SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FORMATTING MEDIA CONTENT FOR DISTRIBUTION

• US 20110072073A1
• Filed: 12/10/2009
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sling Media LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sling Media Incorporated (Dish Network Corporation)
• Inventors: Curtis, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 8,621,099 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for processing media programs for distribution on a network. Media programs are received from one or more sources and placed on a queue in an appropriate format. Programs are retrieved from the queue and processed by any number of servers to format the program and/or its metadata for distribution on the network.

Claims

1. A system to process a plurality of media programs, the system comprising:

a queue configured to receive each of the plurality of media programs;

a number of servers each configured to retrieve at least one of the plurality of media programs from the queue and to process the at least one of the plurality of media programs; and

control logic configured to monitor a utilization of the queue and to adjust the number of servers based upon the utilization of the queue.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein each of the servers is implemented using a cloud computing service, and wherein the control logic is configured to adjust the number of servers by obtaining an additional server from the cloud computing service when the utilization of the queue passes a first threshold and by releasing one of the servers when the utilization of the queue passes a second threshold.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the queue is configured to receive each of the plurality of media programs in a pre-determined format, and wherein each of the servers are configured to process the at least one of the plurality of media programs using a plurality of services compatible with the pre-determined format.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the at least one of the plurality of media programs is routed between the plurality of services using a media service bus.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the pre-determined format comprises a media bus request compatible with the media service bus.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein each of the servers is configured to process the at least one of the plurality of media programs by transcoding the media program from a first format to a second format and by uploading the media program in the second format to a host that is configured to distribute the media program in the second format on a network.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein each of the servers is configured to process the at least one of the plurality of media programs by formatting metadata associated with the media program.

8. A method to process a plurality of media programs, the method comprising:

placing each of the plurality of media programs on a queue;

retrieving each of the plurality of media programs from the queue with each of a number of servers;

processing the retrieved media programs with each of the servers;

monitoring a utilization of the queue; and

adjusting the number of servers based upon the utilization of the queue.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein each of the servers is implemented using a cloud computing service, and wherein the adjusting comprises obtaining an additional server from the cloud computing service when a number of media programs on the queue passes a first threshold and releasing one of the servers when the number of media programs on the queue passes a second threshold.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the queue is configured to receive each of the plurality of media programs in a pre-determined format, and wherein the processing comprises processing the media programs using a plurality of services compatible with the pre-determined format.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the processing comprises transcoding the media program from a first format to a second format and uploading the media program in the second format to a host that is configured to distribute the media program in the second format on a network.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the processing further comprises formatting metadata associated with the media program.

13. A system to distribute a plurality of media programs on a network, the system comprising:

a receiving server configured to receive each of the media programs and to format each of the media programs using a pre-determined format;

a processing system comprising a queue and a number of servers each compatible with the pre-determined format, wherein the queue is configured to receive each of the media programs in the pre-determined format from the receiving server, and wherein each of the number of servers is configured to retrieve at least one of the media programs from the queue and to transcode the media program; and

a host configured to receive the transcoded media program and to make the transcoded media program available on the network.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the processing system comprises control logic configured to monitor a utilization of the queue and to adjust the number of servers in response to the utilization of the queue.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the processing system is implemented using a cloud computing service.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the control logic is configured to increase the number of servers when a number of media programs in the queue passes a first threshold and to decrease the number of servers when the number of media programs in the queue passes a second threshold.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the receiving server is configured to receive the media programs from a plurality of sources and in a plurality of formats, and to format each of the media programs by transforming each of the media programs received in the plurality of formats into the pre-determined format.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the receiving server is further configured to receive the media programs from the plurality of sources using a plurality of different transport techniques.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein the receiving server is configured to obtain metadata associated with each of the media programs and to incorporate the metadata into the pre-determined format associated with each of the media programs, wherein each of the number of servers is configured to format the metadata associated with the at least one of the media programs, and wherein the host is configured to receive the formatted metadata and to make the formatted metadata available on the network.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the metadata is retrieved from a database.