Method and system for prepositioning content and distributing content in a local distribution system

• US 9,363,566 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2014
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pang, John L., Viazcan, Paul O., Makhijani, Michael A., Arya, Vishal, Tatem, Richard B., Sue, Ranny Q., Chen, Drew T.
• Primary Examiner(s): FLYNN, RANDY A
• Application Number:
  US14/488,015
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080821A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41422 located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/432 Content retrieval operation from a local storage medium, e.g. hard-disk details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/436 Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB or one or more peripheral devices inside the home
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6193 involving transmission via a satellite arrangements for data linking, networking or transporting, or for controlling an end to end session in a satellite broadcast system H04B7/18526
• 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 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• 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 7/20 Adaptations for transmission via a GHz frequency band, e.g. via satellite

Abstract

A system for viewing on-demand content includes a user receiving device and a local head end in communication with the receiving device that communicates metadata and material identifiers for on-demand content. Each on-demand content is associated with one of the material identifiers. The user receiving device stores the metadata and the material identifiers for the on-demand content. The local head end receives content. Each content is associated with one of the material identifiers. The user receiving device communicates a request for on-demand content data signal to the local head end. The local head end communicates a manifest comprising material identifiers for content stored at the head end. The user receiving device, after receiving the manifest, displays metadata from the memory of the user receiving device corresponding to the material identifiers.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

communicating metadata and material identifiers for on-demand content to a user receiving device, each on-demand content associated with one of the material identifiers;

storing the metadata and the material identifiers for the on-demand content in a memory of the user receiving device;

receiving content at a local head end, each content associated with one of the material identifiers;

communicating a request for on-demand content data signal from the user receiving device to the local head end;

communicating a manifest comprising material identifiers for content stored at the local head end to the user receiving device;

in response to receiving the manifest at the user receiving device, retrieving metadata for the material identifiers in the manifest from the memory of the user receiving device; and

displaying the metadata at the user receiving device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising generating a selection of content from a user interface to form selected content from the user receiving device;

and

communicating content corresponding to the selection to the user receiving device from the local head end.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising storing a purchase record corresponding to the selection at the local head end;

and

associating the purchase record with the user receiving device within the local head end.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving content at a local head end comprises communicating a playlist to a content streamer and requesting content from the playlist at the content streamer.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating content comprises communicating on-demand content to one user receiving device immediately after being requested at the user receiving device.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating metadata comprises communicating metadata to a satellite television receiving device.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating metadata comprises communicating metadata to a set back box.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating the request for on-demand content data signal from the user receiving device to the local head end comprises communicating the request for on-demand content data signal from the user receiving device to a management control system of the local head end.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 further comprising generating a request for the manifest from the management control system to a content streamer and further comprising communicating the manifest from the content streamer to the management control system.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising communicating the manifest from the management control system to the user receiving device.

11. A system comprising:

a user receiving device; and

a local head end in communication with the user receiving device communicating metadata and material identifiers for on-demand content, each on-demand content associated with one of the material identifiers;

said user receiving device storing the metadata and the material identifiers for the on-demand content in a memory of the user receiving device;

said local head end receiving content, each content associated with one of the material identifiers;

said user receiving device communicating a request for on-demand content data signal to the local head end;

said local head end communicating a manifest comprising material identifiers for content stored at the head end;

said user receiving device, in response to receiving the manifest, retrieving metadata for the material identifiers in the manifest from the memory of the user receiving device; and

displaying metadata on a display associated with the user receiving device corresponding to the material identifiers.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein said user receiving device generates a selection signal from a user interface to form selected content and wherein said local head end communicates content corresponding to the selected content to the user receiving device.

13. The system as recited in claim 12 wherein the local head end stores a purchase record corresponding to the selected content at the local head end and associates the purchase record with the user receiving device.

14. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the local head end comprises a content streamer receiving a playlist from a remote head end and wherein the content streamer requests content from the playlist.

15. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the user receiving device comprises a satellite television receiving device.

16. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the user receiving device comprises a set back box.

17. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the user receiving device communicates the request for on-demand content data signal to a management control system of the local head end.

18. The system as recited in claim 17 wherein the management control system communicates a request for the manifest to a content streamer and wherein the content stream communicates the manifest to the management control system.

19. The system as recited in claim 18 wherein the management control system communicates the manifest from the management control system to the user receiving device.