Peer- to- peer set-top box system
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A content sharing system, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive at least a part of a chunk from a serving peer, the chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the serving peer via a communications network, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the peers, the system including a metadata module to receive chunk metadata identifying the location of the chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend, a content transfer module to request the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer based on the chunk metadata, and receive the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer. Related apparatus and methods are also described.
292 Citations
104 Claims
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1-58. -58. (canceled)
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59. A content sharing system, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive at least a part of a first chunk from a first serving peer and at least part of a second chunk from a second serving pear, the first chunk and the second chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the first serving peer and the second serving peer via a communications network, the first serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement in which the first chunk is recorded, the second serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement in which the second chunk is recorded, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of peers, the system comprising:
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a metadata module to receive chunk metadata identifying the location of the first chunk and the second chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend; and a content transfer module operationally connected to the metadata module, the content transfer module being operative to; request the at least part of the first chunk from the first serving peer based on the chunk metadata; request the at least part of the second chunk from the second serving peer based on the chunk metadata; receive the at least part of the first chunk from the first serving peer; and receive the at least part of the second chunk from the second serving peer, and wherein; at least part of the content item is recorded in the storage arrangement of the first serving peer recorded from the media stream broadcast by the Headend; at least part of the content item is recorded in the storage arrangement of the second serving peer recorded from the media stream broadcast by the Headend; the recording of the at least part of the content item in the first serving peer is different from the recording of the at least part of the content item in the second serving peer based on a bit-to-bit comparison; and the identifier is at least one of the following;
an entitlement control message, a program clock reference, a group of pictures timecode, and an RTS timecode.
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60. A content sharing system, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive at least a part of a first chunk from a first serving peer, the first chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the first serving peer via a communications network, the first serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement in which the first chunk is stored, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of peers, the system comprising:
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a metadata module to receive chunk metadata identifying the location of the first chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend; and a content transfer module operationally connected to the metadata module, the content transfer module being operative to; request the at least part of the first chunk from the first serving peer based on the chunk metadata; and receive the at least part of the first chunk from the first serving peer. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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81. A content sharing system, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive a first chunk from a first serving peer and a second chunk from a second serving peer, the first chunk and the second chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers via a communication network, the peers including the first serving peer and the second serving peer, the first serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement which has a recording including at least part of the content item, the second serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement which has a recording including at least part of the content item, the recording of the first serving peer is different from the recording of the second serving peer based on a bit-to-bit comparison, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of the peers, the system comprising a content transfer module to:
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request the first chunk from the first serving peer and the second chunk from the second serving peer; and receive the first chunk from the first serving peer and the second chunk from the second serving peer.
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82. A content sharing system, for implementation in a serving peer, to transfer at least a part of a first chunk to a requesting peer, the first chunk being part of a content item, the serving peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the requesting peer via a communications network, the serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement in which the first chunk is stored, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of the peers, the system comprising:
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a metadata module to receive chunk metadata identifying the location of the first chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend; and a content transfer module operationally connected to the metadata module, the content transfer module being operative to; receive a request to transfer the at least part of the first chunk to the requesting peer based on the chunk metadata; and transfer the at least part of the first chunk to the requesting peer. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88)
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89. A system for enabling sharing of a content item among a plurality of peers, the peers being operationally connected via a communications network, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of the peers, the system comprising:
a content monitor to create a chunk metadata file which logically divides the content item into a plurality of chunks, such that each of the chunks is identified based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend, the chunk metadata file being a separate file from the content item. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91)
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92. A content sharing system for implementation in a serving peer, the serving peer being operationally connected to a plurality of other peers via a communications network, the system comprising:
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a content transfer module to transfer content between the serving peer and the other peers; and a bandwidth allocation module to limit the time availability of the content transfer module to serve the content to the other peers.
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93. A content sharing system for implementation in a serving peer being operationally connected to a plurality of other peers via a communications network, the system comprising:
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a content transfer module to transfer content between the serving peer and the other peers; a IPTV service module for receiving an IPTV service via the communications network; and a bandwidth allocation module to decrease a download bandwidth allocated to the content transfer module when the IPTV service module is receiving the IPTV service.
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94. An electronic program guide system, comprising an RSS reader application operative to:
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link to an RSS feed having content item information for content items available for sharing among a plurality of peers; check the RSS feed to see if the feed has new content item information since the last time the RSS feed was checked by the RSS reader; retrieve the new content item information; and present the new content item information in an electronic program guide. - View Dependent Claims (95)
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96. A method for managing access to a content item among a plurality of peers operationally connected via a communications network, access control to the content item being subject to a first business scenario when the content item is received from a broadcast media stream, the method comprising:
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determining at least one new business scenario; and associating the at least one new business scenario to the content item in order to define access control to the content item when the content item is shared among the peers via the communications network. - View Dependent Claims (97)
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98. A method for sharing a plurality of content items among a plurality of peers, the peers being operationally connected via a communications network, each of the content items associated with one of a plurality of TV channels, the content items being originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend, the method comprising:
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defining a plurality of different sharing rules, each of the sharing rules describing how an associated one of the content items is allowed to be shared among the peers; and assigning one of the sharing rules to one of the TV channels and another one of the sharing rules to another one of the TV channels, so that the content items of the one channel are subject to the one sharing rule and the content items of the other channel are subject to the other sharing rule.
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99. A content sharing method, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive at least a part of a chunk from a serving peer, the chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the serving peer via a communications network, the serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement in which the chunk is stored, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of peers, the method comprising:
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receiving chunk metadata identifying the location of the chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend; requesting the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer based on the chunk metadata; and receiving the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer.
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100. A content sharing method, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive a first chunk from a first serving peer and a second chunk from a second serving peer, the first chunk and the second chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers via a communication network, the peers including the first serving peer and the second serving peer, the first serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement which has a recording including at least part of the content item, the second serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement which has a recording including at least part of the content item, the recording of the first serving peer is different from the recording of the second serving peer based on a bit-to-bit comparison, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of the peers, the method comprising:
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requesting the first chunk from the first serving peer and the second chunk from the second serving peer; and receiving the first chunk from the first serving peer and the second chunk from the second serving peer.
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101. A content sharing method, for implementation in a serving peer, to transfer at least a part of a chunk to a requesting peer, the chunk being part of a content item, the serving peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the requesting peer via a communications network, the serving peer being associated with a storage arrangement in which the chunk is stored, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of the peers, the method comprising:
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receiving chunk metadata identifying the location of the chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend; receiving a request to transfer the at least part of the chunk to the requesting peer based on the chunk metadata; and transferring the at least part of the chunk to the requesting peer.
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102. A method for enabling sharing of a content item among a plurality of peers, the peers being operationally connected via a communications network, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the plurality of the peers, the method comprising:
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receiving the content item; and creating a chunk metadata file which logically divides the content item into a plurality of chunks, such that each of the chunks is identified based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend, the chunk metadata file being a separate file from the content item.
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103. A content sharing method for implementation in a serving peer being operationally connected to a plurality of other peers via a communications network, the method comprising:
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transferring content between the serving peer and the other peers; receiving an IPTV service via the communications network; and decreasing a download bandwidth allocated to the content transfer when the IPTV service is being received.
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104. An electronic program guide method, comprising:
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linking to an RSS feed having content item information for content items available for sharing among a plurality of peers; checking the RSS feed to see if the feed has new content item information since the last time the RSS feed was checked; retrieving the new content item information; and presenting the new content item information in an electronic program guide.
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Specification