Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110179445 | TARGETED ADVERTISING BY CONTEXT OF MEDIA CONTENT - A computer-controlled system and method for inserting real-time targeted advertising in media content such as a video stream based upon contextual information occurring in the video stream. The system detects and extracts contextual information such as subtitles, closed captions, and tags associated with images in the video stream and then determines whether the contextual information is related to any advertisements in a database of advertisements. The contextual information may be utilized together with other advertising criteria and audience qualifiers to prioritize the advertisements for automatic insertion at the next advertising splice point. | 07-21-2011 |
20120096499 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING VIDEO-ON-DEMAND CATALOG SEARCH AND CONTENT DISTRIBUTION - A system and method of video-on-demand (VOD) content search and distribution via an Internet Protocol (IP) network. A user sends a scan of a bar-coded identifier placed on a packaging or advertising material for a movie or other audio-visual program. Using the received barcode scan, the cable operator's VOD system checks the availability of the requested title under the VOD service. If the title is available, the system allows the user to instantaneously purchase and/or bookmark the title via a mobile device. If the title is currently unavailable “on demand”, the VOD system may send a notification to the user when the title becomes available. The bar code scan-based methodology enables the user to request desired titles even when the user is unaware of the titles available in a cable operator's VOD catalog. The IP network-based communication affords users substantially universal and instantaneous access to the desired VOD content with increased mobility and flexibility. | 04-19-2012 |
20120159538 | TARGETED ADVERTISING BASED ON USER AUTHENTICATION, DEMOGRAPHICS AND USER SELECTION - Methods of delivering a time shifted video program include obtaining an individualized advertisement preference for a viewer of the time shifted video program, selecting an advertisement from among a plurality of available advertisements based on the individualized advertisement preference, inserting the selected advertisement into the time shifted video program, and delivering the time shifted video program including the selected advertisement to the viewer. Related systems are also disclosed. | 06-21-2012 |
20120194736 | Methods and Apparatus for Interactive Media - A user can become involved in an Event presented to the user by a media stream. Suitable motion and location cameras and other sensors capture characteristics information on objects, environments, and people in the Event, and that information enables a virtual representation of the user to become a player in the media stream of the Event. Views are generated that include images or representations of one or more real objects in a real space and representations of viewers and that enable the viewers to interact with other images or representations of the objects. To put it another way, a viewer can interact with a TV broadcast of a sporting event, such as a baseball game, an automobile race, etc. | 08-02-2012 |
20120210374 | Video-On-Demand (VOD)-Augmented eBook - A system and method for providing an environmentally enhanced experience to a user reading an electronic book (eBook) on an eBook reader in proximity to a television. An application program in the eBook reader causes the eBook reader to send an indication to a Video On Demand (VOD) television delivery system identifying a page of the eBook displayed on the eBook reader. The VOD television delivery system accesses an eVODBook package that defines start, stop | 08-16-2012 |
20120260282 | CONTROLLING DELIVERY OF VIDEO PROGRAMS USING USER DEFINED IDENTIFIERS FOR VIDEO RECEIVER DEVICES - A method of controlling delivery of video programs from video distribution equipment to video receiver devices includes receiving messages at the video distribution equipment from a mobile terminal operated by a user. The messages contain user defined identifiers that are associated with equipment identifiers of different ones of the video receiver devices. The user defined identifiers are stored associated with the equipment identifiers in a subscriber account. Delivery of video programs from the video distribution equipment to the video receiver devices is controlled in response to commands received from the mobile terminal which request delivery of identified video programs to identified ones of the user defined identifiers. Related video distribution equipment and mobile terminals are disclosed. | 10-11-2012 |
20120266200 | System and Method Providing Remote Video-On-Demand (VOD) - A system and method enabling a user to view on a computing device, a catalog of Video On Demand (VOD) content available on a remote (guest) VOD system, to purchase an available piece of VOD content on the user's account in his Home VOD System, and to play the purchased piece of VOD content through a Guest Set Top Box (STB). A pairing process associates the computing device with the Guest STB, and a VOD Back Office stores this pairing. The VOD Back Office then builds a custom catalog of VOD content available to the user through the Guest STB and sends the catalog to the computing device. When the VOD Back Office receives a request from the computing device to view selected VOD content, the VOD Back Office sends an instruction to a Guest Headend Hub to set up a session with the Guest STB. The Hub force tunes the Guest STB and streams the selected VOD content to the Guest STB for display on a Guest television. | 10-18-2012 |
