Hierarchical Storage Management for Data

• US 20120141092A1
• Filed: 12/07/2010
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2010
• 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: Friedman, Lee
• Granted Patent: US 8,732,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4108 characterised by an identification number or address, e.g. local network address protecting specific internal or external computer components using identification number G06F21/73; network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• 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 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• 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 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A particular computing system includes a processor and a network interface to receive media content from one or more media recorder devices. The media content is transcoded into a portable media format. The computing system also includes a storage module executable by the processor to store the received media content to a data storage device. The computing system further includes a sideloading module executable by the processor to sideload stored media content from the data storage device to one or more first endpoint devices. The computing system also includes a streaming module executable by the processor to stream the stored media content from the data storage device to one or more second endpoint devices. The computing system further includes a backup module executable by the processor to transmit the stored media content from the data storage device to a second data storage device.

Claims

1. A computing system, comprising:

a processor;

a network interface to receive video content from one or more digital video recorder (DVR) devices, wherein the video content is transcoded into a portable media format;

a storage module executable by the processor to store the received video content to a data storage device;

a sideloading module executable by the processor to sideload stored video content from the data storage device to one or more first endpoint devices;

a streaming module executable by the processor to stream the stored video content from the data storage device to one or more second endpoint devices; and

a backup module executable by the processor to transmit the stored video content from the data storage device to a second data storage device.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the one or more DVR devices transcode the video content into the portable media format before transmitting the video content to the computing system.

3. The computing system of claim 2, wherein transcoding the video content into the portable media format comprises modifying a bit rate of the video content from a first bit rate to a second bit rate, wherein the video content is received from a content provider by the one or more DVR devices at the first bit rate, and wherein a portable endpoint device is adapted to playback the video content at the second bit rate.

4. The computing system of claim 2, wherein transcoding the video content into the portable media format comprises modifying a resolution of the video content from a first resolution to a second resolution, wherein the video content is received from a content provider by the one or more DVR devices at the first resolution, and wherein a portable endpoint device is adapted to playback the video content at the second resolution.

5. The computing system of claim 2, wherein transcoding the video content into the portable media format comprises modifying a compression scheme of the video content, wherein the video content is received from a content provider by the one or more DVR devices in a first compression scheme, and wherein a portable endpoint device is adapted to playback the video content using a second compression scheme.

6. The computing system of claim 2, wherein transcoding the video content into the portable media format comprises modifying a file format of the video content from a first file format to a second file format, wherein the video content is received from a content provider by the one or more DVR devices in the first file format, and wherein a portable endpoint device of a user is adapted to playback the video content in the second file format.

7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the one or more first endpoint devices and the one or more second endpoint devices comprise desktop computing devices, laptop computing devices, mobile computing devices, mobile phones, portable media player devices, gaming consoles, or any combination thereof, and wherein the computing system enables hierarchical storage of the video content.

8. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is coupled to a local network via the network interface, wherein the streaming module is further executable by the processor to concurrently stream the stored video content from the data storage device to a first remote endpoint device located outside the local network and to a second remote endpoint device located outside the local network.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein a device coupled to the local network is assigned a particular public internet protocol (IP) address, and wherein the stored video content is streamed to the first remote endpoint device via a first port of the particular public IP address that is assigned to the device and the stored video content is streamed to the second remote endpoint device via a second port of the particular public IP address that is assigned to the device.

10. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is coupled to a local network via the network interface, wherein the streaming module is further executable by the processor to concurrently stream the stored video content from the data storage device to a local endpoint device located within the local network and to a remote endpoint device located outside the local network.

11. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is adapted to concurrently sideload the stored video content from the data storage device to the one or more first endpoint devices and stream the stored video content from the data storage device to the one or more second endpoint devices.

12. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising an authentication module executable by the processor to:

receive authentication information from an endpoint device; and

permit access to the stored video content based on the authentication information.

13. The computing system of claim 1, wherein each video content item stored at the data storage device is associated with a metadata record.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the metadata record comprises an extensible markup language file.

15. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising a synchronization module executable by the processor to synchronize media and corresponding metadata stored at the data storage device with media and corresponding metadata stored at a remote data storage device.

16. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the backup module is further executable by the processor to restore the video content at the data storage device from the second data storage device.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a content storage device, a first video content item and associated metadata from a first digital video recorder (DVR) device via a local network;

receiving, at the content storage device, a second video content item and associated metadata from a second DVR device via the local network;

storing the first video content item and the second video content item at the content storage device;

streaming the first video content item from the content storage device to a first endpoint device located outside the local network; and

streaming the second video content item from the content storage device to a second endpoint device located outside the local network,

wherein the first video content item and the second video content item are streamed concurrently.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first video content item comprises previously recorded video content, and wherein the second video content item comprises live video content.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

store media content received via a local network from one or more media recorder devices to a data storage device;

in response to at least one request, sideload the media content from the data storage device to one or more first endpoint devices;

in response to at least one request, stream the media content from the data storage device to one or more second endpoint devices; and

transcode the stored media content from a first media format to a second media format based at least partially on at least one request.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the one or more second endpoint devices are outside the local network and wherein the media content is transcoded and streamed to the one or more second endpoint devices via a wide area network concurrently with the media content being received from the one or more media recorder devices.