Patent Application
20080178241
Various embodiments relate to video broadcasts, and in an embodiment, but not by way of limitation, to a system and method for viewing video episodes.
Mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and other hand held personal communication devices have become ubiquitous. These devices have progressed from simple communication and data processing devices to devices that can receive, process, and send video data. The additional video ability of such devices has created a need of improved systems and methods to handle such video data.
In an embodiment, a video server is configured to receive from a video receiving unit such as a Set Top Box (STB) or a personal wireless mobile communication device (such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a palmtop device, or a lap top computer) a request to transmit a video episode. The video server determines, from a viewing history, the video episode to transmit to the video receiving unit, and then transmits the video episode to the video receiving unit. The viewing history is updated as a function of the video episode transmitted.
In another embodiment, a video receiving unit is configured to use a viewing history to determine a video episode that is to be played on the video receiving unit. The video receiver sends to a video server a request to transmit the video episode to the video receiving unit.
In another embodiment, a process includes the steps of using a viewing history to determine a video episode to be played on an video receiving unit, and sending to a video server a request to transmit the video episode to the video receiving unit.
At 310, the video receiving unit transmits to the video server a request for a directory listing of video episodes. At 315, the video server creates the directory listing of video episodes as a function of at least one video episode formerly played on the video receiving unit. After the video server creates the directory listing, the video server at 320 transmits the directory listing to the video receiving unit. If the request from the receiving unit contains a user identifier of some type, then the video server can create a personalized directory associated with that user identification.
At 325, the video server determines, while a current episode is being played on the video receiving device, the next episode that should be played on the video receiving device after the current episode has completed. At 330, the video server transmits that next episode to the video receiving unit. In an embodiment, that next episode is transmitted to the video receiving unit while the current video episode is still being played, so that that next video episode is ready for playing on the video receiving unit immediately after the current video episode is complete.
Another embodiment is outlined in steps 335, 340, and 345. At 335, the video receiving units sends to the video server an indication that the playing of the current episode on the video receiving unit has stopped before the completion of that episode. The video receiving unit also transmits an indication of where in the episode that the playing of the episode has stopped. Sometime thereafter, at 340, the video receiving unit transmits to the video server a request to resume the playing of the episode that was prematurely halted. At 345, the video server transmits the episode to the video receiving unit. The re-transmitted episode is marked to indicate where the video receiving unit should resume playing of the episode. In another embodiment, the video server transmits only the portion of the episode that has not been played, thereby conserving bandwidth in the system.
In the embodiment shown in
As shown in
The system bus 23 can be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory can also be referred to as simply the memory, and, in some embodiments, includes read-only memory (ROM) 24 and random-access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/output system (BIOS) program 26, containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 20, such as during start-up, may be stored in ROM 24. The computer 20 further includes a hard disk drive 27 for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive 28 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk 31 such as a CD ROM or other optical media.
The hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive 30 couple with a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an optical disk drive interface 34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide non volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer 20. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any type of computer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), redundant arrays of independent disks (e.g., RAID storage devices) and the like, can be used in the exemplary operating environment.
A plurality of program modules can be stored on the hard disk, magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24, or RAM 25, including an operating system 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37, and program data 38. A plug in containing a security transmission engine can be resident on any one or number of these computer-readable media.
A user may enter commands and information into computer 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40 and pointing device 42. Other input devices (not shown) can include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus 23, but can be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type of display device can also be connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. The monitor 40 can display a graphical user interface for the user. In addition to the monitor 40, computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.
The computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers or servers, such as remote computer 49. These logical connections are achieved by a communication device coupled to or a part of the computer 20; the examples in the disclosure are not limited to a particular type of communications device. The remote computer 49 can be another computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a client, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above I/O relative to the computer 20, although only a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated. The logical connections depicted in
When used in a LAN-networking environment, the computer 20 is connected to the LAN 51 through a network interface or adapter 53, which is one type of communications device. In some embodiments, when used in a WAN-networking environment, the computer 20 typically includes a modem 54 (another type of communications device) or any other type of communications device, e.g., a wireless transceiver, for establishing communications over the wide-area network 52, such as the internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 20 can be stored in the remote memory storage device 50 of remote computer, or server 49. It is appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of, and communications devices for, establishing a communications link between the computers may be used including hybrid fiber-coax connections, T1-T3 lines, DSL's, OC-3 and/or OC-12, TCP/IP, microwave, wireless application protocol, and any other electronic media through any suitable switches, routers, outlets and power lines, as the same are known and understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.
In the foregoing detailed description, various features are grouped together in one or more examples or examples for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examples of the invention require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed example. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description as examples of the invention, with each claim standing on its own as a separate example. It is understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. It is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Many other examples will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc., are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.
The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. The Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
