System and method for recording and time-shifting programming in a television distribution system using policies

• US 9,071,874 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2014
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Zesen, Chou, Peter, Chen, Sean, Gonsalves, Brian, Smith, Donald M
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Steven S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gu, Andy
• Application Number:
  US14/301,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298372A1
• Time in Patent Office: 384 Days
• Field of Search: 725/134
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• 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 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• 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

Abstract

Various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter provide methods and systems to store a policy specifying rules relating to recording, storage or delivery of broadcast programming to a consumer of such programming, and to record, store or deliver broadcast programming in response to a rule. According to an example embodiment, a method and system provide for a subscriber requesting that a broadcast television program be saved for the subscriber upstream from the subscriber in a television distribution system, and that the program offered to the subscriber for saving is determined based on a policy established for the program. According to another example embodiment a system provides a computing device including a computer program to control the recording or delivery of a broadcast television program in accordance with a policy established to control the recording or delivery of the broadcast television program.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing, by a system comprising a processor, a digital rights management policy specifying rules relating to how a particular channel of programming is recorded, how the particular channel of programming is delivered including defining permission on a per channel basis to fast forward the programming, recording for time shifting, storage of programming for a period of time, delivery of broadcast of programming to a consumer of such programming for a predetermined number of times, a subscriber'"'"'s privilege to save programming, or delivery of rebroadcast of programming to a consumer of such programming for a predetermined number of times;

wherein the digital rights management policy comprises rules relating to determination of a total time period that stored broadcast programming is available to all subscribers for rebroadcast, wherein the total time period comprises an initial minimum time period and a subsequent delay period;

determining, by the system, the delay period in accordance with the rules, based on a number of subscriber requests for the stored broadcast programming received prior to expiration of the initial minimum period, whether the number of subscriber requests exceeds a threshold number, and a logarithmic expression having the number of subscriber requests as a parameter;

storing, by the system, the broadcast programming in accordance with the rules specified by the digital rights management policy; and

removing, by the system, the stored broadcast programming from storage after expiration of the total time period,

wherein the digital rights management policy specifies a type of subscriber that can save or view the programming via a subscriber device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the rules further specify how a particular time slot of programming may be recorded or delivered.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the logarithmic expression comprises a constant multiplied by a logarithm of the number of subscriber requests received during the time period.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the constant is empirically determined based on subscriber feedback and based on a system parameter.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the system parameter is storage availability.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting the stored broadcast programming when there are no outstanding subscriber requests for the broadcast programming.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular type of content may be saved.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the content comprises one of sports programming, news, late night television, reruns, old movies or new movies, or any combination thereof.

9. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the processor performs operations comprising;

controlling a recording or delivery of a broadcast television program in accordance with a digital rights management policy established to control the recording or delivery of the broadcast television program, wherein the digital rights management policy comprises rules relating to determination of a total time period that stored broadcast programming is available to all subscribers for rebroadcast, and wherein the total time period comprises an initial minimum time period and a subsequent delay period;

determining the delay period in accordance with the rules, based on a number of subscriber requests for the stored broadcast programming received prior to expiration of the initial minimum period, whether the number of subscriber requests exceeds a threshold number, and a logarithmic expression having the number of subscriber requests as a parameter;

storing the broadcast programming in accordance with the rules specified by the digital rights management policy; and

removing the stored broadcast programming from storage after expiration of the total time period,

wherein the digital rights management policy specifies how a particular type of content may be saved.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the content comprises one of sports programming, news, late night television, reruns, old movies or new movies, or any combination thereof.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular channel of programming may be recorded or delivered.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular time slot of programming may be recorded or delivered.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies a type of subscriber who can save or view the programming via a subscriber device.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how many times a program may be delivered to an equipment of a subscriber.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the logarithmic expression comprises a constant multiplied by a logarithm of the number of subscriber requests received during the time period, wherein the constant is empirically determined based on subscriber feedback and based on a system parameter.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise deleting the stored broadcast programming when there are no outstanding subscriber requests for the broadcast programming, wherein the system parameter is storage availability.

17. A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, a processor performs operations comprising:

controlling a recording or delivery of a broadcast television program in accordance with a digital rights management policy established to control the recording or delivery of the broadcast television program,

wherein the digital rights management policy comprises rules relating to determination of a total time period that stored broadcast programming is accessible to equipment of subscribers of a television distribution system for rebroadcast, wherein the total time period comprises an initial minimum time period and a subsequent delay period;

determining the delay period in accordance with the rules, based on a number of subscriber requests for the stored broadcast programming received prior to expiration of the initial minimum period, whether the number of subscriber requests exceeds a threshold number, and a logarithmic expression comprising a constant multiplied by a logarithm of the number of subscriber requests, wherein the constant is empirically determined based on subscriber feedback and based on storage availability;

storing the broadcast programming in accordance with the rules specified by the digital rights management policy; and

removing the stored broadcast programming from storage after expiration of the total time period,

wherein the digital rights management policy specifies how a particular type of content may be saved.

18. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the content comprises one of sports programming, news, late night television, reruns, old movies or new movies, or any combination thereof.

19. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular time slot of programming may be recorded or delivered.

20. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise deleting the stored broadcast programming when there are no outstanding subscriber requests for the broadcast programming.