Video Marker System and Method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018070118-A1
Application number	US-201615389786-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 23, 2016
Priority date	Sep 6, 2016
Publication date	Mar 8, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing media content tracking functionality, and, in particular embodiments, implementing temporal markers for tracking at least partial playback of media content. In various embodiments, a computing system might receive a request for media content from a user over a network, and might retrieve the media content from a database. A transcoder might insert temporal markers in a transport stream of the media content, which is sent to the user device. The user device might decode the transport stream, might track each temporal marker as the media content is presented to the user, might generate a message by compiling a list of the accessed temporal markers, and might send the message to the computing system. The computing system might receive the message comprising the list of temporal markers, which are indicative of portions of the media content that were actually presented to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
receiving, with a computing system of a service provider over a network, a request for a first media content from a user; retrieving, with the computing system, the first media content from a database over the network; inserting, with a transcoder associated with the service provider, a plurality of temporal markers in a transport stream of the first media content; sending, with the computing system, the transport stream of the first media content to a user device associated with the user for presentation of the first media content to the user; and receiving, with the computing system and from the user device associated with the user, a first message comprising a list of one or more temporal markers of the plurality of temporal markers that were accessed when the first media content was presented to the user, the one or more temporal markers that were accessed being indicative of portions of the first media content that were actually presented to the user.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first media content comprises at least one of video content or audio content.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first media content comprises video on demand (“VOD”) content.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises at least one of a database associated with the service provider, a database associated with the network, a database associated with the computing system, a database associated with a content provider that is associated with the first media content, or a database associated with a content distributor that distributes the first media content.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, with the user device, the transport stream of the first media content; decoding, with a decoder communicatively coupled to the user device, the transport stream of the first media content; presenting, with the user device, the decoded first media content to the user; accessing, with the user device and from the decoded transport stream, each of the one or more temporal markers as the first media content is being presented to the user; generating, with the user device, the first message by compiling a list of the accessed one or more temporal markers; and sending, with the user device, the generated first message to the computing system.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user ends presentation of the first media content prior to completion of presentation of the first media content, wherein the one or more temporal markers being accessed indicate a first length of the first media content that was presented to the user, the first length being less than a total length of the first media content.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
calculating, with the computing system, a first amount to bill the user based at least in part on a fraction of a cost of the first media content as calculated by dividing the first length by the total length of the first media content.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, with the computing system and from each of a plurality of user devices associated with a plurality of users, a second message comprising a list of at least one temporal marker of the plurality of temporal markers being accessed when the first media content was presented to each user, the at least one temporal marker that were accessed being indicative of portions of the first media content that were actually presented to each of the plurality of users; aggregating, with an analytics engine, information regarding which portions of the first media content were actually presented to the plurality of users, based at least in part on the list of the at least one temporal marker contained in the second message for each of the plurality of users; and providing, with the analytics engine, the aggregated information to at least one of a content provider associated with the first media content, an advertiser, or a content distributor.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein inserting the plurality of temporal markers in the transport stream of the first media content comprises inserting, with the transcoder, the plurality of temporal markers in the transport stream of the first media content only at portions of the transport stream corresponding to one of one-second increments, one-minute increments, two-minute increments, five-minute increments, ten-minute increments, fifteen-minute increments, thirty-minute increments, or one-hour increments.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein inserting the plurality of temporal markers in the transport stream of the first media content comprises inserting, with the transcoder, the plurality of temporal markers in a header of each packet of the transport stream of the first media content, each header within each temporal increment being inserted with the same temporal marker, the temporal increment comprising one of one-second increments, one-minute increments, two-minute increments, five-minute increments, ten-minute increments, fifteen-minute increments, thirty-minute increments, or one-hour increments.

11 . A system, comprising:
a computing system of a service provider, the computing system comprising:
at least one first processor; and
a first non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one first processor, the first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the computing system to:
receive, over a network, a request for a first media content from a user; and
retrieve the first media content from a database over the network; and

a transcoder associated with the service provider, the transcoder comprising:
at least one second processor; and
a second non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one second processor, the second non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a second set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one second processor, causes the transcoder to:
insert a plurality of temporal markers in a transport stream of the first media content; and
send the resultant transport stream of the first media content to the computing system;

wherein the first set of instructions, when executed by the at least one first processor, further causes the computing system to:
receive the transport stream from the transcoder;
send the transport stream of the first media content to a user device associated with the user for presentation of the first media content to the user; and
receive, from the user device associated with the user, a first message comprising a list of one or more temporal markers of the plurality of temporal markers that were accessed when the first media content was presented to the user, the one or more temporal markers that were accessed being indicative of portions of the first media content that were actually presented to the user.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the first media content comprises at least one of video content or audio content.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the first media content comprises video on demand (“VOD”) content.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the database comprises at least one of a database associated with the service provider, a database associated with the network, a database associated with the computing system, a database associated with a content provider that is associated with the first media content, or a data

Assignees

• Centurylink Ip Llc

Inventors

• Swaminathan Gnanasekaran
• Casey Steven M
• Castro Felipe

Classifications

• H04N21/44204

  Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31) · CPC title

• H04N21/25435 Primary

  involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising · CPC title

• H04N21/235

  Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors · CPC title

• H04N21/6582

  Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number (arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38) · CPC title

• H04N21/47202

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