The Directv Group, Inc.

Hughes Electronics Corporation

At&t Intellectual Property I, L.p.

Nds Group Ltd.

The Directv Goup, Inc.

Nds Corporation

Raynold M Kahn

Peter M Klauss

Gregory J Gagnon

Thomas H James

Hanno Basse

Romulo Cruz Pontual

Sui-Ky Ringo Ling

Stephen P Dulac

Christopher P Curren

David Ha

Robert G Arsenault

Deanna R Kidd

Luke J Crook

Ronald Paul Cocchi

Gordon H Chen

Steven Kasakitis

David N Schlacht

John L Norin

Dennis R Flaharty

Hans M Hagberg

John D Choi

Maria G Popoli

Kapil Chaudhry

James A Michener

Eric J Bennett

Luan Le-Chau

Michelle L Vagnati

Gregory Vagnati

Noreen Fong

Ranny Q Sue

Aspandyar M Jijina

Philip I Siegel

Christopher R Roy

Erin K Nelson

Brad Rice

Christopher J Cabanne

Cuong T Ly

Joel M Pamplona

Lonnie Scott Clabaugh

Walter F Filbrich

James D Allen

Jeffrey D Carpenter

Donald J Breier

Jean Dumouchel

Hugh Rothman

Tokunbo Labisi

Frank A Palase

Xin Ru Wang

Kuriacose Joseph

Don E Cansino

David Eric Shanks

Mitchell B Wasden

Vlad Zarney

Yeung K Chan

Michael R Munsell

Gilbert Zaldivar

Dien Nguyen

Richard F Purpura

An T Lam

Vladislav Kolegayev

Joseph T Hayes

Mark Guidarelli

Titus Winters

Kenny C Chen

Jianming Yu

Charles C Debergh

Eugene Suharev

Samuel V Irvine

Daryl G Messenger

Jim Wei Chien Tsang

Jordan Levy

Alan Lopez

David D Ha

Secure content transfer systems and methods to operate the same are disclosed. Disclosed example systems include a client device for use at a physical location and a media server for use at the physical location. The example media server includes a security device to determine a first encryption secret based on a first encryption key and to determine a second encryption secret based on a second encryption key. The media server also includes a decrypter to decrypt received encrypted content for requested content based on the first encryption secret and an encrypter to re-encrypt the decrypted content data for the requested content based on the second encryption secret. In addition, the media server includes an interface to send the re-encrypted content data to the client device, wherein the client device is to decrypt the re-encrypted content data based on the second encryption secret to access the requested content.

Secure content transfer systems and methods to operate the same

In one example, the present disclosure describes a device, computer-readable medium, and method for multi-phase protection of digital content. For instance, in one example, a method includes receiving a request for digital content from a client device, initiating a digital content protection process comprising a plurality of phases, where each phase of the plurality of phases includes verifying credentials provided by the client device, delivering a plurality of seeds to the client device, wherein each individual seed of the plurality of seeds is delivered to the client device upon a successful completion of one phase of the plurality of phases, encrypting the digital content, using an encryption key derived using the plurality of seeds, to generate encrypted content, and delivering the encrypted content to the client device.

Multi-phase digital content protection

A user device and method for operating the same includes a memory and a controller storing a recommended recording list in the memory. The controller stores recommended content from the recommended recording list in the memory. In response to selecting the live content title corresponding to recommended content stored in the memory, a screen display query at the user device is generated for determining when an earlier position of the content is desired and displaying the content from the earlier position within the recommended content when the query is affirmative.

Method and system for recording recommended content within a user device and playback content from an earlier position when live content is selected

A system and method for operating the same includes a memory and a controller that stores content in the memory to form stored content. The controller receives a display request for displaying content from a user device through a network. The display request comprises a user device identifier. The controller determines a timeslot corresponding to the display request, retrieves a content list corresponding to stored content, reorders the content list in response to the timeslot and the user device identifier to form a reordered list and communicates the reordered list to the user device.

Method and system for personalizing the display of recordings stored in a user receiving device

A system includes a viewer tracking module that determines a genre profile target representation based on program categories of watched events. A recommendation module determines a candidate program category representation for each program candidate of a plurality of program candidates from a plurality of program categories, compares the candidate program category representation for the plurality of candidates to the genre profile target representation, and determines a numerical value for each of the plurality of program candidates based on comparing. The system further includes a display displaying the program candidates ordered based of the numerical value for each.

