Broadcast content delivery systems and methods

• US 7,904,930 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Issued: 03/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Technologies Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Peechara, Arvind K., Dhodapkar, Amit A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Koenig; Andrew Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chin; Ricky
• Application Number:
  US10/965,501
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085829A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,336 Days
• Field of Search: 725/87, 725/86, 725/112, 725/114
• US Class Current: 725/86
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

In an implementation of broadcast content delivery, content is broadcast to television-based client devices via a broadcast communication link. The content can be generated for display to include a user-selectable control to initiate a request for additional content that includes broadcast content and/or on-demand content. A content provider receives the request for the on-demand content from a client device via a two-way communication link, and broadcasts the on-demand content to the television-based client devices via a channel of the broadcast communication link. The content provider also communicates an identifier via the two-way communication link to the client device such that the client device can identify the channel of the broadcast communication link and receive the on-demand content via the broadcast communication link.

Claims

1. A broadcast content delivery system, comprising:

a content provider configured to broadcast content to a plurality of client devices, comprising a first client device and a second client device, the broadcast content including a first Web page received by the content provider from a Web server in communication with the content provider, wherein the first Web page is broadcast by the content provider to the plurality client devices as broadcast content viewable for display at the client devices, the Web page having a selectable control to initiate requests from the client devices to the content provider for a selectable content which includes at least one of broadcast content and on-demand content;

a broadcast communication link configured to communicate the broadcast content and the on-demand content from the content provider to the plurality of client devices;

an out-of-band two-way communication link configured to communicate the requests for the on-demand content from the client devices to the content provider;

the content provider further configured to;

receive the on-demand content from the Web server;

broadcast the on-demand content received from the Web server to the one or more client devices as transient in-band data over a particular channel of the broadcast communication link in response to a first request for the on-demand content received from the first client through initiation of the selectable control on the first Web page displayed at the first client;

communicate a first identifier to the first client device over the two way communication link such that the first client device can identify the particular channel of the broadcast communication link and receive the on-demand content;

receive a second request for the on-demand content from the second client device through initiation of the selectable control on the first Web page displayed at the second client device;

determine that the on-demand content requested by the second client device is currently being broadcasted to the first client device as the transient in-band data on the particular channel of the broadcast communication link; and

communicate a second identifier to the second client device over the two way communication link such that the second client device identifies the particular channel of the broadcast communication link and receives the on-demand content already being broadcasted on the particular channel in response to the first request, wherein the first client device and the second client device receive the on-demand content for generating a second Web page, wherein;

the selectable content is cached on-demand content received from the Web server and stored in a cache memory at the content provider in anticipation of the requests for the cached on-demand content from the client devices;

the content provider is further configured to broadcast the cached on-demand content to the client devices as the transient in-band data; and

when the cached on-demand content is requested a certain number of times, the cached on-demand content is removed from the cache memory at the content provider and distributed by the content provider as broadcast content to the client devices, rather than as on-demand content.

2. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the client devices are further configured to:

generate the broadcast content for display as the first Web page;

generate the selectable control for display on the first Web page as a user selectable link to the selectable content; and

generate the selectable content for display as the second Web page.

3. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the client devices receive the on-demand content as the transient in-band data over a same in-band channel as an in-band channel over which the broadcast content including the first Web page was broadcast.

4. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 3, wherein the first and second client devices receive the on-demand content by filtering out respective transient in-band data from the in-band channel by filtering data packets that are addressed to each respective client device based on the respective identifier received from the content provider.

5. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the client devices are further configured to generate the requests for the on-demand content to include:

a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content; and

a client identifier to identify the client device to the content provider.

6. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the client devices are further configured to generate the requests for the on-demand content to include:

a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content;

a client identifier to identify the client device to the content provider; and

a cached content indicator to indicate that the on-demand content is cached at the content provider.

7. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the client devices are further configured to generate the requests for the on-demand content to include:

a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content;

a client identifier to identify the client device to the content provider; and

a content variable indicator to indicate a delivery format of the on-demand content.

8. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the on-demand content that is broadcast over the broadcast communication link can only be received by client devices that receive a respective identifier.

9. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the content provider is further configured to:

receive the requests for the on-demand content from the client devices; and

request the on-demand content from the Web server in response to receiving the first request.

10. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the content provider is further configured to:

receive the first request for the on-demand content from the first client device;

request a resource from the Web server in response to receiving the first request;

broadcast the resource as the on-demand content to the first client device; and

provide access to the broadcast of the on-demand content to the second client device upon receiving the second request by sending the second identifier to the second client device.

11. A broadcast content delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein the content provider is further configured to:

receive the first request for the on-demand content from the first client device;

request the second Web page from the Web server in response to receiving the first request;

cache the second Web page at the content provider;

broadcast the second Web page as the on-demand content to the first client device; and

provide access to the broadcast of the on-demand content to the second client device upon receiving the second request by sending the second identifier to the second client device.

12. A content provider, comprising:

a broadcast system configured to;

distribute broadcast content to a plurality of client devices over a broadcast communication link, the broadcast content including a Web page having a selectable control for display at the plurality of client devices to initiate requests for selectable content, the selectable content comprising on-demand content obtained from a Web server, wherein a portion of the on-demand content is stored in a cache memory at the content provider as cached on-demand content in anticipation of the requests for the selectable content from the client devices; and

distribute the selectable content as on-demand content separate from the broadcast content to one or more of the client devices on a channel of the broadcast communication link when the on-demand content is requested as the selectable content; and

a two-way communication system configured to receive at least one request for the on-demand content from at least one client device of the plurality of client devices through a two-way communication link separate from the broadcast communication link, wherein when the cached on-demand content is requested a specified number of times, the cached on-demand content is removed from the cache memory at the content provider and distributed by the content provider as part of the broadcast content to the plurality of client devices, rather than as separate on-demand content.

13. A content provider as recited in claim 12, wherein the selectable content includes additional broadcast content that is displayed overlaid on the Web page displayed by a particular client device in response to selection of the selectable control at the particular client device.

14. A content provider as recited in claim 12, wherein the broadcast system is further configured to distribute the cached on-demand content to the at least one client device as transient in-band data.

15. A content provider as recited in claim 12, wherein:

the broadcast communication link is an in-band communication link, and wherein the in-band communication link is configured to distribute the on-demand content as transient in-band data, and

the at least one client device receives the on-demand content by filtering out respective transient in-band data from the in-band channel by filtering data packets that are addressed to each respective client device based on the respective identifier received from the content provider.

16. A content provider as recited in claim 12, wherein the two-way communication system is further configured to receive the at least one request as a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content, and wherein the at least one request includes a client identifier to identify the at least one client device to the content provider.

17. A content provider as recited in claim 12, wherein the two-way communication system is further configured to receive the at least one request as a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content, and wherein the at least one request includes a client identifier to identify the at least one client device to the content provider and includes a cached content indicator to indicate that the on-demand content is cached at the content provider.

18. A content provider as recited in claim 12, wherein the two-way communication system is further configured to receive the at least one request as a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content, and wherein the at least one request includes a client identifier to identify the at least one client device to the content provider and includes a content variable indicator to indicate a delivery format of the on-demand content.

19. A content provider as recited in claim 12, wherein the selectable content distributed as the on-demand content over the broadcast communication link can only be received by the at least one client device that receives the identifier.

