DSL video service with storage

• US 7,870,593 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2002
• Issued: 01/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SBC Properties Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP
• Inventors: White, Russell W., Bushey, Robert R., Stuckman, Bruce E., Knott, Benjamin A., Grannan, Michael, Patron, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh; Son P
• Application Number:
  US10/313,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20040111756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,959 Days
• Field of Search: 725/58, 725/92, 725/142, 725/95, 725/55, 725 86- 87, 725 90- 91, 725/94, 725114-115, 725/134
• US Class Current: 725/142
• 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 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/278 Content descriptor database or directory service for end-user access details of content or meta data based information retrieval of video data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4435 Memory management allocation of memory to service a request G06F9/5016; addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures G06F12/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• 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 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6377 directed to server one-way streaming services wherein the source is controlled by the destination H04L65/613
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 : Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A list of video programs downloadable via a digital subscriber line, including a presently-unavailable video program and its associated date of download availability, is presented to a user. A user selection of the video program is received. Based on the user selection, an entry is added to a download schedule to schedule downloading the video program on or after its associated date of download availability. The video program is downloaded via the digital subscriber line based on the download schedule.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting a list of downloadable video programs using a digital video recorder, the list of downloadable video programs including a presently-unavailable first video program and its associated date of download availability;

receiving a first user selection of the first video program from the list;

receiving a customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the first video program;

receiving a selection of a bandwidth parameter associated with the first user selection, the selected bandwidth parameter comprising one of use substantially all available bandwidth, use a specified fraction of available bandwidth, use a specified absolute amount of bandwidth, and save a specified amount of bandwidth;

calculating a download start time associated with the first video program that is different from the customer-viewing start time parameter based on at least the received first user selection, the received customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the first video program, the date of download availability associated with the first video program, and the bandwidth parameter associated with the first user selection;

adding a first entry to a download schedule to schedule downloading the first video program beginning at the calculated download start time associated with the first video program;

automatically adding a video program from a sequence to the download schedule in response to a play back of one of consecutive video programs; and

downloading a complete copy of the first video program based on the download schedule, wherein a price charged to a subscriber for downloading a video program is based on a level of service reflected by its download parameters and storage location of the video program.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the list includes a presently-available second video program, the method further comprising:

receiving a second user selection of the second video program from the list;

receiving a customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the second video program;

calculating a download start time associated with the second video program based on at least the received second user selection, the received customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the second video program, and a date of download availability associated with the second video program;

adding a second entry to the download schedule to schedule downloading the second video program beginning at the calculated download start time associated with the second download program; and

downloading the second video program based on the download schedule.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

Receiving at least one of a bandwidth parameter, a quality parameter, and a real-time/non-real-time parameter associated with the second video program.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the bandwidth parameter is selected from a plurality of bandwidth options including use substantially all available bandwidth, use a specified fraction of available bandwidth, use a specified absolute amount of bandwidth, save a specified amount of bandwidth, and use a qualitative amount of bandwidth.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

adding the first video program to a ready-to-watch list based on said downloading.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first video program is added to the ready-to-watch list if a sufficient amount of the download has been received to permit playback of the first video program before said downloading is complete.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the first video program is added to the ready-to-watch list after said downloading is complete.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

receiving a selection of the first video program from the ready-to-watch list;

playing back the first video program based on the selection;

updating a viewing history associated with the first video program based on said playing back the first video program; and

displaying the ready-to-watch list to indicate the viewing history of the first video program.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the viewing history indicates when at least one video program was played back, including when said playing back the first video program was performed.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the viewing history indicates who was watching said playing back the first video program.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the viewing history includes episode information for the first video program.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the episode information include an episode identification code and a date that the particular episode was initially broadcast.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said presenting a list of downloadable video programs is made available over the World Wide Web.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first user selection of the first video program from the list is made using a telephony device.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first user selection of the first video program from the list is made using a wireless computing device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the complete copy of the first video program is downloaded via a digital subscriber line.

