Method and apparatus for content distribution over a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10951678-B2
Application number	US-202016783818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 6, 2020
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

A method that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example transmitting, via a connection to a network having an available digital bandwidth, a first pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in the a media recommendation transmitted to a communication device, the first pre-fetch media content item having a first rank. Responsive to a determination of a change in the available digital bandwidth, the transmitting of the first pre-fetch media content item is stopped and a second pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in the media recommendation is transmitted via the connection to the network. The second pre-fetch media content item has a second rank. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
transmitting, via a connection to a network having an available digital bandwidth, a first pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in a media recommendation, the first pre-fetch media content item having a first rank; and
responsive to a determination of a change in the available digital bandwidth:
stopping the transmitting of the first pre-fetch media content item; and
transmitting, via the connection to the network a second pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in the media recommendation, the second pre-fetch media content item having a different rank.

2. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the media recommendation is based on information associated with a media-related activity of a mobile communication device.

3. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the media-related activity comprises consumption of media content.

4. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the media-related activity comprises accessing a site providing access to media content.

5. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the media-related activity comprises loading a mobile application that enables access to media content.

6. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the media-related activity comprises subscribing to a service providing access to media content.

7. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise accessing social media preference information of a social network associated with a user of the mobile communication device, wherein the media recommendation is further generated according to the social media preference information.

8. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the media recommendation comprises a plurality of media content items, wherein the operations further comprise accessing popularity information for the plurality of media contents items based on transactions with a network by a plurality of communication devices, wherein the media recommendation is further generated according to the popularity information.

9. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the different rank is lower than the first rank.

10. A method, comprising:
transmitting, by a processing system including a processor and via a connection to a network having an available digital bandwidth, a first pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in a media recommendation, the first pre-fetch media content item having a first priority; and
responsive to a determination of a change in the available digital bandwidth exceeding a threshold:
stopping the transmitting of the first pre-fetch media content item; and
transmitting, by the processing system and via the connection to the network a second pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in the media recommendation, the second pre-fetch media content item having a second priority lower than the first priority.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the media recommendation is based on information associated with a media-related activity.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the media-related activity comprises consumption of media content.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
ranking, by the processing system, a plurality of media content items included in the media recommendation according to a priority to generate a ranked list comprising the first priority and the second priority.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the transmitting of the first pre-fetch media content item having the first priority further comprises transmitting a highest priority media content item included in the ranked list that can be completely prefetched within the available digital bandwidth associated with the connection to the network.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining, by the processing system, that the change in the available digital bandwidth associated with the connection to the network exceeds the threshold, wherein the transmitting of the second pre-fetch media content item of the ranked list for which the available digital bandwidth associated with the connection to the network is sufficient to complete a transmission of the second pre-fetch media content item.

16. A server, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
transmitting, via a connection to a network having an available digital bandwidth, a first pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in a media recommendation transmitted to a communication device, the first pre-fetch media content item having a first rank; and
responsive to a determination of a change in the available digital bandwidth:
stopping the transmitting of the first pre-fetch media content item; and
transmitting, via the connection to the network a second pre-fetch media content item of media content items included in the media recommendation, the second pre-fetch media content item having a second rank.

17. The server of claim 16 , wherein the media recommendation is based on information associated with a media-related activity.

18. The server of claim 16 , wherein the media recommendation is based on information comprising a log of media content captured by a camera of the communication device, a microphone of the communication device, or a combination thereof.

19. The server of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
ranking a plurality of media content items included in the media recommendation according to a priority to generate a ranked list, wherein the transmitting of the first pre-fetch media content item having the first rank further comprises transmitting a highest priority media content item included in the ranked list that can be completely prefetched by the communication device within the available digital bandwidth associated with the connection to the network.

20. The server of claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining that the change in the available digital bandwidth associated with the connection to the network exceeds a threshold, wherein the transmitting of the second pre-fetch media content item of the ranked list for which the available digital bandwidth associated with the connection to the network is sufficient to complete a transmission of the second pre-fetch media content item.

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Ramakrishnan Kadangode
• Hu Yifan
• Bell Robert
• Pang Jeffrey
• Erman Jeffrey

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• H04L65/756

  adapting media to device capabilities · CPC title

• H04N21/454 Primary

  Content {or additional data} filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements · CPC title

• H04L67/568

  Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching · CPC title

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title