Methods for enabling near video-on-demand and video-on-request services using digital video recorders
First Claim
1. A method for enabling near video-on-demand (VOD) service using a digital video recorder (DVR) for the simultaneous storage and playback of multimedia data, comprising the steps of:
- connecting a DVR to a network server over a data network, the data network including but not limited to the Internet, satellite, cable television, broadcast television, powerline, phoneline or wireless networks;
requesting a VOD selection by the DVR from the network server;
receiving a compressed multimedia data signal by the DVR from the network server, the compressed multimedia data signal containing the requested VOD selection;
storing a first received portion of the received multimedia data signal on the DVR;
decompressing the first received segment of the received multimedia data signal by the DVR;
playing the decompressed first received segment by the DVR for display on a display device; and
simultaneously during the playing of the first received segment receiving and storing a second received segment of the received multimedia data signal on the DVR while playing the first received segment for display on the display device, whereby the requested VOD selection begins playing on the display device prior to the reception of the entire compressed multimedia data signal containing the requested VOD selection.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A near video-on-demand (VOD) service enabled using a digital video recorder (DVR) for the simultaneous storage and playback of multimedia data. A DVR is connected over a network to a multimedia network source. A VOD selection is requested by the DVR from the network source. A multimedia data signal is received by the DVR from the network source. The data signal contains the requested VOD selection. A first received portion of the received data signal is stored on the DVR. The first received segment is played by the DVR for display on a display device. Simultaneously during the playing of the first received segment, a second received segment of the received data signal is received from the network source and stored on the DVR while the first received segment is played the display device. Thus, the requested VOD selection begins playing on the display device prior to the reception of the entire compressed multimedia data signal so that a requested VOD selection can begin being displayed nearly instantaneously after the request for it is made. A video-on-request (VOR) service is also enabled using a DVR. VOR selection data is received by a centralized database device, such as a network server, from a plurality of users. Each VOR selection data includes at least one requested video selection and video recorder identifying information for identifying each particular video recorder. A transmission priority of requested video selections is determined dependent on the frequency of requests 1received from the plurality of users. A transmission channel and time is determined based on the transmission priority. DVR control signals are transmitted to automatically tune in the determined transmission channel at the determined transmission time and record the particular video selection.
240 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method for enabling near video-on-demand (VOD) service using a digital video recorder (DVR) for the simultaneous storage and playback of multimedia data, comprising the steps of:
- connecting a DVR to a network server over a data network, the data network including but not limited to the Internet, satellite, cable television, broadcast television, powerline, phoneline or wireless networks;
requesting a VOD selection by the DVR from the network server;
receiving a compressed multimedia data signal by the DVR from the network server, the compressed multimedia data signal containing the requested VOD selection;
storing a first received portion of the received multimedia data signal on the DVR;
decompressing the first received segment of the received multimedia data signal by the DVR;
playing the decompressed first received segment by the DVR for display on a display device; and
simultaneously during the playing of the first received segment receiving and storing a second received segment of the received multimedia data signal on the DVR while playing the first received segment for display on the display device, whereby the requested VOD selection begins playing on the display device prior to the reception of the entire compressed multimedia data signal containing the requested VOD selection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
- connecting a DVR to a network server over a data network, the data network including but not limited to the Internet, satellite, cable television, broadcast television, powerline, phoneline or wireless networks;
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14. A method for enabling near video-on-demand (VOD) service using a digital video recorder (DVR) for the simultaneous storage and playback of multimedia data, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a request from a DVR for a VOD selection by a network server connected to the DVR over a data network, the data network including but not limited to the Internet, LAN, WAN, satellite, cable television, broadcast television, powerline, phoneline or wireless networks;
retrieving the requested VOD selection from a storage device associated with the network server; and
transmitting a first segment of the requested VOD selection in the form of a compressed multimedia data signal over the data network, whereby a receiving DVR is effective for receiving the compressed multimedia data signal containing the transmitted VOD selection, storing the received multimedia data signal on a local storage device, decompressing a first received segment of the received multimedia data signal, playing the first received segment for display on a display device, and simultaneously during the playing of the first received segment receiving and storing a second received segment of the received multimedia data signal while playing the first received segment. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
- receiving a request from a DVR for a VOD selection by a network server connected to the DVR over a data network, the data network including but not limited to the Internet, LAN, WAN, satellite, cable television, broadcast television, powerline, phoneline or wireless networks;
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27. A method for enabling near video-on-demand (VOD) service using a digital video recorder (DVR) for the simultaneous storage and playback of multimedia data, comprising the steps of:
- connecting a DVR to a multimedia network source;
requesting a VOD selection by the DVR from the multimedia network source;
receiving a multimedia data signal by the DVR from the multimedia network source, the multimedia data signal containing the requested VOD selection;
storing a first received portion of the received multimedia data signal on the DVR;
playing the first received segment by the DVR for display on a display device; and