17. A system comprising:

a digital video recorder to present a list of downloadable video programs, the list of downloadable video programs including a presently-unavailable first video program and its associated date of download availability; and

a user input interface to receive a first user selection of the first video program from the list, to receive a customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the first video program, to receive a selection of a bandwidth parameter associated with the first user selection, the selected bandwidth parameter comprising one of use substantially all available bandwidth, use a specified fraction of available bandwidth, use a specified absolute amount of bandwidth, and save a specified amount of bandwidth, and to communicate same to the digital video recorder;

wherein the digital video recorder performs;

calculating a download start time associated with the first video program that is different from the customer-viewing start time parameter based on at least the received first user selection, the received customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the first video program, the date of download availability associated with the first video program, and the bandwidth parameter associated with the first user selection;

adding a first entry to a download schedule to schedule downloading the first video program beginning at the calculated download start time associated with the first video program;

automatically adding a video program from a sequence to the download schedule in response to a play back of one of consecutive video programs; and

downloading a complete copy of the first video program based on the download schedule, wherein a price charged to a subscriber for downloading a video program is based on a level of service reflected by its download parameters and storage location of the video program.

18. The system of claim 17,

wherein the list includes a presently-available second video program;

wherein the user input interface is to receive a second user selection of the second video program from the list, receive a customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the second video program, and communicate same to the digital video recorder; and

wherein, based on the second user selection, the digital video recorder is configured to calculate a download start time associated with the second video program based on at least the received second user selection, the received customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the second video program, and a date of download availability associated with the second video program, to add a second entry to the download schedule to schedule downloading the second video program beginning at the calculated download start time associated with the second video program; and

to download the second video program based on the download schedule.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the customer-viewing start time parameter is selected from a plurality of viewing start time options including make viewable at a particular time, make viewable tonight, make viewable tomorrow, make viewable next week, and make viewable in a specified amount of time.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the digital video recorder is to add the first video program to a ready-to-watch list based on its download.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the first video program is added to the ready-to-watch list if a sufficient amount of the download has been received to permit playback of the first video program before its download is complete.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the first video program is added to the ready-to-watch list after its download is complete.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the user input interface is to receive a selection of the first video program from the ready-to-watch list and communicate same to the digital video recorder;

and wherein, based on the selection, the digital video recorder is to playback the first video program and update a viewing history associated with the first video program, and thereafter to display the ready-to-watch list to indicate the viewing history of the first video program.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the viewing history indicates when at least one video program, including the first video program, was played back.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein the viewing history indicates who was watching playback of the first video program.

26. The system of claim 23 wherein the viewing history includes episode information for the first video program.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the episode information include an episode identification code and a date that the particular episode was initially broadcast.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the complete copy of the first video program is downloaded via a digital subscriber line.

29. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

presenting a list of downloadable video programs, the list of downloadable video programs including a presently-unavailable first video program and its associated date of download availability;

receiving a first user selection of the first video program from the list;

receiving a customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the first video program;

receiving a selection of a bandwidth parameter associated with the first user selection, the selected bandwidth parameter comprising one of use substantially all available bandwidth, use a specified fraction of available bandwidth, use a specified absolute amount of bandwidth, and save a specified amount of bandwidth;

calculating a download start time associated with the first video program that is different from the customer-viewing start time parameter based on at least the received first user selection, the received customer-viewing start time parameter associated with the first video program, the date of download availability associated with the first video program, and the bandwidth parameter associated with the first user selection;

adding a first entry to a download schedule to schedule downloading the first video program beginning at the calculated download start time associated with the first video program;

automatically adding a video program from a sequence to the download schedule in response to a play back of one of consecutive video programs; and

downloading a complete copy of the first video program based on the download schedule, wherein a price charged to a subscriber for downloading a video program is based on a level of service reflected by its download parameters and storage location of the video program.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the complete copy of the first video program is downloaded via a digital subscriber line.