METHOD OF AUGMENTING LOCAL PROGRAMMING CONTENT

• US 20080196056A1
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chumbley, Robert B., Bellwood, Thomas A., Rutkowski, Matt F., Bassett, Ronald W.
• Application Number:
  US11/673,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20080196056A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method and business model are provided for augmenting programming content at a remote location, such as a hotel, with the programming content ordinarily provided under subscription to a home location, such as a user'"'"'s home. A user agreement is formed between a user and a home service provider, delineating the content provided by the home service provider to the home location. A service provider agreement is formed between the home service provider and a remote service provider, delineating content to be broadcast from the home location to the remote location. Local content is selectively augmented by the home content and displayed on a viewing device at the remote location. The user may remotely access settings and functions of a home set top box while at the remote location.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

selecting multimedia content provided to a home viewing location by a home service provider;

selecting multimedia content provided to a remote location by a remote service provider;

transmitting the selected multimedia content provided by the home service provider to the remote location along broadcast channels;

selectively combining the selected multimedia content provided by the home service provider with the selected multimedia content provided by the remote service provider; and

selectively displaying the combined multimedia content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving one or more user settings from one or both of a home set top box and the home service provider; and

selecting the multimedia content provided by the home service provider as a function of the user settings.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the user settings include a preferred language.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the user settings are transmitted over the Internet to the remote viewing location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively translating the multimedia content provided by the remote service provider to a user'"'"'s preferred language.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

preparing local advertisements in a plurality of languages; and

displaying the local advertisements on the remote viewing device prepared in a language selected by the user or from the home user settings.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

classifying multimedia content provided by the remote service provider by subject matter; and

substituting multimedia content classified by a given subject matter provided by the home service provider for the multimedia content provided by the remote service provider having the same subject matter classification.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

electronically assigning a subject matter identifier to portions of the multimedia content provided by the home service provider;

electronically assigning a subject matter identifier to portions of the multimedia content provided by the remote service provider; and

selectively substituting the display of the portions of the multimedia content provided by the remote service provider with the portions of the multimedia content provided by the home service provider having equivalent subject matter identifiers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively combining the selected multimedia content provided by the home service provider with the selected multimedia content provided by the remote service provider according to user preferences.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising electronically transmitting pre-recorded content from a digital video storage device at the home viewing location to the remote viewing location.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising time-shifting the display of the selected multimedia content provided by the remote service provider from a time zone of the home viewing location to a time zone of the remote viewing location.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring a fee between the home service provider and the remote service provider as a function one or both of bandwidth and advertising revenue.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing location-specific multimedia content from selected geographical regions at the home viewing location;

identifying a geographical region of the remote viewing location; and

selectively displaying portions of the stored multimedia content from the same geographical region as the remote viewing location.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content provided to the home viewing location by the home service provider is defined according to a user agreement between the home service provider and a user.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content provided to the remote location by the remote service provider is defined according to a service provider agreement between the home service provider and the remote service provider.