-29-2009 |
20090293088 | Systems and Methods for Remote Access to Programming Information - A method for remotely accessing selected content can include receiving a list of content separate from a video stream. The list of content can include content previously recorded according to a user-defined recording schedule. The method can further include sending a request for content selected from the list of content, receiving the content through a network, and displaying the content. | 11-26-2009 |
20090319350 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING PRIORITIZED ADVERTISING DATA DURING EXECUTION OF VIDEO TRICK PLAY COMMAND DATA - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method, the method including but not limited to receiving trick play command data at an end user device; receiving a plurality of advertising data at the end user device; correlating the plurality of advertising data with penetration data for an end user associated with the end user device; prioritizing the advertising data for the end user device based on the correlation; and presenting a portion of the advertising data on the end user device based on the prioritizing of the advertising data during execution of the trick play command data. A system is disclosed that is useful in performing the method. A data structure embedded in a computer readable medium is disclosed that contains data used by the system and method. | 12-24-2009 |
20090325713 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING PRIORITIZED ADVERTISING DATA IN A PICTURE IN PICTURE DISPLAY WINDOW DURING EXECUTION OF VIDEO TRICK PLAY COMMAND DATA - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method, the method including but not limited to receiving trick play command data at an end user device; receiving a advertising data at the end user device; correlating the advertising data with penetration data for an end user associated with the end user device; prioritizing the advertising data for the end user device based on the correlation; and presenting a portion of the advertising data in a picture in picture display window on the end user device based on the prioritizing of the advertising data during execution of the trick play command data. A system is disclosed that is useful in performing the method. A data structure embedded in a computer readable medium is disclosed that contains data used by the system and method. | 12-31-2009 |
20100031288 | CUSTOM CONTENT CHANNEL - Methods, systems and computer-readable media to provide custom video content via a custom content channel are disclosed. A method to display custom video content includes receiving a selection of a channel via a set top box (STB) device and determining whether the channel is a custom content channel. The method further includes accessing a play list associated with the custom content channel based on the determination. The play list identifies one or more video files stored at the STB device. The method also includes playing the one or more video files of the custom content channel to a display device coupled to the STB device. | 02-04-2010 |
20100064221 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO PROVIDE MEDIA CONTENT - Apparatus and methods to present visual displays are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a method of providing media content is disclosed and includes identifying an available region of a video display. The available region includes a plurality of noncontiguous portions located outside of a first display region of the video display that is to display primary media content. The method also includes aggregating the plurality of noncontiguous portions to produce a second display region of the video display, the second display region including a contiguous portion that is to display secondary media content. | 03-11-2010 |
20100226288 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GROUP MEDIA CONSUMPTION - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set-top box comprising a controller to send an invite for participation in a media conference to at least one media device, the media conference comprising a presentation of a media program supplied by an interactive television (iTV) network, receive an acceptance of the invite from at least one accepting media device of the at least one media device, connect the at least one accepting media device to a communications bridge operably coupled to the STB, wherein the communications bridge enables the STB and the at least one accepting media device to engage in one of voice, video, and synthesized speech to text communications, and present the media program with at least a portion of the communications between the STB and the at least one accepting media device during the media conference. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 09-09-2010 |
20100228547 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING DISCUSSION REGARDING MEDIA PROGRAMS - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a device, such as a set-top box, including a controller to detect a plurality of users engaging in a voice conference to discuss a presentation of a media program, convert speech dialog detected in the voice conference to textual dialog, detect from the textual dialog a behavioral profile of at least one of the plurality of users, and identify at least one of advertisement content and marketable media content based on the behavioral profile of the at least one user. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 09-09-2010 |
20100251299 | System and Method to Send Information Identifying Reccomended Media Content Items - A method includes accessing an electronic program guide (EPG). The method includes identifying recommended media content items using the EPG and selecting one or more addresses of recipients. The method further includes sending information identifying recommended media content items to the selected addresses. | 09-30-2010 |
20110107373 | System and Method to Facilitate Selection of Episodes of Serial Programs From a Media Service - Systems and methods to facilitate selection of episodes of serial programs from a media service are provided. A particular computer-implemented method includes retrieving a media service favorites list of programs associated with at least one user at a computing device. The media service favorites list includes at least one first serial program selected by at least one user and at least one second serial program selected by a recommendation engine. The method also includes sending from the computing device a display of the media service favorites list to a display device associated with the computing device. The display includes an entry for each of the programs in the media service favorites list and a first selectable indicator associated with each of the serial programs determined to have a new, unviewed episode. | 05-05-2011 |
20110119706 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING DISTRIBUTED MEDIA CONSUMPTION - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a first set-top-box (STB) of a group of STBs, the first STB having a controller to select via a graphical user interface (GUI) a media program and a second STB of the group of STBs for receiving an invitation to participate in a media session, wherein the media session comprises presentation of the media program, transmit the invitation to the second STB of the group of STBs, wherein information associated with the invitation is visually displayed at a third STB of the group of STBs participating in the media session, and present the media program at the first STB during the media session, wherein the media program is presented at the third STB during the media session. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 05-19-2011 |
