QURIO HOLDINGS, INC. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140259059 | DYNAMIC LOAD BASED AD INSERTION - A system and method are provided for dynamically adjusting advertisement (“ad”) time for a multicast channel. In one embodiment, a variable ad insertion function operates to receive one or more multicasts of media content from a core distribution network, insert ad timeslots into the media content, and optionally perform late-binding of ads to the ad timeslots. The media content including the inserted ad timeslots and late-binded ads, if any, is then multicast to associated client devices over a feeder network using corresponding multicast channels. For each multicast channel, insertion of ad timeslots into the associated media content is dynamically controlled based on the number of users currently consuming or predicted to consume the multicast channel, the number of client devices receiving or predicted to receive the multicast channel, or both. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253974 | METHODS PROVIDING PRINT FULFILLMENT FOR DIGITAL IMAGES OVER A DIGITAL NETWORK AND RELATED SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS - Methods of providing print fulfillment for digital images may include saving an image selection property in digital memory, saving a hatching property in digital memory, and saving digital images and associated image data in digital memory. A group of the digital images that satisfy the image selection property saved in digital memory may be selected, and it may be determined if the hatching property saved in digital memory is satisfied for the group of the digital images having associated image data that satisfy the image selection property. If the hatching property is satisfied, a print fulfillment order may be transmitted over a digital network requesting prints of the group of the digital images. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed. | 09-11-2014 |
20140250496 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND PRODUCTS FOR MEASURING TRUST SCORES OF DEVICES - Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for measuring trust. A device is encountered. A trust score for the device is calculated and compared to a threshold. The threshold may be a minimum trust score associated with the function. If the calculated trust score equals or exceeds the threshold, then the function is executed. If the calculated trust score is less than the threshold, then the function is denied. | 09-04-2014 |
20140223473 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MINIMIZING A NUMBER OF DATA STREAMS - A method and system for minimizing data streams of the same program on a shared medium is provided. A user device receives a first data stream of a program and effects display of the program based on the first data stream to a display device. The user device halts display of the program and provides an advertisement to a viewer. A second data stream of the program being provided over the same medium to a second viewer that was initiated after the first data stream is provided to the user device. The user device buffers the second data stream, and after the advertisement is finished, provides the program to the viewer based on the second data stream. | 08-07-2014 |
20140188878 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING AND MANAGING MOBILE DEVICE METADATA - A system and method are provided for accessing information describing content residing on agent devices. The system includes a central node and agent devices communicatively coupled by a network. The central node obtains content information describing content stored at the agent devices and optionally the locations of the agent devices from the agent devices. The content information and optionally the locations of the agent devices are stored in a database associated with the central node. The central node enables requesting nodes such as the agent devices to access the database. For example, the agent devices may communicate with the central node to obtain the content information for a known agent device or to query the database to find agent devices having content information and optionally locations that satisfy specified criteria. Alternatively, the central node may provide alerts to the agent devices when other agent devices matching specified criteria are available. | 07-03-2014 |
20140181142 | SYNDICATION FEEDS FOR PEER COMPUTER DEVICES AND PEER NETWORKS - Syndication feeds for peer computer devices. In one aspect, a request is received at a server for a syndicated feed from a peer on a peer-to-peer network. It is determined whether the peer is currently online or offline; if online, the requested feed is pulled from the peer and served to the requestor, and if offline, the requested feed is retrieved from a cache of the server and served to the requestor. In one embodiment, an online/offline indicator is inserted in a feed by the server to indicate to the user the online or offline status. | 06-26-2014 |
20140164474 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND PRODUCTS FOR PAIRING AGENTS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS - Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for pairing agents and service providers. A registration request is received to pair an agent and a service provider. A directory service is queried that stores at least one of i) third party service providers and information describing each third party service provider's service and ii) agents and information associated with each agent. A response is sent that describes an available pairing between an agent and a service provider. | 06-12-2014 |
20140115640 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR NETWORKED PVR STORAGE AND CONTENT CAPTURE - A content management system for managing content stored by a number of networked Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) associated with a user community is provided. More specifically, the storage space of each of the personal video recorders is physically or logically partitioned into a personal space and a community space. The content management system manages the community spaces of the PVRs such that content relevant to the user community is stored in the collective community space of the PVRs and available to the user community. | 04-24-2014 |
