System and method to improve user experience with streaming content

• US 9,197,913 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2012
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Network Entertainment International LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Pedlow, Leo, Xiong, True
• Primary Examiner(s): FLYNN, RANDY A
• Application Number:
  US13/433,476
• Publication Number:
  US 20130263169A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 725/16
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/237 Communication with additional data server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2407 Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2625 for delaying content or additional data distribution, e.g. because of an extended sport event
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895

Abstract

Provided are systems and methods for improving a viewing experience of a user during consumption of streamed content. In one implementation, the systems and methods relate to a model of polling a live streaming event by a management server of a service provider server and using that model to feed into future polling. The polling response returns up-to-date information about an event to be viewed. The system and method model the polling frequency and enter the same in an algorithm such as a supervised machine learning algorithm. This algorithm is presented as a mathematical formula and provides an input to the polling system to determine when to poll and how frequently to poll.

Claims

1. A method for improving a viewing experience of a user with respect to a live streamed asset, comprising:

a. establishing a user account session between a second display or content playback device and a management server;

b. using a polling system, polling a service provider server to determine if real-time streaming of a live event has begun, the event associated with a scheduled starting time; and

c. if the real time streaming of the live event has not begun, displaying an indication on a user interface associated with the second display or content playback device, the indication at least in part dependent on the time difference between a current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event, and repeating the polling at a frequency, the frequency at least in part based on the time difference between the current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event, wherein the frequency is inversely proportional and is monotonically varying with respect to the time difference between the current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the polling system is associated with a hosting server, a management server, or a service provider server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the polling is performed in response to a selection of an asset associated with the event.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising if the real time streaming of the live event has begun, initiating display of the asset.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a plurality of indications on the user interface of the second display or content playback device, the plurality of indications associated with a respective plurality of potentially available assets.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency is determined by a supervised machine learning algorithm.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing device to implement the method of claim 1.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

b. receiving an indication from the second display or content playback device of an asset to be streamed; and

if the streaming has begun, displaying an indication of an availability of the asset on a user interface of the second display or content playback device;

d.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is further dependent on external data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the external data includes a signal from an event signal source at the live event, the signal indicating when real-time streaming of the live event is to begin.

11. A method for improving a viewing experience of a user of an asset of a live event, comprising:

a. polling a service provider server to determine if a real time streaming of an asset corresponding to a live event has begun, the live event associated with a scheduled starting time;

b. if the real time streaming of the live event has begun, displaying an indication of an availability of the asset corresponding to the real-time streaming of the live event on a user interface of at least one second display or content playback device; and

c. if the real time streaming of the live event has not begun, displaying an indication on a user interface of at least one second display or content playback device, the indication at least in part dependent on the time difference between a current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event, and repeating the polling at a frequency, the frequency determined at least in part based on the time difference between the current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event, wherein the frequency is inversely proportional and is monotonically varying with respect to the time difference between the current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the frequency is determined by a supervised machine learning algorithm.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the displaying an indication further comprises choosing an indication to display based on information associated with the user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the information includes a user profile, a user transaction or browsing or watching history, user preferences, or user information in a social networking site.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising notifying a user of an aspect of an event, the notifying by way of a poster, a text message, an email, or an audio announcement.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the notifying further comprises determining an aspect to notify about, the aspect determined by analysis of at least a user'"'"'s viewing history.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the polling begins at a first predetermined time prior to the scheduled starting time.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing device to implement the method of claim 11.

19. A method for improving a viewing experience of a user of an asset of a live event, comprising:

a. polling a service provider server to determine if a real time streaming of an asset corresponding to a live event has begun, the live event associated with a scheduled starting time;

b. if the real time streaming of the live event has begun, displaying an indication of an availability of the asset corresponding to the real-time streaming of the live event on a user interface of at least one second display or content playback device; and

c. if the real time streaming of the live event has not begun, displaying an indication on a user interface of at least one second display or content playback device, the indication at least in part dependent on the time difference between a current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event, and repeating the polling at a frequency, the frequency determined at least in part based on the time difference between the current time and the scheduled starting time of the live event, wherein the polling begins at a first predetermined time prior to the scheduled starting time, and further comprising;

d. at a second predetermined time prior to a scheduled end time, performing polling to determine if streaming of the live event asset has concluded or if a new end time is projected; and

e. repeating the polling at a second frequency, the second frequency inversely proportional to the time difference between the current time and the scheduled end time of the live event asset or the new end time, respectively.