simultaneously during the playing of the first received segment receiving and storing a second received segment of the received multimedia data signal on the DVR while playing the first received segment for display on the display device, whereby the requested VOD selection begins playing on the display device prior to the reception of the entire compressed multimedia data signal. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
- connecting a DVR to a multimedia network source;
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33. A method for providing a Video-On-Request (VOR) system, comprising the steps of:
- receiving VOR selection data from a plurality of users, each VOR selection data including at least one requested video selection and video recorder identifying information for identifying each particular video recorder;
determining a transmission priority of requested video selections dependent on a number of requested video selections received from said plurality of users, wherein the transmission priority of a particular video selection depends on the frequency of requests received for the particular video selection;
determining a transmission time for the particular video selection dependent on the transmission priority;
determining a transmission channel for the particular video selection;
transmitting personal video recorder control signals to personal video recorders depending on the received VOR selection data and the transmission time and transmission channel of the particular video selection, whereby if the received VOR selection data from a user includes a request for the particular video selection the user'"'"'s particular video recorder is automatically controlled to tune in the determined transmission channel at the determined transmission time and record the particular video selection; and
transmitting the particular video selection at the determined transmission time and transmission channel so that the video recorder of each user requesting the particular video selection can be controlled to automatically record the particular video selection. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
- receiving VOR selection data from a plurality of users, each VOR selection data including at least one requested video selection and video recorder identifying information for identifying each particular video recorder;
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38. A method for providing a Video-On-Request (VOR) system, comprising the steps of:
- receiving VOR selection data from a plurality of VOR users, each VOR selection data including at least one requested video selection and video recorder identifying information for identifying a particular video recorder of each of said plurality of users;
storing the received VOR selection data;
performing a statistical analysis of the stored VOR selection data;
determining using the statistical analysis transmission times for each said at least one requested video selection;
transmitting personal video recorder control signals to personal video recorders depending on the received VOR selection data and the transmission time of each video selection requested by each VOR user, whereby if the received VOR selection data from a user includes a request for a particular video selection the user'"'"'s particular video recorder is automatically controlled record the particular video selection;
transmitting an encrypted version of the particular video selection receivable by all of the video recorders so that each particular video recorder can be automatically controlled to record the encrypted particular video selection;
receiving a request for an encryption key for the recorded encrypted particular video selection; and
transmitting an encryption key to enable playback of the encrypted version of the particular video selection upon request from a user, whereby the video recorder is controlled to automatically record the particular video selections requested by a particular user and playback of the recorded particular video selections is enabled upon request from the user. - View Dependent Claims (39)
- receiving VOR selection data from a plurality of VOR users, each VOR selection data including at least one requested video selection and video recorder identifying information for identifying a particular video recorder of each of said plurality of users;
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40. A method for providing a Video-On-Request (VOR) system, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a request for VOR options data from a VOR user;
transmitting the requested VOR options data to the user;
receiving VOR selection data from the user, said VOR selection data comprising a prioritized requests list of particular video selections requested by the user, said VOR selection data also comprising video recorder identifying information for identifying a video recorder of the user. Storing the received VOR selection data from the user;
receiving VOR selection data from a plurality of VOR users, each VOR selection data including at least one requested video selection and video recorder identifying information for identifying a particular video recorder of each of said plurality of users;
storing the received VOR selection data from the plurality of users;
performing a statistical analysis on the stored VOR selection data;
determining using the statistical analysis a transmission priority of requested video selections dependent on a number of requested video selections received from said plurality of users, wherein the transmission priority of a particular video selection depends on the frequency of requests received for the particular video selection;
determining transmission times for portions of the particular video selection dependent on the transmission priority;
determining corresponding transmission pathways for said portions of the particular video selection dependent on the transmission priority and available transmission bandwidth, the transmission pathways corresponding to respective determined transmission times;
transmitting personal video recorder control signals to personal video recorders depending on the received VOR selection data, the determined transmission times and transmission pathways for said portions of the particular video selection, whereby if the received VOR selection data from a user includes a request for the particular video selection the user'"'"'s particular video recorder is automatically controlled to access each of the determined transmission pathways at the respective determined transmission times and record the portions of the particular video selection and the playback sequence values so that the particular video selection can be played from the video recorder; and
transmitting the portions of the particular video selection at the respective determined transmission times and transmission pathways so that the video recorder of each user requesting the particular video selection can be controlled to automatically record each of the portions the particular video selection, and so that the particular video selection can be played back from the video recorder having a correct playback sequence. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
- receiving a request for VOR options data from a VOR user;
Specification