MEDIA CONTENT CATALOG SERVICE

• US 20080046929A1
• Filed: 08/01/2006
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cho, Wei Wei Ada, Hydrie, Aamer, Husak, Stephen R., Ge, Liang
• Granted Patent: US 7,962,937 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• 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 21/26291 for providing content or additional data updates, e.g. updating software modules, stored at the client deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26603 for automatically generating descriptors from content, e.g. when it is not made available by its provider, using content analysis techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• 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

Aggregating media content catalog data from a plurality of content providers. The catalog data is merged according to rules and provided to a user on a scheduled basis or on demand. In an embodiment, the merged catalog data represents an incremental update to previously deliverred catalog data.

Claims

1. A method of providing a catalog of media items, said media items being accessible remotely by a user, said method comprising:

receiving catalog data from a plurality of content providers, said catalog data being associated with a plurality of media items available from each of the content providers;

aggregating the catalog data based on rules; and

generating a user catalog in a pre-defined catalog format for consumption by a user, said user catalog including the aggregated catalog data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the catalog data comprises importing and loading a data feed from each of the plurality of content providers.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining the catalog format according to a multi-field schema and wherein aggregating the catalog data includes parsing the catalog data received from the plurality of content providers and assigning the parsed catalog data to one or more fields of the multi-field schema.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the catalog format comprises an action type for each of the received catalogs, and wherein the action type comprises one or more of the following:

add, edit, and delete.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the catalog format comprises one or more of the following:

a virtual channels data field, a video data field, a video group data field, a video series data field, a contributor data field, a poster data field, a trailer data field, and a supplementary data field.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a network interface for delivering the generated user catalog to the user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein generating the user catalog comprises propagating the user catalog to a front end database for access by the network interface.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a portion of the generated user catalog to the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the portion of the generated user catalog comprises transmitting, to the user, an incremental update to a previously transmitted user catalog.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 1.

11. A system of providing a consistent user experience when viewing a catalog of content, said system comprising:

a memory area for storing a plurality of rules, said memory area further storing catalog data from a plurality of content providers, said catalog data being associated with a plurality of media items available from each of the content providers, said catalog data including metadata items describing the media items; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for;

configuring the rules stored in the memory area according to input from a user;

merging the catalog data in the memory area based on the configured rules, said merging comprising comparing the metadata items from the catalog data to identify similar media items; and

formatting the merged catalog data into a defined catalog format for delivery to the user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the catalog data from the plurality of content providers and to store the received catalog data in the memory area.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the metadata items include one or more of the following:

virtual channel metadata and virtual group metadata.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the virtual channel metadata comprise a video list defining one or more video elements and a contributor list defining one or more contributor elements, wherein each of the video elements has an identifier and a title associated therewith, and wherein each of the contributor elements identifies a contributor to the media content.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising an aggregation engine executed by the processor for merging the catalog data, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions for updating the configured rules without recompiling the aggregation engine.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the memory area further stores a data structure representing the merged catalog data.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the merged catalog data delivered to the user comprises an incremental update to previously delivered catalog data.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for aggregating the metadata items from the catalog data into the merged catalog data.

19. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components comprising:

a rules component for enabling configuration, by a user, of rules for combining catalog data from a plurality of content providers;

an interface component for receiving, from the content providers, the catalog data including a plurality of metadata items, each of the plurality of metadata items including channel metadata and group metadata, said channel metadata and group metadata describing a media item associated with the metadata item;

an aggregation engine component for combining the catalog data received by the interface component at least by comparing the channel metadata and group metadata from each of the received catalogs to identify similar media items; and

a front end component for providing the combined catalog data to a user.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein the rules component updates the rules based on input from the user without recompiling the aggregation engine component.