20110126233 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING MEDIA CONTENT - A method that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, receiving a selection from a media device corresponding to a first media content, generating a play list at a server where the play list includes second media content that is associated with the first media content by at least one of genre, artist and being published in temporal proximity, and providing play list content comprising at least a portion of the first and second media content to the media device, where at least one of the generation of the play list and the providing of the play list content is based on metadata pointers associated with the first and second media content. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 05-26-2011 |
20110131593 | System and Method for Displaying Media Usage - A system for executing a method is disclosed for monitoring video data, the method including but not limited to monitoring end user activity data for media usage for a plurality of end user client devices associated with a designated group of end users in an internet protocol television (IPTV) system; receiving from a first one of the end user client devices, avatar data indicating at least one search criterion within the end user activity data; searching the end user activity data based on the at least one search criterion; and sending to the first one of the end user client devices, search result data from the search based on the at least one search criterion. | 06-02-2011 |
20120011534 | System and Method of Providing Media Content - A method includes receiving, from a set-top box device, data that indicates selected media content from a list of available media content. The method includes locating one or more content sources for the selected media content. The method includes selecting a particular content source from the one or more content sources. The method includes locating an access rules source for the selected media content. The method includes instructing the particular content source to send the selected media content to the set-top box device. The method also includes instructing the access rules source to send an access rule associated with the selected media content to the set-top box device. | 01-12-2012 |
20120222073 | System and Method to Send Information Identifying Recommended Media Content Items - A method includes receiving information identifying at least one recommended media content item at a computing device. The information is received from a sender device. The at least one recommended media content item is selected from an electronic program guide and an address associated with the computing device is selected via a graphical user interface at the sender device. The method includes receiving a user selection of at least one item of media content from the at least one recommended media content item. The method includes automatically scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content at a media recorder device when the at least one item of media content is a scheduled program. The method also includes automatically placing the at least one item of media content in an on demand queue when the at least one item of media content includes on demand media content. | 08-30-2012 |
20120233007 | System and Method for Distributing Media Content - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, transmitting registration information over a network to a registration server for registration of first media content housed in a physical medium where the first registration information is associated with a purchase of the first media content from a point of sale device of a retailer and responsive to the registration, obtaining authorization for electronic access to second media content provided by a media source, where the second media content is associated with the first media content. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 09-13-2012 |
20120324498 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING DISCUSSION REGARDING MEDIA PROGRAMS - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a device including a controller to detect a plurality of users engaging in a voice conference related to a presentation of a media program, convert speech dialog detected in the voice conference to textual dialog, detect from the textual dialog a behavioral profile of at least one of the plurality of users, and identify at least one of advertisement content and marketable media content based on the behavioral profile of the at least one user. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 12-20-2012 |
20130212608 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING PRIORITIZED ADVERTISING DATA DURING EXECUTION OF VIDEO TRICK PLAY COMMAND DATA - A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method, the computer program including but not limited to instructions to track a portion of the advertising data forwarded from a first end user device to a second end user; instructions to generate, based on the tracking, penetration data indicating an extent to which the first end user device forwards and propagates the portion of the advertising data to other end users; and instructions to present a portion of the advertising data in a picture in picture display window on the end user device based on the prioritizing of the advertising data during execution of the trick play command data. | 08-15-2013 |
20130305281 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENDING ADVERTISING DATA BASED ON DATA ASSOCIATED WITH VIDEO DATA - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing computer executable instructions including but not limited to instructions to monitor video data for advertising data keys; instructions to correlate the advertising data keys with penetration data for an end user; and instructions to select advertising data for the end user based on the correlation. A system is disclosed that is useful in performing the method. | 11-14-2013 |
20130340001 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING ADVERTISING DATA DURING TRICK PLAY COMMAND EXECUTION - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method for presenting advertising data, the method including but not limited to placing scene start marker data in video data stream at a scene start data; receiving end user trick play command data during presentation of the video data stream at the end user device; and moving to the scene start marker data in the video data in response to the end user trick play command data. A system is disclosed for executing the method. A data structure is disclosed for containing data used by the system and method. | 12-19-2013 |
20140233912 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING ADVERTISING DATA BASED ON END USER TRICK-PLAY TREND DATA - A computer readable medium is disclosed containing a computer program including but not limited to computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer present advertising data, the computer program including but not limited to instructions to display advertising data on an end user device for a duration longer than a duration of normal playback of advertising data at normal speed that is being skipped during the current trick play command; and instructions to continue the display of the advertising data until after the duration of normal playback when trick play trend data indicates that an end user at the end user device has skipped advertising data during the last two consecutive trick play commands including the current trick play command and during a most recent trick play command in the trick play command history. | 08-21-2014 |