20140109136 | PERSONALIZED BROADCAST SYSTEM - A system and method for providing personal broadcast channels are provided. In one embodiment, one or more users interact with a local broadcast agent hosted by a local server to define profiles for a number of personal broadcast channels. The profiles include information identifying types of content to be broadcast on the personal broadcast channels and optionally formats for the personal broadcast channels. Based on the profiles for the personal broadcast channels, the local broadcast agent generates a request for content types desired for the personal broadcast channels and provides the request to a content distribution agent hosted by a master server. Based on content provided to the local server in response to the request and the profiles of the personal broadcast channels, the local broadcast agent generates the local broadcast channels. | 04-17-2014 |
20140105451 | CLIENT-SIDE WATERMARKING USING HYBRID I-FRAMES - A system and method for client-side watermarking of digital content using hybrid Intra-Frames (I-Frames) are provided. In general, a content source provides a compressed video stream and a hybrid I-Frame stream to a client device via a network. The hybrid I-Frame stream includes a number of low-loss I-Frames corresponding to select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream to be used for client-side watermarking. The client device watermarks the I-Frames in the hybrid I-Frame stream, optionally compresses the watermarked I-Frames, and replaces the select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream with the watermarked and optionally compressed I-Frames to provide a watermarked version of the compressed video stream. | 04-17-2014 |
20140089970 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF PRESENTING ADVERTISEMENTS IN CONSUMER-DEFINED ENVIRONMENTS - Targeted or other advertising may comprise one or more advertisements presented in a virtual world environment constructed according to consumer parameters, with the advertisements presented according to rules, scripts, or other parameters defined by the advertiser(s). For instance, one or more consumer computing device(s) can access data defining a brand name, logo, and/or message and can access data defining consumer preferences for the context in which advertisements are to be presented. For example, the context may vary according to viewer identity, programming content, time of day, and the like. Then, the consumer computing device(s) can render a virtual world based on the consumer preferences with the virtual world also comprising the advertisement(s) generated based on advertiser definitions. | 03-27-2014 |
20140075481 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING AND MANAGING CUSTOM MEDIA CHANNELS - A system and method for creating and managing custom media channels within an Interactive Digital Program Guide (IDPG) of a device having a set-top box function associated with a cable or satellite television network. In general, a user interacts with the set-top box function to define a custom media channel. The custom media channel may be defined by a channel name and user preferences. Once the custom media channel is defined, an Internet search is performed based on the user preferences in order to identify media presentations for the custom media channel. Thereafter, when a user selects the custom media channel via the IDPG, the media presentations are played in a substantially continuous stream in either a predetermined or random sequence. | 03-13-2014 |
20140059597 | SYNCHRONIZING MULTIPLE PLAYBACK DEVICE TIMING UTILIZING DRM ENCODING - A system and method are provided for synchronizing playback of media content on multiple playback devices utilizing Digital Rights Management (DRM) encoding. In general, multiple playback devices or users of those playback devices are associated to form a virtual group. A virtual group (VG) control function operates to synchronize advertisement (ad) slots within media content provided to the playback devices in the virtual group utilizing DRM encoding. | 02-27-2014 |
20140033261 | RDMA BASED REAL-TIME VIDEO CLIENT PLAYBACK ARCHITECTURE - A client playback architecture for a media content distribution system is provided. In the preferred embodiment, the client playback architecture is a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) based architecture. The RDMA based architecture enables the client playback device to obtain media content from a central server in real-time or in substantially real-time as the media content is needed for playback at the client playback device. More specifically, the playback device includes RDMA enabled playback circuitry operating to perform RDMA transfers for select media content, buffer the media content received as a result of the RDMA transfers, and provide the media content for presentation to one or more associated viewers via one or more audio/video interfaces. | 01-30-2014 |
20130326017 | PROVIDING AND RECEIVING CONTENT FOR COMPUTER NETWORKS USING A GATEWAY AND SERVER - Providing and receiving content for nodes of a computer network. In one aspect, a method for receiving content for nodes on a network includes establishing a computer device as a gateway device that can communicate in a first network and communicate with a server in a second network. The gateway device makes a request for content to be provided to at least one destination node in the first network. The requested content is received at the gateway device and is then provided to the destination node, where the received content is based on stored settings for the at least one destination node. | 12-05-2013 |
