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Howcroft, MI

Jerald Howcroft, Beverly Hills, MI US

Patent application numberDescriptionPublished
20100125884Method and Apparatus to Provide Supplemental Media Content - Method and apparatus to provide supplemental media content are presented. In a particular embodiment, a method of providing supplemental content in a Video-On-Demand (VOD) system is provided. The method includes receiving a selection of a first supplemental content title selected from a plurality of supplemental content titles provided by a selectable menu, where each of the plurality of supplemental content titles is associated with a particular VOD offering. The selectable menu provided is to be displayed upon detection of discontinued transmission of the particular VOD offering. The method also includes providing first supplemental content associated with the first supplemental content title. The first supplemental content is accessible by a subscriber when the particular VOD offering is not being presented and wherein the first supplemental content is not accessible by the subscriber when the particular VOD offering is being presented.05-20-2010

Jerald R. Howcroft, Beverly Hills, MI US

Patent application numberDescriptionPublished
20080278627System and method of indicating quality of service - A method of indicating quality of service includes determining values of a plurality of video quality parameters at a set-top box device. The method also includes selecting a color from a plurality of colors based on at least one of the values. The method also includes activating a video quality indicator, wherein the video quality indicator includes the selected color.11-13-2008
20080288996METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVISIONING MEDIA CONTENT IN A MULTI-USER ENVIRONMENT - A method and apparatus for provisioning media content in a multi-user environment is disclosed. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a Set-Top Box having a controller element to: receive multimedia content from a communication system; configure individual access to the multimedia content among a group of users in accordance with individual user profiles, wherein each of the individual user profiles has a separate service package provided by one or more broadband providers; and provision a delivery of the multimedia content to a media device in accordance with access settings defined at least in part in the individual user profiles. Additional embodiments are disclosed.11-20-2008
20090112808Metadata Repository and Methods Thereof - A repository receives metadata from databases associated with different service providers. The repository converts the received metadata to a common format, such as MPEG7, and stores the converted metadata in a central database. The repository can also receive a query from a client device. The repository retrieves metadata associated with the query from the central database and provides it to the requesting client device. The repository can also convert the provided metadata to an appropriate format for the requesting device. Because the metadata is stored at a common location in a common format, content from different providers can be efficiently identified.04-30-2009
20100180308METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING CONTENT - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a controller to search a portal in response to a user query for a plurality of related content items of disparate formats accessible across a plurality of platforms, present search results and a graphical user interface for the consumption of the plurality of related content items of disparate formats from the single portal in response to the searching, and select a set of the plurality of related content items of disparate formats from the single portal for provisioning on a first device with a first disparate format and at least a second device with a second disparate format. Other embodiments are disclosed.07-15-2010
20110131600System and Method for an Interactive Internet Radio Application in an Internet Protocol Television System - A set-top box for an Internet protocol television (IPTV) network includes a radio interface module, a remote control interface module, and a display interface module. The radio interface module accesses an Internet radio service on the IPTV network and outputs a list of Internet radio stations received from the Internet radio service to a particular IPTV channel on the display interface module, receives a selection of an Internet radio station from the remote control interface module, retrieves an Internet radio stream associated with the selected Internet radio station from the Internet radio service in response to receiving the first selection, and outputs the Internet radio steam on the particular IPTV channel of the display interface module.06-02-2011
20110153749System and Method for Application Alert Tracking in an Internet Protocol Television System - A maintenance system for an IPTV network includes a logging module, a ticketing module, and an operations module. The logging module receives a fault alert from a service provider and sends the alert to the ticketing module. The ticketing module determines the urgency of the fault, generates a ticket, assigns priority to the ticket based upon the urgency, and sends the ticket to the operations module. The operations module allocates the ticket and sends a message to a mobile device regarding the ticket. A method includes receiving a fault alert from a service provider, sending the alert to a ticketing module, determining the urgency of the event, generating a ticket, assigning priority to the ticket based upon the urgency, sending the ticket to an operations module, allocating the ticket, and sending a message to a mobile device the ticket.06-23-2011

Patent applications by Jerald R. Howcroft, Beverly Hills, MI US

Jerry Howcroft, Beverly Hills, MI US

Patent application numberDescriptionPublished
20110078754APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEDIA DETECTION AND REPLACEMENT - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a server having a controller configured to receive a selection from a computing device during presentation of a media program comprising at least one of audio content and textual content associated with the audio content, wherein the selection identifies media content of interest, receive a selection from the computing device identifying replacement content for the media program, detect whether the media program contains the identified media content of interest, and replace the identified media content of interest with the replacement content if the identified media content of interest is detected in the media program. Other embodiments are disclosed.03-31-2011
20110087881APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MONITORING CERTIFICATE ACQUISITION - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set-top-box (STB) having a controller to transmit a request to a remote management server for status information associated with a x.509 certificate intended for the STB, wherein at least one of the STB and the remote management server operate in an interactive television (iTV) network, and receive the status information associated with the x.509 certificate from the remote management server, wherein events associated with the status information are received by the remote management server from at least one of the STB, a certificates proxy, an external certificate web service, and a certificate authority, and wherein the status information comprises at least a portion of the received events. Other embodiments are disclosed.04-14-2011
20110099582Systems and Methods to Perform Actions Upon Content Items Associated with Multiple Series Subscriptions - Methods and systems are disclosed that include receiving an instruction to compare at least one criterion to content items associated with multiple series subscriptions. A method includes issuing an instruction to selectively perform an action upon those content items that match the at least one criterion.04-28-2011