Determination of a service office of a media content distribution system to record a media content item with a network recorder

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016269688-A1
Application number	US-201514657426-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 13, 2015
Priority date	Mar 13, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a network device of a media content distribution system, data indicating a media content item to be recorded and a number of requests to record the media content item received at a first service office of the media content distribution system. The method also includes scheduling, via the network device, recording of the media content item at a first network recorder associated with the first service office when a value associated with recording the media content item with the first network recorder is less than or equal to a cost threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, at a network device of a media content distribution system, data indicating a media content item to be recorded and a number of requests to record the media content item received at a first service office of the media content distribution system; and scheduling, via the network device, recording of the media content item at a first network recorder associated with the first service office when a value associated with recording the media content item with the first network recorder is less than or equal to a cost threshold.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the value based on a storage cost associated with storing the media content item in a memory associated with the first service office, based on a cost of a first bandwidth delay product from a top tier of the media content distribution system to the first service office, based on a cost of a second bandwidth delay product from the first service office to subscriber devices associated with the requests, or based on combinations thereof.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the cost threshold based on the number of requests to record the media content item received at the first service office and a cost of a bandwidth delay product from a top tier of the media content distribution system to subscriber devices associated with the requests.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising scheduling, via the network device, recording of the media content item at a second network recorder associated with a particular service office that sends media content to the first service office when the value is greater than the cost threshold and the first service office is not a top tier service office of the media content distribution system.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising scheduling recording of the media content item at the first network recorder when the first service office is a top tier service office of the media content distribution system and when a first cost associated with recording the media content item to accommodate the number of requests via the first service office is lower than costs associated with recording the media content item to accommodate the number of requests via service offices that receive content from the first service office.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the data from the network device to a second network device associated with a second service office of the media distribution system that sends media content directly to the first service office, wherein the data enables the second network device to determine whether to schedule recording of the media content at a second network recorder associated with the second service office.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a request for playback of the media content item from a device; determining an account identifier associated with the device; determining based on the account identifier that the device is authorized to access a recording of the media content item; determining a particular service office to provide the media content item to the device; and generating a virtual media device associated with the particular service office to send the media content item to the device.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the particular service office comprises a service office configured to send media content directly to an access point in communication with the device.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the particular service office is a service office that sends media content to the first service office, and wherein the first service office sends at least a portion of the media content directly to an access point in communication with the device.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network device receives request data for the media content item from service offices associated with subscriber requests for the media content item.

11 . A system comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to perform operations including:
receiving data indicating a media content item to be recorded and a number of requests to record the media content item received at a first service office of a media content distribution system; and
scheduling recording of the media content item at a first network recorder associated with the first service office when a value associated with recording the media content item with the first network recorder is less than or equal to a cost threshold.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further include, after passage of a period of time from when the media content item was recorded:
determining a remaining number of accounts authorized to retrieve a recording of the media content item; making a determination whether to adjust a storage location of the media content item based on the remaining number of accounts; and adjusting the storage location of the media content item when the determination indicates to adjust the storage location.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further include scheduling recording of the media content item at a second network recorder associated with a second service office when the first service office is a top tier service office of the media content distribution system and when a first cost associated with recording the media content to accommodate the number of requests via the first office is greater than a second cost associated with recording the media content item to accommodate the number of requests via a particular service office or service offices that receive content from the first service office.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further include, after recording the media content item:
receiving second data indicating a second media content item to be recorded and a second number of requests to record the second media content item, wherein the second media content item is a subsequent showing of the media content item; associating in a database an account associated with each request for the second media content item with an entry that identifies the media content item; determining a first number of accounts authorized to retrieve the recording of the media content after associating each request for the second media content item with an entry that identifies the media content item and a location distribution of the service offices that store the media content item; making a determination whether to adjust a storage location of the media content item based on the first number and the location distribution; and adjusting the storage location of the media content item when the determination indicates to adjust the storage location.

15 . A computer-readable storage device comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform operations including:
receiving data indicating a media content item to be recorded and a first number of requests to record the media content item received at a first service office of a media content distribution system; and scheduling recording of the media content item by a first network recorder associated with the first service office when the first number is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

16 . The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the first threshold is based on a cost associated with storing the media content item to a memory associated with the first service office and based on a cost of a bandwidth delay product from a t

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Gardner James A

Classifications

• H04N21/21815

  comprising local storage units · CPC title

• H04N21/26225

  involving billing parameters, e.g. priority for subscribers of premium services · CPC title

• H04N21/2396

  characterized by admission policies (admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for network security using user profiles for access control H04L63/102; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08) · CPC title

• H04N21/47202

  for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand · CPC title

• H04N21/231 Primary

  Content storage operation, e.g. caching movies for short term storage, replicating data over plural servers, prioritizing data for deletion · CPC title