20130247029 | METHODS OF TRACKING REMOTE SOFTWARE INSTALLATIONS AND REGISTRATIONS AND RELATED SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS - Methods of tracking remote software installations at a central server may include receiving an installation message over a network from a user device wherein the installation message indicates, an installation of the software at the user device. After receiving the installation message from the user device, an installation code may be created responsive to receiving the installation message, and the installation code may uniquely identify installation of the software at the user device. The installation code may be transmitted over the network to the user device, and the installation code may be stored at the central server. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed. | 09-19-2013 |
20130246500 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HOSTING IMAGES EMBEDDED IN EXTERNAL WEBSITES - A system and method are provided for hosting digital images embedded in an external website, wherein the digital images are modified to include additional content such as advertisements when served to a guest of the external website. In general, a host website including a web server and an image database operates to host digital images for external websites. When the web server associated with the host website receives a request for a digital image embedded within a webpage of the external website, the web server analyzes metadata associated with the digital image to produce selection criteria and selects additional content to add to the digital image based on the selection criteria. The web server then modifies the digital image to include the additional content, thereby generating a modified image, and provides the modified image to the requesting node. | 09-19-2013 |
20130239227 | GROUP LICENSES FOR VIRTUAL OBJECTS IN A DISTRIBUTED VIRTUAL WORLD - A group licensing scheme for validating groups of virtual objects within a distributed virtual world is provided. Each of a number of distributed virtual world servers hosts a cell, or virtual space, of the virtual world. In operation, a first virtual world server categorizes virtual objects into a number of groups. Either before or after creating the groups, the first virtual world server validates each virtual object individually. Once the virtual objects are validated and the groups are formed, the first virtual world server generates a group license for each of the groups. When a group of virtual objects or an avatar associated with one or more groups of virtual objects moves to a virtual space hosted by a second virtual world server, the corresponding group licenses are provided to the second virtual world server, which validates the one or more groups of virtual objects based on the group licenses. | 09-12-2013 |
20130232566 | COLLABORATIVE FIREWALL FOR A DISTRIBUTED VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT - A virtual environment firewall receives a message having a request from a virtual environment entity intended for a virtual environment controller. The virtual environment firewall determines whether the request complies with one or more governance rules of the virtual environment controller. If the request does not comply with the one or more governance rules, the virtual environment firewall processes the message to prevent the request from being processed by the virtual environment controller. | 09-05-2013 |
20130227608 | LATE-BINDING OF ADVERTISEMENTS USING RDMA CONNECTIVITY - A system and method are provided for inserting customized or personalized advertisements into video content presented to a viewer. In general, the system includes an ad content server and a late-binding ad insertion system serving a number of client devices including a client device of the viewer. Utilizing Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA), the late-binding ad insertion system obtains customized advertisements for the viewer from the ad content server. The late-binding ad insertion system then provides the video content having the customized advertisements inserted therein to the client device for presentation to the viewer. | 08-29-2013 |
20130219076 | WIRELESS MULTIMEDIA BROKERAGE SERVICE FOR REAL TIME CONTENT PROVISIONING - A wireless multimedia brokerage service supports sharing of real-time multimedia content whereby a mobile device user can perceive real-time content from a device in visual proximity, such as a nearby display device, and share the content of the display device with another mobile terminal user without the need to download or otherwise directly access the real-time content. The brokerage service can handle the transactional details of obtaining rights to the real-time content and also manage establishing and terminating a real-time multimedia session with the device(s) of the recipient user(s). In some embodiments, the wireless multimedia content brokerage service can proactively obtain subscriptions to content providers based on the location of one or more users. The brokerage service can also proactively obtain and buffer real-time content after receiving a request to share the content, with the buffering allowing for content to be preserved while the recipient user or users are contacted. The content can then be pushed or otherwise provided to the recipient(s). | 08-22-2013 |
20130179918 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MINIMIZING A NUMBER OF DATA STREAMS - A method and system for minimizing data streams of the same program on a shared medium is provided. A user device receives a first data stream of a program and effects display of the program based on the first data stream to a display device. The, user device halts display of the program and provides an advertisement to a viewer. A second data stream of the program being provided over the same medium to a second viewer that was initiated after the first data stream is provided to the user device. The user device buffers the second data stream, and after the advertisement is finished, provides the program to the viewer based on the second data stream. | 07-11-2013 |
20130132519 | CONTROLLING QUALITY OF SERVICE AND CONTENT QUALITY BASED ON USER RELATIONSHIPS - A system and method are provided for controlling Quality of Service (QoS), content quality, or both QoS and content quality in a content sharing network based on user relationships. More specifically, QoS, content quality, or both QoS and content quality may be controlled based on a relationship of a user of a network node requesting content and either a user of a network node hosting the requested content or an owner of the requested content, a relationship between the user of the network node requesting the content and the content, or any combination thereof. | 05-23-2013 |
