Multimedia mobile personalization system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9788068-B2
Application number	US-86112410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2010
Priority date	Mar 30, 1999
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A multimedia mobile personalization system allows a user to record and play multimedia content on a set top box at a location other than his home using the user's preferences from his home DVR.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for serving content to a plurality of client devices, comprising:
receiving, by a server, a plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules for individual users in a plurality of users, each individual multimedia content recording schedule in the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules specifying a respective listing of programs that have been scheduled to be recorded for a respective individual user in the plurality of users;
generating, by the server, server-generated multimedia content recording schedules for the individual users in the plurality of users based at least in part on the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules for individual users in the plurality of users;
aggregating, by the server, the server-generated multimedia content recording schedules into an aggregated recording schedule;
recording, by the server, a particular multimedia content that has been scheduled for recording in two or more server-generated multimedia content recording schedules of the server-generated multimedia content recording schedules by two or more users of the plurality of users, the server storing a single copy of the particular multimedia content;
allowing, by the server, client devices associated with each user of the two or more users to access the single copy of the particular multimedia content.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the client devices communicate with the server across a network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server receives one or more individual multimedia content recording schedules in the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules from a DVR service.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server receives multimedia content recording requests from a client device associated with a user, and wherein the server creates the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules at least partly from multimedia content recording requests.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a client device is associated with a user upon the user checking into a hotel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a client device associated with a user downloads programs from the server onto a storage device in communication with the client device that the server has recorded for the user.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recording step records multimedia content listed in the multimedia content recording schedules.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recording step records multimedia content that is determined to be of interest to a user.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining multimedia content that may be of interest to a user among multimedia content that have previously been recorded by the server.

10. A method for serving content to a plurality of client devices, comprising:
receiving, by a server, a plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules for individual users in a plurality of users, each individual multimedia content recording schedule in the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules specifying a respective listing of programs that have been scheduled to be recorded for a respective individual user in the plurality of users;
generating, by the server, server-generated multimedia content recording schedules for the individual users in the plurality of users based at least in part on the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules for individual users in the plurality of users;
aggregating, by the server, the server-generated multimedia content recording schedules into an aggregated recording schedule;
recording, by the server, a particular multimedia content that has been scheduled for recording in the server-generated multimedia content recording schedules by the plurality of users, the server storing the particular multimedia content;
allowing, by the server, client devices associated with each user of the plurality of users to access the particular multimedia content stored by the server.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the server stores a single copy of the particular multimedia content.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the client devices communicate with the server across a network.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the server receives the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules from a DVR service.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the server receives multimedia content recording requests from a client device associated with a user, and wherein the server creates the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules at least partly from multimedia content recording requests.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein a client device is associated with a user upon the user checking into a hotel.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein a client device associated with a user downloads programs from the server onto a storage device in communication with the client device that the server has recorded for the user.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the recording step records multimedia content that is determined to be of interest to a user.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining multimedia content that may be of interest to a user among multimedia content that have previously been recorded by the server.

19. An apparatus for serving content to a plurality of client devices, comprising:
an aggregation device, at a server, that receives, by the server, a plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules for individual users in a plurality of users, each individual multimedia content recording schedule in the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules specifying a respective listing of programs that have been scheduled to be recorded for a respective individual user in the plurality of users; generates, by the server, server-generated multimedia content recording schedules for the individual users in the plurality of users based at least in part on the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules for individual users in the plurality of users; aggregates, by the server, the server-generated multimedia content recording schedules into an aggregated recording schedule;
a recording device, at the server, that records a particular multimedia content that has been scheduled for recording in two or more server-generated multimedia content recording schedules of the server-generated multimedia content recording schedules by two or more users of the plurality of users, the server storing a single copy of the particular multimedia content;
a multimedia content access device, at the server, that allows client devices associated with each user of the two or more users to access the single copy of the particular multimedia content.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the client devices communicate with the server across a network.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the server receives the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules from a DVR service.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the server receives multimedia content recording requests from a client device associated with a user, and wherein the server creates the plurality of individual multimedia content recording schedules at least partly from multimedia content recording requests.

23. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein a client device is associa

Assignees

• Lockett David
• Feder Adam
• Barton James M
• Klar Michael F
• Goodman Andrew M
• Platt David C
• Beach Brian
• Brown David Avraham
• Tivo Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Lockett David
• Feder Adam
• Barton James M
• Klar Michael F
• Goodman Andrew M
• Platt David C
• Beach Brian
• Brown David Avraham

Classifications

• H04N21/47214

  for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market (stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224) · CPC title

• H04N5/44582

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N21/4753

  for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password (cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08) · CPC title

• H04N2005/4442

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N21/441

  Acquiring end-user identification {, e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card} · CPC title