IDENTIFYING INSTANCES OF MEDIA PROGRAMMING AVAILABLE FROM DIFFERENT CONTENT SOURCES

• US 20120278844A1
• Filed: 04/29/2011
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sling Media LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sling Media Incorporated (Dish Network Corporation)
• Inventors: Curtis, Sean, Conway, Frank, Lankford, David Charles, Jhalani, Deepak, Case, Ryan
• Granted Patent: US 8,646,013 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/93
• 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 21/4622 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 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for identifying instances of media programming available within a media distribution system. An exemplary method involves searching a listing of media programming available from a first content source using search criteria indicative of a desired media program to identify an instance of the desired media program available from the first content source, obtaining a target program identifier associated with the desired media program from that instance, identifying another instance of the desired media program in a second listing of media programming available from another content source using the target program identifier, and providing a combined search result that indicates availability of the desired media program from the content sources.

Claims

1. A server comprising:

a memory having stored therein a first listing of media programs available from a first content source and a second listing of media programs available from a second content source; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to receive search criteria indicative of a desired media program, identify a first media data object in the first listing corresponding to a first instance of the desired media program available from the first content source, obtain a program identifier from the first media data object, identify a second media data object in the second listing corresponding to a second instance of the desired media program available from the second content source, and provide a combined search result indicating availability of the desired media program from the first content source and the second content source.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein the first content source is a digital video recorder.

3. The server of claim 2, wherein the processor obtains the first listing of media programs from the digital video recorder and stores the first listing in the memory.

4. The server of claim 2, wherein the second content source is selected from a group consisting of an online programming source and an on-demand programming source.

5. The server of claim 1, the server being coupled to a network, wherein:

the first content source is a media device coupled to the network; and

the second content source is selected from a group consisting of an online programming source coupled to the network and an on-demand programming source coupled to the network.

6. The server of claim 5, wherein the processor obtains the first listing of media programs from the media device, stores the first listing in the memory, obtains the second listing of media programs from an associating server coupled to the network, and stores the second listing in the memory.

7. The server of claim 1, wherein the first content source is a broadcast source.

8. The server of claim 7, wherein the processor obtains the first listing of media programs from a program guide and stores the first listing in the memory.

9. The server of claim 7, wherein the second content source is selected from a group consisting of an online programming source and an on-demand programming source.

10. The server of claim 1, the server being coupled to a network, wherein the processor obtains the second listing of media programs from an associating server coupled to the network, the associating server being configured to format each media data object of the second listing to include a respective program identifier associated with the respective media program corresponding to the respective media data object.

11. A media distribution system comprising:

an associating server to format each media data object of a plurality of media data objects to include a respective program identifier associated with a respective media program corresponding to that respective media data object, resulting in a plurality of associated media data objects; and

a host server coupled to the associating server to obtain the plurality of associated media data objects, the host server receiving search criteria indicative of a desired media program, determining a target program identifier associated with the desired media program, and identifying a first media data object corresponding to the desired media program from the plurality of associated media data objects using the target program identifier.

12. The media distribution system of claim 11, wherein the host server is configured to determine the target program identifier by matching the search criteria to metadata of a first media program of a plurality of media programs stored on a media device coupled to the host server over a network and utilizing a first program identifier associated with the first media program as the target program identifier.

13. The media distribution system of claim 12, the plurality of media data objects corresponding to media programs available from an online programming source, wherein the host server is configured to indicate the desired media program is available from the media device in response to matching the search criteria to metadata of the first media program and indicate the desired media program is available from the online programming source in response to identifying the first media data object.

14. The media distribution system of claim 12, the plurality of media data objects corresponding to media programs available from an on-demand programming source, wherein the host server is configured to indicate the desired media program is available from the media device in response to matching the search criteria to metadata of the first media program and indicate the desired media program is available from the on-demand programming source in response to identifying the first media data object.

15. The media distribution system of claim 11, further comprising a receiving server configured to obtain the plurality of media data objects from an online programming source and format the plurality of media data objects using a uniform format, resulting in a plurality of uniformly formatted media data objects, wherein the associating server is configured to obtain the plurality of uniformly formatted media data objects from the receiving server and format each uniformly formatted media data object to include the respective program identifier associated with the respective media program corresponding to that respective uniformly formatted media data object, resulting in the plurality of associated media data objects.

