System And Method To Acquire, Aggregate, Manage, And Distribute Media

A gateway device residing at a user premises, comprising:

• an application service module having at least one application;
• a user module having a user interface that is associated with the at least one application, wherein the user module enables bi-directional communications with the at least one media player device;
• a network module having the connection that enables bi-directional communications with a remote service manager, and an interface boundary between the application service module and the network module forming a network service provider demarcation;
• a tuner coupled to at least one media source via the network module and operable to selectively receive at least one media stream of at least one type of media content;
• a media processor coupled to the tuner and operable to receive the at least one media stream and convert the media stream to a predetermined data format;
• a media manager coupled to the media processor and operable to receive the at least one media stream in the predetermined data format and direct the media stream to a selected media player device coupled to the media processor via the user module;
• and
• a storage device coupled to the media manager and operable to receive and store the at least one media stream in the predetermined data format.

A computer-readable medium having encoded thereon a method of aggregating, managing and distributing media content, the encoded method comprising:

• selecting at least one media source and selectively receiving at least one media stream of at least one type of media content;
• converting the media stream to a predetermined data format, the at least one media stream comprising metadata;
• directing the media stream to a selected one of a plurality of media player devices coupled to the media processor;
• and
• storing the at least one media stream in the predetermined data format.

A system comprising:

• a remote service manager;
• a gateway device residing at a user premises and coupled to the remote service manager via a network, the gateway device comprises:
• an application service module being remotely managed by the remote service manager via a connection, the application service module residing on a user premises side of a network service provider demarcation;
• a network module having the connection that enables bi-directional communications with the remote service manager;
• a tuner in communication with at least one media source operable to selectively receive at least one media stream of at least one type of media content;
• a media processor coupled to the tuner and operable to receive the at least one media stream and convert the media stream to a predetermined data format;
• a media manager coupled to the media processor and operable to receive the at least one media stream in the predetermined data format and direct the media stream to a selected media player device coupled to the media processor;
• and
• a storage device coupled to the media manager and operable to receive and store the at least one media stream in the predetermined data format.

A system, comprising:

• a media source having media content and associated metadata;
• a media server having access to the media source;
• a media player device coupled to the media source, the media player being operable to display media content and metadata to the user;
• and
• a media adaptor coupled to the media server and media player, the media adaptor comprising a predictive cache, the media adaptor operable to receive user queries related to media content at the media source, transmit the user queries to the media server for processing, and the predictive cache being operable to transmit anticipatory queries related to the user queries to the media server, and cache anticipatory search results supplied by the media server.