20130070958 | CLIENT-SIDE WATERMARKING USING HYBRID I-FRAMES - A system and method for client-side watermarking of digital content using hybrid Intra-Frames (I-Frames) are provided. In general, a content source provides a compressed video stream and a hybrid I-Frame stream to a client device via a network. The hybrid I-Frame stream includes a number of low-loss I-Frames corresponding to select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream to be used for client-side watermarking. The client device watermarks the I-Frames in the hybrid I-Frame stream, optionally compresses the watermarked I-Frames, and replaces the select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream with the watermarked and optionally compressed I-Frames to provide a watermarked version of the compressed video stream. | 03-21-2013 |
20120291137 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SOCIAL NETWORK TRUST ASSESSMENT - A first user's trust level with regard to a second user can be determined by providing questions to the second user, with the questions based on a previously-collected knowledge base including information about the first user. The information about the first user may be partitioned into levels of trust, and the second user's responses to the questions may be evaluated to determine which level of trust the second user is entitled to. The knowledge base may be assembled by prompting the first user for information and/or by scanning or otherwise collecting already-existing data about the first user. The knowledge base and/or trust assessment may be distributed across a network, and in some embodiments the knowledge base or parts thereof is distributed to other users according to the trust level of those users. | 11-15-2012 |
20120271905 | PROXY CACHING IN A PHOTOSHARING PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK TO IMPROVE GUEST IMAGE VIEWING PERFORMANCE - The present invention provides a method and system for serving an image stored in the peer computer to a requesting computer in a network photosharing system in which the peer computer is coupled to a photosharing system server. Aspects of the invention include caching copy of the image in the photosharing server; and in response to the photosharing server receiving a request from the requesting computer to view the image stored in the peer computer, transmitting the cached image from the photosharing server to the requesting computer, thereby avoiding the need to transfer the image from the peer computer to the photosharing server for each request to view the image. | 10-25-2012 |
20120178434 | PERSONAL AREA NETWORK HAVING MEDIA PLAYER AND MOBILE DEVICE CONTROLLING THE SAME - A system and method are provided for controlling content played by a number of media devices. In general, the system includes a mobile device and the number of media devices. The mobile device includes a wireless communication interface for communicating with the media devices, a media database, and a control system including a media client. When the mobile device enters a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) associated with a media device, the media client obtains information describing the content residing at the media device and stores the information in the media database at the mobile device. Thereafter, when the mobile device is within the WPAN associated with the media device, the media database is used to select content to be played at the media device. | 07-12-2012 |
20120133817 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CORRECTING ASPECT RATIO IN A CAMERA GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE - A device and method are provided that retrieves a plurality of thumbnails corresponding to a plurality of images captured by the digital camera and rotates each thumbnail of the plurality of thumbnails into an upright position. The method and device also crops each thumbnail of the plurality of thumbnails to a uniform size which is an overlap of a portrait and landscape image and displays each thumbnail of the plurality of thumbnails having the uniform size such that the plurality of thumbnails has a uniform appearance while the digital camera is in a review mode. | 05-31-2012 |
20110314016 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TAGGING IMAGES BASED ON POSITIONAL INFORMATION - A system and method for suggesting keywords for tagging a digital image are provided. In general, a requesting node is communicatively coupled to a keyword service via a network. The requesting node sends a request to the keyword service requesting suggested keywords for a digital image. The request includes information relating to the digital image such as positional information. Based on the information, the keyword service generates a list of suggested keywords and provides the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node. At the requesting node, the list of suggested keywords is displayed to a user, and the user selects one or more of the suggested keywords for tagging the digital image. | 12-22-2011 |
20110268197 | CLIENT-SIDE WATERMARKING USING HYBRID I-FRAMES - A system and method for client-side watermarking of digital content using hybrid Intra-Frames (I-Frames) are provided. In general, a content source provides a compressed video stream and a hybrid I-Frame stream to a client device via a network. The hybrid I-Frame stream includes a number of low-loss I-Frames corresponding to select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream to be used for client-side watermarking. The client device watermarks the I-Frames in the hybrid I-Frame stream, optionally compresses the watermarked I-Frames, and replaces the select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream with the watermarked and optionally compressed I-Frames to provide a watermarked version of the compressed video stream. | 11-03-2011 |
