System and method of receiving video content

• US 20070199039A1
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Published: 08/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Raftelis, Michael, Walter, Edward, Diroo, Yolius, Wollmershauser, Steven
• Application Number:
  US11/360,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20070199039A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/134
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42669 the medium being removable
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image

Abstract

A system and method of receiving video content is disclosed. In a particular embodiment, the method includes receiving video content at a set-top box device via an access network. The method also includes writing the video content onto a removable secondary storage medium received at a secondary storage media interface of the set-top box device.

Claims

1. A method of receiving video content, the method comprising:

receiving video content at a set-top box device via an access network; and

writing the video content onto a removable secondary storage medium received at a secondary storage media interface of the set-top box device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the video content from a satellite dish via the access network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the video content from an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) system via the access network

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the video content from a local area network (LAN) via a data interface of the set-top box device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the removable secondary storage medium is an external memory device coupled to a universal serial bus interface of the set-top box device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the video content to a display device coupled to the set-top box device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising prompting a user to select the secondary storage media interface, wherein the set-top box device includes a plurality of secondary storage media interfaces.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing a self-install process to install the received removable secondary storage medium.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising executing a recognition process to determine a compatibility of the removable secondary storage medium with a format of the video content.

10. A method of receiving video content, the method comprising:

receiving a removable secondary storage medium at a secondary storage media interface of a first set-top box device; and

transmitting video content stored on the removable secondary storage medium to a display device coupled to the first set-top box device, wherein the video content was received from an access network and written to the removable secondary storage medium at a second set-top box device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first set-top box device and the second set-top box device are the same set-top box device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

executing a self-install process to install the removable secondary storage medium; and

executing a recognition process to determine compatibility of the removable secondary storage medium with a video content format playable by the first set-top box device.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising prompting a user to select one of a plurality of video content titles stored on the removable secondary storage medium.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the display device is a display portion of a computing device coupled to a universal serial bus interface of the first set-top box device.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

reading a time stamp of the video content;

determining whether an expiration period has elapsed based on the time stamp; and

not playing the video content after the expiration period has elapsed.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a number of times that the video content has been viewed, wherein the number of times is stored on the removable secondary storage medium with the video content; and

not playing the video content when the number of times exceeds a threshold number.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

playing the video content when the number of times does not exceed the threshold number; and

incrementing the number of times.

18. A set-top box device, comprising:

a processor and a memory device accessible to the processor; and

a plurality of secondary storage media interfaces, wherein the memory device includes a video content writing module executable by the processor to write video content received at the set-top box device from an access network to a removable secondary storage medium received at one of the plurality of secondary storage media interfaces.

19. The set-top box device of claim 18, wherein the video content is encrypted.

20. The set-top box device of claim 18, wherein the plurality of secondary storage media interfaces include at least one flash memory card reader-writer interface.

21. The set-top box device of claim 20, wherein the at least one flash memory card reader-writer interface is configured to receive a plurality of flash memory cards having different sizes.

22. The set-top box device of claim 20, wherein the plurality of secondary storage media interfaces include at least one universal serial bus (USB) interface.

23. The set-top box device of claim 22, wherein the removable storage medium includes an external memory device coupled to the USB interface.

24. The set-top box device of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of indicator screens, wherein each of the plurality of indicator screens displays an available memory of a removable storage medium received at one of the plurality of secondary storage media interfaces.

25. The set-top box device of claim 20, wherein the plurality of secondary storage media interfaces include at least one stick memory interface.

26. The set-top box device of claim 20, further comprising a toggle button configured to select a different one of the plurality of secondary storage media interfaces each time the toggle button is selected.

27. A computer program embedded in a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions to write video content received at a set-top box device to a removable storage medium via one of a plurality of interfaces of the set-top box device.

28. The computer program of claim 27, further comprising instructions to determine whether stored video content on a storage medium is expired and instructions to transmit the stored video content to a display device coupled to the set-top box device when the stored video content is not expired.

29. A computer program embedded in a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising:

instructions to extract video content from a removable secondary storage medium via a secondary storage media interface of a first set-top box device, wherein the video content was written to the removable secondary storage medium at a second set-top box device; and

instructions to transmit the video content to a display device coupled to the first set-top box device.