16. The media distribution system of claim 11, wherein for each respective media data object of the plurality of media data objects, the associating server is configured to determine the respective program identifier associated with the respective media program corresponding to that respective media data object by matching one or more fields of metadata for that respective media data object to metadata of a media data object in a database configured to maintain associations between program identifiers and media programs.

17. The media distribution system of claim 11, wherein the host server is configured to determine the target program identifier by matching the search criteria to metadata of a media data object in a database that corresponds to the desired media program, the database being configured to maintain associations between program identifiers and media programs.

18. The media distribution system of claim 11, wherein the host server is configured to determine the target program identifier by matching the search criteria to metadata of a media data object obtained from a program guide that corresponds to the desired media program.

19. A method executable by a processing system to identify instances of a desired media program available within a media distribution system, the method comprising:

searching, by the processing system, a first listing of media programming available from a first content source using search criteria indicative of the desired media program to identify a first instance of the desired media program available from the first content source;

obtaining, by the processing system, a target program identifier associated with the desired media program from the first instance;

identifying, by the processing system, a second instance of the desired media program in a second listing of media programming available from a second content source using the target program identifier, the second content source being different from the first content source; and

providing, by the processing system, a combined search result that indicates availability of the desired media program from the first content source and the second content source.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the processing system is a host server communicating with a client device over a network, the search criteria being provided by a user of the client device, wherein the method further comprises receiving, by the host server, the search criteria from the client device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein providing the combined search result comprises displaying a graphical representation of the combined search result in an application on the client device.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

obtaining, by an associating server communicating with the processing system, a plurality of media data objects, each media data object corresponding to a media program available from the second content source;

determining, by the associating server, for each media data object, a respective program identifier associated with its corresponding media program; and

formatting, by the associating server, each media data object to include a field having a value equal to the respective program identifier, resulting in a plurality of formatted media data objects, wherein identifying the second instance comprises searching, by the processing system, the plurality of formatted media data objects for a formatted media data object having the value for the field equal to the target program identifier.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

obtaining, by a receiving server communicating with the associating server, a first plurality of media data objects from a first online programming source and a second plurality of media data objects from a second online programming source; and

uniformly formatting, by the receiving server, each media data object of the first plurality and the second plurality, resulting in the plurality of media data objects obtained by the associating server.

24. A method of identifying instances of media programming available within a media distribution system, the method comprising:

obtaining a first media data object corresponding to a first media program available from a first content source in the media distribution system;

formatting the first media data object to include a first identifier to associate the first media data object with the first media program;

searching media programming available from a second content source in the media distribution system using search criteria indicative of the first media program to identify a second media data object corresponding to the first media program available from the second content source, the second media data object having the first identifier associated therewith;

in response to identifying the second media data object based on the search criteria;

obtaining the first identifier from the second media data object; and

identifying the first media data object from media programming available from the first content source using the first identifier; and

providing a combined search result that indicates availability of the first media program from the first content source and the second content source.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

determining the first media data object corresponds to the first media program based on one or more metadata fields of the first media data object; and

obtaining the first identifier associated with the first media program from a database maintaining associations between program identifiers and media programs prior to formatting the first media data object.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving, by a host server, the search criteria from a client device coupled to the host server over a network; and

obtaining, by the host server, stored media programming available from a media device coupled to the network, wherein searching comprises identifying, by the host server, the second media data object in the stored media programming available from the media device using the search criteria.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein obtaining the first media data object comprises obtaining, by an associating server coupled to the host server over the network, the first media data object from an online programming source, the associating server formatting the first media data object to include the first identifier and providing the first media data object to the host server.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein obtaining the first media data object comprises obtaining, by an associating server coupled to the host server over the network, the first media data object from an on-demand programming source, the associating server formatting the first media data object to include the first identifier and providing the first media data object to the host server.

29. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving, by a host server coupled to a network, the search criteria from a client device coupled to the network; and

obtaining, by the host server, upcoming media programming available from a broadcast source, wherein searching comprises identifying, by the host server, the second media data object in the upcoming media programming available from the broadcast source using the search criteria.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the first media data object comprises obtaining, by an associating server coupled to the host server over the network, the first media data object from an online programming source, the associating server formatting the first media data object to include the first identifier and providing the first media data object to the host server.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the first media data object comprises obtaining, by an associating server coupled to the host server over the network, the first media data object from an on-demand programming source, the associating server formatting the first media data object to include the first identifier and providing the first media data object to the host server.