System and method for processing content

• US 20080091845A1
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Imagine Communications Limited (Gores Broadcast Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: RGB Networks, Inc. (Gores Broadcast Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Hall, Clifford L., Mills, Brendon W., Washington, Richard G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

A system for routing media content files having different format characteristics to a plurality of clients over a communication network includes a content translation router. The content translation router is capable of retrieving the content files. In addition, the content translation router includes processing modules for concurrently modifying content files having differing format characteristics to be compatible for transmission over the communication network for viewing at different ones of the clients.

Claims

1. A system for routing media content files having different format characteristics to a plurality of clients over a communication network comprising:

a content translation router operable to retrieve the content files,

said content translation router including a plurality of processing modules, wherein each of the processing modules is operable to modify content files having differing format characteristics to be compatible for transmission over the communication network for viewing at different ones of the clients, wherein the content translation router is operable to modify multiple different content files concurrently.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the content translation router is operable to:

modify a first content file to be compatible for transmission over the communication network and for viewing at a first client; and

transmit modified information from the first content file to the first client.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the content translation router is operable to:

modify a second content file to be compatible for transmission over the communication network and for viewing at a second client; and

transmit modified information from the second content file to the second client,

at least a portion of said first and second content files being modified simultaneously.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is operable to:

modify a first content file from a first content format to a second content format; and

modify a second content file from the first content format to a third content format.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein at least portions of the first and second content files are concurrently modified.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is operable to:

modify a first content file from a first content format to a second content format; and

modify a second content file from a third content format to the second content format while modifying the first content file.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is operable to:

modify a first content file from a first content format to a second content format; and

modify a second content file from a third content format to a fourth content format while modifying the first content file.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router further comprises a transrator for modifying a content file by transrating the content file.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router further comprises a transcoder for modifying a content file by transcoding the content file.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is operable to transmit modified information from a content file by streaming modified information from the content file to a client.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is operable to transmit modified information from a content file by:

transmitting the modified information from a content file to a client;

the client being operable to initiate display of a first portion of the modified information prior to receiving the entirety of the modified information.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is further operable to:

modify a content file to be compatible for transmission over the communication network for viewing at a particular client; and

further comprising a content store for storing the modified content file in said content store.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router further includes circuitry for generating a graphic representation of a content file based on information in the content file, and for transmitting the graphic representation to a client.

14. The system of claim 15, wherein said graphic representation comprises a thumbnail representation of a portion of the content file.

15. The system of claim 1, and further comprising a content store for storing a plurality of media content files for retrieval by said content translation router.

16. The system of claim 1, and further comprising a cache for storing selected ones of the modified content files.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein modified content files are stored in said cache in response to the frequency of requests by clients for the selected modified content files.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is further operable to:

decode a first content file using a first processing module, wherein the first content file has a first content format; and

encode information from the first content file into a second content file using a second processing module, wherein the second content file has a second content format.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said content translation router is further operable to:

concurrently encode information from the first content file into a third content file using a third processing module, wherein the third content file has a third content format.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein said content translation router is further operable to:

determine that a first content file comprises prohibited content; and

in response to determining that said first content file comprises prohibited content, deny a request associated with said first content file.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said content translation router is operable to deny a request to download said first content file.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein said content translation router is operable to deny a request to upload said first content file.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein said content translation router is operable to determine that a first content file comprises prohibited content by determining that the first content file comprises copyrighted content.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein said content translation router is operable to determine that a first content file comprises prohibited content by determining that the first content file comprises pornographic content.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein said content translation router is operable to determine that a first content file comprises prohibited content by:

scanning said first content file to generate an identifier for said first content file; and

comparing said identifier to one or more identifiers associated with prohibited content.

26. The system of claim 1, further comprising a memory module operable to store licensing information for a plurality of formats supported by the plurality of processing modules.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein:

the licensing information comprises a key corresponding to a format supported by the associated processing module; and

at least one of the processing modules is further operable to retrieve the key before converting a content file to the corresponding format.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein:

the licensing information comprises a key corresponding to a format supported by the associated processing module; and

at least one of the processing modules is further operable to retrieve the key before converting a content file from the corresponding format.

29. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the processing modules is operable to:

determine whether fading characteristics of received content files satisfy predetermined fading criteria; and

in response to determining that the fading characteristics do not satisfy the predetermined fading criteria, adjust the fading characteristics of the received content files.

30. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the processing modules is operable to:

determine a preferred resolution for a received content file; and

adjust a resolution of the received content file to match the preferred resolution.

31. A method for routing media content files to a plurality of clients over a communication network comprising:

receiving a plurality of content files having different format characteristics; and

concurrently modifying the format characteristics of selected ones of the content files to be compatible for transmission over the communications network and for reproduction at selected clients.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the selected ones of the content files are only modified in response to a request from one of the clients.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the modified content files are transmitted to the selected client after modification.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the modified content files are stored after modification.

