Patents by Inventor Sean Gordon Higgins
Sean Gordon Higgins 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).
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Patent number: 8839313Abstract: A system that delivers live broadcast media to consumer devices, including a system for enabling devices without native capabilities such as internal bulk storage and stream processing, to have command and control of live broadcast streams, has been provided. This is achieved through intercepting and converting the normal service provider channel mapping data to a new channel map which points to a software system that delivers command and control of live broadcast media, and implementation of a software system which can receive a channel change protocol, establish a command and control session with the device, convert the channel map protocol to the original format, tune in, receive, convert and process the live stream so that it can be delivered to the requesting device and in turn be controlled by user interaction with that device or the software system. A corresponding method is also provided.Type: GrantFiled: January 7, 2013Date of Patent: September 16, 2014Assignee: Encore Interactive Inc.Inventors: Sean Gordon Higgins, Derek Joseph Tobias Billingsley, Jeffery Louis Furlong, Jared David McNeill
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Patent number: 8352990Abstract: A system that delivers live broadcast media to consumer devices, including a system for enabling devices without native capabilities such as internal bulk storage and stream processing, to have command and control of live broadcast streams, has been provided. This is achieved through intercepting and converting the normal service provider channel mapping data to a new channel map which points to a software system that delivers command and control of live broadcast media, and implementation of a software system which can receive a channel change protocol, establish a command and control session with the device, convert the channel map protocol to the original format, tune in, receive, convert and process the live stream so that it can be delivered to the requesting device and in turn be controlled by user interaction with that device or the software system. A corresponding method is also provided.Type: GrantFiled: May 10, 2011Date of Patent: January 8, 2013Assignee: Encore Interactive Inc.Inventors: Sean Gordon Higgins, Derek Joseph Tobias Billingsley, Jeffrey Louis Furlong, Jared David McNeill
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Publication number: 20110276994Abstract: A system that delivers live broadcast media to consumer devices, including a system for enabling devices without native capabilities such as internal bulk storage and stream processing, to have command and control of live broadcast streams, has been provided. This is achieved through intercepting and converting the normal service provider channel mapping data to a new channel map which points to a software system that delivers command and control of live broadcast media, and implementation of a software system which can receive a channel change protocol, establish a command and control session with the device, convert the channel map protocol to the original format, tune in, receive, convert and process the live stream so that it can be delivered to the requesting device and in turn be controlled by user interaction with that device or the software system. A corresponding method is also provided.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 10, 2011Publication date: November 10, 2011Inventors: Sean Gordon Higgins, Derek Joseph Tobias Billingsley, Jeffery Louis Furlong, Jared David McNeill
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Patent number: 7668914Abstract: A server at the edge of a broadband network distributes multimedia content streams to clients, while ensuring that the first data delivered to each client is key data (milestones) needed for correctly decoding the stream content. This is obtained by buffering the packets in the incoming stream and transmitting the packets from the buffer in an outgoing stream, starting with the most recent milestone placed in the buffer before a request to join the respective incoming stream is received. As the writing to and reading from the buffer are performed at different rates, the incoming and outgoing streams are eventually synchronized, at which point the client may be switched to receive the incoming stream directly.Type: GrantFiled: March 28, 2005Date of Patent: February 23, 2010Assignee: Alcatel LucentInventors: Alistair John Parker, Jeff Furlong, Gino Louis Dion, Sean Gordon Higgins, Richard Bettelheim, Christian Van Boven
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Patent number: 7644425Abstract: The PIP system enables display of a mosaic of favorite channels in a Picture-in-Picture (PIP) format to a subscriber terminal. Picture-in-Picture support is efficiently provided by sending only I-Frames of the secondary video channel to the end-user. That is, any unnecessary packets (null, B-P frames, audio, etc.) in the secondary video channel are stripped away. This method uses very little bandwidth and is STB agnostic.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2006Date of Patent: January 5, 2010Assignee: Alcatel LucentInventors: Alistair John Parker, Jeff Furlong, Gino Louis Dion, Sean Gordon Higgins, David Cecil Robinson
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Patent number: 7643508Abstract: In a system that provides decoding of A/V streams, this invention reduces switching delays between different streams by modifying the Program Identification (PID) values of the Audio and Video data to respective PID values that are already known by the decoder. This technique allows the decoder to stay in a run state when switching between A/V streams, thereby reducing channel change times.Type: GrantFiled: November 2, 2005Date of Patent: January 5, 2010Assignee: Alcatel LucentInventors: Jeff Furlong, Alistair John Parker, Sean Gordon Higgins, Gino Louis Dion
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Publication number: 20070240602Abstract: A system, method, and computer readable medium for a customer premises equipment based advertisement insertion mechanism for Internet Protocol based networks, comprises, storing advertisements in a customer premises equipment, detecting an advertisement insertion signal in a data stream, and multiplexing the stored advertisements into the data stream upon the detecting of the advertisement insertion signal.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 1, 2006Publication date: October 18, 2007Applicant: ALCATELInventors: GINO DION, SEAN GORDON HIGGINS, ALISTAIR PARKER, TIM BARRETT
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Patent number: 7263610Abstract: Methods, devices and systems for providing content providers with a secure way to multicast their data flows only to legitimate end users. By making a specific decision for each potentially legitimate end user requesting a specific data flow, differing subscriber profiles may be taken into account. Furthermore, end to end encryption is avoided by having a switch and/or router control the specific data flow to a specific end user. Each end user sends a request DTU to the switch and/or router asking for permission to join a multicast group. The switch and/or router extracts identification data from the request data transmission unit (DTU) and determines whether the requesting end user is cleared for the requested specific data flow. This determination may be made by sending a query DTU containing the identification data to a policy server which checks the identification data against preprogrammed criteria in its databases.Type: GrantFiled: July 30, 2002Date of Patent: August 28, 2007Assignee: ImagicTV, Inc.Inventors: Alistair John Parker, Gino Louis Dion, Sean Gordon Higgins
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Publication number: 20040025013Abstract: Methods, devices and systems for providing content providers with a secure way to multicast their data flows only to legitimate end users. By making a specific decision for each potentially legitimate end user requesting a specific data flow, differing subscriber profiles may be taken into account. Furthermore, end to end encryption is avoided by having a switch and/or router control the specific data flow to a specific end user. Each end user sends a request DTU to the switch and/or router asking for permission to join a multicast group. The switch and/or router extracts identification data from the request data transmission unit (DTU) and determines whether the requesting end user is cleared for the requested specific data flow. This determination may be made by sending a query DTU containing the identification data to a policy server which checks the identification data against preprogrammed criteria in its databases.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 30, 2002Publication date: February 5, 2004Applicant: ImagicTV Inc.Inventors: Alistair John Parker, Gino Louis Dion, Sean Gordon Higgins