Audio/video archiving system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9471680-B2
Application number	US-201615144197-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2016
Priority date	Sep 29, 2008
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A method of archiving audio/video content is presented. In the method, a plurality of audio/video content streams is received. Each of the received audio/video content streams is indexed according to time. Each of the indexed audio/video content streams is transferred to a data storage system for storage. A request for a portion of one of the stored audio/video content streams associated with a time period is received. The requested portion of the one of the stored audio/video content streams is retrieved from the data storage system. The requested portion of the one of the stored audio/video content streams is transferred.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method utilizing at least one computing device for archiving audio/video content, the method comprising:
receiving, from a broadcast audio/video distribution center, a first plurality of audio/video content streams, wherein each of the received first plurality of audio/video content streams has the same audio/video content as a corresponding one of a second plurality of audio/video content streams being broadcasted over a broadcast audio/video distribution system to a plurality of subscribers;
segmenting the received audio/video content of each of the received first plurality of audio/video content streams into a series of audio/video segments, wherein each one of the series of audio/video segments includes a respective portion of the received audio/video content; and
locating one of a plurality of indexing data between each one of the series of audio/video segments, wherein
each one of the plurality of the indexing data is associated with an adjacent audio/video segment in the series of audio/video segments,
each one of the plurality of the indexing data includes at least a timestamp that identifies a time of broadcast to the plurality of subscribers of the portion of the received audio/video content of the adjacent audio/video segment associated with the timestamp; and
the series of audio/video segments and the indexing data for each one of the series of audio/video content segments define a corresponding one of a plurality of indexed audio/video content streams; and

storing each of the plurality of indexed audio/video content streams in a data storage system, wherein each stored indexed audio/video content stream has respective series of audio/video segments and respective indexing data located between the adjacent audio/video segment and a next segment of the series of audio/video segments.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after the broadcasting of the second plurality of audio/video content streams to the plurality of subscribers, receiving a request from a requesting party for a requested portion of a specified one of the second plurality of broadcasted audio/video content streams, wherein the request specifies a time period of broadcast for the portion of the specified one of the second plurality of broadcasted audio/video content streams;
identifying, in the indexed audio/video content stream corresponding to the requested portion of a specified one of the second plurality of broadcasted audio/video content streams, a corresponding indexed audio/video segment that that is associated with the timestamp that corresponds to the specified time period of the broadcast; and
retrieving at least the respective indexed audio/video segment associated with the timestamp from the data storage system, wherein the retrieved respective indexed audio/video segment corresponds to the requested portion of the specified one of the second plurality of broadcasted audio/video content streams; and
transmitting at least the retrieved indexed audio/video segment to the requesting party.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmitted retrieved indexed audio/video segment is transferred as a multicast audio/video steam.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the requesting party is a governmental entity that issues the request to review the requested portion of the specified one of the second plurality of broadcasted audio/video content streams.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storing each of the plurality of indexed audio/video content streams in the data storage system comprises:
storing at least one of the plurality of indexed audio/video content streams in the data storage system in a resolution that is lower than a resolution of the received corresponding one of the first plurality of audio/video content streams.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storing each of the plurality of indexed audio/video content streams in the data storage system comprises:
compressing the audio/video content of the stored audio/video segments of at least one of the plurality of indexed audio/video content streams, wherein storage space in the data storage system is conserved.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating at least one of a directory or a catalogue with information that identifies each of the indexing data and an associated adjacent audio/video segment, wherein the information indicates a storage location within the data storage system of each of the stored indexed audio/video content streams; and
storing the directory or the catalogue with the information into a database separately from the stored indexed audio/video content streams,
wherein the retrieving of the respective audio/video segment corresponding to the requested portion of the one of the second plurality of broadcasted audio/video content streams is based on the information obtained from the directory or the catalogue.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received first plurality of audio/video content streams are non-encoded, non-compressed audio/video content streams, and the method further comprising:
encoding at least one of the received non-encoded, non-compressed first plurality of audio/video content streams into a corresponding encoded audio/video content stream; and
compressing the encoded audio/video content stream into a corresponding of encoded and compressed audio/video content streams.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a metadata stream associated with at least one of the received first plurality of audio/video content streams;
segmenting the metadata stream into a series of metadata segments, wherein each one of the series of metadata segments corresponds to an associated one of the audio/video segments of the received first plurality of audio/video content streams; and
locating corresponding indexing data between each one of the series of metadata segments, wherein
each one of the indexing data is associated with the corresponding audio/video segment in the series of audio/video segments,
the indexing data includes at least the timestamp that identifies a time of broadcast to the plurality of subscribers of the metadata stream, and

wherein the series of metadata segments and the indexing data for each one of the series of metadata segments define a corresponding indexed metadata stream; and
storing the indexed metadata stream in the data storage system separately from the stored plurality of indexed audio/video content streams.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a metadata stream associated with at least one of the received first plurality of audio/video content streams; and
segmenting the metadata stream into a series of metadata segments, wherein each one of the series of metadata segments correspond to an associated one of the audio/video segments;
wherein each metadata segment is stored as part of the associated one of the audio/video segments.

11. An audio/video content archiving system, comprising:
a data storage system; and
at least one audio/video archiving device communicatively coupled to the data storage system and comprising:
a communication interface implemented at least partially by hardware and configured to receive audio/video content streams and output audio/video stream portions; and
a data storage interface implemented at least partially by hardware and that couples the at least one audio/video archiving device to the data storage system,
wherein the at least one audio/video archiving device is configured to:
receive, at the communication interface, at least one first audio/video content stream, wherein the received at least one first audio/video content stream i

Assignees

• Echostar Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Elsner Robert
• Stumbo Josh

Classifications

• G06F17/30858 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/3074

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30781

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04N21/2665

  Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite · CPC title

• G06F16/71 Primary

  Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures · CPC title