Personalized content

• US 10,356,463 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2017
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Weigand, Gilbert G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Parra, Omar S
• Application Number:
  US15/703,931
• Publication Number:
  US 20180007413A1
• Time in Patent Office: 671 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2221 being a cable television head-end CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23116 involving data replication, e.g. over plural servers synchronization of replicated data G06F11/1658; error detection or correction by means of data replication G06F11/2053; replication in distributed file systems G06F16/10; replication in distributed file systems G06F16/27; replication or mirroring of data in data networks H04L67/1095
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6168 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 : IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 : Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 : Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A media switch enables a terminal to access content by receiving a content request from a terminal for a first piece of content to be distributed over a cable system, identifying a personal channel within resources available in the cable system to distribute the first piece of content to the terminal, transmitting access information to the terminal to enable the terminal to access the first piece of content through the personal channel, and interfacing with a cable headend to provide the first piece of content on the personal channel.

Claims

1. A method of providing multimedia content to a terminal device, the method comprising the following operations performed by one or more processors:

providing a channel over a network to distribute multimedia content to a terminal device;

transmitting, from a media switch to the terminal device, reusable access information associated with the channel;

determining whether there is adequate bandwidth to transmit the multimedia content;

determining whether more than one user has requested the multimedia content and if more than one user has requested the multimedia content, coordinating the transmission of the multimedia content so that the users share the same frequency or PID pair;

transmitting, from the media switch to a network device, the multimedia content in a compressed format and encapsulated with a data unit wrapper;

detecting at least one of a user command or a pause command from the terminal device; and

replying, based on scheduling of the multimedia content, to the detected user command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reusable access information includes a process identification number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reusable access information identifies a baseband frequency and a channel pairing.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transmitting is performed by multiplexing the channel on the baseband frequency.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by determining a mapping of content into the channel as a frequency or PID pair.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by accessing a configuration database describing the frequency or content mapping.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by managing reception of an IP stream or other transport stream with the requested content.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage device that stores a set of instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the storage device, the set of instructions configuring the at least one processor to;

provide a channel over a network to distribute multimedia content to a terminal device;

transmit, from a media switch to the terminal device, reusable access information associated with the channel;

determine whether there is adequate bandwidth to transmit the multimedia content;

determine whether more than one user has requested the multimedia content and if more than one user has requested the multimedia content, coordinating the transmission of the multimedia content so that the users share the same frequency or PID pair;

transmit, from the media switch to a network device, the multimedia content in a compressed format and encapsulated with a data unit wrapper;

detect at least one of a user command or a pause command from the terminal device; and

reply, based on scheduling of the multimedia content, to the detected user command.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the reusable access information includes a process identification number.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the reusable access information identifies a baseband frequency and a channel pairing.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor transmits at least one of the reusable access information or multimedia content by multiplexing the channel on the baseband frequency.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by determining a mapping of content into the channel as a frequency or PID pair.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by accessing a configuration database describing the frequency or content mapping.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by managing reception of an IP stream or other transport stream with the requested content.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

providing a channel over a network to distribute multimedia content to a terminal device;

transmitting, from a media switch to the terminal device, reusable access information associated with the channel;

determining whether there is adequate bandwidth to transmit the multimedia content;

determining whether more than one user has requested the multimedia content and if more than one user has requested the multimedia content coordinating the transmission of the multimedia content so that the users share the same frequency or PID pair;

transmitting, from the media switch to a network device, the multimedia content in a compressed format and encapsulated with a data unit wrapper;

detecting at least one of a user command or a pause command from the terminal device; and

replying, based on scheduling of the multimedia content, to the detected user command.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the reusable access information includes a process identification number.

17. The medium of claim 15, wherein the reusable access information identifies a baseband frequency and a channel pairing.

18. The medium of claim 15, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by determining a mapping of content into the channel as a frequency or PID pair.

19. The medium of claim 15, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by accessing a configuration database describing the frequency or content mapping.

20. The medium of claim 15, wherein the network device interfaces with the media switch by managing reception of an IP stream or other transport stream with the requested content.