| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20080256575 | PROGRAM GUIDE DATA MANAGEMENT FOR MEDIA CONTENT ACCESS SYSTEMS AND METHODS - An exemplary system includes a data loader and a data slicer. The data loader is configured to receive and process raw program guide data, and to store the processed program guide data in a data store, the processing including generating a unique program identifier for each program represented in the raw program guide data. The data slicer is configured to generate a program guide data configuration from the processed program guide data, the program guide data configuration including program guide data organized into a plurality of data structures based on categories of the program guide data. The plurality of data structures includes at least one channel data structure, at least one schedule data structure, at least one detailed program information data structure, and indices for use as references between different ones of the data structures. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20090019488 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING PERSONAL CONTENT RECOMMENDATIONS - A system and method for providing personal content recommendations comprising a receiver to receive and collect one or more user commands at one or more modules, a processor to generate, at the one or more modules, one or more personalized recommendations based on the one or more user commands, and a transmitter to transmit the one or more personalized recommendations to be displayed at a display device in response to receiving one or more user inputs to display the one or more personalized recommendations. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090150808 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING ONE OR MORE TOPIC SPECIFIC PORTALS - A methods and systems are provided for presenting one or more topic specific portals. A portal may present various content relating to a common topic. The content may be episodes of a television show, movies, products, games, songs, images, and general information about the topic. The topic may be the television show, a movie studio, an actor, a company, or a particular genre or theme. A service provider may deliver the portal in an interactive programming guide sent to the set top boxes of its subscribers. The portal may be interactive such that subscribers may order or watch the content presented on the portal. A content provider may create or edit the portals and send the portals to the service provider. The delivery of the portal to the service provider by the content provider may be through an application programming interface. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090158340 | INDICATING PROGRAM POPULARITY - Data is transmitted from content processing devices to a server, the data relating to a number of times that each of one or more media programs have been accessed within a given time period. The data is aggregated to obtain an aggregate number of times that each of the one or more media programs has been accessed within the given time period. An indication of popularity for each of the one or more media programs may be determined from the data. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090265636 | System and Method for Selling Preference-Based Virtual Objects - A system and method for selling preference-based virtual objects comprising receiving one or more user commands from an input device, transmitting, to at least one server, the one or more user commands to identify one or more preference-based virtual objects based on the one or more user commands, receiving the one or more preference-based virtual objects in response to the identification of the one or more preference-based virtual objects, and outputting, to a display device, the one or more preference-based virtual objects in response to receiving one or more user inputs to display the one or more preference-based virtual objects to the display device. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20100138515 | APPLICATION LAUNCHER SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUSES - An exemplary method includes detecting a request to launch an application on a device, accessing metadata associated with the application over a network, using the metadata to determine whether sufficient resources are available to launch the application on the device, and performing at least one action based on said determination. The at least one action may include launching the application on the device when sufficient resources are available or blocking a launch of the application on the device when sufficient resources are not available. In certain embodiments, the method is performed by the device. In certain embodiments, the device includes a set-top box configured to access a media service over the network. Corresponding methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. | 06-03-2010 |
| 20100162313 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING A CHAPTER MENU FOR A VIDEO PROGRAM - An approach is provided for the real-time creation of a menu of chapters for navigating a video program. The chaptering process creates at a dynamic chapter navigation menu that enables a user to precisely navigate within a video program by recursively creating chaptering points of finer temporal granularity for selecting a desired point within the video program. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100162324 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING A MEDIA PLAYLIST - An approach is provided for the creation of a media playlist for managing and scheduling content from a variety of media sources including broadcast and online sources. The playlist creation process facilitates efficient resolution of media scheduling conflicts by automatically identifying conflicts and generating alternate playlists to overcome them. The approach also enables a user to share the media playlist seamlessly with other devices and users. