ACCESSING CONTENT

• US 20100100899A1
• Filed: 05/14/2009
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Broadcasting Corporation
• Original Assignee: British Broadcasting Corporation
• Inventors: Garmeson, Gemma, Pearce, Fraser, Bradbury, Richard, Ageh, Tony, Hoehn, Juergen, Browning, Matthew, Dodd, Julie, Whitney, Julia, Gammon, Ben
• Granted Patent: US 10,491,448 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• 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 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4431 characterized by the use of Application Program Interface [API] libraries
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/45457 applied to a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• 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 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Various embodiments include a system for providing users access to audio/visual content, the system comprising means for storing content, means for broadcasting content on a scheduled basis, means for downloading the stored content from the storage means, means for enabling a user to access the downloaded content only within a specified time period, means for streaming content off the storage means, and means for receiving the content broadcast on a scheduled basis.

Claims

1-115. -115. (canceled)

116. A system for providing users access to audio/visual content, the system comprising means for storing content, means for broadcasting content on a scheduled basis, means for downloading the stored content from the storage means, means for enabling a user to access the downloaded content only within a specified time period, means for streaming content off the storage means, and means for receiving the content broadcast on a scheduled basis.

117. A system according to claim 116, further comprising means for ordering content which has not yet been broadcast on a scheduled basis.

118. A system according to claim 117, wherein the downloading means is adapted to download ordered content following the broadcast of the content without further user intervention.

119. A system according to claim 116, wherein the broadcasting means is adapted to broadcast content in the form of a simultaneous broadcast (simulcast) transmission.

120. A system according to claim 119, wherein the simulcast transmission is selected from two or more of the following group of broadcast transmission media:

a terrestrial television broadcast;

a terrestrial radio broadcast;

a cable television broadcast;

a satellite television broadcast; and

publication on the internet.

121. A system according to claim 116, wherein the downloading means is adapted to download the content in the form of a file.

122. A system according to claim 116, wherein the means for enabling a user to access the downloaded content is adapted to enable a user to access the content only within a specified time period following the scheduled broadcast of the content.

123. A system according to claim 116, further comprising a media player for opening and playing content.

124. A system according to claim 123, wherein the media player is adapted to perform one or more of the following:

open and play downloaded files;

play streamed content; and

play broadcast content.

125. A system according to claim 123, wherein the player is in the form of a standalone player console.

126. A system according to claim 123, wherein the player is in the form of a standalone module adapted to be independently downloaded and installed onto a client device.

127. A system according to claim 116, wherein the streaming means is adapted to stream content directly off the storage means, and, preferably, wherein the streaming means is adapted to stream content via a peer-to-peer network.

128. A system according to claim 116, further comprising means for searching for content items stored on the storage means, and, preferably, wherein the searching means is adapted to search for content in dependence on the means by which the content may be accessed or played.

129. A system according to claim 116, further comprising a content management console for managing downloaded content, and, preferably, wherein the content management console is adapted to be independently downloaded and installed onto a client device.

130. A system according to claim 129, wherein the content management console comprises means for indexing related content items together.

131. A system according to claim 129, further comprising a user interface which provides a set of folders under which related content items are indexed.

132. A system according to claim 116, further comprising means for restricting access to content items in dependence on whether a content item is marked with a guidance flag.

133. A system according to claim 116, further comprising means for assigning guidance flags to content items automatically in dependence on metadata associated with a content item.

134. A system according to claim 116, which further comprises means for transmitting further content relating to a particular content item separately from the content item once the content item has been downloaded.

135. A system according to claim 134, which further comprises means for linking the further content to a content item once the further content item has been received.

136. A system according to claim 134, wherein the further content is in the form of accessibility information.

137. A system according to claim 136, wherein the accessibility information is selected from the following group:

subtitles, sign language information; and

audio description information.

138. A system according to claim 134, wherein the transmitting means is adapted to initiate the transmission of the further content once the further content becomes available.

139. A system according to claim 116, further comprising a user interface for enabling a user to access content which may be downloaded, streamed and broadcast.

140. A system according to claim 139, wherein the user interface is in the form of an Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) which is adapted to enable a user to access all available audio/visual content.

141. A system according to claim 116, further comprising means for assigning an access operation to a content item, the access operation being related to the method by which a user is able to view and/or listen to the stored content, and means for altering the access operation in dependence on a change to a characteristic associated with the content item, and preferably wherein the characteristic relates to whether or not the content has previously been broadcast, and more preferably the characteristic relates to the date on which the content was broadcast, and preferably wherein the access operation enables a user to access the content item in one or more of the following ways:

by downloading the content, by streaming the content, and by ordering the content.

142. A system for providing users access to audio/visual content, the system comprising a memory for storing content, a transmitter for broadcasting content on a scheduled basis, a download module for downloading the stored content from the memory, a control module for enabling a user to access the downloaded content only within a specified time period, a streaming module for streaming content off the memory, and a receiver for receiving the content broadcast on a scheduled basis.