Patents Examined by Rong Le
  • Patent number: 11388455
    Abstract: A method of morphing multiple video streams into a single video stream is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving video streams at an encoding device, each multiple video stream is formed by video frames; encoding the video frames for each video stream at multiple bitrates to form multiple resolution qualities for each video stream; and combining streams for the multiple resolution qualities of the video streams to form a video bunch frame stream. An apparatus for morphing multiple video streams into a single video stream is also provided. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions is also provided. When executed by a computer or processor, the program instructions cause the apparatus to perform the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: Multimo, LLC
    Inventors: Valeri B. Chirokov, Vladimir E. Koltunov
  • Patent number: 11356729
    Abstract: A media controller application that enables a user to select source and destination services and devices for media playback that provides an interoperability layer between different service and device ecosystems, and a media redirection hardware adapter that connects to a host device using a physical connector and receives audio and then retransmits at least a portion of the audio wirelessly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: ROKU, INC.
    Inventor: Ravi Rajapakse
  • Patent number: 11303958
    Abstract: Provided is a method of displaying an image in a display device, the method including transmitting, to a content providing device, image request information requesting the content providing device to selectively transmit an image of a first resolution or an image of a second resolution; receiving the image of the first resolution or the image of the second resolution which is obtained by performing upscaling on the image of the first resolution using a first upscaler, based on the image request information; based on receiving the image of the first resolution, performing upscaling on the image of the first resolution using a second upscaler of the display device to obtain a upscaled image having the second resolution and displaying the upscaled image having the second resolution, upscaling capability of the second upscaler being different from upscaling capability of the first upscaler; and based on receiving the image of the second resolution, displaying the image of the second resolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kilsoo Choi, Kwansik Yang
  • Patent number: 11297398
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to media devices implementing new television standards, such as ATSC 3.0, which includes audio/video essence and metadata/signaling. The disclosed embodiments include techniques for creating a signaling file that contains metadata and signaling data about the broadcast service being presented. The signaling file may include URLs that can be used to access signaling information for supplementary signaling and content. The signaling also contains a mapping between a first timing system and a second timing system. The first timing system may comprise the watermark timeline represented in interval s and the second timing system may comprise a DASH presentation time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Verance Corporation
    Inventors: Jian Zhao, Joseph M. Winograd, Rade Petrovic, Julia Ann Kenyon
  • Patent number: 11265596
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer readable media described herein can be operable to facilitate different reporting treatment for certain join requests received during a fast channel change. A gateway device may automatically detect the FCC (Fast Channel Change) via a configured interval. The gateway device may be configured such that if a subsequent IGMP (Internet group management protocol) join request was received within the configured interval since a previous join request, the previous join request may be ignored. According to the configuration of the gateway device, in a FCC, only the first channel and the last channel are reported, and the middle channel changes may be ignored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: ARRIS ENTERPRISES LLC
    Inventors: Feng Li, YuPing Dong
  • Patent number: 11245963
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to determine whether a smart device is in-tab are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a labelled data generator to identify a first smart television that corresponds to a first panelist by comparing first data from the first smart television to second data from the first panelist; and generate training data by labelling the first smart television as in-tab or out-of-tab based on the second data from the first panelist; and a model trainer to train a model using the training data, the model trainer to train the model to determine a tab status for a second smart television.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Evan Anderson, Samantha M. Mowrer, Robert Gottesman, Astha Jain
  • Patent number: 11201683
    Abstract: Implementations of this disclosure provide for video broadcast monitoring. An example method performed by a video broadcast monitoring device includes obtaining a first video that is provided by a video output device for presentation by a video display device; obtaining first characteristic information of a second video, the second video being a video that is to be monitored by the video broadcast monitoring device, and the first characteristic information indicating pixel change characteristics of the second video; determining, based on the first characteristic information, whether the first video matches the second video, to obtain a result of the determining; generating monitoring information that includes the result of the determining; and providing the monitoring information to a server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Advanced New Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jiankang Sun, Feng Lin
  • Patent number: 11190841
    Abstract: A facility for generating analytical information based on individual reports of multiple scheduled presentations of interstitial media assets is provided. Data files are received that each include multiple status reports regarding multiple scheduled presentations of multiple media assets by a plurality of distinct media receiver devices in multiple distinct geographical areas. Analytical information is generated regarding the multiple scheduled media presentations by the distinct media receiver devices, the analytical information including aggregated success rates for one or more subsets of the scheduled media presentations. At least some of the analytical information is presented as a dashboard display comprising a plurality of distinct panels of related information on a communicatively coupled display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: DISH NETWORK L.L.C.
    Inventor: Joshua Hartmann
  • Patent number: 11172250
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a reception apparatus, a reception method, a transmission apparatus and a transmission method in which NRT service is provided in digital broadcasting using an IP transmission method. There is provided a reception apparatus including: a channel selection control unit that performs a channel selection control of channel-selecting digital broadcasting using the IP transmission method; an acquisition control unit that controls acquisition of an application delivered through broadcasting or communication in the digital broadcasting based on signaling information transmitted at a layer higher than an IP layer in a protocol layer of the IP transmission method; and an application execution unit that executes the application acquired. The present technology is applicable to a television receiver, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: SATURN LICENSING LLC
    Inventors: Jun Kitahara, Naohisa Kitazato, Yasuaki Yamagishi
  • Patent number: 11159852
    Abstract: Dynamic ad insertion in cloud-based video recorded (cDVR) content is provided. A partially or fully recorded cDVR asset may be associated with a corresponding reference asset, such as a video-on-demand (VOD) catalog copy of a program. The cDVR asset and reference asset may be associated via a common identifier, such as a TMS or Gracenotes® identifier. The reference asset may include metadata that specifies ad breaks and that can be applied to the cDVR asset and used to dynamically insert up-to-date and relevant ads into those ad breaks during playback. Additionally, an option may be provided to a user to stream the reference asset instead of the recorded asset. Further, another option may be provided to replace the user's cDVR asset with the reference asset. Accordingly, up-to-date and relevant ads can be dynamically inserted into the reference asset on playback, and less storage space is required for storing the recording.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: COX COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Ray Killick, Jayasri Devalapalli, Muhammad Asif Raza
  • Patent number: 11146848
    Abstract: Examples described herein relate to apparatuses and methods for managing caching for a content delivery system, which may include receiving a content request indicating that the caching agent is requesting content data for a client, filling the content data in a first cache storage of the business logic agent, providing the cached content data to the caching agent, and while a second cache storage of the caching agent is being filled with the content data, maintaining the cached content data in response to receiving additional content requests from the caching agent. The additional content requests may indicate that the caching agent is requesting the same content data for additional clients.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventor: William Crowder
  • Patent number: 11140441
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for delivering multimedia content from the cloud to cable operators are disclosed. A device located at the cable headend or implemented in the cloud can receive a request for at least one media stream for playback on a broadcast media channel. Content corresponding to a plurality of multimedia files in the media stream can be obtained from the internet or a cloud based service. The content can be used to generate the multimedia files in a format that is compatible with the cable operator. The multimedia files can be used to assemble the at least one media stream which can be provided to the cable operator for broadcast on the broadcast media channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Inventor: Edwin A. Hernandez-Mondragon
  • Patent number: 11070874
    Abstract: Example methods and apparatus to verify presentation of media content are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus for generating media presentation information includes a comparator to periodically output a value indicative of whether media selected via a set-top box is presented at a media presentation location by comparing a first audio signal associated with the media to ambient audio received in the media presentation location via an audio system associated with a media presentation device. The example apparatus also includes a privacy protector to facilitate operation of the comparator by periodically preventing the comparator from receiving of the ambient audio. The example apparatus also includes a metering module to record presentation of the media based on the output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Venugopal Srinivasan, Arun Ramaswamy
  • Patent number: 11064263
    Abstract: Systems and methods for dynamically multiplexing requested linear media channels and network data on forward link traffic streams of a communication link to a craft media delivery system are provided. Furthermore, systems and methods for receiving dynamically multiplexed requested linear media channels and network data on forward link traffic streams of a communication link by a craft media delivery system are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Viasat, Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua G. Slater, Robert G. Crockett, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11051070
    Abstract: Example program clustering systems disclosed herein are to compare (i) ratios of program ratings to corresponding network ratings with (ii) a threshold to determine adjusted viewing data for respective sites during a monitoring interval, the program ratings and the corresponding network ratings determined for programs tuned on corresponding networks at the respective sites during the monitoring interval, the adjusted viewing data for a combination of a first program and a first site to represent an adjusted amount of time the first program was presented at the first site. Disclosed example program clustering systems are also to cluster the programs into program clusters based on distances between respective combinations of pairs of the programs, the distances based on the adjusted viewing data. Disclosed example program clustering systems are further to output information to identify the program clusters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Jingsong Cui, Scott John Sereday, Xiaoting Liang
  • Patent number: 11044534
    Abstract: A method of initiating and controlling computer user behavioural data (e.g., emotional state information) collection and processing within the structure of a video ad response provides an analysis of video ad effectiveness as a result of interaction with the computer user. A behavioural data collection and processing module is caused to nut by the execution of a Video Ad Standard Template (VAST) compliant video ad response in a video player. The data collection and processing module may be obtained by calling a resource identifier contained in the video ad response, or by providing an executable application within the served video ad response itself. In more particular methods according to the invention, processing of collected data is managed so as to improve the efficiency of media playback at the client computer and communications with remote servers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: Realeyes OÜ
    Inventors: Elnar Hajiyev, Martin Salo
  • Patent number: 11039185
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for optimizing bandwidth utilization in a cable network. In one embodiment, the method comprises predicting which content will be requested by a set of users based upon the exhibited viewing habits of those users (and/or others). A server process gathers viewership data comprising a listing of programs requested by users at various times of the day. The server process aggregates the viewership data, identifies patterns within the aggregated data, and extrapolates a schedule of programs likely to be requested. In certain embodiments, the server process additionally gathers the capabilities of each cable device in an associated subnetwork. Based upon these capabilities, and based upon the total bandwidth predicted to remain available in the network over a target broadcast period, the server process may also select an optimal compression scheme and video quality level before broadcasting a certain program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC
    Inventors: Remi Rieger, Paul D. Brooks
  • Patent number: 11032610
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to determine engagement levels of audience members are disclosed. An example computer readable storage medium includes computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least analyze image data from a sensor to determine whether an environment in which media is to be presented by a first device includes a second device with an illuminated display, and when the environment includes the second device with the illuminated display, determine whether the illuminated display of the second device is associated with a media presentation by the second device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventor: Alejandro Terrazas
  • Patent number: 11025965
    Abstract: A processing device implementing a cloud-based digital video recorder (DVR) or providing cloud-based streaming services includes a local memory that can be used for storing content prior to providing the content to requestors. The cloud-based DVR determines an estimated probability that delivery of a particular content item will be requested within a particular period of time, and a difference between current and average loads of a second memory included in another DVR. The cloud-based DVR pre-fetches part or all of the particular content item from other DVR's memory into the local memory based on the estimated probability that delivery of the particular content item will be requested within the particular period of time, and the difference between the current and average loads on the other DVR's memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Jason K. Resch
  • Patent number: 11006174
    Abstract: In a substitutional media system, one of a set of media items is selected at a programme receiver for output within a predefined programming slot, based on profile data available at the receiver. Sets of the media items are scheduled to slots according to one or more constraints pertaining to that slot and/or to media items scheduled to other slots. The receiver may select a media item for output in a slot by resolving constraints with media items scheduled to other slots, or selected for output in other slots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: SKY CP LIMITED
    Inventors: Christopher John Patten, Christopher David Caines, Jeffrey Russell Eales, Herve Murret-Labarthe