Technique for resegmenting assets containing programming content delivered through a communications network
First Claim
1. A method for defining content of a first program scheduled to be broadcast at a scheduled start time, a second program preceding the first program in a broadcast of the first and second programs, the content of the first program being defined starting from the scheduled start time, the method comprising operating a headend of a broadcast system to perform the following steps:
- storing broadcast content including at least a portion of said first and second programs;
receiving an end time of the second program in the broadcast;
determining whether a difference in time between the end time of the second program and the scheduled start time of the first program is greater than a threshold amount of time;
processing the stored broadcast content as a function of said received information to re-define the content of the first program when it is determined that the difference in time is greater than the threshold amount of time; and
storing the re-defined content for subsequent retrieval.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Program content is received at a headend of a broadband communication system, along with data concerning scheduled start and end times of the program derived from electronic program guide (EPG) data. After the program is broadcast, the actual broadcast start and end times of the program are compared with the corresponding scheduled times to determine whether there is any start and/or end time variance. If a time variance is determined, the content of the program is redefined to include only its supposed content. The redefined content is then made part of an asset for later retrieval and distribution.
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Citations
79 Claims
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1. A method for defining content of a first program scheduled to be broadcast at a scheduled start time, a second program preceding the first program in a broadcast of the first and second programs, the content of the first program being defined starting from the scheduled start time, the method comprising operating a headend of a broadcast system to perform the following steps:
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storing broadcast content including at least a portion of said first and second programs; receiving an end time of the second program in the broadcast; determining whether a difference in time between the end time of the second program and the scheduled start time of the first program is greater than a threshold amount of time; processing the stored broadcast content as a function of said received information to re-define the content of the first program when it is determined that the difference in time is greater than the threshold amount of time; and storing the re-defined content for subsequent retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for defining content of a first program which is scheduled to be broadcast until a scheduled end time, a second program succeeding the first program in a broadcast of the first and second programs, the content of the first program being defined ending at the scheduled end time, the method comprising:
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storing, at a communications system headend, broadcast content including at least a portion of said first and second programs; receiving a start time of the second program in the broadcast; determining whether a difference in time between the start time of the second program and the scheduled end time of the first program is greater than a threshold amount of time; processing the stored broadcast content as a function of said received information to re-define the content of the first program when it is determined that the difference in time is greater than the threshold amount of time; and storing, at the communications system headend, the re-defined content for subsequent retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for generating an asset containing content of a program, comprising:
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storing, at a communications system headend, broadcast content including said program; receiving first data concerning a scheduled start time of a broadcast of the program, and an actual start time of the broadcast of the program; subtracting the scheduled start time from the actual start time to generate a first difference; determining whether the absolute value of the first difference is greater than a first threshold; adjusting the stored broadcast content of the program when it is determined that the difference is greater than the threshold, the adjusting performed on the stored broadcast content of the program depending on whether said first difference is positive or negative; and storing, at the communications system headend, the adjusted content of the program to generate said asset for subsequent retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method for generating an asset containing content of a program, comprising:
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storing at a communications system headend broadcast content including said program; receiving first data concerning a scheduled end time of a broadcast of the program and second data said second data being an actual end time of the broadcast of the program; determining whether a difference between the scheduled end time and the actual end time is greater than a threshold; adjusting the stored broadcast content of the program when it is determined that the difference is greater than the thresholds; and storing, at the communications system headend, the adjusted content of the program to generate said asset for subsequent retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A system for defining content of a first program which is scheduled to be broadcast at a scheduled start time, a second program preceding the first program in a broadcast of the first and second programs, the content of the first program being defined starting from the scheduled start time, the system comprising:
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a buffer, located at a communications system headend, for storing broadcast content including said program; an interface for receiving an end time of the second program in the broadcast; a processor for determining whether a difference between the end time of the second program and the scheduled start time of the first program is greater than a threshold, the stored broadcast content of the first program being redefined when it is determined that the difference is greater than the threshold; and storage, located at the communications system headend, for storing the redefined content. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A system for defining content of a first program which is scheduled to be broadcast until a scheduled end time, a second program succeeding the first program in a broadcast of the first and second programs, the content of the first program being defined ending at the scheduled end time, the system comprising:
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a buffer, located at a communications system headend, for storing broadcast content including said program; an interface for receiving a start time of the second program in the broadcast; a processor for determining whether a difference between the start time of the second program and the scheduled end time of the first program is greater than a threshold, the stored broadcast content of the first program being redefined when it is determined that the difference is greater than the threshold; and storage, located at the communications system headend, for storing the redefined content. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A system for generating an asset containing content of a program, comprising:
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a buffer, located at a communications system headend, for storing broadcast content including said program; an interface for receiving an actual start time of the broadcast of the program; a processor for determining whether a difference between a scheduled start time of the program and the actual start time is greater than a threshold, the stored broadcast content of the program being adjusted when it is determined that the difference is greater than the threshold; and storage, located at the communications system headend, for storing said adjusted content to generate the asset, said asset containing the adjusted content and being available for subsequent retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A system for generating an asset containing content of a program, the content of the program and first data concerning a scheduled end time of a broadcast of the program being provided to the system, comprising:
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a buffer, located at a communications system headend, for storing broadcast content including said program; an interface for receiving second data, said second data being an actual end time of the broadcast of the program; a processor for determining whether a difference between the scheduled end time and the actual end time is greater than a threshold, the stored broadcast content of the program being adjusted when it is determined that the difference is greater than the threshold; and storage, located at the communications system headend, for storing said adjusted content to generate the asset, said asset containing the adjusted content and being available for subsequent retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
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76. A method for defining content of a broadcast program scheduled to end at a scheduled time, the method comprising:
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storing broadcast content including at least a portion of said broadcast program and a portion of a second program broadcast following said broadcast program in a storage device; receiving as input an actual end time of said broadcast program; determining, after the broadcast of said broadcast program, whether a difference between the actual end time of said broadcast program and the scheduled end time of said broadcast program is greater than a threshold; re-defining the stored broadcast content of the broadcast program when it is determined that the difference is greater than the threshold; and storing the re-defined content for subsequent retrieval thereof. - View Dependent Claims (77, 78, 79)
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Specification