Method and system for recording recommended content within a user device

A method of provisioning entitlement including: receiving within a headend and at a policy management module first conditions and rules for content from a service provider or a third party device; and generating, for a point of presence (POP) device of a customer, a policy for entitlement and usage of content (merged policy). The generating of the merged policy includes: merging conditions and rules of policies including the first conditions and rules to generate the merged policy based on a predetermined hierarchy of the policies. Rules and conditions of the merged policy are multi-dimensional to include customer, POP device, and provider dimensions; and generating a configuration file including conditions or condition based parameters. The method further includes: presenting an offer for the content to the customer via the POP device; receiving an acceptance of the offer from the POP device; and enforcing the merged policy according to the configuration file.

Systems and methods for provisioning multi-dimensional rule based entitlement offers

A user receiving device and method for operating the same includes a memory and a controller that stores content in the memory to form stored content. The controller receives a display request for displaying content from a user device. The display request comprises a user device identifier. The controller determines a timeslot corresponding to the display request, retrieves a content list corresponding to stored content, reorders the content list in response to the timeslot and the user device identifier to form a reordered list and communicates the reordered list to the user device.

A user device and method for operating the same includes a memory and a controller that stores an external recommendation list in the memory, said external recommendations list comprising a marketing list comprising a plurality of marketing list entries and a related program list comprising a plurality of related program entries that are related to the plurality of marketing list entries. Each marketing list entry has a related score corresponding to a respective marketing list entry. The controller generates a most viewed programming list, comparing the external recommendations list and most viewed programming list using the related score and generates a recommended recording list using both the external recommendation list and the most viewed programming list. The controller also stores at least one content from the recording recommendation list in the memory.

A user device includes a viewer tracking module that tracks viewer events to form a viewer tracking log and a recommendation module that generates a timeslot viewing profile based on the viewer tracking log. The timeslot viewing profile includes television programs watched previously and a prioritized timeslot series profile determined by summing and prioritizing the count of a plurality of watched programs in a series. The recommendation module compares the timeslot viewing profile of available television programs during the timeslot, generates a first content recommendation list of available television programs, receives related content identifiers for related content that identify content that is available and is related to the television programs of the first content recommendation, and, based on the related content identifiers, generates a second content recommendation list including content that is available during the timeslot different from the first content recommendation list.

Method and system for obtaining viewing data and providing content recommendations at a set top box

A method and system for recommending content includes a user device having a memory storing a taxonomy table having content cluster identifiers therein. The user device receives an external recommendations list for the content cluster at the user device. The recommendations list has a plurality of content identifiers each having one content cluster identifier. A viewer tracking module generates a viewed content history for content relative to the content clusters identifiers that correspond to viewed content at the user device. A recommendation module generates an internal recommendations list by comparing the external recommendations list to the viewed content history at the user device. The internal recommendation list also presents recommendations capturing the distinct user tastes in a family viewing device. A display displays the internal recommendations list, with section headers of different granularity describing the nature of the recommended content at cluster, sub-genre and genre levels.

Method and system for displaying recommended content such as movies associated with a cluster

A simulation engine and method of operating a simulation system includes a plurality of user devices and an interface receiving user device data and a recommendation request from at least one the plurality of user devices. The system also includes a memory storing the user device data therein. The system also includes a recommendation engine that generates a content recommendation based on the user device data and an algorithm. The interface communicates the content recommendation to the user device. The recommendation engine receives a recommendation rating from at least one of the plurality of user devices and changes the algorithm in response to the recommendation rating. The user device receives a different recommendation of the changed algorithm within the simulation engine.

Method and system for obtaining feedback for a content recommendation by various algorithms

A user device and method for operating the same includes a memory and a controller storing a recommended recording list in the memory. The controller stores recommended content from the recommended recording list in the memory and suppresses an indicator in response to storing recommended content from the recommended recording list. When the user selects a live content that corresponds to a recommended content stored in the memory, the user device may display the content from a previous position.

Method and system for recording recommended content within a user device and indicating recording capacity

A system and method for allocating tuner resources in a multi-room digital video recording system, wherein the system includes a server device having a plurality of tuners therein and a first client device in communication with the server device and allocated at least a first tuner from the plurality of tuners. A second client in communication client device generates a tuner request. The server device allocates the first tuner to the second user device and communicates a content signal through the first tuner to the second client device.

Method and system for operating a multi-room digital video recording system

Methods and apparatus to provide content on demand in content broadcast systems are disclosed. An example method comprises receiving a first portion of a program via broadcast signal and receiving a second portion of the program via an Internet protocol (IP) based signal. The example method may further comprise combining the first and the second portions and at least one of store the combined first and second portions in a file or playback the combined first and second portions.

Methods and apparatus to provide content on demand in content broadcast systems

Growing community of inventors

Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Raynold M Kahn