System and Method of Monitoring Blackout Events

• US 20100125865A1
• Filed: 11/14/2008
• Published: 05/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mathew, John, Earnshaw, Marisa, Ospalik, Kenneth, Tektumanidze, Giya, Malee, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 8,352,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/10 Arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or the distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/14 for monitoring programmes
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/06 Arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• 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 21/6332 directed to client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/654 Transmission by server directed to the client

Abstract

Systems and methods of monitoring blackout events are provided. A particular method includes receiving a server blackout event associated with a scheduled blackout of a first media service. The method also includes receiving at least one client blackout event from at least one set top box (STB) affected by the scheduled blackout. For example, the server blackout event and the client blackout event(s) may be received at a subscriber event transmission interface (SETI). The method further includes storing the server blackout event and the client blackout event(s) at a data warehouse.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a subscriber event transmission interface (SETI), a server blackout event associated with a scheduled blackout of a first media service;

receiving, at the SETI, at least one client blackout event from at least one set top box (STB) affected by the scheduled blackout; and

storing the server blackout event and the at least one client blackout event at a data warehouse.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the server blackout event comprises at least one of a server start event and a server end event, wherein the server start event includes data specifying a start of the scheduled blackout event, and wherein the server end event includes data specifying an end of the scheduled blackout event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one client blackout event includes a client blackout start event, wherein the client blackout start event includes data indicating when the at least one STB implemented the scheduled blackout by changing from a first data stream associated with the first media service to a second data stream associated with the first media service.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one client blackout event includes a client blackout end event, wherein the client blackout end event includes data indicating when the at least one STB ended implementation of the scheduled blackout by changing from the second data stream back to the first data stream.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on the server blackout event and the at least one client blackout event whether the at least one STB implemented the scheduled blackout.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein implementing the scheduled blackout comprises tuning from a first data stream associated with the first media service to a second data stream associated with the first media service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one client blackout event is received from an event log of a video headend office (VHO) associated with the at least one STB.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a scheduling request for the scheduled blackout from a service delivery platform (SDP) at a super head end office (SHO);

generating the server blackout event associated with the scheduling request;

generating a substitution table associated with the scheduling request; and

sending the substitution table to the at least one STB via a video head end office (VHO).

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining switching metrics of the at least one STB with respect to the scheduled blackout.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a report indicating whether the at least one STB complied with the scheduled blackout.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the server blackout event from an event staging area associated with a super head end video office (SHO);

processing the server blackout event to form a flat file; and

converting the flat file into a load-ready file having a format compatible with the data warehouse.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a staging flat file at a video head end video office (VHO) that serves the at least one STB;

processing the staging flat file to identify client blackout events; and

generating a load-ready file including the client blackout events, wherein the load ready file has a format compatible with the data warehouse.

13. A blackout monitoring system, comprising:

a receiver module to receive a server blackout event and to receive at least one client blackout event of at least one set top box (STB), wherein the server blackout event and the at least one client blackout event are associated with a scheduled blackout of a first media service; and

a data warehouse to store the server blackout event and the client blackout event.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising an auditing module to perform an audit of the server blackout event and of the at least one client blackout event to determine whether the at least one STB blacked out the first media service according to the scheduled blackout.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising a processing module to process a media system log file to identify the server blackout event and to store the sever blackout event.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the receiver module requests and receives the at least one client blackout event from a video headend office (VHO).

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising an event logger module to receive the at least one client blackout event from the at least one STB.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising a blackout scheduling module to receive a scheduling request for the scheduled blackout from a service delivery platform (SDP), to generate the server blackout event associated with the scheduling request and to generate a substitution table associated with the scheduling request, wherein the substitution table includes data to direct the at least one STB to implement the scheduled blackout.

19. The system of claim 13, further comprising a performance module to determine switching metrics of the at least one STB with respect to the scheduled blackout.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the data warehouse determines auditing metrics based on the received server blackout event and the at least one client blackout event.

21. A computer-readable storage medium comprising:

operational instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive a server start event and a server end event associated with a scheduled blackout of a first media service;

operational instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive a plurality of client blackout events from a plurality of set top boxes (STBs) associated with a geographic area affected by the scheduled blackout;

operational instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate a blackout audit indicating whether one or more of the plurality of STBs implemented the scheduled blackout.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising operational instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to request a data file from a data staging area, wherein the data file includes the server start event and the server end event.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising operational instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to modify the data file to form a load-ready file having a format compatible with a data warehouse and storing the load-ready file at the data warehouse.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the plurality of client blackout events comprise at least one client blackout start event, wherein the at least one client blackout start event indicates that, at a time the scheduled blackout was to start, a particular STB was tuned to a first data stream associated with the first media service and retuned to a second data stream associated with the first media service to implement the scheduled blackout.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the plurality of client blackout events comprise at least one client blackout end event, wherein the at least one client blackout end event indicates that, at a time the scheduled blackout was to end, a particular STB was tuned to a second data stream associated with the first media service and retuned to a first data stream associated with the first media service to end the scheduled blackout.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein generating the blackout audit includes determining when one or more of the plurality of STBs switched from a first data stream associated with the first media service to a second data stream associated with the first media service and determines a location of the one or more STBs.