Network for personalized content aggregation platform

• US 9,979,993 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2014
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruffini, Michael P., Trimper, John K., Subramanian, Sankar, Fragale, Joseph G., Fronsdahl, Dwight W., Heitlinger, Paul D., Kher, Rahul, Klings, Eric N., Wang, Dongchen
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): CONTINO SAUMBY, KRISTA
• Application Number:
  US14/486,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080793A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• 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 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• 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 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

One or more network devices provide, to a user device, a content list of content items available for presentation. The one or more network devices receive, from the user device, a personalized channel plan that includes a schedule of selected content items, from the content list, for presentation on a viewing device that is different than the user device. The one or more network devices select, based on the selected content items, advertising for inclusion with the selected content items and assign links for the viewing device to obtain the selected content items. The one or more network devices send the links to the user device, which may in turn be provided to the viewing device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing, by a network device and to a user device, a personal channel manager application to solicit a personalized content schedule from a user and to direct presentation of the personalized content schedule on a viewing device that is different than the user device, wherein the personal channel manager application uses an application programming interface (API) to enable communications between the user device and the viewing device;

providing, by the network device and to the user device, a content list of content items available for presentation;

receiving, by the network device and from the user device, a personalized channel plan that includes a schedule of selected content items, from the content list, for presentation on the viewing device and a viewing device identifier for the viewing device;

selecting, by the network device and based on the selected content items, advertising for inclusion with the selected content items;

monitoring, by the network device, a number of social media followers for the personalized channel plan and other personalized channel plans that include one of the selected content items;

identifying, by the network device and based on the monitoring of the number of social media followers, a projected number of simultaneous presentations scheduled for the one of the selected content items;

selecting, by the network device and based on the identifying, a delivery method to support the projected number of simultaneous presentations for the one of the selected content items, wherein the delivery method is selected from a group including broadcast, multicast, and unicast delivery based on a statistical significance of the projected number;

assigning, by the network device and after receiving the personalized channel plan, a link to the one of the selected content items with the selected delivery method,

wherein the link enables the personal channel manager application on the user device to direct, via the API, presentation of the one of the selected content items on the viewing device, and

wherein the link includes a uniform resource locator (URL), based on the viewing device identifier, identifying a network location to retrieve a content stream formatted with a data format and resolution compatible with a particular type of the viewing device;

sending, by the network device, the link to the user device;

receiving, by the network device and from the viewing device via the link, a content request for the one of the selected content items; and

providing, by the network device and to the viewing device, the one of the selected content items via one of a closed cable or fiber optic distribution network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the delivery method to support the projected number of simultaneous presentations includes selecting a multicast stream over a default unicast stream for the one of the selected content items based on the number of social media followers of the personalized channel plan and other personalized channel plans that include the one of the selected content items.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the link enables the viewing device to access the one of the selected content items with a guaranteed quality of service (QoS) level, and wherein sending the link to the user device includes sending the link via a public access network that is different than the controlled access network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected content items include content from different physical or virtual television channels.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the selected content items include web-based content.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, by the network device and after receiving the personalized channel plan, another link to another one of the selected content items with the selected delivery method,

wherein the other link enables the personal channel manager application on the user device to direct, via the API, presentation of the other one of the selected content items on the viewing device, and

wherein the link includes another URL, based on the viewing device identifier, identifying a network location to retrieve another content stream formatted with the data format and resolution compatible with the particular type of the viewing device; and

sending, by the network device, the other link to the user device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected content items include personal video recordings stored in a remote network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected content items include an automatically-suggested content item, for presentation at a particular time, based on user instructions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the advertising for inclusion with the selected content items further comprises:

selecting the advertising based on an aggregation of the selected content items in the personalized channel plan.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the aggregation includes selected content items from the personalized channel plan that are scheduled for future presentation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user device includes a mobile computing device and wherein the viewing device includes a set-top box (STB), a cable card, or a smart television.

