US 11,606,599 B2Granted

Systems and methods for playing media assets stored on a digital video recorder

AssigneeDISH Network L.L.C.

InventorsDanny J. Minnick, Robert F. Percival, John D. Barbieri, Mark Templeman, John S. Todd, Yunfeng Yang, Gowtham Ram Ramkumar

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Abstract

Improved technical functionality is provided to dynamically select and seamlessly play advertisements immediately before playing of a recorded program upon selection of the recorded program for playing, or upon other detected events and conditions associated with the set-top-box (STB) or user. In some embodiments, this is performed by using metadata which may be delivered to and stored on a digital video recorder (DVR) prior to recording the program, providing a technical solution to enable opportunities for additional advertisement impressions. Playing of the advertisement may also or instead occur upon the recorded program finishing playing. Thus, the technical solution provides the additional opportunity for the content creator and/or the satellite television or cable service provider to sell advertising spots in addition to those already sold for breaks within the recorded program.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A method in a media asset presentation system, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, an indication of a selection of a recorded program stored on a digital video recorder (DVR) for playing from a beginning of the recorded program;
in response to the receiving of the indication of the selection of the recorded program for playing, determining, by one or more processors, whether to automatically play a media asset stored separately from, and that is not prepended to, the recorded program before playing the recorded program from the beginning of the recorded program;
in response to the receiving of the indication of the selection of the recorded program for playing, determining to automatically play the media asset before playing the recorded program from the beginning of the recorded program, wherein automatically playing the media asset includes:
reading a cue stored on the DVR and associated with the recorded program, the cue including data that is an indication to automatically play the media asset before playing the recorded program from the beginning of the recorded program and also having a presentation time stamp set to correspond to a beginning of the recorded program, triggering the media asset to play immediately before playing the recorded program from the beginning of the recorded program;
automatically playing the media asset before playing the recorded program from the beginning of the recorded program in response to reading the cue;
and
beginning to play, by one or more processors, the recorded program from the beginning of the recorded program;
receiving, by one or more processors, an indication of a selection of the recorded program stored on the DVR to resume playing from other than a beginning of the recorded program;
in response to the receiving of the indication of a selection of the recorded program stored on the DVR to resume playing from other than a beginning of the recorded program, determining, by one or more processors, to not automatically play a media asset before resuming playing of the recorded program that is in addition to any media assets to be inserted based on existing embedded breaks in the recorded program;
and
resuming playing, by one or more processors, of the recorded program.

8 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the following to be performed:

receiving an indication of finishing of playing a recorded program stored on a digital video recorder (DVR);
in response to the receiving of the indication of finishing of playing the recorded program stored on the DVR, determining whether to automatically play a media asset stored separately from, and that is not appended to, the recorded program immediately after finishing playing the recorded program;
in response to the receiving of the indication of finishing of playing the recorded program stored on the DVR, determining to automatically play the media asset immediately after finishing playing the recorded program;
and
in response to the determination to automatically play the media asset immediately after finishing playing the recorded program, automatically playing the media asset immediately after finishing playing the recorded program, wherein the automatically playing the media asset immediately after finishing playing the recorded program includes:
reading a cue stored on the DVR and associated with the recorded program, the cue including data that is an indication to automatically play the media asset immediately after finishing playing the recorded program and the cue also having a presentation time stamp corresponding to an ending of the recorded program, triggering the media asset to play immediately after finishing playing the recorded program;
and
automatically playing the media asset after finishing playing the recorded program in response to reading the cue stored;
receiving an indication of a selection of the recorded program stored on the DVR to resume playing from other than a beginning of the recorded program;
in response to the receiving of the indication of a selection of the recorded program stored on the DVR to resume playing from other than the beginning of the recorded program, determining to not automatically play a media asset before resuming playing of the recorded program that is in addition to any media assets to be inserted based on existing embedded breaks in the recorded program;
and
resuming playing, by one or more processors, of the recorded program.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/898,128Filed 10 Jun 2020
Published: US 2021/0392396 A116 Dec 2021
Granted: 14 Mar 2023
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

H04N 21/4325
Content retrieval operation from a local storage medium, e.g. hard-disk: by playing back content from the storage medium
H04N 21/23424
Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs: involving splicing one…
H04N 21/26241
The scheduling operation being performed under constraints: involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an…
H04N 21/4147
Specialised client platforms, e.g. receiver in car or embedded in a mobile appliance: pVR [Personal Video Recorder]