20110261998 | SELECTION OF I-FRAMES FOR CLIENT-SIDE WATERMARKING - A system and method are provided for selecting frames of a compressed video stream that may be used for client-side watermarking. In general, a content source evaluates a number of Intra-Frames (I-Frames) in the compressed video stream using a sample watermark that is similar to actual watermarks that may be used for client-side watermarking. More specifically, each of a number of I-Frames in the compressed video stream is evaluated by first watermarking the I-Frame with the sample watermark. Associated frames in the compressed video stream are then decoded using the watermarked I-Frame. An error value for the decoded video frames is then computed. If the error value is outside of a predetermined error threshold range, the I-Frame is selected as an I-Frame that may be used for client-side watermarking. | 10-27-2011 |
20110202636 | PERSONAL AREA NETWORK HAVING MEDIA PLAYER AND MOBILE DEVICE CONTROLLING THE SAME - A system and method are provided for controlling content played by a number of media devices. In general, the system includes a mobile device and the number of media devices. The mobile device includes a wireless communication interface for communicating with the media devices, a media database, and a control system including a media client. When the mobile device enters a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) associated with a media device, the media client obtains information describing the content residing at the media device and stores the information in the media database at the mobile device. Thereafter, when the mobile device is within the WPAN associated with the media device, the media database is used to select content to be played at the media device. | 08-18-2011 |
20110197209 | MANAGING CACHE READER AND WRITER THREADS IN A PROXY SERVER - A system and method are provided for managing reader and writer threads in a caching proxy server. In general, a caching proxy server operates as an intermediary between a web server and a number of client devices. The clients send requests for digital assets hosted by the web server to the caching proxy server. For each request, or more particularly for each group of concurrent requests, for a particular digital asset, the caching proxy server operates in either a decoupled writer mode of operation or a reader/writer mode operation. In addition, while serving the requests, the proxy server may switch between the decoupled writer and the reader/writer modes of operation depending on one or more criteria. | 08-11-2011 |
20110170688 | CLIENT-SIDE PROTECTION OF BROADCAST OR MULTICAST CONTENT FOR NON-REAL-TIME PLAYBACK - A system and method are disclosed for providing client-side protection of broadcast or multicast multimedia content for non-real-time playback. A set-top box function receives a request to record multimedia content and determines whether recording of the multimedia content is restricted. Upon receiving the multimedia content, the set-top box decrypts the multimedia content for real-time playback. If recording of the multimedia content is restricted, the set-top box re-encrypts the multimedia content and generates a packaged file including the re-encrypted multimedia content and one or more of a content identifier, a set-top identifier, a network reference to a copyright policy server, and a record policy of the multimedia content. The packaged file is either stored locally or transferred to remote storage. A remote system having access to the packaged file obtains the packaged file and enforces a copyright policy of the multimedia content before releasing the multimedia content for non-real-time playback. | 07-14-2011 |
20110145935 | INTERCONNECT DEVICE TO ENABLE COMPLIANCE WITH RIGHTS MANAGEMENT RESTRICTIONS - To help ensure that only authorized media content that is associated with rights management (RM) restrictions is delivered from a compliant RM interface of a source device to a non-compliant RM interface of a destination device, an interconnect device provides a compliant RM interface to connect to the source device and monitors media content received from the source device to detect an embedded digital watermark. The interconnect device takes the necessary steps to determine if the watermark is authentic and control delivery of the media content to the destination device accordingly. The interconnect device may go back to the source device or to a remote service to authenticate the watermark. If the watermark is authentic, the media content is passed by the interconnect device to the non-compliant interface of the destination device outside of normal RM restrictions. Otherwise, the delivery of the media content is restricted by the interconnect device. | 06-16-2011 |
20110125989 | COLLABORATIVE CONFIGURATION OF A MEDIA ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for collaboratively providing configurations for a media environment are provided. In general, configuration events from a number of media environments are collected and provided to a Collaborative Configuration System (CCS) server. Based on the configuration events, the CCS server generates and provides recommended configurations to a media environment. The recommended configurations may be generated prior to or after receiving a request for recommended configurations from the media environment. In one embodiment, the recommended configurations are provided as a recommended configuration profile providing a set of configurations to be applied at the media environment. In another embodiment, the recommended configurations are provided as a CCS track associated with a particular media presentation. The CCS track includes configuration changes to be applied to the media environment for a number of time slices of the media presentation during playback of the media presentation. | 05-26-2011 |
20110125861 | SYSTEM AND METHOD PROVIDING PEER REVIEW AND DISTRIBUTION OF DIGITAL CONTENT - A digital content review and distribution system and method are provided. In general, a number of authors of digital content register with a content review and distribution agent, which may be hosted by a central server. The authors agree to review digital content submitted by other authors in exchange for review and distribution of their own content. In operation, an author submits metadata associated with digital content to be reviewed and optionally the digital content to the content review and distribution agent. In response to the submission, the content review and distribution agent effects a review of the digital content by one or more groups of reviewers, where the groups of reviewers are selected from the other authors registered with the content review and distribution agent based on the metadata for the digital content and reviewer credentials of the other authors. | 05-26-2011 |
20110113098 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SOCIAL NETWORK TRUST ASSESSMENT - A first user's trust level with regard to a second user can be determined by providing questions to the second user, with the questions based on a previously-collected knowledge base including information about the first user. The information about the first user may be partitioned into levels of trust, and the second user's responses to the questions may be evaluated to determine which level of trust the second user is entitled to. The knowledge base may be assembled by prompting the first user for information and/or by scanning or otherwise collecting already-existing data about the first user. The knowledge base and/or trust assessment may be distributed across a network, and in some embodiments the knowledge base or parts thereof is distributed to other users according to the trust level of those users. | 05-12-2011 |
20110040779 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TAGGING IMAGES BASED ON POSITIONAL INFORMATION - A system and method for suggesting keywords for tagging a digital image are provided. In general, a requesting node is communicatively coupled to a keyword service via a network. The requesting node sends a request to the keyword service requesting suggested keywords for a digital image. The request includes information relating to the digital image such as positional information. Based on the information, the keyword service generates a list of suggested keywords and provides the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node. At the requesting node, the list of suggested keywords is displayed to a user, and the user selects one or more of the suggested keywords for tagging the digital image. | 02-17-2011 |
20110035449 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND PRODUCTS FOR SEARCHING SOCIAL NETWORKS - Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for searching social networks. A device is encountered that sends a query. The query comprises a search packet. A content search is performed according to a query parameter described by the search packet. The content search is then repeatedly performed according to a duration parameter described by the search packet. | 02-10-2011 |
20100332298 | SYNCHRONIZING MULTIPLE PLAYBACK DEVICE TIMING UTILIZING DRM ENCODING - A system and method are provided for synchronizing playback of media content on multiple playback devices utilizing Digital Rights Management (DRM) encoding. In general, multiple playback devices or users of those playback devices are associated to form a virtual group. A virtual group (VG) control function operates to synchronize advertisement (ad) slots within media content provided to the playback devices in the virtual group utilizing DRM encoding. | 12-30-2010 |
20100297934 | PERSONAL AREA NETWORK HAVING MEDIA PLAYER AND MOBILE DEVICE CONTROLLING THE SAME - A system and method are provided for controlling content played by a number of media devices. In general, the system includes a mobile device and the number of media devices. The mobile device includes a wireless communication interface for communicating with the media devices, a media database, and a control system including a media client. When the mobile device enters a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) associated with a media device, the media client obtains information describing the content residing at the media device and stores the information in the media database at the mobile device. Thereafter, when the mobile device is within the WPAN associated with the media device, the media database is used to select content to be played at the media device. | 11-25-2010 |
20100208819 | CLIENT-SIDE WATERMARKING USING HYBRID I-FRAMES - A system and method for client-side watermarking of digital content using hybrid Intra-Frames (I-Frames) are provided. In general, a content source provides a compressed video stream and a hybrid I-Frame stream to a client device via a network. The hybrid I-Frame stream includes a number of low-loss I-Frames corresponding to select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream to be used for client-side watermarking. The client device watermarks the I-Frames in the hybrid I-Frame stream, optionally compresses the watermarked I-Frames, and replaces the select ones of the I-Frames in the compressed video stream with the watermarked and optionally compressed I-Frames to provide a watermarked version of the compressed video stream. | 08-19-2010 |
20100169465 | SERVING CONTENT FROM AN OFF-LINE PEER SERVER IN A PHOTOSHARING PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK IN RESPONSE TO A GUEST REQUEST - A method and system for serving content from a peer server in a photosharing peer-to-peer network is disclosed, wherein the peer server stores a web album and at least one associated digital image. Aspects of the invention include prior to the peer server going off-line, the peer server initiates a synchronization with a proxy server and a guest content server in which the web page a web page descriptor defining the web album is copied from the peer server to the guest content server, and the image associated with the web album is copied from the peer server to the proxy server. In response to a request from a requesting computer to view content stored in the peer computer when the peer server is off-line, the request is fulfilled by forwarding the web page from the guest content server to the requesting computer, and forwarding the image associated with a web page from the proxy server to the requesting computer, thereby successfully serving content from the peer server even when the peer server is off-line. | 07-01-2010 |
