Multimedia content management system

• US 10,264,314 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2016
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PCCW Vuclip (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
• Original Assignee: PCCW Vuclip (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
• Inventors: Ding, Jian, Shen, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Mushfikh I
• Application Number:
  US15/143,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20170318335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26603 for automatically generating descriptors from content, e.g. when it is not made available by its provider, using content analysis techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed for the collection, distribution, and/or reporting of media content. According to an embodiment, media content items from one or more content providers are ingested into a content distribution system implemented by one or more server computer devices. These items of media content may comprise a variety of constituent elements, such as one or more video data units, one or more audio data units, descriptive metadata, subtitle units, thumbnails, or other information, which may be ingested all at once, or separately over time. Items may be processed using various workflows to refine content item components and/or generate new content items. Various publishing rules may be utilized to determine when the system is ready to publish a content item and distribute the item to client devices. Clients may request content items from various published listings, or search for content items by metadata and/or subtitles.

Claims

1. A method performed by a content distribution computer system, the method comprising:

receiving transmissions of content item components for different content items via a network over time, the content item components including at least video data components, audio data components, and metadata components, at least some of the content item components for a given content item received at different times;

storing the content item components, correlated by content item identifiers, each of the different content items having a different content item identifier;

performing quality control checks with respect to formatting of at least certain types of the stored content item components;

determining when particular content items of the stored content items are publishable for different content distribution channels based on the quality control checks and on publishing rules that specify particular combinations of types of content item components to be stored for the particular content items;

based on determining that the particular content items are publishable for particular content distribution channels, one or more servers publishing the particular content items by transmitting particular stored content item components that are correlated to the particular content items, including particular video data components, over one or more networks to client devices associated with the particular content distribution channels, a set of content item components transmitted to given client devices for a first content item varying depending on the particular content distribution channels through which the given client devices request the first content item;

receiving or generating an additional content item component for the first content item after publishing the first content item to a first channel;

responsive to receiving or generating the additional content item component, performing one or more of;

publishing the first content item to a second channel to which the first content item was previously not publishable, or updating a listing of the first content item published to the first channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing one or more quality control checks with respect to the formatting of at least certain types of content item components comprises ensuring that the video data components meet one or more formatting restrictions, the formatting restrictions including restrictions on at least one of:

encoding format, resolution, or bitrate.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to passing one or more quality checks on one or more first content item components of the first content item, generating additional content item components for the first content item from the one or more first content item components, the generating comprising one or more of:

transcoding a first video data components to generate a transcoded video data components in a formats associated with the second channel, generating one or more thumbnails, or generating subtitles.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content item components further include subtitle components, wherein determining when the particular content items are publishable comprises determining that the first content item is publishable for the first channel when a subtitle component in a first language required by the first channel has been received or generated.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring one or more web sites or content feeds for new content items, wherein receiving transmissions of the content item components includes downloading the new content items based on the monitoring.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to one or more first content item components of the first content item meeting an initial quality control check, generating one or more additional content item components for the first content item based on the one or more first content item components.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices in a content distribution computer system, cause:

receiving transmissions of content item components for different content items via a network over time, the content item components including at least video data components, audio data components, and metadata components, at least some of the content item components for a given content item received at different times;

storing the content item components, correlated by content item identifiers, each of the different content items having a different content item identifier;

performing quality control checks with respect to formatting of at least certain types of the stored content item components;

determining when particular content items of the stored content items are publishable for different content distribution channels based on the quality control checks and on publishing rules that specify particular combinations of types of content item components to be stored for the particular content items;

based on determining that the particular content items are publishable for particular content distribution channels, one or more servers publishing the particular content items by transmitting particular stored content item components that are correlated to the particular content items, including particular video data components, over one or more networks to client devices associated with the particular content distribution channels, a set of content item components transmitted to given client devices for a first content item varying depending on the particular content distribution channels through which the given client devices request the first content item;

receiving or generating an additional content item component for the first content item after publishing the first content item to a first channel;

responsive to receiving or generating the additional content item component, performing one or more of;

publishing the first content item to a second channel to which the first content item was previously not publishable, or updating a listing of the first content item published to the first channel.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the first channel and the second channel correspond to different carriers or Internet Service Providers by which the client devices may access the content distribution computer system.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein determining when particular content items of the stored content items are publishable comprises utilizing different publishing rules to determine when the first content item is in the publishable state with respect to different channels of the content distribution channels, the listings generated by the distribution subsystem at a certain time describing the first content item as available via the first channel but not available via the second channel.

10. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a content programming interface configured to receive an edit to a metadata component for the first content item after the first content item has already been published;

wherein the one or more servers are configured to subsequently publish the first content item to multiple content distribution channels with the edited metadata component.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the first channel and the second channel correspond to different carriers or Internet Service Providers by which the client devices may access the content distribution computer system.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the content item components further include subtitle components, wherein determining when the particular content items are publishable comprises determining that the first content item is publishable for the first channel when a subtitle component in a first language required by the first channel has been received or generated.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause:

responsive to one or more first content item components of the first content item meeting an initial quality control check, generating one or more additional content item components for the first content item based on the one or more first content item components.

19. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a content programming interface configured to receive an edit to a metadata component for the first content item after the first content item has already been published;

wherein the one or more servers are configured to subsequently publish the first content item to multiple content distribution channels with the edited metadata component.

14. A content distribution computer system comprising:

an ingestion subsystem configured to receive transmissions of content item components for different content items via a network over time, the content item components including at least video components, audio components, and metadata components, the ingestion subsystem further configured to store the content item components correlated by content item identifiers, each of the different content items having a different content item identifier, at least some of the content item components for a given content item being received at different times;

a quality control subsystem configured to execute quality control processes with respect to the stored content item components, and further to, based on the quality control processes and on publishing rules that specify particular combinations of types of content item components to be stored for particular content items, determine when the particular content items of the content items are publishable for different content distribution channels;

a distribution subsystem configured to generate listings of the particular content items that are publishable with respect to particular content distribution channels, the distribution subsystem including one or more servers configured to publish the listings by transmitting the listings over one or more networks to client devices associated with the particular content distribution channels, and further to publish a first content item described in the listings by transmitting stored content item components correlated to the first content item to requesting client devices that request the first content item over the one or more networks, the stored content item components transmitted to a given client device varying depending on the particular content distribution channels through which the given client devices request the first content item;

wherein the ingestion subsystem is configured to continue to receive an additional content item components for the first content item after the first content item has already been described by the distribution subsystem in a first listing published to a first channel;

wherein the distribution subsystem is further configured to, based on the additional content item component, publish the first content item to a second channel to which the first content item was previously not publishable, by the one or more servers transmitting at least the additional content item component to client devices that request the first content item through the second channel.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the quality control subsystem is configured to utilize different publishing rules to determine when the first content item is in the publishable state with respect to different channels of the content distribution channels, the listings generated by the distribution subsystem at a certain time describing the first content item as available via the first channel but not available via the second channel.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the quality control processes include ensuring that individual content item components meet formatting requirements for the particular content distribution channels, the formatting requirements including restrictions on at least one of:

encoding format, resolution, or bitrate.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the content item components further include subtitle components, wherein the quality control subsystem is configured to determine that the first content item is publishable for the first channel when a subtitle component in a first language required by the first channel has been received or generated.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the ingestion subsystem is configured to monitor one or more web sites or content feeds and download at least first content item components listed on the one or more web sites or content feeds.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the first channel and the second channel correspond to different carriers or Internet Service Providers by which the client devices may access the content distribution computer system.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the first channel and the second channel correspond to different carriers or Internet Service Providers by which the client devices may access the content distribution computer system.

22. A content distribution computer system comprising:

an ingestion subsystem configured to receive transmissions of content item components for different content items via a network over time, the content item components including at least video components, audio components, and metadata components, the ingestion subsystem further configured to store the content item components correlated by content item identifiers, each of the different content items having a different content item identifier, at least some of the content item components for a given content item being received at different times;

a quality control subsystem configured to execute quality control processes with respect to the stored content item components, and further to, based on the quality control processes and on publishing rules that specify particular combinations of types of content item components to be stored for particular content items, determine when the particular content items of the content items are publishable for different content distribution channels;

a distribution subsystem configured to generate listings of the particular content items that are publishable with respect to particular content distribution channels, the distribution subsystem including one or more servers configured to publish the listings by transmitting the listings over one or more networks to client devices associated with the particular content distribution channels, and further to publish a first content item described in the listings by transmitting stored content item components correlated to the first content item to requesting client devices that request the first content item over the one or more networks, the stored content item components transmitted to a given client device varying depending on the particular content distribution channels through which the given client devices request the first content item;

wherein the quality control subsystem is configured to continue generating additional content item components for a first content item after the first content item has already been described by the distribution subsystem in a first listing published to a first channel;

wherein the distribution subsystem is further configured to, based on the additional content item component, publish the first content item to a second channel to which the first content item was previously not publishable, by the one or more servers transmitting at least the additional content item component to client devices that request the first content item through the second channel.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the quality control processes include, responsive to passing one or more quality checks on one or more first content item components of the first content item, generating additional content item components for the first content item from the one or more first content item components, wherein the additional content item components include one or more of:

a thumbnail, translated audio data component, transcoded video data component, transcribed subtitle, translated subtitle, or additional metadata.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the content item components further include subtitle components, wherein the quality control subsystem is configured to determine that the first content item is publishable for the first channel when a subtitle component in a first language required by the first channel has been received or generated.