Video on demand configuring, controlling and maintaining
First Claim
1. A method for representing interconnections of a plurality of elements of a video-on-demand services system, said system including a multitude of servers for storing video data, a multitude of customers for receiving said video data and viewing said video data on customer video monitors, and a system administrator for configuring and monitoring connections between said servers and said customers, and wherein said video-on-demand services are provided by a service provider to the multitude of customers and enable said customers to choose interactively various programs stored in a video source and to view a selected program at any time on the customer video monitors, the method comprising:
- providing a first catalog for a first subset of said elements, and providing a second catalog for a second subset of said elements;
creating a matrix of connection cells representing services provided by said service provider to said multitude of customers, each cell formed by an intersection of a pair of elements, wherein a first element of each pair is taken from the first catalog and a second element of each pair is taken from the second catalog, including the step of said system administrator interacting with said cells to configure and to monitor the connections between said servers and said customer video monitors; and
forming a connection representation for at least a subset of the pairs, the connection representation for each cell represents a service provided by said service provider to a respective one of said multitude of customers; and
wherein, when one of the customers requests a video program, the system administrator interacts with the cells of the matrix (i) to select one of the servers to provide the requested video program to said one of the customers and (ii) to assign to said one of the customers one or more of a multitude of video data channels to configure a video data path between the selected one of the servers and the video monitor of said one of the customers for transmitting the requested video program from said selected one of the servers to the video monitor of said one of the customers for viewing by said one of the customers, and wherein commercials are provided with the video program, and the commercials are selected based on displayed video usage patterns of the customers; and
wherein;
each element of the first catalog corresponds to a primary server;
each element of the second catalog corresponds to a secondary server;
each of the intersections of the matrix represents a logical connection of a presentation flowing from one primary server to one secondary server; and
multiple presentations are flowing between the one primary server and the one secondary server, and said multiple presentations are represented by a stack of blocks shown on said each of the intersections, each of said blocks representing a different one of said multiple presentations.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for providing multilevel information about video-on-demand services. The method comprises the steps of generating a display, on a computer display screen, of a tree having a plurality of nodes; and embedding in the nodes information about video-on-demand services. Preferably information is embedded in these nodes in the form of matrices. A wide range of information about the video-on-demand service may be embedded in the display. For instance, information may be embedded about usage patterns between the supplier of the video services and the consumer, a list of users, user statistics, satisfaction rates, failure rates, failure causes, rates of view to completion, cost monitor information, customer payment information, menus of videos, charge variations, special features and offers, user age, user education, geography, and any combination of the above.
97 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for representing interconnections of a plurality of elements of a video-on-demand services system, said system including a multitude of servers for storing video data, a multitude of customers for receiving said video data and viewing said video data on customer video monitors, and a system administrator for configuring and monitoring connections between said servers and said customers, and wherein said video-on-demand services are provided by a service provider to the multitude of customers and enable said customers to choose interactively various programs stored in a video source and to view a selected program at any time on the customer video monitors, the method comprising:
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providing a first catalog for a first subset of said elements, and providing a second catalog for a second subset of said elements; creating a matrix of connection cells representing services provided by said service provider to said multitude of customers, each cell formed by an intersection of a pair of elements, wherein a first element of each pair is taken from the first catalog and a second element of each pair is taken from the second catalog, including the step of said system administrator interacting with said cells to configure and to monitor the connections between said servers and said customer video monitors; and forming a connection representation for at least a subset of the pairs, the connection representation for each cell represents a service provided by said service provider to a respective one of said multitude of customers; and wherein, when one of the customers requests a video program, the system administrator interacts with the cells of the matrix (i) to select one of the servers to provide the requested video program to said one of the customers and (ii) to assign to said one of the customers one or more of a multitude of video data channels to configure a video data path between the selected one of the servers and the video monitor of said one of the customers for transmitting the requested video program from said selected one of the servers to the video monitor of said one of the customers for viewing by said one of the customers, and wherein commercials are provided with the video program, and the commercials are selected based on displayed video usage patterns of the customers; and