20120297412 | Video-On-Demand (VOD) Catalog Search via Image Recognition - A Video On Demand (VOD) system having a VOD catalog that lists VOD movies available for a user to purchase, a database for storing a plurality of reference images associated with the VOD movies in the VOD catalog, and an image processing and lookup system (IPLS) for searching the plurality of reference images in the database utilizing automated image recognition. A user takes a photograph of a movie poster or DVD box cover and sends the image to the IPLS. The IPLS determines whether the user image matches a stored reference image. If so, the IPLS sends an indication to the user that the movie associated with the matching image is available in the VOD catalog. When the received image does not match any image in the database, the IPLS sends an indication to the user that there are no movies in the VOD catalog matching the user image. | 11-22-2012 |
20130091249 | HTTP ADAPTIVE STREAMING SERVER WITH AUTOMATIC RATE SHAPING - An adaptive streaming server and a method are described herein for determining if a congestion level within a network exceeds a predetermined threshold and when this occurs then one or more lower bit rate segments of a content stream will be transmitted to a client. | 04-11-2013 |
20130091521 | ADAPTIVE ADS WITH ADVERTISING MARKERS - A streaming server and a method are described herein for providing a content stream with advertisements embedded therein through a network (e.g., IP network, CDN network, wireless network) to a client (e.g., personal computer, a mobile phone, a tablet, or a HTTP capable television). | 04-11-2013 |
20130151684 | UPnP/DLNA WITH RADA HIVE - A system, a controller, and methods are described herein for enabling a user of a user device while located in a visited local area network (e.g., their friend's local area network) to remotely access a device which is located within a home local area network (e.g., their household local area network). | 06-13-2013 |
20130159388 | VIRTUALIZATION IN ADAPTIVE STREAM CREATION AND DELIVERY - An adaptive streaming server, a method, and a system are described herein that create a content stream to be delivered to one or more clients by segmenting the content into data structures which are stored in random access memory (volatile storage) rather than segmenting the content into segment files which are stored on a disk or database (non-volatile storage). | 06-20-2013 |
20130227625 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING NETWORK RESOURCES USED BY MULTIMEDIA STREAMS IN A VIRTUAL PIPE - Some embodiments are directed to a method performed by a pipe control node for managing network resources that are used to transport network traffic. The method includes allocating network resources to a virtual pipe for transporting a plurality of multimedia streams through the network. Utilization of the network resources by the plurality of multimedia streams transported through the virtual pipe is monitored relative to the network resources allocated to the virtual pipe. The network resources that are used by the plurality of multimedia streams transported through the virtual pipe are managed in response to the monitored utilization. Some other embodiments are directed to a corresponding pipe control node that manages network resources which are used to transport network traffic. | 08-29-2013 |
20130262693 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SEGMENTING, DISTRIBUTING, AND RESEGMENTING ADAPTIVE RATE CONTENT STREAMS - Methods by a content distribution system and related adaptive streaming segmenter nodes and adaptive streaming re-segmenter nodes are disclosed. An adaptive streaming re-segmenter node includes at least one network interface that receive a series of segmented files for each of a first plurality of content streams having different coding bit rates of a same source media content. Circuitry combines the series of segmented files to generate a second plurality of content streams having different coding bit rates. The circuitry selects among a plurality of distribution container formats responsive to a streaming protocol used by one of the user equipment nodes, and selects among the second plurality of content streams responsive to available resources at the user equipment node. The circuitry also communicates the selected one of the second plurality of content streams toward the user equipment node using the selected distribution container format. | 10-03-2013 |
20130312046 | SMART STREAM DELIVERY SERVER, SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ASSEMBLING A MIX OF SERVICES TO BE DELIVERED TO A SUBSCRIBER'S PREMISES - A smart stream delivery server, a system, and methods are described herein for assembling a mix of services (e.g., linear channels, video on demand, broadcast television, and recordings) which are to be delivered over one or more networks to a premises (e.g., home, business) of a subscriber. In one embodiment, the system includes a smart stream delivery server that assembles the mix of services which are to be delivered over the at least one network to the home of the subscriber based at least on a subscriber policy which is provided by the subscriber. The subscriber policy includes equipment priorities for a list of devices which consume the services, and service priorities for a plurality of services which are available for consumption by the devices. | 11-21-2013 |
20130346568 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING NETWORK RESOURCES USED BY MULTIMEDIA STREAMS IN A VIRTUAL PIPE - Some embodiments are directed to a method performed by a pipe control node for managing network resources that are used to transport network traffic. The method includes allocating network resources to a virtual pipe for transporting a plurality of multimedia streams through the network. Utilization of the network resources by the plurality of multimedia streams transported through the virtual pipe is monitored relative to the network resources allocated to the virtual pipe. The network resources that are used by the plurality of multimedia streams transported through the virtual pipe are managed in response to the monitored utilization. Some other embodiments are directed to a corresponding pipe control node that manages network resources which are used to transport network traffic. | 12-26-2013 |
