OPTIMIZING MOBILE ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE DELIVERY

• US 20130074127A1
• Filed: 09/21/2011
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Kotecha, Lalit R., Aguirre, Sergio
• Granted Patent: US 9,420,354 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/54
• 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 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64746 Control signals issued by the network directed to the server or the client
• 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

Abstract

A network device may receive, via a network, a request for electronic program guide content, from a user device connected to the network, and monitor, a network condition (e.g., network congestion, user device location, etc.) corresponding to the network. The network device may determine, based on the network condition, whether to provide the electronic program guide content using a first radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network or a second radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network. The user device may communicate, via the network, the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth. The first radio frequency bandwidth may correspond to unicast, multicast, or broadcast services, and the second radio frequency bandwidth may correspond to a different one of unicast, multicast, or broadcast services.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a network device and via a network, a request for electronic program guide content, from a user device connected to the network;

monitoring, by the network device, a network condition corresponding to the network, where there the network condition comprises network congestion;

determining, by the network device and based on the network condition, whether to provide the electronic program guide content using a first radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network or a second radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network; and

communicating, by the network device and via the network, the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth,

where the first radio frequency bandwidth corresponds to unicast, multicast, or broadcast services, and the second radio frequency bandwidth corresponds to a different one of unicast, multicast, or broadcast services.

2. The method of claim 1, where the first transmission service comprises a transmission service type that is different than the second transmission service.

3. The method of claim 1, where:

determining whether to provide the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth, the second radio frequency bandwidth, or the first radio frequency bandwidth and the second radio frequency bandwidth comprises determining whether the network congestion has exceeded a particular threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, where the first transmission service comprises a unicast transmission service, and the method further comprises:

when the network congestion has exceeded the particular threshold;

disabling the first transmission service; and

communicating the electronic program guide content using the second transmission service.

5. The method of claim 1, where:

the network condition further comprises a location of the user device relative to a service venue area, and

determining whether to provide the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth is also based on the location of the user device relative to the service venue area.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating electronic program guide availability data to the user device, the electronic program guide availability data comprising information regarding the availability of an electronic program guide,

where the request for electronic program guide content is received in response to communicating the electronic program guide availability data to the user device.

7. The method of claim 1, where the electronic program guide content comprises content information corresponding to an electronic program guide stored by the network device.

8. The method of claim 1, where:

the network condition further comprises a location of the user device relative to a service venue area,

the first transmission service comprises a unicast transmission service used to transmit EPG content to user devices located outside of the service venue area or to user devices inside of the service venue area that have requested EPG content in between scheduled broadcast transmission services, and

the second transmission service comprises a broadcast transmission service used to transmit EPG content to user devices located within the service venue area.

9. The method of claim 1, where the network condition further comprises:

a current time relative to a period of time corresponding to peak network activity,

a geographic location of the user device relative to a service venue area,

the current time relative to a transmission schedule received from a network operator,

a quantity of user devices that have responded to electronic program guide availability data communicated by the network device, or

a quantity of requests from user devices for electronic program guide content over a particular time interval.

10. A network device comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor, connected to the memory, to;

receive, via a network, a request for electronic program guide content, from a user device connected to the network, the electronic program guide content comprising content information corresponding to an electronic program guide stored by the network device,

monitor network conditions corresponding to the network, where the network conditions comprise network congestion,

determine whether to provide the electronic program guide content, using a first radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network or a second radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network, based on the network condition; and

communicate, via the network, the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth,

where the first radio frequency bandwidth corresponds to a first transmission service and the second radio frequency bandwidth corresponds to a second transmission service.

11. The network device of claim 10, where the first transmission service and the second transmission service each comprise:

a unicast transmission service,

a multicast transmission service, or

a broadcast transmission service, and

where the first transmission service comprises a transmission service type that is different than the second transmission service.

12. The network device of claim 10, where:

to determine whether to provide the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth, the processor is to;

determine whether the network congestion has exceeded a particular threshold.

13. The network device of claim 12, where:

the first transmission service comprises a unicast transmission service,

the second transmission service comprises a multicast transmission service or a broadcast transmission service, and

when the network congestion has exceeded the particular threshold, the processor is to;

disable the first transmission service; and

communicate the electronic program guide content using the second transmission service.

14. The network device of claim 10, where:

the network condition further comprises a location of the user device relative to a service venue area, and

the processor is to determine whether to provide the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth is also based on the location of the user device relative to the service venue area.

15. The network device of claim 10, where the processor is to:

communicate electronic program guide availability data to the user device, the electronic program guide availability data comprising information regarding the availability of an electronic program guide, and

where the request for electronic program guide content is received in response to communicating the electronic program guide availability data.

16. The network device of claim 10, where:

the network condition further comprises a location of the user device relative to a service venue area,

the first transmission service comprises a unicast transmission service used to transmit electronic program guide content to user devices located outside of the service venue area, and

the second transmission service comprises a broadcast transmission service used to transmit electronic program guide content to user devices located within the service venue area.

17. The network device of claim 10, where the network condition further comprises:

a current time relative to a period of time corresponding to peak network activity,

a geographic location of the user device relative to a service venue area,

the current time relative to a transmission schedule received from a network operator,

a quantity of user devices that have responded to electronic program guide availability data communicated by the network device, or

a quantity of requests from user devices for electronic program guide content over a particular time interval.

18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to;

receive, via a network, a request for electronic program guide content, from a user device connected to the network;

monitor a network condition corresponding to the network;

determine, based on the network condition, whether to provide the electronic program guide content using a first radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network or a second radio frequency bandwidth corresponding to the network,

the first radio frequency bandwidth corresponds to a first transmission service and the second radio frequency bandwidth corresponds to a second transmission service that is different from the first transmission service; and

communicate, via the network, the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth,

where;

the first transmission service and the second transmission service each comprise a different one of;

a unicast transmission service,

a multicast transmission service, or

a broadcast transmission service.

19. The computer-readable storage media of claim 18, where:

the network condition comprises network congestion, and

the, to determine whether to provide the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth, the one or more instructions cause the processor to;

determine whether the network congestion has exceeded a particular threshold, and

select the first transmission service or the second transmission service when the network congestion exceeds the particular threshold.

20. The computer-readable storage media of claim 19, where:

the first transmission service comprises a unicast transmission service,

the second transmission service comprise a multicast or a broadcast transmission service, and

when the network congestion exceeds the particular threshold, the one or more instructions cause the processor to;

disable the first transmission service; and

communicate the electronic program guide content using the second transmission service.

21. The computer-readable storage media of claim 18, where:

the network condition comprises a location of the user device relative to a service venue area, and

to determine whether to provide the electronic program guide content using the first radio frequency bandwidth or the second radio frequency bandwidth, the one or more instructions cause the processor to select the location of the user device relative to the service venue area.

22. The computer-readable storage media of claim 18, where:

the network condition further comprises a location of the user device relative to a service venue area,

the first transmission service comprises a unicast transmission service used to transmit electronic program guide content to user devices located outside of the service venue area, and

the second transmission service comprises a broadcast transmission service used to transmit electronic program guide content to user devices located within the service venue area.