Multiple on-demand media vendor integration

• US 20030229898A1
• Filed: 06/05/2002
• Published: 12/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Babu, Suresh P., Rao, Yogananda, Deshpande, Amod Dattatray
• Application Number:
  US10/163,649
• Publication Number:
  US 20030229898A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/87
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• 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 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A media distribution system receives program data describing on-demand media content available from multiple vendors. The media distribution system packages the program data as electronic program guide data and distributes the electronic program guide data to one or more client devices.

Claims

1. A media distribution system comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

media vendor drivers stored in the memory and executed on the processor to receive data from multiple on-demand media vendors; and

a client data server that bundles the data from the multiple on-demand media vendors and transmits the data to one or more client devices.

2. The media distribution system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a data repository that stores the data that is received from the multiple on-demand media vendors.

3. The media distribution system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a catalog manager stored in memory and executed on the processor to process the data received from the multiple media vendors to produce electronic program guide data that contains data from the multiple on-demand media vendors.

4. The media distribution system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a data repository that stores data pertaining to at least one of packages and discounts associated with on-demand media content available from the multiple on-demand media vendors.

5. The media distribution system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a data repository that stores advertisements associated with on-demand media content available from the multiple on-demand media vendors.

6. The media distribution system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a data repository that stores data associated with viewer purchases of on-demand media content from the multiple on-demand media vendors.

7. A media distribution system comprising:

media vendor drivers configured to receive program data from multiple on-demand media vendors;

a catalog manager configured to generate electronic program guide data based on the program data; and

a client data server configured to transmit the electronic program guide data to one or more client devices.

8. The media distribution system as recited in claim 7, further comprising an advertisement module configured to generate advertisements associated with the electronic program guide data.

9. The media distribution system as recited in claim 8, wherein an advertisement comprises a recommendation for a second on-demand media content associated with a first on-demand media content.

10. The media distribution system as recited in claim 9, wherein the recommendation is based on a media-on-demand purchase history associated with at least one viewer.

11. The media distribution system as recited in claim 9, wherein the recommendation is based on ratings associated with multiple media-on-demand products.

12. The media distribution system as recited in claim 7, further comprising a packaging module configured to generate electronic program guide data that represents a media-on-demand package, the media-on-demand package comprising media content available from any number of the multiple on-demand media vendors.

13. The media distribution system as recited in claim 7, further comprising a discounting module configured to generate electronic program guide data that represents discounted on-demand media content.

14. The media distribution system as recited in claim 7, further comprising a billing module configured to:

collect purchase data associated with on-demand media content purchases, the media content purchases through the one or more client devices and from the multiple on-demand media vendors; and

distribute the purchase data to the one or more client devices.

15. The media distribution system as recited in claim 7, further comprising a billing module configured to:

collect purchase data associated with on-demand media content purchases, the media content purchases through the one or more client devices and from the multiple on-demand media vendors; and

distribute the purchase data to the multiple on-demand media vendors.

16. A system comprising:

multiple on-demand media vendors configured to transmit media content;

a client device configured to request and receive media content from the multiple media vendors; and

a server configured to maintain data that identifies on-demand media content available from the multiple media vendors and provide to the client device a combined listing of the media content that is available from the multiple media vendors.

17. A method comprising:

receiving data that describes multiple media-on-demand products that are available from multiple media vendors; and

distributing to a client device a combined list of the media-on-demand products that are available from the multiple media vendors.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the media-on-demand products comprise at least one of a movie, a television show, a song, and a music album.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

distributing to the client device a recommendation for another media-on-demand product associated with a particular media-on-demand product wherein the particular media-on-demand product is available from a first media vendor and the another media-on-demand product is available from a second media vendor.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

distributing to the client device an offer to purchase discounted media-on-demand products from any number of the multiple media vendors.

21. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

generating a product identifier that represents a media-on-demand product, the media-on-demand product comprising a plurality of the media-on-demand products that are available from the multiple media vendors; and

distributing the product identifier to the client device as part of the combined list of the media-on-demand products.

22. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising distributing billing data to the client device that identifies on-demand media content purchased through the client device from the multiple media vendors.

23. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to:

receive program data associated with on-demand media content available from multiple media vendors;

process the program data to generate electronic program guide data; and

distribute the electronic program guide data to one or more client devices.

24. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to:

generate advertisements associated with the electronic program guide data; and

distribute the advertisements to the one or more client devices.

25. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to:

generate package data that describes packages of on-demand media content available from the multiple media vendors; and

distribute the package data to the one or more client devices.

26. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to:

generate discount data that describes discounted on-demand media content available from the multiple media vendors; and

distribute the discount data to the one or more client devices.

27. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to maintain billing data that describes client purchases of on-demand media content from the multiple media vendors.

28. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 27, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to distribute the billing data to the one or more client devices.

29. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 27, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to distribute the billing data to the multiple media vendors.

30. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to install a vendor-specific driver associated with another media vendor, enabling the computing system to receive program data associated with on-demand media content available from the another media vendor.