Predicted concurrent streaming program selection

• US 9,118,811 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2007
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Jung, Edward K. Y., Levien, Royce A., Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, John D. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Golabbakhsh, Ebrahim
• Application Number:
  US11/895,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20090055546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,923 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/4508 Management of client data or end-user data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

Embodiments provide an apparatus, a system, and a method. A method includes determining a characteristic of a streaming content selected by a user and currently being displayed. The method also includes identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic. The method further includes saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying at a thin computing device configured to be operated by a user a streaming content selected by the user and received at the thin computing device;

determining at the thin computing device a characteristic of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed at the thin computing device;

identifying at the thin computing device a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic; and

saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining a characteristic of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by a user and currently being displayed further includes at least one of:

determining a content characteristic of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed at the thin computing device;

determining a time, channel, genre, actor, director, plot, team, team affiliation, and/or subject matter characteristic of a streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed at the thin computing device;

determining a characteristic of at least one of a streaming television, a radio, and/or

Internet content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed at the thin computing device;

determining a predictive characteristic of a streaming content currently selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed at the thin computing device;

determining a characteristic of a streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed at the thin computing device for viewing;

determining a characteristic of a streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed at the thin computing device for listening;

or

determining a characteristic of a streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and having been previously presented for viewing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic further includes at least one of:

identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic using a heuristic procedure, a pattern recognition, a classifier, and/or an artificial intelligence operable at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user;

or

identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic, at least a portion of the identified streaming content being available for downloading proximate in time to the display of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic further includes:

identifying in response to the determined characteristic a streaming content at least a portion of which is available during the display of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic further includes:

identifying a streaming content that is available on-demand in response to the determined characteristic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content further includes:

receiving and saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content further includes:

receiving, saving, and outputting the identified concurrently available streaming content.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of concurrently available streaming content.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user a human perceivable indication of the identified concurrently available streaming content.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the identified concurrently available streaming content in response to a user input.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining a characteristic of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by a user and currently being displayed further includes:

determining at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user a common characteristic of at least two instances of streaming content respectively selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and displayed for human perception by the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining a common characteristic of at least two instances of streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed further includes:

determining a characteristic common to a first instance of streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user for current viewing and to a second instance of streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user for a previous viewing.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

simultaneously displaying at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user a human perceivable indication of the identified concurrently available streaming content and the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

presenting at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user a human perceivable rendition of the identified concurrently available streaming content in response to a provided signal indicative of the identified concurrently available streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user for current display; and

simultaneously displaying at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user a human perceivable rendition of the identified concurrently available streaming content and the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user includes at least one of:

a limited resource computing device, an electronic pen, a handheld electronic writing device, a digital camera, a scanner, an ultrasound device, an x-ray machine, a non-invasive imaging device, a cell phone, a printer, a refrigerator, a car, or an airplane.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

concurrently tuning in at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user at least the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user interface and currently being displayed and the identified concurrently available streaming content.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content further includes:

saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user multiple streams of the streaming content from different sources concurrently.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user multiple streams of the streaming content from different sources concurrently; and

displaying at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user at least two of the multiple streams of the streaming content from different sources concurrently.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user multiple streams of the streaming content from different sources concurrently; and

tuning in at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user at least two of the multiple streams of the streaming content from different sources concurrently.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic further comprises:

receiving at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user multiple streams of the streaming content from different sources concurrently; and

identifying at the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user the concurrently available streaming content in the multiple streams of the streaming content from different sources.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic further comprises:

displaying at a thin computing device that the concurrently available streaming content is available.

24. A system, comprising:

a thin computing device configured for operation by a user including at least;

a receiver circuit operable to receive at least one streaming content;

an output circuit operable to provide a signal to a display device indicative of a first streaming content selected based on input received from the user for a current display by the thin computing device;

an analytic circuit operable to identify a second concurrently available streaming content predicted to be of interest in response to an attribute of the first streaming content; and

a digital storage device operable to save an indication of the identified second concurrently available streaming content predicted to be of interest.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the analytic circuit operable to identify a second concurrently available streaming content predicted in response to an attribute of the first streaming content to be of interest includes:

an analytic circuit operable to identify the second concurrently available streaming content from among at least two other instances of streaming content, the second concurrently available streaming content predicted in response to an attribute of the first streaming content to be of interest.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the thin computing device configured for operation by the user further comprises:

a switch circuit operable to select an instance of streaming content for presentation by the display device in response to a signal received via the user interface, the instance of streaming content selecting from among the first streaming content and the second concurrently available streaming content predicted to be of interest.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the thin computing device configured for operation by the user further comprises:

a receiver circuit operable to tune in the at least two instances of streaming content.

28. The system of claim 24 wherein the thin computing device configured to be operated by the user includes at least one of:

a limited resource computing device, an electronic pen, a handheld electronic writing device, a digital camera, a scanner, an ultrasound device, an x-ray machine, a non-invasive imaging device, a cell phone, a printer, a refrigerator, a car, or an airplane.

29. An apparatus comprising:

a thin computing device configured for operation by a user including at least;

means for displaying by the thin computing device operated by the user a streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and received by the thin computing device;

means for determining by the thin computing device operated by the user a characteristic of the streaming content selected based on an indication of a selection by the user and currently being displayed by the thin computing device operated by the user;

means for identifying by the thin computing device operated by the user a concurrently available streaming content in response to the determined characteristic; and

means for saving at least a portion of the identified concurrently available streaming content.