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100169755 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND APPARATUS FOR DEVELOPING WIDGETS - An exemplary computing system may receive input identifying a first data source. The computing system may also provide a widget template and receive a request to associate the first data source with the widget template. The computing system may create a map that associates the first data source with the widget template. The computing system may provide a widget that displays, based on the map and the widget template, data from the data source. Corresponding methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100319038 | ENHANCED SIMULTANEOUS RECORDING IN MULTI-ROOM DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER - A computing device receives from a user, a request to simultaneously record two or more programs from a content server onto the computing device and initiates a streaming video session between the computing device and a video client. The computing device provides, to the video client, recording parameters for one of the programs and then receives, via the streaming video session, a video stream from the video client. The video stream includes the one of the programs from the content server based on the recording parameters that is then recorded by the computing device. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20110055022 | MEDIA CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - An exemplary method includes receiving end-user-provided media content with a first media content distribution platform subsystem, distributing the end-user-provided media content with the first media content distribution platform subsystem, receiving end-user-provided ratings of the distributed end-user-provided media content with the first media content distribution platform subsystem, selecting, by a platform linking subsystem, at least a subset of the end-user-provided media content based at least in part on the end-user-provided ratings, and distributing the selected at least a subset of the end-user-provided media content with a second media content distribution platform subsystem. In certain embodiments, the second media content distribution platform subsystem may comprise a subscriber television content distribution platform subsystem. In certain embodiments, the first media content distribution platform subsystem may comprise a World Wide Web media content distribution platform subsystem. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110061069 | VIDEO ON DEMAND (VOD) RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON USER VIEWING HISTORY - A system collects a user's television (TV) program viewing activity and uses the collected TV program viewing activity to make video on demand (VOD) recommendations to other users via a VOD recommendation service. The system receives an indication that the user wishes to turn on a VOD recommendation service and deletes previously collected TV program viewing activity for the user based on the received indication. The system collects the user's recent TV program viewing activity, which occurs subsequent to the received indication and the deletion of the previously collected TV program viewing activity, and uses the user's collected recent TV program activity to make other VOD program recommendations to the user via the VOD recommendation service. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110078724 | TRANSACTIONAL ADVERTISING FOR TELEVISION - A method is performed by one or more devices within a closed distribution network to provide transactional advertisements. The method includes sending, over the closed distribution network, an advertisement for presentation by a video client, where the advertisement includes a transactional link; and receiving, over the closed distribution network, a notification from the video client that a user has selected the transactional link. The method also includes automatically establishing, based on the notification, a communication session between the video client and a server associated with the advertisement, where the communication session enables a transactional exchange between the user of the video client and the server associated with the advertisement. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110138412 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING ENHANCED CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH A MEDIA CONTENT INSTANCE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE - An exemplary method includes presenting, by a media content delivery system, an advertisement for a media content instance that is accessible only at or after a scheduled release time, receiving, by the media content delivery system, a request input by a user to purchase access to the media content instance, and providing, by the media content delivery system in response to the received request, enhanced content associated with the media content instance for experiencing by the user before the scheduled release time. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110161882 | USER INTERFACE ENHANCEMENTS FOR MEDIA CONTENT ACCESS SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Exemplary user interface enhancements for media content access systems and methods are described herein. An exemplary method includes a media content access system launching a graphical user interface for display, the graphical user interface initially including a graphical representation of a channel guide comprising a grid matrix of channel icons representing a plurality of media content channels through which media content is accessible by the media content access system and a graphical representation of an advertisement displayed together with the channel guide in the graphical user interface, detecting a user navigation event within the channel guide displayed in the graphical user interface, and replacing, in response to the user navigation event, the graphical representation of the advertisement with a graphical representation of content specific to a media content channel within the plurality of media content channels. Corresponding user interfaces, systems, and methods are also disclosed. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110162001 | TRIGGER-BASED TRANSACTIONAL ADVERTISING FOR TELEVISION - A method is performed by one or more devices within a closed distribution network to provide context-sensitive transactional advertisements. The method includes sending, to a video client, a trigger for initiating a context-specific transactional advertisement associated with a linear program segment and sending the linear program segment for presentation by the video client. The method also includes receiving, based on the trigger, a request from the video client for instructions for the context-specific transactional advertisement; determining, based on the request, contextual information for the linear program segment; and sending, to the video client and based on the contextual information, the instructions for the context-specific transactional advertisement. | 06-30-2011 |
