Network-based content storage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560389-B2
Application number	US-201213553587-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2012
Priority date	Jul 19, 2012
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for network-based storage of requested content are provided. A request for a content item may be received by a content storage device from a customer. Portions of the content item may be extracted from the content item. The content storage device may store the extracted portions of the content item specific to the customer. Additionally, the remainder of the content item may be stored by the content storage device separately from the stored extracted portion. The content item may be reconstructed for the customer using the extracted portions of the content item specific to the customer and the remainder of the content item.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1. A method for storing content, the method comprising:
receiving, by a content storage device from a customer, a request for a content item, wherein the content storage device is associated with the customer and a plurality of other customers;
extracting a portion of the content item in response to the request for the content item from the customer;
storing, by the content storage device, the extracted portion of the content item specific to the customer; and
directing storage, to the content storage device, of a remaining portion of the content item separately from the stored extracted portion, wherein the remaining portion of the content item is accessible by the customer and the plurality of other customers associated with the content storage device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
uniquely encoding the extracted portion specific to the customer;
storing, by the content storage device, the uniquely encoded portion of the content item instead of the extracted portion; and
directing storage of the remaining portion of the content item separately from the stored encoded portion.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein directing the storage of the remaining portion of the content item comprises directing that the remaining portion be stored in a format unusable for its intended purpose.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein directing the storage of the remaining portion of the content item comprises storing, by the content storage device, the remaining portion on a local storage device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein directing the storage of the remaining portion of the content item comprises transmitting, by the content storage device, the remaining portion for storage on a remote storage device associated with the customer.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising encrypting, by the content storage device, the extracted portion of the content item in a manner specific to the customer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the extracted portion of the content item specific to the customer comprises storing a plurality of extracted portions of the content item as a unique recording.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request comprises a first request, and further comprising:
receiving, by the content storage device from the customer device, a second request for the content item;
reconstructing, by the content storage device based at least in part on the stored extracted portion and the stored remaining portion, the content item; and
communicating, by the content storage device, the reconstructed content item to the customer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the customer comprises a first customer and the request comprises a first request, and further comprising:
receiving, by the content storage device from a second customer, a second request for the content item; and
storing, by the content storage device based at least in part upon the received second request, the extracted portion of the content item specific to the second customer without the remaining portion of the content item.

10. A system, comprising:
at least one communications interface configured to receive, from a customer and a plurality of other customers, a request to record a content item;
at least one processor configured to (i) extract a portion of the content item in response to the request to record the content item from the customer, (ii) direct storage of the extracted portion of the content item specific to the customer, and (iii) direct separate storage of a remainder of the content item, wherein the remainder of the content item is accessible by the customer and the plurality of other customers; and
a memory storage device configured to store the extracted portion of the content item and the remainder of the content item.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to encrypt the extracted portion of the content item in a manner specific to the customer, and
wherein the stored extracted portion of the content item comprises the encrypted portion.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the stored extracted portion of the content item comprises a plurality of separate extracted portions of the content item.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein:
the request comprises a first request,
the at least one communications interface is further configured to receive, from the customer, a second request for the content item; and
the at least one processor is further configured to (i) reconstruct, based at least in part on the stored extracted portion and the stored remainder, the content item, and (ii) direct the at least one communications interface to communicate the reconstructed content item to the customer.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein:
the customer comprises a first customer;
the request comprises a first request;
the at least one communications interface is further configured to receive, from a second customer, a second request for the content item;
the at least one processor is further configured to direct, based at least in part upon the received second request, storage of the extracted portion of the content item specific to the second customer; and
the memory storage device further configured to store the extracted portion specific to the second customer.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the remainder of the content item is stored in a format unusable for its intended purpose.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving respective requests from a plurality of customers to record a content item wherein the plurality of customers are associated with a content storage device;
processing the content item, based at least in part on the received requests, in order to extract a portion of the content item in response to the respective requests to record the content item from the plurality of customers;
processing the extracted portion in order to uniquely encode the extracted portion in association with each of the plurality of customers;
storing the respective uniquely encoded portion in association with each of the plurality of customers on the content storage device; and
storing, separately from the stored uniquely encoded portion on the content storage device, a remainder of the content item, wherein the remainder of the content item is accessible by each of the plurality of customers.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the remainder of the content item comprises the content item without the extracted portion.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein extracting a portion of the content item comprises extracting a plurality of portions of the content item.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving a second request for the content item;
reconstructing the content item based at least in part on the stored remainder and the stored uniquely encoded portion associated with the customer that requested the content item; and
communicating the reconstructed content item to the requesting customer.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein storing the respective uniquely encoded portions comprises storing each of the respective uniquely encoded portions

Assignees

• Civiletto John
• Shrum Jr Edgar V
• Gonzalez Francisco
• Wasilewski Louise Mary
• Cox Communications Inc

Inventors

• Civiletto John
• Shrum Jr Edgar V
• Gonzalez Francisco
• Wasilewski Louise Mary

Classifications

• H04N21/2393

  involving handling client requests (scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60) · CPC title

• H04N21/2181 Primary

  comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers (distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097) · CPC title

• H04N21/47202

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