20100146398 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ON-DEMAND NARRATION OF A CUSTOMIZED STORY - A method and apparatus for on-demand narration of a customized story. A user indicates a desire via a user device to listen to a narrated customized story. A story service receives personalization information relating to the user associated with the user device, and obtains localization information relating to information associated with a location of the user device. A customized story is generated based on the personalization information and the localization information, and is narrated to the user device. | 06-10-2010 |
20100125887 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO INFLUENCE A VIEWER TO SELECT A FEED - A method and apparatus for influencing a viewer to select a second feed. A shared medium is loaded beyond a loading threshold. One or more high viewership feeds being provided over the shared medium are designated preferred feeds, and one or more user devices providing low viewership feeds to viewers are designated candidate user devices. The candidate user devices are instructed to influence their respective viewers to select one of the high viewership feeds. The candidate user devices select a second feed from one or more preferred feeds, and provide information pertaining to the second feed to the viewer. | 05-20-2010 |
20100100627 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BYPASSING AN ACCESS POINT IN A LOCAL AREA NETWORK FOR P2P DATA TRANSFERS - A system and method for bypassing an access point in a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) for direct point-to-point data transfers are provided. A user device in the wireless LAN is equipped with a primary local wireless interface establishing a wireless communication link with an access point of the wireless LAN, a secondary local wireless interface used for direct point-to-point (P2P) file transfers, and a P2P file transfer application. When the P2P application desires to transfer a data file to another user device within the wireless LAN, the user device determines whether the other user device is within a coverage area of the secondary local wireless interface and whether the file transfer meets one or more alternate transfer criterion. If so, the data file is transferred to the other user device via a direct P2P wireless communication link, thereby bypassing the access point of the wireless LAN. | 04-22-2010 |
20090276328 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING SECURE TRANSACTIONS IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - At least two computer systems in a peer-to-peer network are utilized to support a secure transaction. Aspects of the present invention include allowing a shopper to create an order to purchase an item stored on a first computer system in the peer-to-peer network, and after the order is created, passing the order and control from the first computer system to a second computer system in the peer-to-peer network. The second computer system establishes a secure transaction session with the shopper, and then proceeds to process the order. | 11-05-2009 |
20090172132 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING IMAGE RICH WEB PAGES FROM A COMPUTER SYSTEM OVER A NETWORK - The present invention is related to a computer system that provides a web page to a requestor over a network. Aspects of the present invention include receiving by the computer system a request to access a web page and in response, determining whether a descriptor for the requested web page is in a session memory. If the descriptor is not in the session memory, it is retrieved from a database and the stored in the session memory. From there, the descriptor is used to determine whether the web page should be retrieved and returned to the requestor. By storing the descriptor in session memory, additional accesses to the database can be avoided when the descriptor is used for subsequent tasks. | 07-02-2009 |
20090083412 | ILLUSTRATION SUPPORTED P2P MEDIA CONTENT STREAMING - A system and method for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) media content streaming are provided. In one embodiment, prior to streaming desired original media content, a playback agent of a first peer playback device downloads illustration media content, which is a derivate light-weight version of the original media content. The playback agent then initiates streaming of the original media content from one or more other peer playback devices hosting the original media content or a segment thereof. The playback agent monitors a quality of the network connection to the other peer playback devices streaming the original media content to the playback agent. If the quality of the network connection falls below a defined threshold, the playback agent switches playback to the illustration media content. Once the quality of the network connection improves or a new connection is established, the playback agent switches playback back to the streaming original media content. | 03-26-2009 |
20090063983 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REPRESENTING CONTENT, USER PRESENCE AND INTERACTION WITHIN VIRTUAL WORLD ADVERTISING ENVIRONMENTS - A control system renders a shared virtual environment to one or more users and obtains metadata associated with content accessed by the users. Representations based on the gathered metadata are provided to a viewing user, and may include visual elements serving as host, content and/or presence representations. Applicable representations are identified from a plurality of defined possible content representations based on the metadata associated with and obtained for a hosting user. The representations may be descriptive of a variety of parameters, including but not limited to the type, timing, nature or other parameters associated with content currently being accessed by a hosting user, content available from the hosting user, a future schedule for content access, time remaining for the hosting user to remain within a shared virtual environment, the hosting user's social network status relative to the viewing user. Presence representations may be displayed to provide information on a hosting user's presence availability within a shared virtual environment elative to one or more determined time slots. | 03-05-2009 |
