System and method for providing popular TV shows on demand
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method at a processor in a television programming distribution system comprising:
- automatically identifying the N most popular television programs based on monitoring in real time a viewing of television programs on a program by program basis by at least some subscribers of the distribution system delivering the television programs to a plurality of subscribers;
automatically storing all of the identified N most popular television programs in the television programming distribution system at a video hub office (VHO) remotely from the plurality of subscribers;
purging programs that are not the N most popular television programs;
delivering at least one of the stored popular television programs to at least one of the subscribers upon request of the subscriber;
archiving the N most popular television programs; and
updating an index of available shows that are available on demand that reflect an addition of new top N most popular shows for a relevant time period.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter provide methods and systems to automatically identify popular television programs based on the viewing of broadcast television programs by at least some of the subscribers of a television distribution system. One or more of the popular television programs identified are stored and offered to one or more of the subscribers on-demand. Subscribers can obtain delivery of at least one of the stored popular television programs for viewing on a subscriber television.
49 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method at a processor in a television programming distribution system comprising:
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automatically identifying the N most popular television programs based on monitoring in real time a viewing of television programs on a program by program basis by at least some subscribers of the distribution system delivering the television programs to a plurality of subscribers; automatically storing all of the identified N most popular television programs in the television programming distribution system at a video hub office (VHO) remotely from the plurality of subscribers; purging programs that are not the N most popular television programs; delivering at least one of the stored popular television programs to at least one of the subscribers upon request of the subscriber; archiving the N most popular television programs; and updating an index of available shows that are available on demand that reflect an addition of new top N most popular shows for a relevant time period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An article of manufacture comprising at least one machine readable data storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of N most popular television programs identified and recorded in digital form in a distribution system delivering television programs to a plurality of subscribers upon request of at least one of the plurality of subscribers, wherein the N most popular television programs are identified by monitoring the viewing of the programs substantially in real time and wherein the popular television programs are stored automatically in the television distribution system at a video hub office (VHO) remotely from the plurality of subscribers, and wherein programs that are not the N most popular television programs for a given time period are purged from the distribution system.
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21. An article of manufacture comprising at least one machine readable storage medium having one or more computer programs stored thereon and operable on one or more computing systems to:
- a) automatically identify popular television programs based on the viewing of television programs by at least some of the subscribers of a distribution system;
b) cause the automatically identified popular television programs to be stored for later viewing on demand upon a subscriber request, wherein the identified popular television programs are stored automatically in the television distribution system at a video hub office (VHO) remotely from the plurality of subscribers;
c) archive the N most popular television programs; and
d) purge programs that are not the N most popular television programs for a given time period. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
- a) automatically identify popular television programs based on the viewing of television programs by at least some of the subscribers of a distribution system;
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24. A method at a processor in an Internet Protocol television distribution system comprising:
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detecting at least one request from a subscriber among a plurality of subscribers of the distribution system requesting at least one television program on-demand from a video hub office (VHO); and wherein the at least one television program is automatically identified in real time as a popular television program based on the viewing of television programs by at least some of other remote or unaffiliated subscribers of the distribution system as determined from the perspective of the VHO in the Internet Protocol television distribution system and wherein the identified popular television programs are stored automatically in the IPTV television distribution system at the VHO remotely from the plurality of subscribers; and purging programs that are not identified as popular television programs for a given time period; and update an index of available programs that are available on demand that reflect an addition of new popular television programs for the given time period. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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26. A method comprising:
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automatically identifying popular television programs in real time based on the viewing of television programs by a plurality of unaffiliated subscribers at different separate physical locations of a distribution system wherein the identified popular television programs are stored automatically in the distribution system at a video hub office (VHO) remotely from the unaffiliated subscribers; distributing at least one of the identified popular television programs upon detecting at least one request from a subscriber among a plurality of subscribers of the distribution system requesting at least one television program on-demand from the VHO; purging programs that are not identified popular television programs for a given time period; updating an index of available shows that are available on demand that reflect an addition of new top N most popular shows for a relevant time period; and wherein the viewing of the television programs is determined from information obtained from one or more of the locations selected from the group;
the subscriber'"'"'s set top box, a residential gateway or a server used at least in part to deliver the television programs to subscribers.
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27. A system comprising one or more computers programmed to:
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automatically identify popular television programs in real time based on viewing of television programs by at least some unaffiliated subscribers at separate and different locations of a distribution system delivering the television programs from a video hub office (VHO); automatically cause one or more of the identified popular television programs to be stored and archived wherein the identified popular television programs are stored automatically in the distribution system remotely from the unaffiliated subscribers; purge programs that are not the identified popular television programs; update an index of available shows that are available on demand that reflect an addition of new identified popular television programs for a relevant time period and deliver at least one of the stored popular television programs from the VHO to at least one of the subscribers upon request of the subscriber, wherein channel-change requests sent from a plurality of set top boxes to the VHO is used to determine and identify popular television programs. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. A system comprising one or more computers located in a distribution system used to deliver television programs to subscribers, wherein the computers are programmed to:
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automatically identify in real time popular television programs based on monitoring a viewing of television programs by at least some unaffiliated subscribers at different and separate locations of a distribution system delivering the television programs; automatically cause one or more of the identified popular television programs to be stored wherein the identified popular television programs are stored automatically in the distribution system at a video hub office (VHO) remotely from the subscribers; purge programs that are not identified as popular television programs; update an index of available programs that are available on demand that reflect an addition of new popular television programs for a given time period; and cause to be delivered at least one of the stored popular television programs from the VHO to at least one of the unaffiliated subscribers upon request of the subscriber.
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31. A system comprising one or more computers located at a premises of a first subscriber served by a distribution system used to deliver television programs to the subscriber'"'"'s premises, wherein the computers are programmed to:
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identify popular television programs based on monitoring at a video hub office (VHO) in real time a viewing of television programs by at least some subscribers of the distribution system at a plurality of separate premises; automatically cause one or more of the identified popular television programs to be stored wherein the identified popular television programs are stored automatically in the distribution system remotely from the premises of the subscribers; purge programs that are not identified as popular television programs; update an index of available programs that are available on demand that reflect an addition of new popular television programs for a given time period; and cause to be delivered at least one of the stored popular television programs from the VHO to at least one of the subscribers upon request of the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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Specification