35. The method of claim 31, and further comprising:

caching selected ones of the modified content files in response to predetermined criteria.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said predetermined criteria comprise the frequency of requests for the content files by clients.

37. The method of claim 31, wherein the clients comprise computers and the content files comprise video files transmitted to a central location,

said video files being modified for transmission to said computers over the communication network.

38. The method of claim 31, wherein modifying the format characteristics of selected ones of the content files comprises:

decoding a first content file using a first processing module, wherein the first content file has a first content format; and

encoding information from the first content file into a second content file using a second processing module, wherein the second content file has a second content format.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

concurrently encoding information from the first content file into a third content file using a third processing module, wherein the third content file has a third content format.

40. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

determining that a first content file comprises prohibited content; and

denying a request associated with said first content file in response to determining that said first content file comprises prohibited content.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein denying a request associated with said first content file comprises denying a request to download said first content file.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein denying a request associated with said first content file comprises denying a request to upload said first content file.

43. The method of claim 31, wherein determining that a first content file comprises prohibited content comprises determining that the first content file comprises copyrighted content.

44. The method of claim 31, wherein determining that a first content file comprises prohibited content comprises determining that the first content file comprises pornographic content.

45. The method of claim 31, wherein determining that a first content file comprises prohibited content comprises:

scanning said first content file to generate an identifier for said first content file; and

comparing said identifier to one or more identifiers associated with prohibited content.

46. The method of claim 31, further comprising storing licensing information for a plurality of supported formats in a memory module associated with that processing module.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the licensing information comprises a key corresponding to a format supported by one or more processing modules;

and further comprising retrieving the key, with a particular processing module, before converting a content file to the corresponding format with that particular processing module.

48. The method of claim 46, wherein the licensing information comprises a key corresponding to a format supported by one or more processing modules;

and further comprising retrieving the key, with a particular processing module, before converting a content file from the corresponding format with that particular processing module.

49. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

determining whether fading characteristics of a received content file satisfy predetermined fading criteria; and

in response to determining that the fading characteristics do not satisfy the predetermined fading criteria, adjusting the fading characteristics of the received content files.

50. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

determining a preferred resolution for a received content file; and

adjusting a resolution of the received content file to match the preferred resolution.

51. A system for routing media content files to a plurality of clients over a communication network, the media content files having multiple format characteristics which are not compatible for reception and display at the clients, comprising:

a content store for storing a plurality of the media content files,

a content translation router coupled with said content store to selectively retrieve ones of the stored content files,

said content translation router including processing modules for modifying the format characteristics of selected ones of the stored content files in multiple ways to be compatible for transmission over the communication network for display on the clients,

a server for receiving requests from ones of the clients for media content files stored in said content store, said server causing said content translation router to retrieve the requested media content files and to modify the media content files,

the modified media content files then being transmitted from said content translation router to the requesting clients for display.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the clients comprise one or more of a group comprising personal computers, camera operated telephones or media players.

53. The system of claim 51, wherein the media content files are generated from remotely located computers and transmitted for storage in said content store.

54. The system of claim 51, and further comprising an application server for receiving media content files and directing the media content files for storage in said content store.

55. The system of claim 51, and further comprising:

a fingerprinter for scanning the media content files to generate a unique identifier for the media content files.

56. The system of claim 51, wherein said processing modules perform translation of the format of the media content files.

57. The system of claim 51, wherein said processing modules perform transcoding of the media content files.

58. The system of claim 51, wherein said processing modules perform transrating of the media content files.

59. The system of claim 51, and further comprising a plurality of processing modules operable in parallel such that different modifications can be concurrently performed on different media content files.

60. The system of claim 51, wherein said content translation router is operable to generate and transmit media streaming files to selected ones of the clients.

61. The system of claim 51, and further comprising:

a cache for receiving modified media content files which have been frequently requested by clients.

62. A method for routing media content files to a plurality of clients over a communication network, the media content files having multiple format characteristics which are not compatible to reception and display at the clients, comprising:

storing a plurality of the media content files,

selectively retrieving ones of the stored content files,

modifying the format characteristics of selected ones of the stored content files to be compatible for transmission over the communication network for display on the clients,

receiving requests from ones of the clients for stored media content files,

retrieving the requested media content files and concurrently modifying the media content files, and

transmitting the modified media content files to the requesting clients for reproduction.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the media content files are generated from remotely located computers and transmitted for storage in a content store.

64. The method of claim 62, and further comprising receiving media content files and directing the media content files for storage in a content store.

65. The method of claim 62, and further comprising:

scanning the media content files to generate unique identification of the media content files.

66. The method of claim 62, wherein translation is performed on the format of the media content files.

67. The method of claim 62, wherein transcoding is performed on the media content files.

68. The method of claim 62, wherein transrating is performed on the media content files.

69. The method of claim 62, and farther comprising concurrently conducting parallel modifications on different media content files.

70. The method of claim 62, and farther comprising generating and transmitting media streaming files to selected ones of the clients.

71. The method of claim 62, wherein the requested media content files have differing format characteristics and are modified in parallel.