System for managing, converting, and displaying video content uploaded online and converted to a video-on-demand platform
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Abstract
A video-on-demand (VOD) content delivery system has a VOD Application Server which manages a database of templates ordered in a hierarchy for presentation of video content elements of different selected types categorized in hierarchical order. The templates include those for higher-order displays which have one or more links to lower-order displays of specific content. The VOD Application Server, in response to viewer request, displays a high-order templatized display, and in response to viewer selection of a link, displays the lower-order display of specific content. The hierarchical templatized displays enable viewers to navigate to an end subject of interest while having a unique visual experience of moving through a series of displays to the end subject of interest. For example, the higher-order display may be a product ad and the lower-order display may be an ad for a local retailer of the product. Similarly, a viewer can navigate from national product to local product ad, or classified ad category to specific classified ad, or bulletin board topic category to specific posting. In another embodiment, the VOD content delivery system is used to deliver consumer-generated classified ads on TV. A web-based Content Management System receives consumer-generated content uploaded online in industry-standard file formats with metadata for title and topical area, and automatically converts it into video data format compatible with the VOD content delivery system indexed by title and topical area. A User Interface for the system delivers listings data to the viewer'"'"'s TV indexed by title and topical area, and displays a requested classified ad in response to viewer selection.
72 Citations
20 Claims
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1-10. -10. (canceled)
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11. A system for managing, converting and displaying consumer-generated video content on a digital television (TV) system providing digital TV signals to TV equipment of viewers comprising:
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(a) a Content Management Website for enabling individual users to upload consumer-generated video content on an online network connection from their remote computers, said uploaded consumer-generated video content including associated meta data for identifying the consumer-generated video content by title categorized in category and subcategory of a predetermined hierarchical ordering;
(b) a Content Screening Component for receiving the consumer-generated video content uploaded to the Content Management Website and screening the content for objectionable text, audio, video and/or images in the content, and for rejecting said content if objectionable text, audio, video and/or images are found;
(c) a Content Feed Component for automatically transferring the consumer-generated video content screened by the Content Screening Component with the associated meta data and supplying them to a Content Conversion Component;
(d) a Content Conversion Component for automatically converting the transferred consumer-generated video content supplied from the Content Feed Component into a video data format compatible with a VOD content delivery system of the digital TV system, and for automatically indexing the converted consumer-generated video content in a Video Server database according to title categorized by corresponding category and subcategory in the predetermined hierarchical ordering as specified in the content meta data; and
(e) a VOD Application Server, operatively connected between said Content Conversion Component and a head end of the digital TV system connected to the TV equipment of viewers, for delivering from said head end consumer-generated video content titles categorized by corresponding categories and subcategories in the predetermined hierarchical ordering in accordance with the meta data for the consumer-generated video content to be displayed on the TV equipment of viewers and, in response to a viewer request signal requesting a specific consumer-generated video content title, for retrieving the requested consumer-generated video content from the Video Server database and transmitting it to be displayed to the viewer on their TV equipment. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of delivering consumer-generated classified ads uploaded on an online network for display on TV comprising:
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(a) enabling individual users to upload classified ad content in an industry-standard file format on an online network connection from remote computers to a Content Management Website on said online network, said uploaded classified ad content including associated meta data for identifying the ad content by title and topical area categorized in a hierarchical ordering;
(b) screening the classified ad content automatically for objectionable text, audio, video and/or images in the content;
(c) transferring the screened classified ad content automatically to a database for conversion to video data format;
(d) converting the transferred classified ad content automatically from the file format of the consumer-generated input to a video data format compatible with a VOD content delivery system, and automatically indexing the converted classified ad content in a VOD content database according to title and topical area categorized in the hierarchical ordering as specified in the content meta data; and
(e) delivering classified ad title and topical area listings data categorized in the hierarchical ordering to be displayed on the TV equipment of viewers to enable their searching for classified ads of interest and, in response to a viewer request signal requesting a specific classified ad of interest, transmitting the requested classified ad to be displayed on the viewer'"'"'s TV equipment. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A method of delivering video content uploaded on an online network for display on a digital TV system comprising:
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(a) providing a Video Content Management Website on an online network for enabling users on remote computers connected to the online network to upload video content to the Video Content Management Website, and to specify associated meta data for each respective title for identifying a navigation path from category to subcategory to the title of the video content in accordance with a predetermined hierarchical ordering of categories and subcategories for indexing of titles of uploaded video content which is used by the digital TV system;
(b) transferring the video content and associated meta data from the Video Content Management Website to a Video-on-Demand (VOD) Content Delivery System of the digital TV system, wherein said VOD Content Delivery System uses the meta data for each title of uploaded video content to automatically index each said title within the predetermined hierarchical ordering of categories and subcategories in order to provide a corresponding navigation path to said title through navigation menu displays provided by the digital TV system; and
(c) providing a navigation function for the VOD Content Delivery System for enabling a viewer in the digital TV system to display on the viewer'"'"'s TV equipment navigation menu displays of categories and subcategories and indexed titles in order to navigate to and select a desired title of uploaded video content for delivery by the VOD Content Delivery System and viewing on the viewer'"'"'s TV equipment. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification