System and method for transmitting content items

• US 9,032,088 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2013
• Issued: 05/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: Sedlak, Brian, Lemmons, Thomas, Rasmussen, Gary, Zenoni, Ian, Huber, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN BA, HOANG VU A
• Application Number:
  US13/848,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20130212635A1
• Time in Patent Office: 782 Days
• Field of Search: 709/232, 709/233, 709/234, 709/235, 725/87, 725/105, 725/118
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23113 involving housekeeping operations for stored content, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; snloading stored programs G06F9/445; housekeeping operations in file systems, e.g. deletion policies G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4886 for displaying a ticker, e.g. scrolling banner for news, stock exchange, weather data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/60 Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client , e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/65 Transmission of management data between client and server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

Disclosed is a system that optimizes transmission bandwidth of a broadband transmission system such as a cable television, satellite system, or wireless information service. Requests for content items from users are employed to add or delete content items from a list. Content items in the list are ranked relative to the number of requests received or by rate of request. Package groups are created with most requested content items being broadcast more frequently than less requested content items. Transmit groups are produced from package groups and placed in a broadcast queue. A transmit process transmits groups retrieved from the queue.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting requested content items, the method comprising:

receiving requests for a plurality of content items;

maintaining a request count for each content item of the plurality of content items that indicates a number of times each content item has been requested;

sorting the plurality of content items based on the request count;

determining an associated retransmit rate for each of the content items, content items with a higher request count receiving a higher associated retransmit rate and are transmitted more frequently than content items with a lower request count, the retransmit rate indicating how often the content items should be retransmitted; and

repeatedly transmitting the content items at the associated retransmit rate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a list based on the plurality of content items that are requested.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising removing a content item from the list of content items based on the request count for the content item being equal to or less than a predetermined content access count during a predefined period of time.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising grouping at least some content items with a request count greater than or equal to a predetermined access count into a transmit group.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining of the associated retransmit rate for each of the content items comprises determining a group retransmit rate for the transmit group, the transmit group with a higher request count receiving a higher associated group retransmit rate than a transmit group with a lower request count, the group retransmit rate indicating how often the transmit group should be retransmitted, and wherein repeatedly transmitting the transmit group at the group retransmit rate comprises repeatedly transmitting the transmit group at the group retransmit rate.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining a maximum size for the transmit group;

based on the maximum size not being reached, adding an additional content item having the request count greater than or equal to the predetermined access count to the transmit group; and

based on the maximum size being reach, determining another transmit group to add the additional content item having the request count greater than or equal to the predetermined access count.

7. A method comprising:

receiving requests for transmission of a plurality of content items;

determining a rate of request for each content item contained in a content item list based on a number of the requests received for each content item;

determining an associated retransmit rate for each of the content items in the content item list, the associated retransmit rate being based on the rate of request, content items with a higher rate of request receiving a higher associated retransmit rate and are transmitted more frequently than content items with a lower rate of request, the retransmit rate indicating how often the content items should be retransmitted; and

repeatedly transmitting the content items at the associated retransmit rate.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

adding an additional content item of a new request to the content item list based on the content item not being in the content item list; and

deleting a content item from the content list based on the number of requests for the deleted content item during a predefined time being less than a predefined rate of request.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the repeatedly transmitting further comprises grouping at least some content of the plurality of the content items into a transmit package based on the rate of request of the at least some content being similar, wherein the transmit package is of a predetermined maximum size.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the associated retransmit rate for each of the content items comprises determining a group retransmit rate for the transmit package, the transmit package with a higher request count receiving a higher associated group retransmit rate than a transmit package with a lower request count, the group retransmit rate indicating how often the transmit package should be retransmitted, and wherein repeatedly transmitting the transmit package at the group retransmit rate comprises repeatedly transmitting the transmit package at the group retransmit rate.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the repeatedly transmitting further comprises merging the content items with other transmitted data.

20. The method of claim 9, further comprising;

determining the predetermined maximum size for the transmit package;

based on the predetermined maximum size not being reached, adding an additional content item having the rate of request that is similar to the transmit package; and

based on the predetermined maximum size being reached, determining another transmit package to add the additional content item having the rate of request that is similar.

12. A system comprising:

one or more databases containing a plurality of content items and user request information for the content items;

a transmit unit; and

a tangible machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising;

determining a rate of request for each content item based on the user request information for each the content items,

determining an associated retransmit rate for each content item of the plurality of content items in the first database, the associated retransmit rate responsive to the rate of request for each content item, content items with a higher rate of request receiving a higher associated retransmit rate and are transmitted more frequently than content items with a lower rate of request, the retransmit rate indicating how often the content items should be retransmitted, and

triggering the transmit unit to repeatedly broadcast the content items s to a downstream requesting device based on the retransmit rate.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the transmit unit comprises a television transmitter.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the transmit unit comprises a server computer connected to a network.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the content items comprise a selection from the group consisting or news, weather, stock information, and program content.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the associated retransmit rate is further responsive to available bandwidth for content item broadcast.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the associated retransmit rate is further responsive to a duration of each content item of the plurality of content items in the first database.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprises grouping at least some content items with a request count greater than or equal to a predetermined access count into a transmit group.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprises determining a group retransmit rate for the transmit group, the transmit group with a higher request count receiving a higher associated group retransmit rate than a transmit group with a lower request count, the group retransmit rate indicating how often the transmit group should be retransmitted, and wherein the operations further comprises repeatedly transmitting the transmit group at the group retransmit rate.

21. A tangible machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving requests for transmission of a plurality of content items;

determining a rate of request for each content item based on a number of the requests received for each content item;

determining an associated retransmit rate for each of the content items, the associated retransmit rate being based on the rate of request, content items with a higher rate of request receiving a higher associated retransmit rate and are transmitted more frequently than content items with a lower rate of request, the retransmit rate indicating how often the content items should be retransmitted; and

repeatedly transmitting the content items at the associated retransmit rate.