Method and apparatus to distribute content using a multi-stage broadcast system
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- broadcasting content descriptors, which describe available content, to one or more clients;
receiving feedback from said one or more clients regarding the content descriptors;
refining a list of available content in response to the feedback; and
broadcasting content listed in the refined list of available content to said one or more clients.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A broadcast system, method and apparatus providing content on demand. In one embodiment, the disclosed broadcast system includes a server that broadcasts content descriptors to a plurality of clients. The content descriptors describe available content that can be broadcast or potentially be broadcast later by the server. Each client receives the broadcasted content descriptors from the server and updates and maintains a local content descriptor table and a demand data table. Based on the content descriptors, previous access habits of the user and optional user classifications, the client system update demand data indicating the desirability of the pieces of available content. The demand data is fed back to the server and the server then sorts the available content based on the desirability indicated by demand data. The server then broadcasts further descriptive content to the clients. The clients receive the further descriptive content enabling further demand data feedback from the clients to the server regarding the desirability of the pieces of content. The feedback process can be repeated to narrow the list of available client such that the more demanded content is ultimately broadcast by the server to the clients. In various aspects of the present invention, the content descriptors can be sent from the server to the clients in a numerous manners and the demand data can be sent from the clients to the server in numerous manners.
129 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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broadcasting content descriptors, which describe available content, to one or more clients;
receiving feedback from said one or more clients regarding the content descriptors;
refining a list of available content in response to the feedback; and
broadcasting content listed in the refined list of available content to said one or more clients. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method, comprising:
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broadcasting content descriptors, which describe available content, to a plurality of clients;
receiving first feedback from the plurality of clients regarding the content descriptors;
sorting the available content in response to the first feedback from the plurality of clients;
broadcasting further descriptive content related to at least a first portion of the available content as sorted to the plurality of clients;
receiving next feedback from the plurality of clients regarding the further descriptive content;
sorting the available content in response to the next feedback from the plurality of clients; and
broadcasting at least a second portion of the available content to the plurality of clients in an order responsive to the next feedback from the plurality of clients. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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13. A method, comprising:
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receiving content descriptors, which describe available content, from a server;
sending first feedback responsive to the content descriptors to the server;
receiving further descriptive content related to a portion of the available content from the server;
sending next feedback responsive to the further descriptive content to the server; and
storing a smaller portion of the available content received from the server.
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27. An article of manufacture, comprising:
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a machine-readable medium having instructions to;
receive at a client content descriptors, which describe available content, from a server;
send from the client first feedback responsive to the content descriptors to the server;
receive at the client further descriptive content related to at least a first portion of available content from the server;
send from the client next feedback responsive to the further descriptive content to the server; and
store at the client a second portion of the available content received from the server.
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35. An apparatus, comprising:
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a processor having circuitry to execute instructions;
a communications interface coupled to the processor, the communications interface coupled to receive broadcasts from a server;
a storage device coupled to the processor, having instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the apparatus to;
receive content descriptors, which describe available content, from the server;
send first feedback responsive to the content descriptors to the server;
receive further descriptive content related to at least a first portion of available content from the server;
send next feedback responsive to the further descriptive content to the server; and
store a second portion of the available content received from the server.
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43. An apparatus, comprising:
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a processor having circuitry to execute instructions;
a communications interface coupled to the processor, the communications interface coupled to receive communications from one or more clients;
a storage device coupled to the processor, having instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the apparatus to;
broadcast content descriptors, which describe available content, to said one or more clients;
receive first feedback from said one or more clients regarding the content descriptors;
sort the available content in response to the first feedback;
broadcast further descriptive content related to at least a first portion of the available content as sorted to said one or more clients;
receive next feedback from said one or more clients regarding the further descriptive content;
sort the available content in response to the next feedback; and
broadcast at least a second portion of the available content to said one or more clients in an order responsive to the next feedback from the plurality of clients. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 48, 49)
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47. A system, comprising:
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a server;
one ore more clients coupled to the server;
wherein the server is coupled to broadcast content descriptors, which describe available content, to the one or more clients;
wherein the one or more clients are coupled to receive the content descriptors broadcast by the server;
wherein the server is coupled to receive first feedback from said one or more clients regarding the content descriptors;
wherein the server is coupled to sort a list of available content in response to the first feedback;
wherein the server is coupled to broadcast further descriptive content, which further describe the available content listed in the list of available content, to said one or more clients;
wherein the server is coupled to receive additional feedback from said one or more clients regarding the further descriptive content;
wherein the server is coupled to refine the list of available content in response to the additional feedback; and
wherein the server is coupled to broadcast the available content listed in the refined list of available content to said one or more clients.
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Specification