Aggregating content from multiple content delivery types in a discovery interface

• US 7,647,332 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Issued: 01/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fong, Jeffrey C., Azera, Frederic, Van Flandern, Michael W., Coomer, Christen, Poling, Daniel L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Merilyn P
• Application Number:
  US11/477,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20080127281A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,293 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 707/10, 707100-102, 707/104.1, 709/203, 725/62, 725/87, 725/88
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A unified discovery interface that presents aggregated discovery data for media content available via multiple content delivery types is provided. In one implementation, the discovery data may be aggregated via a discovery data ingestion module to provide a compilation accessible by one or more client modules. The one or more client modules may present the aggregated discovery data in the unified discovery interface through which a user may select between first media content available via a first content delivery type and second media content available via a second content delivery type. In another implementation, a client module may aggregate discovery data and provide a unified discovery interface through which a user may select between first media content available via a first content delivery type and second media content available via a second content delivery type.

Claims

1. A method of presenting aggregated discovery data relating to multiple content delivery technologies, the method comprising:

receiving first discovery data related to first media content comprising broadcast television content available from a broadcast content provider via a first content delivery type;

receiving second discovery data related to second media content comprising Internet Protocol media content available from an Internet Protocol content provider via a second content delivery type; and

presenting an aggregation of the first discovery data and the second discovery data via a unified discovery interface on a display device through which a user may select between the first media content available from the broadcast content provider for a selected television channel and the second media content available from the Internet Protocol content provider for the selected television channel, the unified discovery interface comprising;

a broadcast content region for the selected television channel that lists broadcast television programs available from the broadcast content provider; and

an Internet Protocol content region for the selected channel that lists Internet Protocol media content available from the Internet Protocol content provider, wherein the Internet Protocol media content that is listed in the Internet Protocol content region for the selected television channel is selected for display based on the user navigating to the Internet Protocol content region for the selected television channel from a broadcast television program listed in the broadcast content region for the selected television channel.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first discovery data comprises metadata relating to the first media content available via the first content delivery type.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first discovery data further comprises metadata relating to a relationship between the first media content and other media content.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the first discovery data operation comprises downloading a compilation of data including the first discovery data from a server via a wide area network.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the compilation further comprises the second discovery data relating to the second media content available via the second content delivery type.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the receiving the second discovery data comprises downloading a second compilation of data including the second discovery data from a server via a wide area network.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising aggregating the first discovery data from the first compilation and the second discovery data from the second compilation for presentation in the unified discovery interface.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first media content comprises time-based programming content.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the second content delivery type comprises Internet Protocol content delivery.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first content delivery type comprises at least one of programming content delivery, Internet Protocol content delivery, analog terrestrial content delivery, digital terrestrial content delivery, pay television broadcast content delivery, video-on-demand content delivery, digital video recorder content delivery, digital video disc content delivery, compact disc music content delivery, video cassette recorder content delivery, platform partner content delivery, web content delivery, longtail content delivery, and personal library content delivery.

11. A media content delivery device for presenting aggregated discovery data relating to multiple content delivery technologies, the media content delivery device comprising one or more processors for executing computer-executable program modules stored on computer-readable storage media, the program modules comprising:

a discovery interface module that presents an aggregation of first discovery data relating to first media content comprising broadcast television content available from a broadcast content provider via a first content delivery type and second discovery data relating to second media content comprising Internet Protocol media content available from an Internet Protocol content provider via a second content delivery type in a unified discovery interface on a display device, wherein the discovery interface module presents the first media content available from the broadcast content provider for a selected television channel and the second media content available from the Internet Protocol content provider for the selected television channel and receives a user selection of a particular media content for the selected television channel, the unified discovery interface comprising;

a broadcast content region for the selected television channel that lists broadcast television programs available from the broadcast content provider; and

an Internet Protocol content region for the selected channel that lists Internet Protocol media content available from the Internet Protocol content provider, wherein the Internet Protocol media content that is listed in the Internet Protocol content region for the selected television channel is selected for display based on the user navigating to the Internet Protocol content region for the selected television channel from a broadcast television program listed in the broadcast content region for the selected television channel; and

a content player interface module that provides the particular media content for presentation on the display device.

12. The media content delivery device of claim 11 further comprising a tuner module for selecting between a plurality of individual time-based programming content.

13. The media content delivery device of claim 11 wherein the first content delivery type comprises time-based programming content delivery.

14. The media content delivery device of claim 11 wherein the second content delivery type comprises Internet Protocol content delivery.

15. The media content delivery device of claim 11 wherein the first discovery data comprises metadata relating to the first media content available via the first content delivery type.

16. The user content delivery device of claim 11 wherein the first discovery data further comprises metadata relating to a relationship between the first media content and other media content.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having stored computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process, the computer process comprising:

receiving first discovery data related to first media content comprising broadcast television content available from a broadcast content provider via a first content delivery type and second discovery data related to second media content comprising Internet Protocol media content available from an Internet Protocol content provider via a second content delivery type; and

providing an aggregation of the first discovery data and the second discovery data via a unified discovery interface on a display device through which a user may select between the first media content available from the broadcast content provider for a selected television channel and the second media content available from the Internet Protocol content provider for the selected television channel, the unified discovery interface comprising;

a broadcast content region for the selected television channel that lists broadcast television programs available from the broadcast content provider; and

an Internet Protocol content region for the selected channel that lists Internet Protocol media content available from the Internet Protocol content provider, wherein the Internet Protocol media content that is listed in the Internet Protocol content region for the selected television channel is selected for display based on the user navigating to the Internet Protocol content region for the selected television channel from a broadcast television program listed in the broadcast content region for the selected television channel.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the first discovery data and the second discovery data are aggregated into a search index and the computer process further comprises searching the aggregated search index for the first media content or second media content.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein computer process further comprises navigating through the first media content available via the first content delivery type and the second media content available via the second content delivery type.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the first content delivery type comprises time-based programming content delivery and the second content delivery type comprises Internet Protocol content delivery.