Method and Apparatus to Facilitate Providing On-Demand Access to Internet Media Content with Other Televised Content

• US 20090172753A1
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola Mobility, Inc. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lindsley, Brett, Defano, Matt, Scheffler, Robert G., Fang, Jianjun, Smith, Alfonso Martinez, Gandhi, Bhavan
• Application Number:
  US11/965,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172753A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/91
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

An audio-visual content service provider (200) processor (201) receives (102) an end user (203) selection of at least one particular Internet media content channel via an audio-visual content service provider-end user interface. The audio-visual content service provider then provides (103) on-demand access to this at least one particular Internet media content channel to this end user as a selectable viewing channel along with other televised audio-visual content channels. By one approach, the audio-visual content service provider can receive the described end user selection via a browser-based interface.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at an audio-visual content service provider processor;

receiving end user selection of at least one particular Internet media content channel via an audio-visual content service provider-end user interface;

providing on-demand access to the at least one particular Internet media content channel to the end user as a selectable viewing channel along with other televised audio-visual content channels.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the audio-visual content service provider comprises a Community Access Television (CATV) service provider.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the audio-visual content service provider-end user interface comprises a browser-based end user interface.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one particular Internet media content channel comprises a channel that provides access to a particular genre of streaming audio-visual content.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the genre comprises at least one of:

most popular video clips;

a sports-based genre;

a comedy-based genre;

a celebrity-based genre;

a news-based genre.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving end user selection of at least one particular Internet media content channel comprises receiving selections from each of a plurality of end users of at least one corresponding particular Internet media content channel from amongst a plurality of candidate Internet media content channels.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

pre-registering Internet media content sources with the audio-visual content service provider to thereby form the plurality of candidate Internet media content channels.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing on-demand access to the at least one particular Internet media content channel to the end user as a selectable viewing channel along with other televised audio-visual content channels comprises locally storing media content from at least one particular Internet media content source at the audio-visual content service provider to thereby provide stored content and then recalling the stored content to provide the on-demand access to the end user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein providing on-demand access to the at least one particular Internet media content channel to the end user as a selectable viewing channel along with other televised audio-visual content channels comprises combining media content from a particular Internet media content source with supplemental content when providing on-demand access to the particular Internet media content channel.

10. An apparatus comprising:

an audio-visual content service provider processor that is configured and arranged to;

receive end user selection of at least one particular Internet media content channel via an audio-visual content service provider-end user interface;

provide on-demand access to the at least one particular Internet media content channel to the end user as a selectable viewing channel along with other televised audio-visual content channels.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the audio-visual content service provider comprises a Community Access Television (CATV) service provider.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the audio-visual content service provider-end user interface comprises a browser-based end user interface.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the at least one particular Internet media content channel comprises a channel that provides access to a particular genre of streaming audio-visual content.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the genre comprises at least one of:

most popular video clips;

a sports-based genre;

a comedy-based genre;

a celebrity-based genre;

a news-based genre.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the audio-visual content service provider processor is further configured and arranged to receive end user selection of at least one particular Internet media content channel by receiving selections from each of a plurality of end users of at least one corresponding particular Internet media content channel from amongst a plurality of candidate Internet media content channels.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the audio-visual content service provider processor is further configured and arranged to pre-register Internet media content sources with the audio-visual content service provider to thereby form the plurality of candidate Internet media content channels.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the audio-visual content service provider processor is further configured and arranged to provide on-demand access to the at least one particular Internet media content channel to the end user as a selectable viewing channel along with other televised audio-visual content channels by locally storing media content from at least one particular Internet media content source at the audio-visual content service provider to thereby provide stored content and then recalling the stored content to provide the on-demand access to the end user.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the audio-visual content service provider processor is further configured and arranged to provide on-demand access to the at least one particular Internet media content channel to the end user as a selectable viewing channel along with other televised audio-visual content channels by combining media content from a particular Internet media content source with supplemental content when providing on-demand access to the particular Internet media content channel.