METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BANDWIDTH CONSUMPTION USAGE REPORTING OF NON-MANAGED SOURCES

• US 20110239242A1
• Filed: 03/29/2010
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synamedia Limited
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Grevers, Theodore JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,468,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention may establish a set top box client based apparatus. The set top box client based apparatus may actively monitor content playback by the set top box. The set top box client based apparatus may subsequently report client playback state for non-managed sources to a service provider'"'"'s policy or operation support systems (OSS). Embodiments of the invention may recognize that some service providers may use a policy system and OSS, while others will only utilize an OSS for resource management.

Claims

1. A monitoring system comprising:

a first set top box for receiving content;

a client based apparatus for actively monitoring content playback at the first set top box; and

the client based apparatus further configured to report the client playback state for non-managed sources to a service provider'"'"'s policy or operation support system.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the service provider uses both a policy system and an operation support system for resource management.

3. The monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising a second set top box receiving content from a non-managed source, wherein the first set top box and the second set top box are connected to a consumer access network.

4. The monitoring system of claim 3, wherein the non-managed source is the Internet.

5. The monitoring system of claim 3, wherein the client based apparatus determines available access network resources on the consumer'"'"'s access network while content is being streamed to the consumer on one of the first set top box and the second set top box.

6. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the client based apparatus is internal to the first set top box.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising a media player within the set top box capable of determining content criteria.

8. The monitoring system of claim 7, wherein the client based apparatus is configured to determine if it should notify the service provider'"'"'s policy system or operation support system that the consumer is streaming content from a non-managed source.

9. The monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the client based apparatus is configured to publish a formatted signal, wherein the formatted signal comprises:

the identity of the set top box, the rate at which the content is received by the set top box, and a unique content identifier which identifies the source of the content.

10. The monitoring system of claim 9, wherein the client based apparatus stores bandwidth consumption measurements.

11. The monitoring system of claim 9, wherein the policy system or operation support system requires the unique content identifier to indicate that a specific streamed event has been terminated and the bandwidth is no longer in use.

12. The monitoring system of claim 9, further comprising the policy system or operation support system being comprised to receive the formatted signal from the policy apparatus and to make bandwidth provisioning decisions based on the formatted signal.

13. A method comprising:

creating a policy apparatus within a policy system;

receiving formatted signals from an apparatus resident within the consumer'"'"'s set top box client;

mapping the set top box to the subscriber'"'"'s account; and

adding content stream rate information to existing account statistics.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising tracking a unique content identifier.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

removing of stream data from the account when the stream has completed at the set top box.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

proxying the formatted signals to an operation support system.

17. A method comprising:

receiving linear programming content at a first set top box and a second set top box;

receiving information at an operation support system identifying the level of resources consumed by the first set top box and the second set top box;

receiving downloadable content at a third set top box in communication with the first set top box and the second set top box across a consumer access network;

monitoring content playback at the first set top box and the second set top box; and

reporting the client playback state for the third set top box to a service provider'"'"'s policy or operation support system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the downloadable content media is received on-demand over the Internet.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining available consumer access network resources on the consumer access network while content is being streamed to the consumer on one of the first set top box and the second set top box.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

publishing a formatted signal, wherein the formatted signal comprises;

the identity of one of the plurality of set top boxes, the rate at which the content is received by the one of the plurality of set top boxes, and a unique content identifier which identifies the source of the content.