20. A method implemented on a computing device having instructions executable by a processor and stored on a computer readable storage media, the method comprising:

broadcasting broadcast content from a content provider to a plurality of client devices over a broadcast communication link, the broadcast content including a Web page having a displayable selectable control to initiate requests for additional content that includes additional broadcast content and on-demand content, wherein the on-demand content includes cached on-demand content obtained from a Web server in advance and maintained in a cache memory at the content provider;

receiving a particular request for the on-demand content from a particular client device over a two-way communication link;

broadcasting the on-demand content separately from the broadcast content to the particular client device over a channel of the broadcast communication link; and

communicating an identifier over the two-way communication link to the particular client device such that the particular client device can identify the channel of the broadcast communication link and receive the on-demand content, wherein when the cached on-demand content is requested a predetermined number of times, the cached on-demand content is removed from the cache memory at the content provided and distributed by the content provider as part of the broadcast content to the plurality of client devices, rather than on-demand in response to requests from individual client devices.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the additional content includes additional broadcast content that is displayed over the Web page displayed by the particular client device in response to selection of the selectable control at the particular client device.

22. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein:

receiving the particular request from the particular client device includes receiving the particular request as a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content, and

the particular request includes a client identifier to identify the particular client device.

23. A method as recited in claim 20, further comprising caching the on-demand content, wherein:

receiving the particular request includes receiving the particular request as a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content; and

the particular request includes a client identifier to identify the particular client device and includes a cached content indicator to indicate that the on-demand content is cached.

24. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein receiving the particular request includes receiving the particular request as a tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content, and wherein the particular request includes a client identifier to identify the particular client device and includes a content variable indicator to indicate a delivery format of the on-demand content.

25. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein:

the broadcast communication link is an in-band communication link, and wherein the in-band communication link is configured to broadcast the on-demand content as transient in-band data; and

the particular client device receives the on-demand content by filtering out respective transient in-band data from the in-band channel by filtering data packets that are addressed to the particular client device based on the identifier received from the content provider.

26. A method implemented on a computing device having instructions executable by a processor and stored on a computer readable storage media, the method comprising:

receiving a broadcast content for display which includes a first Web page having a selectable control to initiate a request for additional content, the broadcast content being received by the computing device through a broadcast communication link;

receiving a user-selectable input to initiate the request for the additional content, wherein the request generates a tokenized uniform resource locator comprising a content variable indicator to indicate a delivery format of the additional content;

communicating the request for the additional content to a content provider through a two-way communication link when the request is for on-demand content;

receiving an identifier over the two-way communication link to identify a channel of the broadcast communication link and to receive the on-demand content over the broadcast communication link as a separate stream from the broadcast content, wherein at least a portion of the on-demand content is obtained by the content provider in advance and maintained in a cache memory at the content provider as cached on-demand content; and

when the cached on-demand content has been requested a certain number of times by the computing device or one or more other computing devices, the cached on-demand content is removed from the cache memory at the content provider and received from the content provider as part of the broadcast content, rather than the separate stream.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein:

receiving the user selectable input includes the request being initiated for additional broadcast content; and

the additional broadcast content is displayed overlaid on the first Web page displayed by the client device in response to selection of the selectable control at client device.

28. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein receiving the user selectable input includes the request being initiated for the on-demand content stored on a Web server in communication with the content provider.

29. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein receiving the user selectable input includes the request being initiated for the cached on-demand content stored in the cache memory at the content provider.

30. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising:

generating the broadcast content for display as the first Web page;

generating the selectable control for display on the first Web page as a user selectable link to the on-demand content, the first Web page further including another selectable control as a selectable link to have broadcast content displayed overlaid on the first Web page; and

generating the on-demand content for display as the second Web page.

31. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising generating the request for the on-demand content to include the tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content, and to include a client device identifier.

32. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising generating the request for the on-demand content to include:

the tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content;

a client device identifier; and

a cached content indicator to indicate that the on-demand content is cached at the content provider.

33. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising generating the request for the on-demand content to include:

the tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content;

a client device identifier; and

the content variable indicator to indicate a delivery format of the on-demand content.

