US 10,951,934 B2Granted

Systems and methods for managing available bandwidth in a household

AssigneeRovi Guides, Inc.

InventorsClaire M. Wallters, Lauren Palmateer

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Systems and methods for managing available bandwidth in a household are provided. A request to access a first media asset is received. A determination is made as to whether a bandwidth currently available in the household is sufficient for enabling access to the first media asset. When the bandwidth currently available in the household is insufficient for enabling access to the first media asset, a search is performed for a second media asset currently consuming a portion of the household bandwidth needed for enabling access to the first media asset. A third media asset is identified having a remaining duration that is more than a remaining duration of the second media asset. A message is displayed that indicates the bandwidth currently available in the household is insufficient to access the first media asset and that has an option to access the third media asset instead of the first media asset.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for recommending alternate content based on available bandwidth, the method comprising:

receiving, from a user device, a request to stream a first media asset, wherein a first bandwidth value is associated with streaming the first media asset;
comparing the first bandwidth value to a comparison bandwidth value, wherein the comparison bandwidth value is indicative of bandwidth currently available in a network;
in response to determining that the first bandwidth value is greater than the comparison bandwidth value, determining a time remaining until at least the first bandwidth value will be available in the network;
comparing the time remaining with a duration value of a second media asset;
comparing a second bandwidth value for streaming the second media asset with the comparison bandwidth value;
and
in response to determining that the duration value is greater than the time remaining and that the second bandwidth value is less than the comparison bandwidth value, generating for display on the user device a message that (1) indicates that the network is unable to stream the first media asset and (2) provides an option to stream the second media asset instead of the first media asset.

4 more elements

A system for recommending alternate content based on available bandwidth, the system comprising:

control circuitry configured to:
receive, from a user device, a request to stream a first media asset, wherein a first bandwidth value is associated with streaming the first media asset;
compare the first bandwidth value to a comparison bandwidth value, wherein the comparison bandwidth value is indicative of bandwidth currently available in a network;
in response to determining that the first bandwidth value is greater than the comparison bandwidth value, determine a time remaining until at least the first bandwidth value will be available in the network;
compare the time remaining with a duration value of a second media asset;
compare a second bandwidth value for streaming the second media asset with the comparison bandwidth value;
and
in response to determining that the duration value is greater than the time remaining and that the second bandwidth value is less than the comparison bandwidth value, generate for display on the user device a message that (1) indicates that the network is unable to stream the first media asset and (2) provides an option to stream the second media asset instead of the first media asset.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/195,042Filed 19 Nov 2018 · continuation
Priority: 1 Dec 2015
Published: US 2019/0141375 A19 May 2019
Granted: 16 Mar 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification19 codes

H04N 21/2402
Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests: monitoring of the downstream path of…
H04L 43/0894
Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level: packet rate
H04L 65/00
Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet
H04N 21/23
Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof: processing of content or additional data;…

Family

Application14/955,345Parent of this continuation · filed 1 Dec 2015
Application15/707,580Parent of this continuation · filed 18 Sep 2017
US 9,800,907 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 24 Oct 2017
US 2019/0141375 A1Pre-grant publication · published 9 May 2019
US 10,171,853 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2017/0155938 A1Published application
US 2018/0027270 A1Published application
US 10,951,934 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.