Method and appartus for management of video on demand client device

• US 20060085824A1
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SAN Simeon Films, LLC
• Original Assignee: SAN Simeon Films, LLC
• Inventors: Bruck, Timo, Hammer, Thomas R.
• Application Number:
  US10/966,403
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085824A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/86
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

Method and apparatus for enhancing user experience in a VOD system by providing a facility to remotely control a client device is disclosed. In one exemplary embodiment, a method to synchronize in-band and out-of-band settings of the client device is provided. In another embodiment, a method to perform synchronization of content catalogue on the client device with network-side counterpart with minimal burden on network bandwidth is provided.

Claims

1. A remote control for a set-top appliance, comprising a user interface accessible via the Internet, the user interface providing one or more views of a database configured so as to periodically synchronize with a content management application hosted at the set-top appliance, and a content availability guide configured to present multimedia content available for download by the set-top appliance.

2. The remote control of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a plurality of Web pages configured to resemble local user interface elements accessible at the set-top appliance via a television display and a wireless remote control unit.

3. The remote control of claim 1, wherein the database is configured to synchronize with the content management application in response to actions by the content management application.

4. The remote control of claim 3, wherein the actions by the content management application include requests for information regarding updates to the database made via the user interface.

5. The remote control of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides access to fewer than all available functions of the set-top appliance that are controllable via a local user interface accessible at the set-top appliance via a television display and a wireless remote control unit.

6. The remote control of claim 1, wherein the database is configured to synchronize with the content management application in response to updates to a locally stored version of the database at the set-top appliance.

7. The remote control of claim 6, wherein the locally stored version of the database is accessible via a local user interface accessible at the set-top appliance via a television display and a wireless remote control unit.

8. The remote control of claim 1, wherein changes made to the database via the user interface are replicated in a locally stored version of the database hosted at the set-top appliance during synchronization of the locally stored version of the database with the database.

9. The remote control of claim 8, wherein the synchronization of the locally stored version of the database with the database is performed in response to updates to the locally stored version of the database made via a local user interface accessible at the set-top appliance via a television display and a wireless remote control unit.

10. The remote control of claim 9, wherein the user interface comprises one or more Web pages organized to provide some, but not all, of the functionality of the local user interface.

11. The remote control of claim 10, wherein prior to deleting content from local storage of the set-top appliance, the database is updated to reflect such deletion.

12. The remote control of claim 10, wherein content scheduled for deletion from local storage of the set-top appliance can be preserved from deletion through user commands input via the user interface.

13. The remote control of claim 10, wherein through user commands entered via the user interface the set-top appliance can be instructed to download content to local storage thereof.

14. The remote control of claim 1 wherein conflicts between the database and a local version of the database hosted at the set-top appliance are resolved during the periodic synchronizations according to a priority scheme.

15. The remote control of claim 14, wherein the priority scheme is based on times at which conflicting instructions were entered.

16. A method, comprising controlling operations of a set-top appliance having a local computer-readable storage medium and a local user interface, which includes a wireless remote control, through an out-of-band communication channel that includes an Internet accessible user interface having one or more Web pages configured to provide views of a remote database maintained in substantial synchronization with a local database hosted at the set-top appliance and which contains information regarding content stored on the local computer-readable storage medium.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the operations include content management operations involving downloading, preserving and deleting content to, on and from, respectively, the local computer-readable storage medium.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the remote database is maintained in substantial synchronization with the local database through periodic communications therebetween, as initiated by the set-top appliance.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least some content management instructions entered via the Internet accessible user interface are permitted to preempt content management instructions entered via the local user interface.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein controlling operations of the set-top appliance comprises managing content stored on the local computer-readable medium in accordance with user instructions entered via the Internet accessible user interface.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user instructions are executed by a content management application hosted at the set-top appliance.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user instructions are not executed if contrary instructions were received by the set-top appliance via the local user interface.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the user instructions are not executed if contrary instructions having a time stamp later than that of the user instructions were received by the set-top appliance via the local user interface.

24. A content management system for a set-top appliance, comprising an in-band user interface which includes a wireless remote control operable to display views of a local database hosted at the set-top appliance via a display device communicatively coupled thereto, and an out-of-band user interface including one or more Web pages configured to provide views of a remote database maintained in substantial synchronization with the local database hosted at a server remote from the set-top appliance.

25. The content management system of claim 24, wherein the server is accessible to the set-top appliance via the Internet.

26. The content management system of claim 24, wherein the remote database is synchronized with the local database in response to updates provided by the set-top appliance.

27. The content management system of claim 24, wherein both the in-band and out-of-band user interfaces are configured to accept user instructions for downloading, preserving and deleting multimedia content to, on, and from, respectively, a local computer-readable storage medium at the set-top appliance.

28. The content management system of claim 27, wherein the out-of-band user interface is further configured to provide a user with information concerning multimedia content available for download to the set-top appliance.

29. The content management system of claim 28, wherein the information concerning the multimedia content includes pricing information for downloading the multimedia content.

30. The content management system of claim 28, wherein the information concerning the multimedia content includes rating information for the multimedia content.

31. The content management system of claim 28, wherein the information concerning the multimedia content includes recommendations.

32. The content management system of claim 31, wherein the recommendations include advertiser-sponsored recommendations.

33. The content management system of claim 31, wherein the recommendations include service provider recommendations.

34. The content management system of claim 24, wherein the in-band and out-of-band user interfaces each provide the ability to control security settings of the set-top appliance.

35. The content management system of claim 34, wherein the security settings include passwords for authorizing payment for downloading content.

36. The content management system of claim 34, wherein the security settings include parental control settings.

37. The content management system of claim 34, wherein the parental control settings are responsive to maturity ratings for multimedia content downloaded to the set-top appliance.

38. The content management system of claim 34, wherein the security settings include passwords for authorizing downloading of content to the set-top appliance.

39. The content management system of claim 24, wherein some but not all of the functionality of the set-top appliance controllable via the in-band user interface is controllable via the out-of-band user interface.

40. The content management system of claim 24, wherein the out-of-band user interface provides for user interaction with at least one feature of a content delivery service accessible via the set-top appliance which is not accessible using the in-band user interface.