US 10,433,021 B2Granted

Geolocation based content delivery network system, method and process

AssigneeGeorge G. Christoph

InventorsGeorge G. Christoph, Henry L. Hacking, John D. Calkins, Brian K. Treadway

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Abstract

A system and method for generating revenue for content distributors (e.g., studios) and location based viewing retailers (e.g., exhibitors) is provided. The system extends the viewing retailer footprints outside the various venues (e.g., into homes and mobile devices), using virtual seats that are associated to a particular location based on geography, and by making content available to consumers that might otherwise be either unavailable and/or inconvenient. The system comprises a control circuitry configured to: to receive, using a communications circuitry, a first location information from a first client device; to determine, using a location engine, a geographical location of the first client device using the first location information; and to send, using a content distribution engine, the content to a second client device based on the determined geographical location of the first location information, even if the first and second devices are contained in a single device.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method for a first venue to provide content to one or more remote viewers of the first venue at one or more remote seats located outside of said first venue and within a geographic distribution boundary of the first venue, the method comprising:

defining the geographic boundary of the first venue, said geographic distribution boundary corresponding to a geographic area relating to the first venue, said geographic boundary being different from a geographic distribution boundary of a second venue, wherein the first and second venues comprise movie theatres;
determining, using a location engine, a geolocation of the one or more remote seats corresponding to said one or more remote viewers;
determining, using said location engine, whether the geolocation of said one or more remote seats is within said geographic distribution boundary of the first venue;
and
providing said content, using a distribution engine, to each of said remote seats determined to be within said geographic boundary of said first venue,
wherein determining whether the geolocation of said one or more remote seats is within said geographic distribution boundary of the first venue comprises, for each of said one or more remote seats, receiving an IP address and a MAC address of a display device at the respective remote seat, and obtaining a geolocation data of a location services enabled device connected to a same local area network as the display device, wherein the geolocation data does not consist of an IP address or a MAC address of the location services enabled device, and wherein the location services enabled device includes GPS or Bluetooth used for obtaining the geolocation data.

3 more elements

A computer-based system that enables a first venue to provide content to one or more remote viewers of the first venue at one or more remote seats located outside of said first venue and within a geographic distribution boundary of the first venue, the system comprising:

a processor,
a memory operably connected to the processor and having stored thereon instructions which, when executed on the processor, causes the system to implement:
a venue database stored on a non-transitory medium, the database containing geographic distribution boundaries of a plurality of venues;
a location engine comprising an application programming interface programmed to:
determine, for the one or more remote viewers of the first venue, a geolocation of the one or more remote seats corresponding to said remote viewers;
said geographic distribution boundary of the first venue being different from a geographic distribution boundary of a second venue, wherein the first and second venues comprise movie theatres;
and
determine whether the geolocation of said sat remote seats is within said geographic distribution boundary of the first venue;
and
a distribution engine comprising an application programming interface programmed to provide said content to each of said remote seats determined to be within said geographic distribution boundary of said first venue,
wherein determining whether the geolocation of said one or more remote seats is within said geographic distribution boundary of the first venue comprises, for each of said one or more remote seats, receiving an IP address and a MAC address of a display device at the respective remote seat, and obtaining a geolocation data of a location services enabled device connected to a same local area network as the display device, wherein the geolocation data does not consist of an IP address or a MAC address of the location services enabled device, and wherein the location services enabled device includes GPS or Bluetooth used for obtaining the geolocation data.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/263,229Filed 12 Sep 2016 · us provisional application
Priority: 11 Sep 2015
Published: US 2017/0078760 A116 Mar 2017
Granted: 1 Oct 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification19 codes

H04N 21/6125
Specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network: involving transmission via Internet
H04W 4/02
Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor: services making use of location information
H04L 65/612
For supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio: for unicast
H04N 21/2143
Specialised server platform, e.g. server located in an airplane, hotel, hospital: located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum