Abstract: In one embodiment, a method for managing advertisement opportunities in a network environment includes retrieving advertisement parameters supplied by an advertiser; creating at least one program substream by dividing a program stream; identifying avails that are positioned within the program stream and dividing the avails into one or more subavails in the at least one program substream; retrieving subscriber characteristics related to viewers of the at least one program substream; and correlating the subscriber characteristics with the advertisement parameters to determine which advertisement is the optimum advertisement to schedule to display in the one or more subavails.

Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed herein for a media guidance application that enhances the viewer experience by providing supplemental content related to a media asset during a fast-access playback operation. For example, in response to a user input during a fast-forward or rewind operation, the media guidance application may generate for display supplemental content related to the progression point of the media asset at which the user input was received while the fast-forward or rewind operation continues.

Abstract: A user device within a communication architecture, the user device comprising: an image capture device configured to determine image data for the creation of a video channel defining the shared scene; an intrinsic/extrinsic data determiner configured to determine intrinsic/extrinsic capture device data associated with the image capture device; and a video encoder configured to encode the image data and intrinsic/extrinsic capture device data within the video channel.

Abstract: Systems and methods here may be used to communicate wirelessly with a wireless user device, communicate with a media service provider by a network, communicate with a media equipment player, receive from the wireless user device, a request to access a media service by the media service provider, access media available by the media service provider and communicate the availability of the media to the wireless user device, and mirror playing of the media from the media service provider by the media equipment player.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for automatically transitioning program delivery/reception between alternative sources, e.g., from a non-IP channel to an IP video source or between two alternative IP sources are described. The transition maybe triggered by a detected problem with the delivery via the non-IP channel or because of scheduled service. The transition may be in response to a command sent to a device or because the receiving device detects a problem with one of the content sources triggering an automatic switch to the alternative content source. In at least some embodiments the different content sources corresponding to different coding methods, e.g., with MPEG-2 encoded and packetized content being delivered by a non-IP content delivery channel and MPEG-4 being delivered using unicast IP content delivery techniques. The methods facilitate deployment of new services with IP content delivery being deployed initially on a regional basis with non-IP content delivery gradually being rolled out.

Abstract: The present technology relates to a data processing device and a data processing method capable of performing appropriate stream processing. An input stream is split into a split stream for each of a plurality of channels. A stream to be generated includes the split stream, and signature information unique for each of the input streams containing the split stream, or includes the split stream, the signature information, and location information about a transmission frequency band of a split stream constituting the input stream and different from the split stream included in the generated stream. The present technology is applicable to a channel bonding (CB) technology which splits an input stream into streams of a plurality of channels and transmits the split streams, for example.

Abstract: Feedback regarding a presentation may be received from viewers who have viewed the presentation. In some instances, the presentation may be segmented into a plurality of segments and one or more discrete segments included in the plurality may be divided into a plurality of sub-segments. The presentation may be provided to the plurality of viewers and feedback regarding a discrete sub-segment of the plurality of sub-segments may be received from each of the plurality of viewers via the feedback mechanism. A report based on the received feedback information may then be generated.

Abstract: System and methods for storing streamed media data to memory for future playback are provided. A device may stream media data associated with a movie over a network connection. The data streamed to the device will be saved to device memory and will then be playable offline. A manifest associated with the media data will be downloaded to the device and modified to reflect the location of the locally stored media data. During subsequent playback of the media data, the manifest will indicate that at least a portion of the media data exists in local memory. Some portions of the media data not stored locally may be subsequently retrieved from a remote source. The stored data may be updated or added to as necessary.

Abstract: Systems and methods for sorting media assets are provided. Playback information for each of a plurality of media assets is received, the playback information representing a percentage of a length of the corresponding media asset that each of a plurality of users previously viewed. Representations of the plurality of media assets are generated. The representations of the plurality of media assets are sorted based on the percentage of the length of the corresponding media asset that each of a plurality of users previously viewed. The sorted representations of the plurality of media assets are generated for display to a first user.

Abstract: A physical device, the possession of which may provide access to digital media content in a fashion similar to the possession of a DVD providing access to the media content stored thereupon on a suitable DVD player. The possession of the physical device grants access to digital content stored on a remote server using a suitable device such as e.g., a set-top box or media player having Internet connectivity. The physical device provides for convenient and possibly anonymous access to content stored on a remote server and has certain advantages over known techniques for storing rights to access the content.

Abstract: A program guide system in which an interactive television program guide is implemented at least partially on user television equipment receives program listings data and real-time data such as sports scores, news data, etc. The real-time data may be stored in a database maintained by the program guide, so that the program guide may access the stored real-time data at a later time. Updated program listings information may be provided to the program guide as part of the data stream in which the real-time data is provided. Unique keys may be generated for the program listings data and real-time data associated with each live event. The keys may be compared at the program guide to determine which program listings correspond to which items of real-time data. Different types of real-time data may be assigned different expiration times. When data has expired it may be removed from the database.

Abstract: A system controls a transmission of a sequence of compressed video data from an encoder buffer to a network for delivery to a decoder buffer. Control of the transmission includes to: determine characteristics of a video transmission path between the encoder buffer and the decoder buffer, the characteristics comprising at least one of a buffer size of the decoder buffer, an input rate of the decoder buffer, and a buffer size of an equivalent intermediary buffer of the video transmission path; determine a transmission rate from the characteristics of the video transmission path and from the sequence of compressed video data, the transmission rate being determined such that a target quality of service value can be guaranteed for the entire sequence of compressed video data transmitted at the determined transmission rate to the decoder buffer; and control transmission of the sequence of compressed video data at the determined transmission rate.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods and systems to help disambiguate channel identification in a scenario where fingerprint data of media content being rendered by a media presentation device matches multiple reference fingerprints corresponding respectively with multiple different channels. Upon detecting such a multi-match, a server or other entity will perform disambiguation based at least in part on a comparison of time of broadcast of the media content being rendered by the media presentation device with time of broadcast of the media content represented by the reference fingerprints. The server or other entity will thereby determine the channel on which the media content being rendered by the media presentation device is arriving, so as to facilitate taking channel-specific action.

Abstract: A method includes receiving, at a server, channel change server data. The channel change server data indicates a time and a corresponding estimated number of active channel change servers of a plurality of channel change servers. The method also includes, before the time and in response to a number of active channel change servers being different than the estimated number of active channel change servers, adjusting, via the server, the number of active channel change servers of the plurality of channel change servers to match the estimated number of active channel change servers.

Abstract: Disclosed is an information providing system for providing information on content recording. The system includes: a network communicating unit for communication via a network; and an information distributing unit for distributing the information on content recording via the network.

Abstract: Methods, devices and systems are provided for provisioning an output device for use with a media device to produce synchronized audio and video portions of media content. An exemplary method involves a media device identifying a device type associated with the output device, obtaining synchronization settings for the device type from a server via a network, and presenting audiovisual content in accordance with the synchronization settings obtained from the server.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method in which a media processor identifies a first key and a second key associated with media content received over a network, and prepares a display object according to the first key that includes a selectable object. The media processor transmits a request to a remote server including the second key; the server returns first additional content and control code associated with the second key. The media processor merges the first additional content with the display object to produce an overlay for presentation with the media content in accordance with the control code. The overlay is associated with a provider of the first additional content; the first key is independent of the provider, and the second key corresponds to the provider. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present application disclose a video processing method, associated devices and a communication system. The video processing method may comprise: obtaining, by a screenshot server, a video from a video server; capturing, by the screenshot server, a plurality of pictures from the video based on a preset screenshot strategy; and storing, by the screenshot server, the pictures into a storage server such that a first user terminal obtains the pictures from the storage server and plays the pictures. Technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are favorable to reduce a lag phenomenon as much as possible.

Abstract: A virtual channel table for broadcasting protocol and a method for broadcasting by using the virtual channel table includes identification information identifying and permitting discrimination of active and inactive channels contained in the virtual channel table. At a receiver, the virtual channel table transmitted from the transmitting side is parsed, thereby determining whether the current received channel is an active or inactive channel.

Abstract: A resource management system may use information regarding the bandwidth status of a downstream communication path to determine what portion of queued content should be sent in the current available bandwidth timeslot. In some embodiments, multiple versions of the same requested content may be available, and the system may select a lower-quality version to send if needed to meet a time deadline included in the original content request.