System and method for creating and presenting composite video-on-demand content

• US 9,615,061 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2003
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TVWorks LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Carney, John, Thomson, Greg, de Andrade, David, Marenghi, Matt, Moreau, Samuel, Poger, Elliot
• Primary Examiner(s): SCHNURR, JOHN R
• Application Number:
  US10/727,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20050010953A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,871 Days
• Field of Search: 725 37, 725 44, 725 45, 725 47
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• 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

Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for the dynamic creation and presentation of user-specified VOD content consisting of multiple VOD clips as a passive viewing experience. For one embodiment, a user selects a set of VOD clips from a list or other selection presentation and the selected VOD clips are presented back-to-back. For one embodiment of the invention, the user may reorder the presentation sequence of the selected VOD clips. Embodiments of the invention thereby allow a user to dynamically create and present a user-specific, passive viewing presentation.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a video-content server;

a client device, comprising first non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a first processor, cause the client device to;

request two or more video-content clips from video content associated with a single event;

receive the two or more video-content clips as a single video stream for playback that comprises indices comprising start and stop time codes for each of the two or more video-content clips; and

automatically jump during playback to an indexed start time code of a next video clip in the single video stream; and

a system-control device disposed between the video-content server and the client device, comprising second non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a second processor, cause the system-control device to;

link one of the two or more video-content clips to a target uniform resource locator (URL) linking to supplemental information associated with the one of the two or more video-content clips; and

execute defined and stored rules that decide if video-content clips need to be inserted into a stream and, if so, where in the stream the insertion will occur,

wherein the defined and stored rules constrain selection of the video-content clips to be inserted into the stream to segments from within a single video-content asset.

2. A method comprising:

parsing, by a computing device, a video associated with a single event based on a plurality of automated rules;

creating a list of sports-highlight video clips from the parsed video associated with the single event;

transmitting the list of sports-highlight video clips to a client device at a different geographic location than the computing device;

receiving a request for a plurality of sports-highlight video clips selected from the list of sports-highlight video clips, the request comprising a plurality of identifiers each associated with one of the plurality of the sports-highlight video clips and user input from a user, the user input selecting a user-defined sequencing order of the plurality of sports-highlight video clips, wherein the user-defined sequencing order of the plurality of sports-highlight video clips results from the user traversing a decision tree having a plurality of decision nodes structured so that selecting a sports-highlight video clip at each node constrains selection of sports-highlight video clips at a subsequent node;

determining a plurality of advertisement video clips to be inserted;

concatenating the plurality of advertisement video clips and the plurality of sports-highlight video clips into a single video file in accordance with the user-defined sequencing order, wherein the plurality of advertisement video clips is included in the single video file in accordance with a plurality of rules indicating whether to insert one of the plurality of advertisement video clips before or after one of the plurality of the sports-highlight video clips;

associating at least one of the concatenated video clips with a uniform resource locator (URL) that links to supplemental information associated with the single event or one of the plurality of advertisement video clips;

transmitting the concatenated video clips to a digital video recorder (DVR) that stores the concatenated video clips as the single video file;

transmitting metadata comprising;

the plurality of identifiers each associated with one of the concatenated video clips,

a plurality of indices indicating start and stop time codes for each of the concatenated video clips, and

whether fast forwarding is permitted during presentation of each of the concatenated video clips; and

receiving, in response to the DVR playing back the single video file, an identifier of a currently-playing clip that identifies which of the concatenated video clips is currently playing on the DVR.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the DVR receives the single video file using a tuner not currently providing a video display for the user.