Method and system for prepositioning content and distributing content in a local distribution system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9363566-B2
Application number	US-201414488015-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2014
Priority date	Sep 16, 2014
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

A system for viewing on-demand content includes a user receiving device and a local head end in communication with the receiving device that communicates metadata and material identifiers for on-demand content. Each on-demand content is associated with one of the material identifiers. The user receiving device stores the metadata and the material identifiers for the on-demand content. The local head end receives content. Each content is associated with one of the material identifiers. The user receiving device communicates a request for on-demand content data signal to the local head end. The local head end communicates a manifest comprising material identifiers for content stored at the head end. The user receiving device, after receiving the manifest, displays metadata from the memory of the user receiving device corresponding to the material identifiers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
communicating metadata and material identifiers for on-demand content to a user receiving device, each on-demand content associated with one of the material identifiers;
storing the metadata and the material identifiers for the on-demand content in a memory of the user receiving device;
receiving content at a local head end, each content associated with one of the material identifiers;
communicating a request for on-demand content data signal from the user receiving device to the local head end;
communicating a manifest comprising material identifiers for content stored at the local head end to the user receiving device;
in response to receiving the manifest at the user receiving device, retrieving metadata for the material identifiers in the manifest from the memory of the user receiving device; and
displaying the metadata at the user receiving device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising generating a selection of content from a user interface to form selected content from the user receiving device; and
communicating content corresponding to the selection to the user receiving device from the local head end.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising storing a purchase record corresponding to the selection at the local head end; and
associating the purchase record with the user receiving device within the local head end.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving content at a local head end comprises communicating a playlist to a content streamer and requesting content from the playlist at the content streamer.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating content comprises communicating on-demand content to one user receiving device immediately after being requested at the user receiving device.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating metadata comprises communicating metadata to a satellite television receiving device.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating metadata comprises communicating metadata to a set back box.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating the request for on-demand content data signal from the user receiving device to the local head end comprises communicating the request for on-demand content data signal from the user receiving device to a management control system of the local head end.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 further comprising generating a request for the manifest from the management control system to a content streamer and further comprising communicating the manifest from the content streamer to the management control system.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising communicating the manifest from the management control system to the user receiving device.

11. A system comprising:
a user receiving device; and
a local head end in communication with the user receiving device communicating metadata and material identifiers for on-demand content, each on-demand content associated with one of the material identifiers;
said user receiving device storing the metadata and the material identifiers for the on-demand content in a memory of the user receiving device;
said local head end receiving content, each content associated with one of the material identifiers;
said user receiving device communicating a request for on-demand content data signal to the local head end;
said local head end communicating a manifest comprising material identifiers for content stored at the head end;
said user receiving device, in response to receiving the manifest, retrieving metadata for the material identifiers in the manifest from the memory of the user receiving device; and
displaying metadata on a display associated with the user receiving device corresponding to the material identifiers.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein said user receiving device generates a selection signal from a user interface to form selected content and wherein said local head end communicates content corresponding to the selected content to the user receiving device.

13. The system as recited in claim 12 wherein the local head end stores a purchase record corresponding to the selected content at the local head end and associates the purchase record with the user receiving device.

14. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the local head end comprises a content streamer receiving a playlist from a remote head end and wherein the content streamer requests content from the playlist.

15. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the user receiving device comprises a satellite television receiving device.

16. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the user receiving device comprises a set back box.

17. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein the user receiving device communicates the request for on-demand content data signal to a management control system of the local head end.

18. The system as recited in claim 17 wherein the management control system communicates a request for the manifest to a content streamer and wherein the content stream communicates the manifest to the management control system.

19. The system as recited in claim 18 wherein the management control system communicates the manifest from the management control system to the user receiving device.

Assignees

• Directv Group Inc

Inventors

• Makhijani Michael A
• Arya Vishal
• Pang John L
• Tatem Richard B
• Viazcan Paul O
• Sue Ranny Q
• Chen Drew T

Classifications

• H04N7/17336

  Handling of requests in head-ends · CPC title

• H04N21/432

  Content retrieval operation from a local storage medium, e.g. hard-disk {(details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739)} · CPC title

• H04N21/47202 Primary

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

• H04N7/17318

  Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests · CPC title

• H04N21/6143

  involving transmission via a satellite · CPC title