At&t Intellectual Property I, LP

Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation

Timothy H Weaver

William Randolph Matz

Albert Whited

E-Lee Chang

Madhur Khandelwal

Michael Branam

Ke Yu

Peter N Hill

Aspects of bandwidth conservation include monitoring, via a processor over a period of time, program state information for content streamed to an electronic device, and accumulating, in a memory device via the processor, inputs received over the period of time from a user of the electronic device. Each of the inputs is correlated to the program state information based on a location in the content at which the corresponding input occurred. Aspects further include identifying patterns of user behavior based on collective correlations between the inputs and the program state information, determining from the patterns a presence or absence of the user at the electronic device with respect to currently streamed content when no inputs are received by the user, and performing a bandwidth control operation with respect to the currently streamed content based on the determined presence or absence of the user.

Methods, systems, and devices for bandwidth conservation

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for conserving bandwidth. A notification is received from a customer's device that indicates media will be recorded/saved to memory. The available bandwidth is compared to required bandwidth to deliver the media to the customer's device. When the required bandwidth exceeds the available bandwidth, then delivery of the media is deferred to a period of lesser demand.

Methods systems, and products for conserving bandwidth

Aspects of bandwidth conservation include accumulating, in a memory device, inputs received over time and identifying a historical pattern from the inputs. The historical pattern includes a channel change operation when data streamed over a network and received is a commercial. Aspects also include determining whether a next input is expected for currently streamed data. The determining is in response to the historical pattern and whether the currently streamed data is commercial-free content. Aspects further include predicting that the user is not present at an electronic device if the next input to the user interface is expected and is not received, predicting that the user is present and the next input is not expected if the currently streamed data is the commercial-free content, and conserving bandwidth, with respect to the currently streamed data, in response to predicting that the user is not present at the electronic device.

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for conserving bandwidth. Inputs to a user interface are accumulated and compared to a historical pattern of inputs. When inputs are accumulated, the method predicts that a user is present. When inputs are expected, but no inputs are received, then the method predicts that no user is present. Actions are them implemented to and conserve bandwidth.

Methods, devices, and products are disclosed for recording media. An input is received via a user interface to record media. An entry is created in a recording schedule to record the media. The recording schedule is sent to a restoration server, such that the recording schedule is mirrored to the restoration server.

Methods, systems, and products for recording media

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for conserving bandwidth. A user's bandwidth consumption is monitored and compared to a threshold value. When the user's bandwidth consumption equals or exceeds the threshold value, then behavior is incentivized that reduces the user's bandwidth consumption.

Systems, methods, and computer products for providing podcasts via Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) are disclosed herein. Exemplary embodiments include a network-based method for providing digital media podcasts. The method includes receiving a request to render at least one podcast on a communications device authenticated on an IPTV network, retrieving the at least one podcast from the IPTV network, and providing the at least one podcast to the communications device.

Systems, methods, and computer products for providing podcasts via IPTV

Methods, devices, and products are disclosed for recording media. A network command message is received that identifies media to be recorded by a user's device. The network command message was sent on behalf of a provider and comprises the provider's instruction to have the user's device record the media. An entry is created in a recording schedule to record the media. The media is received and recorded such that the provider schedules recording of the media.

Methods, systems, and products for recording media on a user device

Methods, devices, and products are provided for targeting media. Descriptive information is received that describes media. The descriptive information is compared to a stored set of user-defined criteria. If the descriptive information contains any criterion, the media is stored in memory, and the stored media is targeted to a user's communications device.

Method, device, and computer program product for targeting media for storage to a communications device

Methods, devices, and products restore damaged or corrupt media files. A user's media catalog is received and stored in a database of media catalogs. When restoration is desired, the user's media catalog is retrieved that describes an identity of a media file to be restored. The database of media catalogs is queried for another media catalog that describes the same identity of the media file. A communications address associated with the another media catalog is retrieved.

Methods, systems, and products for restoring media

Systems, methods and computer products for recording of repeated programs. Exemplary embodiments include a recording of a repeated program method, including receiving a recording request for a first program from a communications device, the recording request having a specified recording time, determining that the specified recording time is during a peak time, determining an alternate recording time for the recording request, sending a message to the communications device that there is the alternate recording time to record the first program, delivering the first program to the communications device for the specified recording time in response to receiving a rejection of the alternate recording time and delivering the first program to the communications device for the alternate recording time in response to receiving an acceptance of the alternate recording time.

Systems, methods, and computer products for recording of repeated programs

Variable video stream delivery tools include methods and systems that detect activation of a zoom command during presentation of a first stream of data to a multimedia device and that supplants a second stream of data having a higher resolution for a zoomed image plane of the first stream of data in order to conserve bandwidth. Further exemplary embodiments detect activation of a rotational command and that refreshes the second stream of data with a zoomed, spherical-panorama presentation. And, further exemplary embodiments enable restoration of the first stream of data. These tools may be utilized during presentation of media content, when the media content is initially ordered, or when future presentation of media content is selected to record.

Growing community of inventors

Alpharetta, GA, United States of America

Timothy H Weaver