20140040952 | CONTROLLING DELIVERY OF VIDEO PROGRAMS USING USER DEFINED IDENTIFIERS FOR VIDEO RECEIVER DEVICES - A method of controlling delivery of video programs from video distribution equipment to video receiver devices includes receiving messages at the video distribution equipment from a mobile terminal operated by a user. The messages contain user defined identifiers that are associated with equipment identifiers of different ones of the video receiver devices. The user defined identifiers are stored associated with the equipment identifiers in a subscriber account. Delivery of video programs from the video distribution equipment to the video receiver devices is controlled in response to commands received from the mobile terminal which request delivery of identified video programs to identified ones of the user defined identifiers. Related video distribution equipment and mobile terminals are disclosed. | 02-06-2014 |
20140068076 | REGULATING CONTENT STREAMS FROM A WEIGHTED FAIR QUEUING SCHEDULER USING WEIGHTS DEFINED FOR USER EQUIPMENT NODES - Apparatuses and methods control communication of content streams through a content distribution network. A data repository is accessed to retrieve information which identifies a group of user equipment nodes that are registered with one of a plurality of subscriber accounts and which further identifies weight values that are associated with the group of the user equipment nodes. Communication bit rates that are provided by a weighted fair queuing scheduler node to individual ones of a group of the content streams within bandwidth allocated to a virtual pipe for carrying the group of the content streams through the content distribution network to the group of the user equipment nodes, are regulated responsive to the weight values associated with the group of the user equipment nodes. Weighted fair queuing scheduling can thereby be provided at a virtual pipe level and, furthermore, at a user equipment node level. | 03-06-2014 |
20140086235 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING SETUP OF CALLS THROUGH COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS - A method by at least one network node is disclosed for controlling setup of calls through a communication system. Information is received for a call request that comprises a network address of an origination device of the call request and a virtual identifier associated with a destination device to which the incoming call is directed. A user call profile is retrieved from among a plurality of user call profiles in a user call profile repository using the virtual identifier to identify the user call profile. The user call profile includes a plurality of rules defined by the user for controlling setup of calls to the destination device. Setup of a call path between the origination device and the destination device is controlled responsive to the user call profile. | 03-27-2014 |
20140123159 | Providing Content On Demand - A method of providing content on demand is provided. Content corresponding to multiple video assets having multiple content owners is received. Content metadata definitions that are associated with the video assets is received. The content metadata definitions including billing data corresponding to an access fee for accessing ones of the video assets. The video assets are encrypted and the encrypted video assets are published. Metadata corresponding to each of the video assets is published. The metadata includes payment delivery data corresponding to the access fee for accessing respective ones of the video assets. | 05-01-2014 |
20140244732 | VIRTUALIZATION IN ADAPTIVE STREAM CREATION AND DELIVERY - An adaptive streaming server, a method, and a system are described herein that create a content stream to be delivered to one or more clients by segmenting the content into data structures which are stored in random access memory (volatile storage) rather than segmenting the content into segment files which are stored on a disk or database (non-volatile storage). | 08-28-2014 |
20140280764 | BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT FOR OVER-THE-TOP ADAPTIVE STREAMING - A method, Over-The-Top (OTT) content provider server, Content Delivery Network (CDN) Redirector server, and CDN delivery server for managing bandwidth while delivering electronic content utilizing OTT adaptive streaming to a plurality of client devices at a customer premises. The OTT content provider server receives client device priorities from a customer and stores in a customer profile, a device weighting for each of the plurality of client devices. The OTT content provider server also stores an indication of an available bandwidth of a premises connection at the customer premises. When each client device requests OTT content, a delivery server in a CDN allocates a bitrate for the requesting client device based on the available bandwidth for the premises connection and the device weighting of the requesting client device, and delivers the requested OTT content to the requesting client device at the allocated bitrate. | 09-18-2014 |
20140304362 | METHODS, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR COMMUNICATING CONTENT FILES BASED ON DESTINATION PRIORITY - A method for communicating content files based on destination priority includes processing a content file to determine a plurality of destination sites to which the content file is to be transmitted, assigning priority levels to the plurality of destination sites, allocating a plurality of bandwidth portions on a communication link to the plurality of destination sites, respectively, based on the priority levels assigned to the plurality of destination sites, and transmitting the content file to the plurality of destination sites using the plurality of bandwidth portions allocated to the plurality of destination on the communication link, respectively. | 10-09-2014 |
