Patents by Inventor William Thing

William Thing has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • MANAGING CONCURRENT CONTENT PLAYBACK
    Publication number: 20240040174
    Abstract: A content server may receive from a user device a request for a content asset and may send to the playback device a permit for accessing the content asset. The permit may be used by the content server in order to enforce a concurrency restriction, or a number of concurrent playbacks of one or more content assets desired or permitted by the playback device. In response to receiving a request for a content asset segment associated with a content asset, the content server may determine whether the number of permits currently granted to the playback device exceeds the number of desired or permitted accesses by the playback device, or a group of playback devices, to the content asset or one or more content assets. If so, then the content server may discontinue sending to the playback device any further content asset segments associated with that content asset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2023
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Inventors: Suk-Hyun CHO, William THING, Eugene PARKER
  • Managing concurrent content playback
    Patent number: 11792458
    Abstract: A content server may receive from a user device a request for a content asset and may send to the playback device a permit for accessing the content asset. The permit may be used by the content server in order to enforce a concurrency restriction, or a number of concurrent playbacks of one or more content assets desired or permitted by the playback device. In response to receiving a request for a content asset segment associated with a content asset, the content server may determine whether the number of permits currently granted to the playback device exceeds the number of desired or permitted accesses by the playback device, or a group of playback devices, to the content asset or one or more content assets. If so, then the content server may discontinue sending to the playback device any further content asset segments associated with that content asset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Suk-Hyun Cho, William Thing, Eugene Parker
  • MANAGING CONCURRENT CONTENT PLAYBACK
    Publication number: 20230031833
    Abstract: A content server may receive from a user device a request for a content asset and may send to the playback device a permit for accessing the content asset. The permit may be used by the content server in order to enforce a concurrency restriction, or a number of concurrent playbacks of one or more content assets desired or permitted by the playback device. In response to receiving a request for a content asset segment associated with a content asset, the content server may determine whether the number of permits currently granted to the playback device exceeds the number of desired or permitted accesses by the playback device, or a group of playback devices, to the content asset or one or more content assets. If so, then the content server may discontinue sending to the playback device any further content asset segments associated with that content asset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2022
    Publication date: February 2, 2023
    Inventors: Suk-Hyun CHO, William THING, Eugene PARKER
  • Managing concurrent content playback
    Patent number: 11425434
    Abstract: A content server may receive from a user device a request for a content asset and may send to the playback device a permit for accessing the content asset. The permit may be used by the content server in order to enforce a concurrency restriction, or a number of concurrent playbacks of one or more content assets desired or permitted by the playback device. In response to receiving a request for a content asset segment associated with a content asset, the content server may determine whether the number of permits currently granted to the playback device exceeds the number of desired or permitted accesses by the playback device, or a group of playback devices, to the content asset or one or more content assets. If so, then the content server may discontinue sending to the playback device any further content asset segments associated with that content asset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Suk-Hyun Cho, William Thing, Eugene Parker
  • MANAGING CONCURRENT CONTENT PLAYBACK
    Publication number: 20210051353
    Abstract: A content server may receive from a user device a request for a content asset and may send to the playback device a permit for accessing the content asset. The permit may be used by the content server in order to enforce a concurrency restriction, or a number of concurrent playbacks of one or more content assets desired or permitted by the playback device. In response to receiving a request for a content asset segment associated with a content asset, the content server may determine whether the number of permits currently granted to the playback device exceeds the number of desired or permitted accesses by the playback device, or a group of playback devices, to the content asset or one or more content assets. If so, then the content server may discontinue sending to the playback device any further content asset segments associated with that content asset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2020
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Inventors: Suk-Hyun Cho, William Thing, Eugene Parker
  • Managing concurrent content playback
    Patent number: 10701419
    Abstract: A content server may receive from a user device a request for a content asset and may send to the playback device a permit for accessing the content asset. The permit may be used by the content server in order to enforce a concurrency restriction, or a number of concurrent playbacks of one or more content assets desired or permitted by the playback device. In response to receiving a request for a content asset segment associated with a content asset, the content server may determine whether the number of permits currently granted to the playback device exceeds the number of desired or permitted accesses by the playback device, or a group of playback devices, to the content asset or one or more content assets. If so, then the content server may discontinue sending to the playback device any further content asset segments associated with that content asset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Suk-Hyun Cho, William Thing, Eugene Parker
  • Managing Concurrent Content Playback
    Publication number: 20200084486
    Abstract: A content server may receive from a user device a request for a content asset and may send to the playback device a permit for accessing the content asset. The permit may be used by the content server in order to enforce a concurrency restriction, or a number of concurrent playbacks of one or more content assets desired or permitted by the playback device. In response to receiving a request for a content asset segment associated with a content asset, the content server may determine whether the number of permits currently granted to the playback device exceeds the number of desired or permitted accesses by the playback device, or a group of playback devices, to the content asset or one or more content assets. If so, then the content server may discontinue sending to the playback device any further content asset segments associated with that content asset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2018
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Inventors: Suk-Hyun Cho, William Thing, Eugene Parker