Cox Communications, Inc.

Ray Killick

Muhammad Asif Raza

Jayasri Devalapalli

Ramkumar Krishnan

Luke Allen Warren

Aspects of the present disclosure reduce visual artifacts and provide robust video signals to end-user equipment. According to an aspect, a system includes a splice point controller that analyzes video to detect and compensate for content boundary misalignments. The splice point controller can process video streams by analyzing splice point parameters and/or dynamically updating adjustment values associated with splice points to ensure appropriate transitions from primary content to secondary or alternate content. After determining an adjustment value for a splice point, the splice point controller can provide splice point adjustment feedback to a signal processing engine and/or to a secondary content source as part of synchronizing outputs of a transcoder farm and/or the secondary content source. For example, the splice point controller can operate to align a splice point adjustment value associated with an SCTE-35 descriptor with an actual live splice point time that is included with a live broadcast.

System and method for adjustment of video signal splice points

Dynamic splice point adjustment and feedback for video signals

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to network resource management and content delivery. A method may include a first device determining a first bandwidth demand associated with a second device sending a first addressable advertisement using a data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) bandwidth using a first advertisement spot for a first linear segment addressability (LSA) television channel, and determining a second bandwidth demand associated with the second device sending a second addressable advertisement using the DOCSIS bandwidth for presentation using a second advertisement spot. The method may include determining that the first bandwidth demand is below a threshold bandwidth, and determining that the second bandwidth demand exceeds the threshold bandwidth. The method may include sending a reference to the first addressable advertisement over the DOCSIS bandwidth for presentation using the first advertisement spot and, and determining a recommendation associated with presentation of the second addressable advertisement.

Enhanced network resource management

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&#xae; 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.

Dynamic content insertion in cloud-stored recorded assets

Linear content holds great value to consumers, and by delivering it to consumers on demand, service providers can improve the user experience for their consumers. A consumer requests linear on demand content by selecting channels and time ranges or content items, or bundles thereof, which the service provider broadcasts as linear content. The requested content is broadcast, and repackaged as an unbroken block of content for the consumer during the requested time range or the duration of the content item. By repackaging the linear on demand content, the service provider may provide greater options to consumers without significantly increasing the amount of bandwidth used in its network to deliver that content. Channel guides and viewing features are tailored for the requested content to further improve the user experience.

On demand linear programming

Systems and methods for providing content recommendations or advertisements based at least in part on the identity of users that are within an experiential range of a primary device for rendering the content recommendation or advertisement are disclosed. A home service gateway may be configured to identify users within the experiential range of the primary device and generate a content recommendation request and/or an advertisement request identifying the users within the experiential range. A content delivery system may receive the recommendation request and/or ad request and provide content recommendations and/or advertisements to the home service gateway based at least in part on the identity of the users that are within the experiential range of the primary device.

Presence-based content recommendations and advertising

Exposing consumers to content of secondary interest via a content distribution network is becoming increasingly difficult as Video on Demand gains popularity and consumers isolate themselves from secondary content, including: new programs, emergency alerts, etc. Additionally, ensuring that the consumers are consuming secondary content that is provided to them via the content distribution network poses technical difficulties for the service provider. Therefore, systems and methods that encourage consumers to consume secondary content and verify its consumption non-intrusively are of increasing importance to service providers. Providing consumers with the ability to opt in and out of tracking and verification for the promotion of content allows consumers to be provided secondary content and for the service provider to appropriately reward the consumers for consuming the content to encourage additional consumption of secondary content. Verification may include passive and active feedback from the consumer via a mobile computing device or set top box.

Tracking and verification for content promotion

A channel block switching system enables a viewer to browse linear channels by switching through blocks of channels as a group instead of switching one channel at a time. Each channel block is displayed as an arrangement of channel windows. Each channel window displays the linear video content of one of the channels in the channel block allowing the viewer to select a channel to watch based on the linear visual content rather than from a static image or a description of the content. The channel block switching system enables display of the channel block using the lowest available resolution. The channel block switching system allows the viewer to listen to the audio content of any channel in the channel block being displayed with the audio for the remaining channels being muted and, optionally, displaying closed captioning.

Channel block switching

Systems and methods for providing estimates of duration of media content requested by a user are disclosed. The estimates of the duration may be updated as advertisements are identified and/or updated for insertion in media content signals to be provided to a client device of the user. The advertisements may be targeted to the user from an inventory of available advertisements based on a variety of factors. While a session is active to provide the client device with the user requested media content new duration estimates corresponding to updates to advertisements targeted for delivery to the user may be provided to the client device via messages and/or metadata. In some cases, this information may be provided by messages sent responsive to a trick play request form the client device. In other cases, an asynchronous message carrying updated duration information may be sent to the client device.

Dynamic metadata for media content delivery

Video on Demand (VOD) content is enjoyed by consumers, but its selection and delivery is often tedious for consumers and uses large amounts of bandwidth for service providers. By providing VOD channels that consumers may freely navigate, service providers not only improve the user experience for consumers, but may reduce the bandwidth needed to request and send navigation commands. VOD channels provide VOD content to consumers according to criteria and preferences set by the consumer, and allow navigation within a VOD channel, between separate VOD channels, and between menus and linear channels. Channel guides and viewing features are tailored for VOD channels to further improve the user experience.

Personalized video on demand channels

Systems and methods for redirecting content from a first user device to a second user device is disclosed. The first user device may generate a redirection request message and transmit the redirection request message to a video back office server. The redirection request message may contain information pertaining to the user device to which the content is to be redirected and information related to a current session of the rendering the content. The video back office server may instantiate a redirection of the content to the second user device based at least in part on the received redirection request message.

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Alpharetta, GA, United States of America

Ray Killick