Remote storage digital video recorder that supports shared and per-subscriber content rights

• US 8,832,724 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Dish Digital LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Major, Robert Drew, Major, Darren
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen-Ba, Hoang-Vu A
• Application Number:
  US13/707,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20130145392A1
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 726/28, 726/4, 726/27, 725/28, 725/110, 725/25, 725/93, 386/295, 386/296, 707/783, 707/784, 707/785
• US Class Current: 725/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2183 Cache memory caches in web servers or browsers G06F16/9574; intermediate storage and caching in data networks H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2312 Data placement on disk arrays data placement in general G06F3/0604
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2323 using file mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2747 Remote storage of video programs received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/61 Network physical structure; Signal processing H04B takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6371 directed to network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6373 for rate control , e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6379 directed to encoder , e.g. for requesting a lower encoding rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64769 for rate control flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 : Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 : Television signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 : Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 : Handling of requests in head-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/80 : Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback

Abstract

A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system is disclosed. The RS-DVR system includes a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network, a file system module coupled to the network interface, an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent media content files encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and a storage architecture coupled to the file system to store the encoded media segments, resulting in stored media segments. The RS-DVR carries out a number of functions and operations to service multiple subscribers and associated subscriber systems, such as various storage device management operations, file structure techniques, assignment of recorded media to subscribers, file system indexing, and supporting shared and per-subscriber content rights.

Claims

1. A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system comprising:

a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a plurality of subscriber systems via a network, the plurality of subscriber systems providing media content to a plurality of subscribers;

a file system module coupled to the network interface;

an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive media content files, the media content files including shared rights media content files and per-subscriber rights media content files;

a processing logic module to determine, for each media content file of the received media content files, whether the respective media content file comprises a shared rights media content file having shared rights or a per-subscriber rights media content file that does not have shared rights, resulting in shared rights media content files of the received media content files and per-subscriber rights media content files of the received media content files;

a shared storage architecture coupled to the file system to store the shared rights media content files, each of the stored shared rights media content files comprising a shared instantiation of one or more encoded media segments representing a recorded version of a respective shared rights media content file that is stored on behalf of a plurality of different subscribers of the plurality of subscribers; and

a per-subscriber storage architecture coupled to the file system to store the per-subscriber rights media content files, each of the stored per-subscriber rights media content files comprising a separate instantiation of one or more encoded media segments representing a recorded version of a respective per-subscriber rights media content file that is stored on behalf of an individual subscriber of the plurality of subscribers and only accessible by that individual subscriber.

2. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the shared storage architecture exclusively stores the shared rights media content files without storing any of the per-subscriber rights media content files.

3. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the per-subscriber storage architecture exclusively stores the per-subscriber rights media content files without storing any of the shared rights media content files.

4. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the shared storage architecture is physically distinct and separated from the per-subscriber storage architecture.

5. The RS-DVR system of claim 4, wherein:

the shared storage architecture exclusively stores the shared rights media content files without storing any of the per-subscriber rights media content files; and

the per-subscriber storage architecture exclusively stores the per-subscriber rights media content files without storing any of the shared rights media content files.

6. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, further comprising a content rights management module to determine whether a requested media content file has shared rights or per-subscriber rights.

7. The RS-DVR system of claim 6, wherein:

the requested media content file is accessed from the shared storage architecture when the content rights management module determines that the requested media content file has shared rights; and

the requested media content file is accessed from the per-subscriber storage architecture when the content rights management module determines that the requested media content file has per-subscriber rights.

8. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, further comprising a content rights management module to determine whether a subscriber system requesting a media content file has shared rights or per-subscriber rights.

9. The RS-DVR system of claim 8, wherein:

the requested media content file is accessed from the shared storage architecture when the content rights management module determines that the subscriber system requesting the media content file has shared rights; and

the requested media content file is accessed from the per-subscriber storage architecture when the content rights management module determines that the subscriber system requesting the media content file has per-subscriber rights.

10. A method of operating a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system that supports a plurality of subscriber systems via data communication over a network, the plurality of subscriber systems configured to provide media content to a plurality of subscribers, the method comprising:

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, shared rights media content files and per-subscriber rights media content files;

storing the shared rights media content files in a shared storage architecture of the RS-DVR system, the storing comprising, for each of the shared rights media content files, storing a shared instantiation of one or more encoded media segments representing a recorded version of a respective shared rights media content file in the shared storage architecture on behalf of a plurality of different subscribers of the plurality of subscribers;

storing the per-subscriber rights media content files in a per-subscriber storage architecture of the RS-DVR system, the storing comprising, for each of the per-subscriber rights media content files, storing a separate instantiation of one or more encoded media segments representing a recorded version of a respective per-subscriber rights media content file in the per-subscriber storage architecture on behalf of an individual subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, wherein each separate instantiation only accessible by that individual subscriber of the plurality of subscribers;

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, an instruction to record a requested media content file on behalf of a requesting subscriber;

determining, at the RS-DVR system, whether the requested media content file has shared rights or per-subscriber rights;

storing the requested media content file in the per-subscriber storage architecture on behalf of the requesting subscriber when the determining step determines that the requested media content file has per-subscriber rights; and

storing the requested media content file in the shared storage architecture when the determining step determines that the requested media content file has shared rights.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein storing the shared rights media content files is performed without storing any of the per-subscriber rights media content files in the shared storage architecture.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein storing the per-subscriber rights media content files is performed without storing any of the shared rights media content files in the per-subscriber storage architecture.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, a request for playback of a requested media content file; and

determining, at the RS-DVR system, whether the requested media content file has shared rights or per-subscriber rights.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the requested media content file is accessed from the shared storage architecture when the determining step determines that the requested media content file has shared rights; and

the requested media content file is accessed from the per-subscriber storage architecture when the determining step determines that the requested media content file has per-subscriber rights.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein:

storing the shared rights media content files comprises exclusively storing the shared rights media content files without storing any of the per-subscriber rights media content files in a first disk drive that is physically distinct and separate from the per-subscriber storage architecture; and

storing the per-subscriber rights media content files comprises exclusively storing the per-subscriber rights media content files in a second disk drive that is physically distinct and separate from the shared storage architecture.

16. A method of operating a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system that supports a plurality of subscriber systems via data communication over a network, the plurality of subscriber systems providing media content to a plurality of subscribers, the method comprising:

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, media content files;

obtaining, at the RS-DVR system, an instruction to record a requested media content file of the received media content files;

determining, at the RS-DVR system, whether the requested media content file of the received media content files has shared rights or per-subscriber rights;

storing the requested media content file in a shared storage architecture of the RS-DVR system when the determining step determines that the requested media content file has shared rights, the storing comprising storing a shared instantiation of one or more encoded media segments representing a recorded version of the requested media content file in the shared storage architecture on behalf of a plurality of different subscribers of the plurality of subscribers; and

storing the requested media content file in a per-subscriber storage architecture of the RS-DVR system when the determining step determines that the requested media content file has per-subscriber rights, the storing comprising storing an instantiation of the one or more encoded media segments representing the recorded version of the requested media content file in the per-subscriber storage architecture on behalf of an individual subscriber of the plurality of subscribers that is only accessible by that individual subscriber of the plurality of subscribers.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the media content files comprises a plurality of encoded media segments that represent the media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

managing the shared storage architecture such that the shared storage architecture exclusively stores media content files having shared rights; and

managing the per-subscriber storage architecture such that the per-subscriber storage architecture exclusively stores media content files having per-subscriber rights.