Rules-based content management

• US 20070261088A1
• Filed: 04/20/2006
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Brian, Webster, Thomas, Mayo, Michelle, Phillips, Debra, Leach, Lorraine
• Granted Patent: US 8,209,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/97
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23113 involving housekeeping operations for stored content, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; snloading stored programs G06F9/445; housekeeping operations in file systems, e.g. deletion policies G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• 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 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• 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 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Techniques for rules-based content management are provided. Video on demand (VOD) assets are collected in a repository from a variety of sources. Each asset is uniquely identified, organized, prioritized, managed, and distributed in response to metadata associated with each asset and business rules. Assets may be individually distributed to target subscribers or grouped in collections and distributed to target subscribers in response to the business rules.

Claims

1. A method including:

collecting video on demand (VOD) content from a variety of sources within a repository;

selectively packaging the VOD content in response to business rules associated with the VOD content; and

dynamically distributing the packaged VOD content to selective subscribers in response to the business rules using Internet Protocol communications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically distributing further includes simultaneously delivering a specific piece of the VOD content to multiple ones of the subscribers.

3. The method of claim 1 further including, removing a number of the VOD content from the repository in response to the business rules.

4. The method of claim 1 further including, grouping a number of the VOD content together for related processing in response to the business rules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selective packaging further includes at least one of in response to processing the business rules:

indexing the VOD content;

generating a report for the VOD content;

prioritizing the VOD content vis-à

-vis other VOD content; and

deleting selective portions of the VOD content.

6. The method of claim 1 further including, receiving an override request to delete a specific one of the VOD content and in response thereto removing the specific one from the repository.

7. The method of claim 1 further including, resolving a priority for processing the VOD content in response to metadata included with the VOD content and evaluated in view of the business rules.

8. The method of claim 7 further including, evaluating the metadata to permit selective VOD content to be exported from the repository with a higher priority than other ones of the VOD content in response to identities for providers or in response to licenses associated with the subscribers or with the providers.

9. A method including:

collecting assets from a variety of originating sources in a repository;

acquiring metadata for each asset; and

prioritizing the assets for delivery via Internet Protocol communications to subscribers in response to the metadata and business rules.

10. The method of claim 9 further including selectively routing the assets to hierarchies or directories within the repository in response to asset categories included within the metadata.

11. The method of claim 10 further including assigning access security to each of the assets in response to the asset categories and the business rules.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein collecting further includes assigning a unique asset identifier to each asset as it is collected.

13. The method of claim 9 further including, generating custom reports from the metadata.

14. The method of claim 9 further including, selectively updating a portion of an asset or a portion of the metadata.

15. A machine accessible medium having instructions embedded thereon, the instructions when accessed by a machine perform the method of:

gathering video on demand (VOD) content and metadata associated with the VOD content in a repository;

organizing the VOD content in response to the metadata and business rules associated with the VOD content; and

managing deliveries, updates, and deletions of the VOD content in response to the metadata and the business rules over Internet Protocol communication channels.

16. The medium of claim 15 further including instructions for at least one of:

updating selective portions of the VOD content in response to the metadata and the business rules; and

deleting selective portions of the VOD content in response to the metadata and the business rules.

17. The medium of claim 15 further including instructions for dynamically presenting custom listings of descriptive information associated with the VOD content.

18. The medium of claim 15 further including instructions for normalizing the metadata from different formats into a common processing format.

19. The medium of claim 15 further including instructions for modifying portions of the metadata in response to the business rules.

20. The medium of claim 15 further including instructions for packaging selective groupings of the VOD content in response to the business rules.

21. The medium of claim 15 further including instructions for mirroring the repository for failover support.

22. A system including:

a content collector;

a content manager; and

a content distributor, wherein the content collector is to gather video on demand (VOD) content from a variety of originating sources, the content manager is to organize and prepare the VOD content for delivery to target subscribers via Internet Protocol communications and in response to business rules, and wherein the content distributor is to distribute the VOD content to the target subscribers in a format expected by each of the target subscribers.

23. The system of claim 22 further including, a repository, wherein the repository is to house the VOD content gathered from the variety of originating sources.

24. The system of claim 22 further including, a set-top-box (STB), wherein the STB is to receive a selective piece of VOD content from the content distributor in response to a subscriber'"'"'s direction.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the content distributor is to multicast a selective piece of VOD content to a selective grouping of the target subscribers.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the content manager is to verify and update selective portions of the VOD content and metadata associated with the VOD content in response to the business rules.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the content manager is to at least one of provide alerts related to the management of the VOD content and provide custom reports related to the management of the VOD content.