20140304372 | METHODS, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR ALLOCATING BANDWIDTH FOR PUSH AND PULL CONTENT REQUESTS IN A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK - A method of operating a content delivery network includes assigning priority levels to push and pull content requests, respectively, for a communication link connecting a first server and a second server in the content delivery network and allocating a push portion of outgoing bandwidth from the first server to the second server for push content requests and a pull portion of the outgoing bandwidth from the first server to the second server for pull content requests based on the priority levels assigned to the push and pull content requests for the communication link, respectively. | 10-09-2014 |
20140337901 | NETWORK PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDER SYSTEM, METHOD AND ASSOCIATED SUBSCRIBER DEVICE - A network personal video recorder (NPVR) system, method and associated subscriber device. In one method operating at an NPVR element, a request for recording a program asset may be received from a first subscriber. Responsive thereto, the NPVR element verifies whether the requested program asset is available in an external content system associated with the NPVR element. The requested program asset is recorded in a content database if there is no equivalent copy of the program asset available in the associated external content system or in the NPVR system for another subscriber. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337905 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DELIVERING EXTENDED MEDIA CONTENT - A system and method for identifying and delivering extended media content. An extended content system receives requests to record or play identified broadcast content. The extended content system automatically obtains or preserves extended media content related to the identified broadcast content. In some instances, the system informs a subscriber that extended media content is available. If requested by the subscriber, the extended content system obtains the identified broadcast content and extended media content and provides the same to the subscriber in either a Set-Top-Box format or an Over-The-Top format. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337909 | NETWORK PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDER SYSTEM, METHOD AND ASSOCIATED SUBSCRIBER DEVICE - A network personal video recorder (NPVR) system, method and associated subscriber device. In one method operating on an NPVR element, a request for playing back a program asset is received from a first subscriber. If the program asset is determined to be in an associated content system, the method includes performing retrieving the program asset's location information from the associated content system, retrieving external media content from at least one of a local media campaign management system and a national media campaign management system wherein the external media content was included in a broadcast transmission of the program asset, building a playlist including the program asset and inserting the external media content into the playlist at appropriate insertion points, and transmitting the playlist including the program asset and the inserted external media content to the first subscriber. | 11-13-2014 |
20140344879 | WEIGHTED INGEST POLICY MANAGEMENT IN A CONTENT DISTRIBUTION NETWORK - An ingestion controller, system, and method for managing ingestion of electronic content in a Content Distribution Network (CDN). The content is received from one or more content sources (CSs) through an inbound content pipe having a maximum bandwidth capacity. A database stores bandwidth weightings assigned to each CS by a network Policy Management System (PMS). The bandwidth weighting assigned to each CS corresponds to a fraction of the maximum bandwidth capacity of the inbound content pipe. An input buffer receives the content from the CSs in one or more input buffer queues associated with the CSs. A content retrieval mechanism retrieves the content from the input queues at an upload rate for each CS based at least on each CS's assigned bandwidth weighting, thereby causing a flow control mechanism to control the upload bitrate of each CS in proportion to the bandwidth weightings. | 11-20-2014 |
20140351386 | HTTP ADAPTIVE STREAMING SERVER WITH AUTOMATIC RATE SHAPING - An adaptive streaming server and a method are described herein for determining if a congestion level within a network exceeds a predetermined threshold and when this occurs then one or more lower bit rate segments of a content stream will be transmitted to a client. | 11-27-2014 |
20140373036 | HYBRID VIDEO RECOGNITION SYSTEM BASED ON AUDIO AND SUBTITLE DATA - A system and method where a second screen app on a user device “listens” to audio clues from a video playback unit that is currently playing an audio-visual content. The audio clues include background audio and human speech content. The background audio is converted into Locality Sensitive Hashtag (LSH) values. The human speech content is converted into an array of text data. The LSH values are used by a server to find a ballpark estimate of where in the audio-visual content the captured background audio is from. This ballpark estimate identifies a specific video segment. The server then matches dialog text array with pre-stored subtitle information (for the identified video segment) to provide a more accurate estimate of the current play-through location within that video segment. A timer-based correction provides additional accuracy. The combination of LSH-based and subtitle-based searches provides fast and accurate estimates of an audio-visual program's play-through location. | 12-18-2014 |