20090055371 | PHOTOSHARING SERVER FILTERS FOR AUTOMATIC STORAGE AND SHARING OF DIGITAL FILES - A method and system for providing on online file- service that automatically stores and organizes digital files. The method and system include providing the server with a set of trigger handlers that are each configured to perform a particular action on a digital file. The user may log into the server and specify attribute criteria for each of the trigger handlers. Digital files uploaded by the user are received by the server, wherein each file has a plurality of attributes associated therewith. The attributes of each file are then compared with the attribute criteria entered by the user for each of the trigger handlers. And upon a match, the corresponding trigger handler is invoked, such that actions are automatically performed on the digital files. | 02-26-2009 |
20090037822 | CONTEXT-AWARE SHARED CONTENT REPRESENTATIONS - Systems and methods for providing context-aware content representations are disclosed. In general, the context-aware content representations are visual representations presented in association with a content representation host representative of a user or, alternatively, some other entity. The context-aware content representations are indicative of content made accessible by the user or of interest to the user and are additionally influenced by context. The context may be, for example, topics of social interactions such as text-based or voice-based conversations, device information descriptive of a device on which the accessible content is stored or through which the content is accessible, physical location, location within a virtual world, content access information related to content accessed by the user or entity represented by the content representation host or accessed by another user through the content representation host, or the like. | 02-05-2009 |
20080313029 | PUSH-CACHING SCHEME FOR A LATE-BINDING ADVERTISEMENT ARCHITECTURE - A system providing late-binding of advertisements to video content and incorporating a push-caching scheme is disclosed. In general, the system includes an advertisement server located at a central location such as a central headend and a number of late-binding systems located at locations such as a number of remote headends. The late-binding systems are connected to the advertisement server via a Wide Area Network (WAN). Each of the late-binding systems is also connected to an associated advertisement cache via a Local Area Network (LAN). A cache assignment agent associated with the advertisement server operates to push advertisements to the advertisement caches associated with the late-binding systems in a predictive fashion based on, for example, historical information for the late-binding systems and/or profiles of users or viewers associated with the client devices served by the late-binding systems. | 12-18-2008 |
20080307066 | Systems and Methods of Providing Collaborative Consumer-Controlled Advertising Environments - Targeted or other advertising may comprise one or more advertisements presented to multiple users in a virtual world environment such that participating users can interact with one another and/or with executed advertisements. Groups of users may be invited to participate in collaborative virtual world environments based on consumer contact lists or profiles establishing matching preferences for such groups. Synchronized data may be narrowcasted or broadcasted to invited users. Such data may define one or more virtual world environments as well as traditional and/or virtual world advertisements for execution in the shared environment(s). Advertisements may be selected based on one or more consumer preferences associated with one or more of the users participating in the shared virtual world environment. | 12-11-2008 |
20080306818 | MULTI-CLIENT STREAMER WITH LATE BINDING OF AD CONTENT - A late-binding multi-client streamer utilizing Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) transfers to obtain video and advertisement content is provided. For each client device, the streamer receives a video content selection. In response, the streamer initiates an RDMA transfer of the video content or a segment of the video content from a storage device of a video content server to an associated video buffer and begins streaming the video content from the video buffer to the client device. When an upcoming advertisement slot in the video content is detected, the streamer initiates an RDMA transfer of an advertisement for the ad slot from a storage device associated with an advertisement content server to an associated ad buffer. The streamer then inserts the advertisement from the ad buffer into the ad slot in the video content as the video content is streamed to the client device. | 12-11-2008 |
20080306817 | Methods and Systems of Presenting Advertisements in Consumer-Defined Environments - Targeted or other advertising may comprise one or more advertisements presented in a virtual world environment constructed according to consumer parameters, with the advertisements presented according to rules, scripts, or other parameters defined by the advertiser(s). For instance, one or more consumer computing device(s) can access data defining a brand name, logo, and/or message and can access data defining consumer preferences for the context in which advertisements are to be presented. For example, the context may vary according to viewer identity, programming content, time of day, and the like. Then, the consumer computing device(s) can render a virtual world based on the consumer preferences with the virtual world also comprising the advertisement(s) generated based on advertiser definitions. | 12-11-2008 |