34. A method Comprising:

broadcasting content from a content provider to one or more client devices over a broadcast communication link, the content including a Web page having a displayable selectable control to initiate a request for additional content;

broadcasting the additional content to the one or more client devices over a channel of the broadcast communication link when the additional content is requested as on-demand content by a first request received from a first client device;

communicating an identifier over a two-way communication link to the first client device that requests the on-demand content such that the first client device can identify the channel of the broadcast communication link and receive the on-demand content;

communicating the identifier over the two-way communication link to a second client device in response to a second request for the on-demand content received from the second client device, such that the second client device can identify the channel of the broadcast communication link over which the on-demand content is being broadcasted in response to the first request and receive the on-demand content, wherein the first and second client devices receive the on-demand content by filtering out respective transient in-band data from the in-band channel by filtering data packets that are addressed to each respective client device based on the respective identifier received from the content provider; and

when the request for the additional content is a request for cached on-demand content that is cached in a cache memory at the content provider, and the cached on-demand content is requested a certain number of times, removing the cached on-demand content from the cache memory at the content provider and distributing the cached on-demand content by the content provider as broadcast content to the one or more client devices, rather than as on-demand content.

35. The method as recited in claim 34, further comprising directing the content provider to receive the request for the additional content as a request for additional broadcast content to be displayed overlaid on the Web page displayed by a particular client device in response to selection of the selectable control at the particular client device.

36. The method as recited in claim 34, further comprising directing the content provider to receive the first request for the additional content as a request for the on-demand content, wherein the content provider obtains the on-demand content from a Web server in response to the first request and provides the on-demand content already obtained from the Web server in response to the second request.

37. The method as recited in claim 34, further comprising directing the content provider to receive the on-demand content from a Web server and store the on-demand content in a cache memory at the content provider in anticipation of the requests for the cached on-demand content from the client devices, wherein the cached on-demand content is broadcast to the client devices as transient in-band data.

38. The method as recited in claim 34, further comprising directing the content provider to address the identifier to the first and second client devices such that only the first and second client devices can receive the on-demand content broadcast via the broadcast communication link.

39. A television-based client device comprising:

a processor coupled to storage media, the processor configured by executable instructions to perform operations to;

receive broadcast content for display which includes a first Web page having a selectable control to initiate a request for additional content, the broadcast content being received over a broadcast communication link;

communicate a user-selectable input as the request for the additional content to a content provider over a two-way communication link when the request is for on-demand content, wherein the request for on-demand content generates a tokenized uniform resource locator comprising a content variable indicator to indicate a delivery format of the additional content separate from the broadcast content, wherein at least a portion of the on-demand content is obtained by the content provider in advance and maintained in a cache memory at the content provider as cached on-demand content; and

when the cached on-demand content has been requested a certain number of times by the television-based client device or one or more other client devices, the cached on-demand content is removed from the cache memory at the content provider and received as part of the broadcast content, rather than separate from the broadcast content.

40. The television-based client device as recited in claim 39, further comprising performing operations to:

generate the broadcast content for display as the first Web page;

generate the selectable control for display on the first Web page as a user selectable link to the on-demand content, the first Web page further including another selectable control as a selectable link to have broadcast content displayed overlaid on the first Web page; and

generate the on-demand content for display as the second Web page.

41. The television-based client device as recited in claim 39, further comprising performing operations to generate the request for the on-demand content to include the tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content, and to include a client identifier to identify the television-based client device to the content provider.

42. The television-based client device as recited in claim 39, further comprising performing operations to generate the request for the on-demand content to include:

the tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content;

a client identifier to identify the television-based client device to the content provider; and

a cached content indicator to indicate that the on-demand content is cached at the content provider.

43. The television-based client device as recited in claim 39, further comprising performing operations to generate the request for the on-demand content to include:

the tokenized uniform resource locator to identify the on-demand content;

a client identifier to identify the television-based client device to the content provider; and

the content variable indicator to indicate a delivery format of the on-demand content.