wherein;each element of the first catalog corresponds to a primary server; each element of the second catalog corresponds to a secondary server; each of the intersections of the matrix represents a logical connection of a presentation flowing from one primary server to one secondary server; and multiple presentations are flowing between the one primary server and the one secondary server, and said multiple presentations are represented by a stack of blocks shown on said each of the intersections, each of said blocks representing a different one of said multiple presentations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An architecture for providing information about a video-on-demand service system, said system including a multitude of servers for storing video data, a multitude of customers for receiving said video data and viewing said video data on customer video monitors, and a system administrator for configuring and monitoring connections between said servers and said customers, and said service system further including a set of video-on-demand elements, wherein said multitude of customers are able to choose interactively various programs from a video-on-demand service provider and to view a selected program at any time on the customer video monitors, the architecture comprising:
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a matrix module forming a video-on-demand information system matrix representing services provided by said service provider to said multitude of customers, said matrix having at least one matrix row element and at least one matrix column element, an intersection of each said at least one matrix row element with each said at least one matrix column element forming a matrix cell representing a service provided by said service provider to a respective one of said multitude of customers; a set of video-on-demand elements, a first subset of said set having a connection requirement with a second subset of said set; a first catalog including at least one video-on-demand element forming said at least one matrix row element; a second catalog including at least one video-on-demand element forming said at least one matrix column element, wherein each matrix cell represents a video-on-demand relationship between each video-on-demand element of the first catalog and each video-on-demand element of the second catalog to enable systematic cooperation among video-on-demand elements according to a video-on-demand requirement; and means to enable said system administrator to interact with the matrix module to configure and to monitor the connection between said servers and said customer video monitors; and wherein, when one of the customers requests a video program, the system administrator interacts with the cells of the matrix (i) to select one of the servers to provide the requested video program to said one of the customers and (ii) to assign to said one of the customers one or more of a multitude of video data channels to configure a video data path between the selected one of the servers and said one of the customers for transmitting the requested program from said selected one of the servers to the video monitor of said one of the customers for viewing by said one of the customers, and wherein commercials are provided with the video program, and the commercials are selected based on displayed video usage patterns of the customers; and
wherein;each element of the first catalog corresponds to a primary server; each element of the second catalog corresponds to a secondary server; each of the intersections of the matrix represents a logical connection of a presentation flowing from one primary server to one secondary server; and multiple presentations are flowing between the one primary server and the one secondary server, and said multiple presentations are represented by a stack of blocks shown on said each of the intersections, each of said blocks representing a different one of said multiple presentations. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of providing multilevel information about a plurality of video-on-demand related entities and resources, wherein said video-on-demand related entities and resources in a video-on-demand service system, said system including a multitude of servers for storing video data, a multitude of customers for receiving said video data and viewing said video data on customer video monitors, and a system administrator for configuring and monitoring connections between said servers and said customers, and wherein said video-on-demand related entities and resources are provided by a service provider to said multitude of customers and enable said customers to choose interactively various programs stored in a video source and to view a selected program at any time on the customer video monitors, the method comprising the steps:
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generating a display, on a computer display screen, of a tree having a plurality of nodes, including displaying video usage patters of the customers; and embedding in the nodes information about a plurality of the video-on-demand related entities and resources provided to said multitude of customers, including the step of said system administrator interacting with said nodes of said display to configure and to monitor the connections between said servers and said customer video monitors; and wherein, when one of the customers requests a video program, the system administrator interacts with the nodes of the display (i) to select one of the servers to provide the requested video program to said one of the customers and (ii) to assign to said one of the customers one or more of a multitude of video data channels to configure a video data path between the selected one of the servers and the video monitor of said one of the customers for transmitting the requested video program from said selected one of the servers to the video monitor of said one of the customers fore viewing by said one of the customers, and wherein commercials are provided with the video program, and the commercials are selected based on the displayed video usage pattern; and
wherein;each element of the first catalog corresponds to a primary server; each element of the second catalog corresponds to a secondary server; each of the intersections of the matrix represents a logical connection of a presentation flowing from one primary server to one secondary server; and multiple presentations are flowing between the one primary server and the one secondary server, and said multiple presentations are represented by a stack of blocks shown on said each of the intersections, each of said blocks representing a different one of said multiple presentations. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification