THUMBNAIL PUBLICATION

• US 20120117599A1
• Filed: 11/04/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: JIN, Zhiying, ZHU, Fang, HAO, Jianxiu, PYDIPALLY, Sarma, GUO, Haosheng, ZHOU, Haiyan
• Granted Patent: US 8,776,124 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/41
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72

Abstract

A video service provider system may include one or more devices. The one or more device may receive thumbnails of programs that are currently airing on a group of television channels and match the received thumbnails with metadata. The metadata may include information relating to at least one of the television channels or the programs. The one or more devices may further provide, to a remote device, a set of thumbnails, of the captured thumbnails, and the metadata matching the set of thumbnails. The remote device may make the set of thumbnails and the metadata available to a user.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a video service provider system to;

capture, at time intervals, thumbnails of programs that are currently airing on television channels with which the video service provider system is associated,

match the captured thumbnails with metadata, the metadata including information relating to at least one of the television channels or the programs,

provide a plurality of the captured thumbnails and matching metadata to user devices for display to users, and

dynamically updating the provided plurality of captured thumbnails in response to capturing new thumbnails.

2. The system of claim 1, where, when capturing the thumbnails, the video service provider system is to:

simultaneously capture, at the time interval, the thumbnails for a plurality of television channels, of the television channels with which the video service provider system is associated, where the time interval is on the order of seconds.

3. The system of claim 2, where the plurality of television channels includes hundreds of television channels.

4. The system of claim 1, where the video service provider system is further to:

assign, for each captured thumbnail, a name to the captured thumbnail, the name reflecting the television channel from which the thumbnail was captured, and

where, when matching the captured thumbnails with metadata, the video service provider system is to;

match the captured thumbnails with the metadata based on the assigned names.

5. The system of claim 1, where the metadata, for one thumbnail, of the captured thumbnails, includes one or more of a name of the program corresponding to the one thumbnail, information identifying a time period that the program is airing on the television channel with which the one thumbnail is associated, or information identifying a television network associated with the television channel.

6. The system of claim 1, where, when providing the plurality of captured thumbnails, the video service provider system is to:

provide the plurality of captured thumbnails in a list, sorted based on a current popularity of the programs corresponding to the plurality of captured thumbnails.

7. The system of claim 1, where the video service provider system is further to:

receive a request for thumbnails from a first user device,

identify a set of thumbnails to provide to the first user device based on a geographic location of the first user device, and

provide the identified set of thumbnails to the first user device.

8. The system of claim 1, where the video service provider system is further to:

receive a request for thumbnails from a first user device, the request including one or more criteria,

identify a set of thumbnails to provide to the first user device based on the one or more criteria, and

provide the identified set of thumbnails to the first user device.

9. The system of claim 1, where the user devices include at least one of:

a smart phone,

a tablet computer, or

a laptop computer.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more devices of a video service provider system, thumbnails of programs that are currently airing on a group of television channels;

matching, by the one or more devices of the video service provider system, the received thumbnails with metadata, the metadata including information relating to at least one of the television channels or the programs; and

providing, by the one or more devices of the video service provider system and to a remote device, a set of thumbnails, of the captured thumbnails, and the metadata matching the set of thumbnails, the remote device making the set of thumbnails and the metadata available to a user.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing the received thumbnails and matching metadata in one or more last in, first out queues.

12. The method of claim 10, where the receiving the thumbnails includes:

receiving the thumbnails from a plurality of video hub offices, and

where the method further comprises;

removing duplicate thumbnails received from different ones of the plurality of video hub offices.

13. The method of claim 10, where the one or more devices include an aggregation server and a plurality of distribution servers, and

where the method further comprises:

sending, by the aggregation server, the received thumbnails and matching metadata to the plurality of distribution servers in an order based on popularity information relating to the programs.

14. The method of claim 10, where the one or more devices include an aggregation server and a plurality of distribution servers, and

where the method further comprises:

repeating the receiving and the matching; and

sending, by the aggregation server, received thumbnails and matching metadata to the plurality of distribution servers at different rates based on a time of day.

15. A system comprising:

an aggregation server to;

receive, from a plurality of different first devices, thumbnails for a plurality of programs that are currently airing on television channels, where the thumbnails for a particular program are received substantially periodically;

store the thumbnails in a group of queues corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of programs, and

transmit a set of thumbnails from the group of queues; and

a distribution server to;

receive the set of thumbnails from the aggregation server,

receive a request for thumbnails from a second device, and

provide, to the second device and based on the request, a group of thumbnails of the received set of thumbnails.

16. The system of claim 15, where the plurality of first different devices includes a plurality of geographically-distributed video hub offices.

17. The system of claim 15, where the group of queues includes a group of last in, first out queues.

18. The system of claim 15, where the plurality of thumbnails includes over a thousand thumbnails.

19. The system of claim 15, where, when transmitting the set of thumbnails, the aggregation server is to:

transmit thumbnails in an order based on a popularity of the programs with which the thumbnails correspond.

20. The system of claim 15, where, when transmitting the set of thumbnails, the aggregation server is to:

transmit thumbnails at a first rate during a first time period, and

transmit thumbnails at a second, different rate during a second time period.

21. The system of claim 15, where, when transmitting the set of thumbnails, the aggregation server is to:

transmit a first quantity of thumbnails during a first time period, and

transmit a second, different quantity of thumbnails during a second time period.

22. The system of claim 15, where the aggregation server is further to:

remove, prior to storing the plurality of thumbnails, thumbnails, received from the plurality of different first devices, that correspond to a same program.

23. The system of claim 15, where the second device includes a web server that acts to populate a web page with the group of thumbnails.

24. The system of claim 15, where the second device includes a wireless device, and

where the distribution device receives the request in response to a user activating an application on the wireless device.

25. The system of claim 15, where the distribution server is further to:

receive a request for a program, corresponding to one thumbnail in the provided group of thumbnails, from the second device, and

provide, in response to receiving the request for the program and to the second device, a link to a location from which the program may be streamed.