12. One or more network devices, comprising:

a first network interface to communicate with a user device;

a second network interface to communicate with a viewing device that is different than the user device;

a memory for storing instructions; and

one or more processors to execute the instructions to;

provide, to the user device, a personal channel manager application to solicit a personalized content schedule from a user and to direct presentation of the personalized content schedule on the viewing device, wherein the personal channel manager application uses an application programming interface (API) to enable communications between the user device and the viewing device,

provide, to the user device via the first network interface, a content list of content items available for presentation,

receive, from the user device, a personalized channel plan that includes a schedule of selected content items, from the content list, for presentation on the viewing device and a viewing device identifier for the viewing device,

select, based on the selected content items, advertising for inclusion with selected content items,

monitor a number of social media followers for the personalized channel plan and other personalized channel plans that include one of the selected content items,

identify, based on the monitoring of the number of social media followers, a projected number of simultaneous presentations scheduled for the one of the selected content items,

select, based on the identifying, a delivery method to support the projected number of simultaneous presentations for the one of the selected content items, wherein the delivery method is selected from a group including broadcast, multicast, and unicast delivery based on a statistical significance of the projected number,

assign, after receiving the personalized channel plan, a link to the one of the selected content items that enables the personal channel manager application on the user device to direct, via the API, presentation of the one of the selected content items on the viewing device, wherein the link includes a uniform resource locator (URL), based on the viewing device identifier, identifying a network location to retrieve a content stream formatted with a data format and resolution compatible with a particular type of the viewing device,

send the link to the user device,

receive, from the viewing device over the second network interface and via the link, a content request for the one of the selected content items, and

provide, to the viewing device via the second network interface, the one of the selected content items.

13. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further to:

assign, after receiving the personalized channel plan, another link to another one of the selected content items,

wherein the other link enables the personal channel manager application on the user device to direct, via the API, presentation of the other one of the selected content items on the viewing device, and

wherein the link includes another URL, based on the viewing device identifier, identifying a network location to retrieve another content stream formatted with the data format and resolution compatible with the particular type of the viewing device; and

send the other link to the user device.

14. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further to:

deliver the one of the selected content items using both unicast and multicast delivery for different portions of the one of the selected content items.

15. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further to:

identify, based on the personalized channel plan, a region associated with the viewing device, and

apply, based on the identified region, regional broadcast variants to the selected content items.

16. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the selected content items include live linear broadcast content and on-demand content.

17. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further to execute the instructions to:

store, in the memory, the personalized channel plan.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing instructions executable by one or more processors, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions to:

provide, to a user device, a personal channel manager application to solicit a personalized content schedule from a user and to direct presentation of the personalized content schedule on a viewing device that is different than the user device, wherein the personal channel manager application uses an application programming interface (API) to enable communications between the user device and the viewing device,

provide, to the user device via a first network interface, a content list of content items available for presentation,

receive, from the user device, a personalized channel plan that includes a schedule of selected content items, from the content list, for presentation on the viewing device and a viewing device identifier for the viewing device,

select, based on the selected content items, advertising for inclusion with the selected content items,

monitor a number of social media followers for the personalized channel plan and other personalized channel plans that include one of the selected content items,

identify, based on the monitoring of the number of social media followers, a projected number of simultaneous presentations scheduled for the one of the selected content items,

select, based on the identifying, a delivery method to support the projected number of simultaneous presentations for the one of the selected content items, wherein the delivery method is selected from a group including broadcast, multicast, and unicast delivery based on a statistical significance of the projected number,

assign, after receiving the personalized channel plan, a link to the one of the selected content items that enables the personal channel manager application on the user device to direct, via the API, presentation of the one of the selected content items on the viewing device, wherein the link includes a uniform resource locator (URL), based on the viewing device identifier, identifying a network location to retrieve a content stream formatted with a data format and resolution compatible with a particular type of the viewing device,

send the link to the user device,

receive, from the viewing device over the second network interface and via link, a content request for the one of the selected content items, and

provide, to the viewing device via the second network interface, the one of the selected content items.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising one or more instructions to:

assign, after receiving the personalized channel plan, another link to another one of the selected content items,

wherein the other link enables the personal channel manager application on the user device to direct, via the API, presentation of the other one of the selected content items on the viewing device, and

wherein the link includes another URL, based on the viewing device identifier, identifying a network location to retrieve another content stream formatted with the data format and resolution compatible with the particular type of the viewing device; and

send the other link to the user device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the one or more instructions to select the advertising for inclusion with the selected content items further comprises one or more instructions to:

select the advertising based on an aggregation of user profile data from at least one of a wireless data service plan, a television subscription plan, and an Internet service plan.