20150058902 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DELIVERING EXTENDED MEDIA CONTENT - A system and method for identifying and delivering extended media content. An extended content system receives requests to record or play identified broadcast content. The extended content system automatically obtains or preserves extended media content related to the identified broadcast content. In some instances, the system informs a subscriber that extended media content is available. If requested by the subscriber, the extended content system obtains the identified broadcast content and extended media content and provides the same to the subscriber in either a Set-Top-Box format or an Over-The-Top format. | 02-26-2015 |
20150074232 | STREAMING POLICY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A streaming policy management system and method wherein bandwidth may be allocated based on external device information received from a streaming client device connected to one or more external audio/video (A/V) devices. When a streaming network back office receives a request from the streaming client device for delivery of a particular content, wherein the request includes external device information of one or more external A/V devices connected to the streaming client device, a bandwidth is determined for streaming the particular content to the streaming client device and a request may be made to a content delivery network to create a distribution pipe having the bandwidth to accommodate the delivery of the particular content. A manifest file is provided to the streaming client device that includes one or more pointers that point to content segments of the particular content. | 03-12-2015 |
20150085875 | ADAPTIVE VIDEO WHITE SPOT LEARNING AND USER BANDWIDTH DELIVERY CONTROL SYSTEM - A system and method that utilize a learning system to maintain a set of geographical locations indicating an area where network data coverage is poor. When it is determined that a client device is moving towards such an area, the client is forced or instructed to switch to a lower delivery bitrate for video segments in order to force the client's Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) playback buffer to fill itself with enough low-quality video segments to enable the client to cross the area without video playback interruption. Thus, the client mobile device may be preemptively forced to choose the lowest bitrate specified in a manifest file for the delivered video segments as the bitrate for downloading video segments when approaching the poor coverage area. Hence, the client device can maintain a minimum level of Quality of Service (QoS) when moving through network areas with poor data coverage. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089023 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING ADJACENT CHANNELS IN AN ADAPTIVE STREAMING ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for managing adjacent channels in an adaptive streaming environment. One or more adjacent channels may be defined for a client device relative to a current streaming channel, wherein the client device is configured to pre-fetch metadata and initialization information for the defined adjacent channels based on bandwidth conditions, buffer conditions, etc. When a channel is changed, the client device is operative to use the pre-fetched data to quickly obtain encoded media content for rendering. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089072 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING ADJACENT CHANNELS IN AN ADAPTIVE STREAMING ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for managing adjacent channels in an adaptive streaming environment. One or more adjacent channels may be defined for a client device relative to a current streaming channel, wherein the client device is configured to pre-fetch metadata and initialization information for the defined adjacent channels based on bandwidth conditions, buffer conditions, etc. When a channel is changed, the client device is operative to use the pre-fetched data to quickly obtain encoded media content for rendering. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089073 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EFFECTUATING FAST CHANNEL CHANGE IN AN ADPATIVE STREAMING ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for effectuating fast channel changes in an adaptive streaming environment. When a new stream of media content is started, a client device is adapted for sending a request for transmission of media content encoded at a select bit rate. Upon receipt of the encoded media content, the client device is operative to decode and render the media content immediately regardless of a buffer state associated with the client device's video buffer. The client device is further operative to send a request for streaming media content encoded at higher bit rates upon expiration of a specific period of time. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089554 | RECORDING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENT NETWORK PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDER MANIPULATION THROUGH ADAPTIVE BIT RATE STREAMING - A recording device and a method are described herein that provide a network-based personal video recording service utilizing adaptive bit rate technology for a plurality of users. In operation, the recording device records at a minimum a single bit rate (one set of segmented files) of the broadcast content within each user's network personal video recorder storage unit. Plus, the recording device stores the other bit rates (remaining sets of segmented files) in a central storage location or some other storage location. | 03-26-2015 |