Method and apparatus for content distribution over a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11336708-B2
Application number	US-202117159583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2021
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	May 17, 2022
Grant date	May 17, 2022

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:
prefetching, 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 prefetching of the first pre-fetch media content item; and
prefetching, via the connection to the network, a second pre-fetch media content item of the 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 a media-related activity associated with 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 source of media content.

5. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the media-related activity comprises executing an 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 that provides access to media content.

7. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the media recommendation is based on social media preference information.

8. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the media recommendation is based on popularity information associated with available media content items.

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:
prefetching, 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 satisfying a threshold:
stopping the prefetching of the first pre-fetch media content item; and
prefetching, by the processing system and via the connection to the network, a second pre-fetch media content item of the 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 regarding 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, the media content items included in the media recommendation, resulting in a ranked list comprising the first priority and the second priority.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the determination of the change in the available digital bandwidth comprises a determination that the change in the available digital bandwidth exceeds the threshold.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the processing system is included in a mobile communication device.

16. A device, 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:
prefetching, via a connection to a network having an available 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 changes in the available bandwidth:
stopping the prefetching of the first pre-fetch media content item; and
prefetching, via the connection to the network, a second pre-fetch media content item of the media content items included in the media recommendation, the second pre-fetch media content item having a second rank.

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

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

19. The device of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
ranking the media content items included in the media recommendation, resulting in a ranked list comprising the first rank and the second rank.

20. The device of claim 16 , wherein the media recommendation is based on social media preference information.

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

• G06Q30/0631

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• H04L65/1016

  IP multimedia subsystem [IMS] · CPC title